The following day and after all my classes were done, I was called to the teacher’s lounge area for a meeting with Flamel.

“Good afternoon, Mr Flamel.” I greeted him.

“Good, you’re here. Come sit, we have much to discuss.” I sat down in front of him and waited for him to start.

“First of all, I’ve submitted your portal spell to the spell directory. That is where new spells are recorded if the creator so chooses to share their spell to the world. It’s a good spell, one of the best of it’s kind given the usual mana constraints that come with any spatial magic, so you should expect some publicity to come your way for it.” He paused for effect.

“Don't expect to get paid for this though, you can’t charge people for the use of a spell, however, scholars who use your paper as a basis for monetizable endeavours will net you royalties. I’ve taken care of all your paperwork so if you need to submit a new spell just go to the place and submit the paper, they'll do the rest.”

“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.” I really was thankful, this made things a lot easier for me.

“Now, unto the meat of our meeting. The tree.” He pulled out documents and handed them to me, waiting for me to read it.

‘Contract. Well, he certainly doesn’t do things half-measured.’

“This is a contract which states I’ll protect the tree until you’ve established your barony. In exchange, I receive land close to the growing tree once it is habitable to set up a base. I’ll pay for the land, of course, and even any taxes required. But I want no regulations on the things I can do in that base.” I closed my eyes, thinking.

‘I can’t really say no can I? You have me where you want me.’ I frowned.

“Don’t worry, there will be no nefarious things going on in whatever I plan to build. This is just a precaution for millennia down the road when your descendants get…...antsy, shall we say.” He then looked me in the eye with a serious expression.

“I’m old. Very old and I will outlive you. I must prepare for that eventuality.” He kept silent after that and I was thinking for a while. Then I sighed.

“Very well, the stipulations are favourable to me as well. I accept.” We signed the contracts and they glowed, before splitting into three.

“One for you, one for me and one for the records. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go look at your fascinating tree and study its growth and battle with the curse.” He got up to leave.

“Wait! Why didn’t you ask me for the method in creating the tree, or even the ritual I used to fuel its growth? Why didn’t you ask me anything?” He smiled at me.

“It’s true that in this age of rapid magical advancements, most things should be shared with the public to shore up the database we have and increase the rate of innovation. But there are some things that cannot be shared unless the creator himself wants to share them. It is an unspoken understanding among scholars and your, what did you call it, ‘artificial world tree’ falls under that.” He smirked at me.

“You’re whitefyre orb actually fell under that as well, but, well, you decided to go public with it.” My brow twitched.

‘He’s just taunting me now isn’t he.’

“Have a nice day, young boy.” He laughed as he left.

I went to my room and settled down for a bit. I closed my eyes to rest and exhaled.

‘All that’s left to do is wait.’

4 Years Later

The last few years passed in what I’d like to call a ‘monotonous frenzy’, but it was still somewhat livable. At sixteen, I was in the sixth and penultimate year of this academy, readying myself for the first class of the year. The members of my class, the now 6th year S class, had stayed the same throughout the years with each of us growing and branching into what would be our specialities and becoming experts in it. I was the first to enter the class and I went to my designated seat to wait. A few minutes later, Brandon came in.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mr Heartree himself, the monster among monsters.” I closed my eyes and exhaled.

‘Will he never give me a moment of peace.’

“Brandon, I hope you are doing well.”

“Well enough, knowing what I know. I should let you know though, what you have been waiting for shall be completed and bloom into a future of possibilities even you couldn’t imagine. So get ready.” He smirked.

‘Did this asshole really just-’

“Did you just utter a prophecy? After I warn-” He lifted up both palms facing me in the universal sign of helplessness.

“Hey, when it hits, it hits. You know how it is, you can’t force some things, but you can't ignore them for too long either. Besides, this one is relatively harmless.”

“Did he scold you for your visions again, seer?” The princess. And when did these two become so buddy-buddy?

“How many times have I told you not to call me that, your royal highness?” Well maybe not that close.

“There’s that impudent tone of yours again seer, curb it or I’ll have your tongue.”

‘Ah hell.’ I listened to them bicker back and forth for the next few minutes before the princess came back to the point at hand.

“What was the prophecy you gave him? It had to be important for you to ignore his warning.”

“Nothing so bad, but it seems something he prepared for some time ago is about to come into fruition.” He paused to look at me.

“And he seems to know exactly what it is.”

‘Of course I do, doesn’t mean I’ll be letting you know.’

What he was referring to was probably the tree-curse battle reaching the tipping point where the tree can now break down the curse faster than it can be revived. Now things will get easier as the curse is cleared up and the land is restored.

Fortunately, no one but myself and Flamel knew about the tree. When he said he would protect it, he meant serious business. My whole territory is covered with a ward that takes from the mind of all any changes they might inadvertently see or feel. So even as the mana density in the surrounding territory increases and the tree grows big enough to be seen over the horizon, and it has, it is ignored as something that has always been there and is inconsequential. Only those of absurd powers can ignore the ward, and there are only a handful of those with that capability. My string of thought was suddenly interrupted.

“Good morning everyone, I hope we have a lovely year ahead of us.” Miss Campbell, still the same all these years later, just better at hiding her true intentions.

‘Well, maybe not better because-’

“Greetings, your highness, Seer Smith. Heartree.”

‘She’s dating this guy.’ Draco Pendragon had finally gotten the girl after years of pursuit.

‘This may or may not be the end goal of all her maneuvering, more power to her then because she’ll need it. He may not be allowed to just marry anyone being from the family he’s from.’ Draco turned to Serena.

“I’ll meet you for lunch.” He kissed her before he left and she started blushing before she went to her seat.

‘Who are they putting on a performance for?’

Next to enter was Lacelot. He had grown the biggest out of all of us and had the muscles to accompany the height. He completely ignored everyone else in the room and came to me.

“Good, you’re here. We can resume our morning spars as usual.” Then he went to his seat. We tried sparring one day years ago and after that he asked, well, demanded that it become a daily thing.

‘He really does love the sword.’ I wasn’t even mad. I had gained a lot from having what would essentially be the best swordsman in the empire as my sparring partner every morning. I used him to acclimate myself properly to my growing strength and speed. It has worked remarkably well for both of us and I see no need to stop.

Next to come in was Udonavon, silent as ever. He just nodded to us and went to his seat. Following immediately behind him was Octavia with her head in what I’m sure was a potions book, ignoring our collective existence altogether.

As the teacher, Mr Colbert, entered the classroom, everybody went to their seats.

“Good morning class. This is your second to last year as a student in this school and things are about to get more complicated for you.” He went through the generic speech to prepare use for the rest of the year which I tuned out until-

“-and we have a transfer from our neighbouring continent.” I snapped back into attention.

‘For that person to be able to enter this particular class in this school, well, let’s just say I’m eager to see what this year brings.’