After lunch Kyle made his way to the first class of the afternoon which was Figz’s mental energy class. He was looking forward to telling the Palnassian that he had finally managed to use his Sense Intent Skill to predict what Reginald was going to do next. He was aware that he still had a long way to go before he mastered using Sense Intent that way, especially against an opponent he wasn’t used to fighting but this was a good start. Originally, they had been planning on using this on one of Kyles’ classmates, but Kyle had decided that using it on Reginald would be an even better test run for the technique.

As he walked in Figz’s head turned towards him and the area around the Parnassian’s eyes crinkled in his version of a smile when he saw the look on Kyle’s face.

“Ah, so you were successful then?” Figz asked. His mental voice was as dry as it normally was, but Kyle had learned to understand the subtle emotions that his teacher sent alongside them and knew that Figz was proud of the progress that he had made, particularly in the past couple of months.

“Yeah, against Reginald no less,” Fi, who was wrapped around his neck like she usually was replied excitedly making Kyle shake his head in exasperation.

Kyle knew that Figz could sense the excitement that had been boiling off of him since the fight however he was desperately trying not to feel any pride in what he had done because he knew that he had a long way to go and if Figz thought he was getting ahead of himself he would immediately bring him down a peg despite Figz’s own feelings of pride. Figz was a firm believer that pride was one of the most dangerous emotions for an Adventurer to feel and was well known for being very strict on students who got too full of themselves.

“Well done,” Figz nodded. “I’m sure you know that you still have a lot to work on though.”

“Of course,” Kyle replied. “And I hope that you will continue to guide me.”

“Very good,” the Parnassian agreed. “I’m glad you didn’t let your success go to your head. Now take your seat and we’ll begin the class.”

Kyle nodded and took his usual seat next to Amy who actually was floated in place behind her desk like usual. The rest of the class went fairly well, with them going over different ways to use the Mental Energy Skills that they had learned and were still trying to learn. When they had finished this Figz decided that he would test their ability to defend themselves against attacks that used Mental Energy which was something that was especially important for them considering that monsters that used Mental Energy had a tendency to focus on people who could also use Mental Energy.

Now this wasn’t really something that Kyle was very good at even with his recently unlocked Resilient Mind Sub-skill but at least now the headaches from this sort of practice only lasted a few minutes now.

As per usual the technique that Figz chose to use on Kyle was one that affected his emotions as that was something that he had the least amount of resistance to and Kyle soon felt sweat start to run down his forehead as he felt the pressure on his mind trying to make him lose control like he had on the first day.

Meanwhile Fi was giving him instructions from Figz on how to better protect his mind as with his defences up Like this Kyle could no longer ‘hear’ his teacher’s mental voice.

“Alright Kyle,” she said. “Figz says that he’s going to try a different emotion now so you should change your defences.”

Eyes closed Kyle silently nodded his head in agreement. The curious thing about Mental Energy attacks that manipulated emotions was that each emotion had to be handled differently. Figz usually focussed on trying to turn Kyles’ anger against him because that was both one of the most dangerous emotions to lose control of as well as the emotion that Kyle himself had more difficulty controlling but occasionally, he would throw other emotions into the mix to keep Kyle on his toes.

This time Figz was using sadness to try and break down Kyle’s defences completely. This emotion was also very dangerous but thankfully was actually one of the easier ones to defend against. As soon as he realised what emotion Figz was trying to use on him Kyle immediately turned his thoughts to his friends and family using the happiness and sense of safety these thoughts gave him to protect against the darkness that was attempting to encroach upon his mind. As he did this however the attack showed its more dangerous side as it started reminding him of the ways some of the other villagers had treated him and his family over the years.

Fi watched as Kyle struggled against the anger and depression that Figz was using to test his student’s defences. She knew that Figz was doing was for Kyle’s benefit, but she also knew that this could affect him badly if Figz used too much power. Thankfully Figz was extremely careful with how much power he was using during these sessions as the goal wasn’t actually to break Kyle’s defences but to test their limits.

Figz kept up his mental assault on Kyle for another ten minute before switching his target to Amy who had to defend from a number of telekinetic attacks ranging from bolts of invisible energy to walls of power that attempted to press in on her and large objects that had been placed in the room for practicing telekinetic abilities thrown at her.

This time it was only five minutes later that Figz ceased his assault as Amy had to actually use active Skills that cost MP and SP to use. Figz watched his two students silently for a few minutes while Amy recovered a little then nodded.

“Very good you two,” he told them, his eyes crinkling in another Parnassian smile. “You still need to work on your technique, but you should be able to defend yourself against monsters around your Level with what you already know. We’ll be working on offensive techniques in the next class.”

Hearing this Kyle smiled excitedly, this was the part of these classes that he was best at. But after the siege they had been focussing on defensive techniques which Kyle had been assuming was because of what had happened with the Psionbats. As such he had chosen not to say anything to Figz and had just worked as hard as he could so that the next time, he fought a monster that used Mental Energy he would be able to defend himself much better.

“Alright, head to your next class you two,” Figz continued. “I’ll see you later.”

This time Amy and Kyle walked to their next class together as it was one that they shared, the class on Mana Manipulation and the Mana school of magic that all casters took which meant that Zerah was teaching it again.

On the way Amy and Kyle talked about a few things ranging from Amy’s progress forming her humanoid body and her recently acquired ability to shift her facial features quickly enough that she almost seemed to be a flesh and blood person rather than a floating golem which was very impressive for her age as well as how things had gone in class so far today. But mostly they talked about how well Damian was adapting to his prosthetic, he had even accompanied Kyle on his nightly laps around the school the other night even though it was obvious to Kyle that he had been struggling towards the end. Still it was good to see that Damian was still as determined to become as capable an Adventurer as he possibly could despite his lost limb.

They were among the first two students to arrive to this class and greeted Zerah before making their way to their usual seats where Claire was already waiting for them. However soon the other students started filing in, including Damian who made his way slowly over to them and sat down next to Kyle.

“How’s your leg after last night?” Kyle asked quietly as he noted that Damian had been limping slightly.

“Not as bad as I thought it would be,” Damian chuckled. “I shouldn’t have tried to match you lap for lap.”

“Yeah, I did try to tell you that was a little ambitious,” Kyle snorted as he smirked at his friend making Claire and Fi giggle slightly in amusement.

“And you were right,” Damian sighed giving the three of them an eyeroll for their trouble.

“Alright everyone’s here so let’s get started,” Zerah interrupted before they could continue their conversation. “Today we will be working on Mana Manipulation theory followed by a short discussion on whatever spells you want to go over today.”

Sighing the students picked up the quills on top of their desks and prepared to take notes. Mana Manipulation theory was excellent for helping them develop their Mana Manipulation Skill and its Sub-skills, but it was also one of the driest and most boring subjects taught at the Adventurer’s School. Zerah did her best to make sure that her students paid attention but even she knew that there was only so much you could do to make a boring subject interesting.

Just when her students were starting to look like they were going to fall asleep Zerah switched to the subject of the different spells in the Mana School which made everyone perk up immediately. After all learning about the different ways to throw blasts of magical energy around was far more interesting than learning about what people had been able to learn about Mana Manipulation over the past couple of centuries.

Zerah had already explained most of the more common spells that people picked in the Mana School of magic so now she was going over the slightly more obscure ones and the different upgrades for the normal ones. She even asked some of the students who had already unlocked these spells for themselves to demonstrate how they worked or did so herself if there were no volunteers. Kyle usually didn’t ask about too many spells himself because his mother had gone over most of them already when he had been growing up, but it was still interesting to hear a different take on the usefulness of different spells.

Zerah even went over a spell that he was quite interested in getting himself called Mana Grenade that was an upgraded version of Mana Blast. Where Mana Blast was primarily a spell that was used to create space between a mage and didn’t do that much damage in comparison to other offensive spells Mana Grenade instead created an explosive ball of energy that could then be fired into a group of enemies. The spell itself still didn’t actually do that much damage compared to something like a Fireball spell when it exploded but the shockwave that it created was powerful enough that anything caught up in it would be sent flying through the air. This of course included things like weapons and rocks which would bludgeon anything else caught up in the blast as well.

Damian and Amy on the other hand were more interested in the defensive spells. Damian was interested in them because the School of Fire magic which was what he specialised in didn’t have very many defensive spells and because of his prosthetic limb. As for Amy she just preferred to provide support to everyone else instead of actually attacking. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t good at defensive spells she just didn’t like them as much.

Claire didn’t really have a preference but had recently asked about several spells that she could use to strengthen other people which had been something of a theme for her. Her Light spells were mostly ones that protected and healed others, so this actually made sense of she was going to be a healer.

The sheer variety of different types of spells in the Mana School had surprised some of the less knowledgeable student and early on they had been in a rush to find out as much as they could so that they could cover for the weaknesses that were part and parcel of being a mage especially a Low-levelled one.

“Alright everyone, I think that we’re done for the day,” Zerah said eventually, raising a hand to halt the flow of questions. “We can continue this at a later date.”

There was a little grumbling for a few seconds but then the students realised that school was out for the day and started filing out of the room. Kyle made sure that Damian had made it out safely before bidding him farewell.

He would be seeing him later that night anyway. Kyle’s whole group of friends had been invited to a show at the Bard’s Guild that Sonia was going to be playing in which they were all looking forward to. However, before that Kyle was going to go and talk to his parents on the Communication Orb that Thomas had given him before he had left Farholt.

Walking into the room he shared with Hal, Kyle opened his bag and took the crystalline Orb out and activated it but to his surprise there was no response.

“Huh, that’s weird,” he muttered. “Maybe they’re out?”

“Maybe,” Fi agreed, even though she had a frown on her face. It was unusual that no one was home on the night that Kyle usually called them, not without them letting him know in advance. “You could try again later I suppose.”

‘Yeah, I guess,” Kyle sighed. “I guess I’ll just go for a run then.”

“Okay, I’ll stay here in case they call you back,” Fi nodded. “Have a good run.”

Kyle nodded thankfully at his companion before heading back out the door leaving Fi alone with the Communications Orb. The small serpentine companion then turned towards the Communications Orb with a frown on her face. Despite her comforting words to Kyle she too was worried but there wasn’t anything that she could do but wait and keep trying to get through to them.

Outside the dormitory sighed heavily and started running. Originally, he had been planning on running for about two hours after he had talked to his parents for a bit but since they hadn’t picked up, he decided that he would check in every half an hour or so and try again. Nodding to himself he started running. It wasn’t going to make too much of a difference to his plans for the evening and he had done plenty of training today. Besides having a slightly shorter run that usual wasn’t going to make too much of a difference. He was already running more than he had been before the siege anyway because he was getting injured less often than he had been before.

About half an hour later he headed back up to his room as planned to check up on Fi who shook her head as he walked into the room.

“They haven’t called back,” she sighed. She really was starting to get a bit worried now.

“Well let’s try again, there could be any number of reasons that they’re not picking up or calling back,” Kyle replied as he activated the Communications Orb and once again attempted to contact his parents on their end. However once again there was no response. “Hmm, maybe we should try someone else?”

“Yeah that might be a good idea,” Fi agreed.

“Well let’s try Thomas first, if something has happened then there’s a pretty good chance that everyone is there,” Kyle sighed. The church was one of the two main meeting places in the village with the area in front of Warren, the village head’s house being the second so if something had happened that was preventing them from answering the call.

“Yeah that’s probably a good idea,” Fi agreed as Kyle tried to contact Thomas but once again there was no response from the other end.

“Well that didn’t work,” Kyle sighed. “Oh well I guess that I’ll run a few more laps and then come back and try again.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you know if they call back before then,” Fi agreed.

Kyle nodded and once again left the room but once he was outside the door, he ran into Hal who was carrying a large box up the stairs.

“Hey, what’s wrong man, you look worried?” Hal asked when he saw the look on Kyle’s face.

“I’ve been trying to get hold my parents, but they aren’t answering,” Kyle explained. “It’s just a little odd that’s all.”

“Well how about I call my parents,” Hal suggested. “Maybe they can clear things up.”

“That might work,” Kyle agreed turning back towards the room that they shared. “I have already tried Thomas as well though and he didn’t answer either.”

“It’s still worth trying my parents,” Hal pointed out as Kyle opened the door for them to walk through. “They’re slightly less important than yours are to the village so if there is some sort of meeting going on, they probably wouldn’t need to be present.”

“You say that, but it’s not like my mother has that much sway in the village either,” Kyle replied. While things had definitely gotten easier since his father had taken over as the Captain of the Guard there were still villagers who weren’t entirely comfortable around his mother. “But you’re right we should try your parents.”

Fi turned to look at them in surprise as they walked in and Kyle quickly explained the situation as Hal pulled his own Communications Orb out of his bag and called his parents. To their collective relief this time someone answered.

“Hey mum,” Hal said. “How are things going over there?”

“Not too good I’m afraid,” Madeleine replied awkwardly. “I’m afraid Kyle’s old farm was raided.”

“Wait, what!?” Kyle exclaimed upon hearing this. “By who!?”

“We think that they were Imperial Soldiers dear,” Hal’s mother explained. “The family of elves who had taken over the farm were missing when the guards arrived, and the farmhouse was burning. Your parents have been out trying to find out more with some of the guards, as well as Thomas and Al. Don’t worry about Kelly though, we’re taking care of her for the moment.”

“Well thanks for taking care of my sister,” Kyle replied. “But why didn’t mum and dad tell me about this?”

“I don’t know dear,” Madeleine sighed sadly. “But if I had to guess they didn’t want to worry you.”

Kyle nodded at her words that made sense. He was still a bit angry about the whole situation though. The village had just started to truly accept non-humans and now this had happened.

“Does the Adventurer’s Guild know?” Fi asked suddenly. “If not then we’ll go and see them right now.”

“We were going to contact them when we confirmed that the ones who had attacked the farm were Imperial troops,” Madeleine replied. “Apparently there were plenty of signs that suggested that this was the case, Emma certainly seemed to think that it was anyway.”

“Well she would know,” Kyle replied. “Well there’s no harm in telling them we’ll head over there now.”

“Alright dear,” Madeleine replied. “I’ll tell your parents to call you as soon as they get back.”

“Thanks Madeleine,” Kyle said. “I just hope they’re okay.”

“So do I, dear,” Madeleine sighed. “So do I.”

Hal deactivated the Communication Orb and turned to his friend who had a conflicted look on his face. Kyle understood why his parents had chosen not to tell him about the attack but that didn’t mean that he agreed with their decision. In fact, he resented it a little, growing up the Empire had been one of the few things that he had been afraid of because of the stories that his mother had told him about them, but he wasn’t a child anymore. He knew that he wouldn’t stan a chance against an Imperial soldier in a fight right now but that didn’t meant hat would always be the case.

“Kyle?” Hal said to his friend. “Are you alright?”

“Hmm?” Kyle grunted. “Oh, yeah. Let’s go to the Guild. It looks might we not make it to the show after all.”

“Yeah, not sure I’m in the mood to go after hearing that anyway,” Hal sighed as he stood up to leave. “Say, do you think we should tell the others?”

“Not yet,” Kyle decided. “Not until we know that it is the Empire at least.”

“Okay, yeah that makes sense,” Hal agreed. “No need to get everyone worried until we know that there’s a reason to worry.”

“But maybe we should tell Galdon as well,” Kyle mentioned. “He’s probably got the most experience fighting Imperial soldiers anyway.”

“That’s a good idea,” Hal agreed as they walked out the door. “If the Empire did attack your old farm then he’ll definitely want to know.”

This decided the two friends hurried in the direction of the Adventurer’s Guild. Kyle couldn’t help but hope his mother was wrong because if she wasn’t then this could be the start of another war against a foe that they hadn’t heard from in over 50 years. And if the scholars were right about the purple barrier that surrounded the Empire having the same time dilating effect as a Dungeon then who knew how powerful they could’ve become by now.

Only one thing was for certain; if the Empire was attacking them again then a lot of people were going to die.