The journey back from Oakwood Freeland took another two and a half months. Which meant that Wolf had spent most of the Silverhound’s winter on the road. Luckily, the north-eastern province’s winters were mild, and with Protection from Elements, Wolf hardly even noticed the winter.

After nearly seven months on the road, Wolf found that Silver City hadn’t changed one bit. Slums were still a disgusting cesspool of humanity, ignored by those more fortunate. Merchant district was still the home to a certain drunkard and a certain merchant group, both of which Wolf had paid a visit.

The young man sold the half a year’s worth of spoils to Roger. Even though each band only had a bit of loot, the cumulative wealth of all bandit groups Wolf had exterminated was nothing to scoff at. The goods and the coins they’d stashed away over the years amounted to nearly two thousand gold pieces.

With a bright smile, Sean, Wolf’s alter ego, bade Roger goodbye, then left the increasingly prosperous merchant group’s headquarters. After dismissing the spell and once more becoming Wolf, the Mage Academy student, Wolf headed towards the Nobles’ District.

By the time he’d arrived at the Mage Academy’s gate, it was already late in the afternoon. After thinking for a moment, the young man decided he had more than enough time to cross one more item off his list.

A couple of minutes later, Wolf entered the Alchemy Guild’s store. An attendant approached him, but Wolf spoke before the young woman could say anything.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for Lilly,” he said.

With a sad, disappointed look in her eyes, the clerk nodded and went to fetch her colleague.

Wolf’s shopping didn’t take long. He’d bought two Moderate grade Energy Expanding potions, priced at one hundred gold each, two Greater versions at five hundred gold apiece and one Superior version. His bill totaled twenty-seven hundred gold pieces, making for one smiling clerk.

A quarter of an hour after Wolf entered the store, Lilly packed the five reinforced vials happily humming. The lucky woman handled the potion bottles with so much care, one would think they were fragile and not shock resistant items.

Wolf didn’t pay attention to her odd behavior. Instead he felt like crying. It took half a year to earn the cash, but only fifteen minutes to spend it. Not just just that. He had to add seven platinum pieces from his father’s dwindling savings. However, with that money he’d bought a set of potions for Frida and hopefully he’d be able to groom a powerful subordinate.

These should be enough to promote Frida to the Fifth Order Sword-Sage at the very least, maybe even Sixth. Now, I ought to come up with a curriculum for her Mage training. With proper guidance she could become a renowned Spell-Blade. But, I somehow have to dig up books on that profession. I’m not sure it’s compatible with the way of the Sword-Sage.

For a moment, Wolf considered passing Star Body to her as well, but he had a feeling Frida wasn’t compatible with the art. Instead, he decided to find some other Body Refining method focused on speed and agility instead of power and durability.

Things would’ve been easier and much cheaper if only we had more World Energy around here. That way Frida might have already advanced her Sword-Sage Order once or twice naturally. But you make do with what fate has given you, as Dad always said.

If she could somehow use Monster Cores, that would’ve saved us a bit of money as well. But unless you have someone on Lonely Eagle’s level to watch over and instruct you, there’s no way to handle the violent surges of energy from a Monster Core.

Wolf paused in his thoughts for a moment. I guess refining Lonely Eagle’s memories would also do the trick.

By then, he was already walking out of the store with a carefully wrapped package in his Ring of Holding. Lilly escorted him, doing her best not to skip while walking Wolf out.

“Thank you for your patronage!” The woman followed Wolf all the way to the exit of the Alchemists’ Guild’s complex.

She couldn’t believe that Wolf wasn’t a onetime customer. Not just that, he even remembered her name and his promise.

Wolf smiled in response, inwardly still deep in thought.

He wondered how to help Frida expand her Mind Palace. But the thing was, Wolf didn’t really know how. He knew a bunch of theories, but they all boiled down to luck, drugs, what you experienced and how great was your untapped potential.

Ever since reading South’s books, Wolf realized something. His Mind Palace grew at a staggering rate because he’d been refining the reincarnated soul which tried to take over his body. Once he exhausted those reserves, Wolf expected a sharp decline in the speed at which his Mind Palace expanded.

He was fairly certain that without that lucky coincidence, he might have never learned how to speak properly, let alone anything else. Wolf considered it an act of this world’s karma. Lonely Eagle was the culprit behind Wolf’s originally flawed soul, and at the same time he was the cure for his condition.

As for Frida, she’d already gone through traumatic events which should stimulate her growth. She’d already given birth, probably more than once, which permanently scarred her soul. Wolf still couldn’t come up with better advice than to focus on meditation in which she’d face her trauma and overcome it. Hopefully that should excavate even more of the woman’s potential, maybe even allow her to become a True-Namer.

Still deep in thought, considering how helping Frida may help Wolf deepen his understanding of the way this world worked, the young man flashed his student card to the warehouse guards in the Mission Hall.

He went towards the storeroom and found that this time around there actually was a line. Wolf waited patiently. Luckily, the maimed clerk working inside was quite fast and a no nonsense kind of person.

After ten minutes, Wolf walked into the room and saw the familiar clerk, who looked like a war veteran. Wolf smiled and approached the desk, readying his student card.

The man took the identification and grunted in undisguised boredom. After examining the mission requirement, the man looked back at Wolf.

“The head?” he asked, looking at Wolf with that same ‘let’s just get this over with’ look.

Wolf nodded and poured a hundred and thirteen heads onto the desk, burying the man in human remains.

“Help!” the man screamed in a voice nobody would expect to come out of that body.

A guard dashed inside after hearing the desperate plea and saw the bizarre sight. The clerk wasn’t in any danger. He could breathe just fine, but he was stuck in a pile of human heads. After a moment of appalled silence, the guard shouted at Wolf.

“Lord Mage, what are you doing?!” he demanded.

“He asked me to show him the heads,” Wolf said, defending himself.

He was just as surprised by what had happened. He’d never paid attention to how much space a hundred-odd heads took. Not knowing what else to do, Wolf started retrieving them into his Ring of Holding, and helped the clerk back into his chair.

***

Wolf opened the door to his and Wayde’s dorm. Wayde was right where Wolf had expected him, half-lying on the couch, with a book in his hand and munching on some sweets. The only unexpected addition was the young man’s deep frown.

“Hey Wayde! What’s giving you so much trouble?” Wolf asked lightheartedly, like he hadn’t been gone for months.

After the horrors he’d experienced during his last mission, Wolf wanted to see what could trouble you while reading a book as basic as ‘The Anatomy of the Soul’.

“Wolf, where the hell were you?” Wayde exclaimed. “When you said you were going on a mission we thought you’d be back in two weeks like last time. Where have you been for half a year?”

“It was a longer mission,” Wolf once again waved away his roommate’s interest. “So, what’s bugging you?”

“This damn thing is bugging me,” Wayde said, resisting the urge to toss the book into the furthest corner of the room.

“It’s all because of you,” he continued while standing up and placing the book on the table. “The teaching staff reached a decision to wait for the sensational genius to come back from his mission. They pushed back the end of semester exam. And, since we had extra time, the Mage Academy allowed the professor to change the exam format.

"We have to learn everything from this damn thing for the exam. And now that you’re here, the test is going to happen in less than two weeks,” Wayde seemed panicked. “Couldn’t you have stayed on your mission for another couple of months?”

“All right?” Wolf said without really understanding the source of Wayde’s frustration.

Two weeks were more than enough to memorize the entirety of ‘The Anatomy of the Soul’. In fact, Wolf could do it in two minutes. As for comprehension and understanding, that was another matter altogether…

“What do you mean ‘All right’?” Wayde grumbled. “You’ve got to learn this too! We’re in the same class! And just so you know, whoever fails the test gets demoted to the common class. Aaand, there's a special rule they added because of you. Even if everyone passes, the candidate with the worst score will still get demoted.”

This turn of events surprised Wolf to an extent. The faculty wanting to get rid of him was nothing new. But something else bothered Wolf.

“And the headmaster allowed it?” he asked, not believing his father had associated with such an unjust person.

“Headmaster’s office approved,” Wayde confirmed. “The statement said this rule should provide additional motivation for the students. They even added that Mage Academy officials had the right to invoke the use of this rule in the future, since there’s already a precedent. They wrote it down into the school’s rules.”

Wolf frowned, but he didn’t really care about the exam, no matter what these so-called “teachers” did.

“Let me take a look at that book,” he said instead.

Wayde passed the thick volume, and Wolf hefted it twice before returning the textbook without even bothering to open it.

“It’s fairly light. Can’t be too difficult,” Wolf said a confident smile on his face.

In reality, he’d already seen the title and the author. That was enough for Wolf to know that he’d read this book a long long time ago. He’d even given a copy of it to Frida some weeks back.

“Quit joking. They are determined to do this until they kick you out of the elite class,” Wayde said seriously. “Right, because you were on a mission, you missed three other exams. They’ll probably have you do them back to back, with the semestral exam being the last, so that you’re tired. That’s what I’d do if I wanted to fail you.”

“It’s not that I don’t care, nor that I don’t take them seriously. It’s just that they are incompetent,” Wolf said confidently. “They actually dropped a stone on their own foot this time. And I don’t really care even if I have to do a dozen exams at the same time.”

“Really?” Wayde asked as he eyed Wolf with suspicion. “How come?”

“Page one hundred and seven, line thirteen, ‘Special care must be taken in case of Soul Force exhaustion. If a Mage were to overdraw their…’” Wolf continued speaking until he quoted the entire paragraph.

Wayde looked at him and opened the book and checked page one hundred and seven. Everything Wolf said was there, word for word.

“How did you do that?” he asked in wonder.

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t know how to read books by hefting them?” Wolf said, smiling mischievously. “You know, you better study hard. Otherwise you might end up thrown out of the elite class.”

As Wolf said this, he yawned and opened his bedroom door.

“Stop! Wolf, please,” Wayde said in unmasked desperation.

Hearing his roommate’s tone, Wolf turned around and looked at Wayde’s conflicted expression.

“Could you tutor me? Please?” the Duke without a dukedom asked.

“Sure I can, but I don’t know how to teach you to have a photographic memory,” Wolf said honestly, once again playing with Wayde’s words. “That should happen naturally once you hit the Fifth Order, maybe the Sixth, if you’re a late bloomer. Well, if you’re really really special you could get it once you become a Seventh Order Mage. But people with such souls shouldn’t be able to reach even the Second Order, let alone the Sixth.”

As Wolf spoke, he suddenly realized he’d misspoken, so he hurriedly added. “And if you’re a real genius, like me, you might just be able to do it even at the Fourth Order.”

It wasn’t really a lie. Wolf had heard rumors of ordinary people having photographic memory, so there were bound to be people who could have it at the Fourth Order or even before hitting that.

Besides, the actual Mage’s Order didn’t really matter. What mattered was the number of columns you had in your Mind Hall.

“Stop spewing nonsense,” Wayde begged. “Teach me what’s important in this book. The test will have three hundred questions and only two hours to answer them. This is another catch to get rid of you. To write that fast, one needs a magical item that scribes thoughts directly. Professor even said he’ll overlook errors which come from using such items.”

The test format finally had Wolf completely stumped.

“Where are they going to dig up three hundred questions in the ‘Anatomy of the soul’?” he asked. “I mean, the book covers a lot of topics, but not that much. Besides, all you have in there are some fairly simple concepts.”

Simple concepts!? Are you insane? I can’t make heads or tails out of all this theory. Wayde felt like screaming, but still spoke calmly. “I really don’t know anything other than what I’ve already told you. That’s all they told us.”

“All right. Then we can make a study group. I’ll help you with whatever you guys found confusing,” Wolf said confidently. “Wait here for a while. I'll go tell Anna and Matilda about our plan. We’ll need one more person, so as not to have a chaperone on our back. Well, I’m off. Thanks for the information!”

Wolf walked out of the room, leaving behind one befuddled Wayde. A moment later, the young man sighed and went to close the door. Ever since Wolf’d left for his mission Anna avoided Wayde like a plague.

And then, ever since the winter began, she seemed to get angry whenever she laid his eyes on him. Wayde had no idea what he’d done for his mere appearance to make the young woman so angry. And all he wanted was to use the chance while Wolf was away to score himself a cute girl.

He sighed, thinking about the unfairness of life. The blockhead was being chased, while he, a slick player, was ignored despite his efforts.

***

Oblivious of his roommate’s thoughts and feelings, Wolf ran over to Anna’s and Matilda’s room. He stopped himself from barging in at the last possible moment. Instead, he rapped impatiently at the door. After a couple of moments, Anna opened the door.

“Wolf!” Anna shouted excitedly, but then her face darkened and became chilly.

“What are you doing here? When did you get back?” She said coldly, clearly showing she was livid with Wolf.

“What’s wrong?” Wolf asked in confusion.

He’d been away for over six months. There’s no way he could’ve done anything to antagonize Anna.

“Nothing! Everything is perfectly fine! What do you want?” Anna said sharply.

Even the question came out sounding as if she’d berated Wolf.

Wolf was confused, but if Anna said everything was perfectly fine, then things were fine.

“I’d just returned. As for why I’m here,” he paused for a moment to sound more important. “You guys have to study the nonsense from ‘The Anatomy of the Soul’, right? How about we make a study group?”

In a moment, Anna put two and two together and came up with what had happened. Wolf had just returned from his mission, and he’d found out about the tough exam that was just around the corner. He needed help, and he came seeking Anna, who was his senior student. The problem was that she couldn’t help him. She hardly knew whether she’d be able to pass the exam and keep her place in the elite class.

“Wolf, I’m sorry, I don’t know how to help you,” Anna said sheepishly, her anger dying down. “There’s a lot of information in that book, and I haven’t even read the whole thing yet.”

She really wanted to help Wolf and stay in the same class as him. On the bright side, if they both failed, they would stay in the same class. So, even that cloud had a silver lining.

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Wolf asked, thinking Anna was really strange. “I want to help you and Matilda. Just find one more person, so that those chaperones don’t have an excuse to get into the room. See you tomorrow after classes!”

After making that one sided proclamation, Wolf ran off to avoid the curfew, leaving a very confused Anna behind.

“Wait!” Anna shouted, but Wolf was long gone by the time she realized she wanted to shout.

“How are you supposed to help us when you yourself just found out that there was going to be an exam?” Anna mumbled.

She was at a loss. What was she supposed to do? Well, she could play along. The worst thing that could happen was for everyone to waste half an hour in case Wolf was bragging just now. Well, there’s only one person I can invite, if she hasn’t completely given up on staying in the elite class…