“Oh no, you got me,” I said sarcastically at Licor. “Guess I’ll have to go to detention or whatever it is that happens to students at Nemendias when they go below a hundred.”

I opened my mouth in a wide grin and started to laugh, while looking up at the number.

As I did, the Prince stared at me with increasing anger, his face turning red. With every passing second I was losing him, losing the future.

My hand wrapped my black cloak around Endy, fully covering the knife. I swung the cloak-wrapped knife at the number above my head casually as if I was waving away a fly. Thanks to my Still-Walker sight I perceived the number exactly for what it was - a concept, a very simple magical construct projected by the ward of Nemendias above my head.

Endy’s covered edge struck the [-100] and it shimmered above me and suddenly popped out of existence, colorful sparks raining down. I caught the white sand produced by the death of the magical construct into my hand.

I looked back at the previously smug-looking Triss and the awfully angry Licor. Their expressions had changed, instantly becoming that of shock and disbelief.

“Give me your hand, Triss,” I spoke with a sweet, but very commanding voice facing the bodyguard.

Triss presented his shaking hand.

I poured the pale remnants of the [-100] number into his palm.

“These are your hopes and dreams,” I said simply. “They’re just dust in the wind. Everyone dies in the end.”

Triss gulped.

“You wanted to see something impossible?” I asked. “Here you go. Enjoy your sand. I let Nemendias subtract numbers from me because I found your flapping amusing. You’re hereby banned from attending my night class until further notice. If anyone asks, tell them that the night class does not exist. Good day.”

I turned around.

I heard a loud slap.

“You imbecile,” Licor barked. “What have you done?! Do you not realize that you’ve just insulted a genuine archmage?!”

I didn’t look behind me but I knew that the Prince slapped his bodyguard.

“N-no, your highness... I… I wanted to protect you… I…” Triss uttered, stuttering and sounding like a broken record.

I heard footsteps rushing after me. I stopped and watched as Prince circled me and then dropped to his knees in front of me.

“Please, please forgive my bodyguard’s insolence,” he begged. “Please… I never questioned you, my Lady. I believed your words.”

“Did you really?” I raised an eyebrow. “I seem to recall that someone called me a novitiate, but a moment ago.”

“I was… mistaken,” Licor gulped.

“How so?” I asked.

“No student would be able to make their negative rank vanish like that,” the Prince said.

“What do you think you should have done instead of accusing me?” I asked.

“I should have listened to my fiancee and not to my bodyguard,” he muttered, lowering his eyes.

“That’s right. You can still come to my class,” I said to him with a sly smile. “If… Agatha permits it.”

I noticed that Agatha also circled me and grabbed Licor by the shoulder.

“I’ll permit it,” she said, shaking her head at my antics. “I think that there’s still hope for Licor.”

“There’s another number over your head,” she said without speaking the words out loud.

I looked up. There was a new number floating above me. It was twice as big.

[-200]

I swung Endy at the new number, detonating it into dust.

“Your hand, Sir Terny,” I said.

The prince offered me his hand.

I ceremoniously poured white sand into it.

“This is for you to keep, to remember what you learned today,” I said. “Agatha will let you know when my first night class starts. I shall see you then.”

I left the Prince standing on his knees, rushing out of the cafe. In exactly two minutes the number above my head re-manifested itself.

[-400]

“Am I a joke to you, Nemmy?” I asked.

I swung Endy above me. The number shimmered and detonated.

I waited patiently.

[-800]

“Har Har, it’s an exponential sequence,” I commented. "Very cute."

I noticed that the number was also getting bigger, brighter and flashier with each new iteration.

“Is it going to turn into a red dwarf star if we keep this up?” I asked.

I swung Endy into the air.

In two minutes a very bright, large [-1600] manifested above my head.

I stepped into the bathroom stall, put Saccy down and closed the door. When I emerged out of my bag as Grogtilda I discovered that the angry, red number was still floating over my head.

“I see you tied it to my soul,” I commented at the mirror. “Very clever. Look, Nemmy, I’m sorry I impersonated a teacher. Is it really wrong for a student to teach other students? The whole night class thing is just a private ‘study group’. See? Study groups are legal, right?”

The number didn’t respond to me.

“I’m innocent damn it! I demand a recount!” I told it.

No recount followed.

I brought Endy up.

[Juneziiiiiiii for God’s sake please stop, you’re going to turn yourself into the red light district,] Juneberry commented.

“What? I’m doing number science,” I said. “I bet the next one will be 3200 and it will be twice as big and twice as bright.”

[Stop it, I’m serious,] the Searcher said.

“I’m establishing dominance,” I said, waving my hand at [-1600]. “It’s afraid.”

[Dominance? Against a floating number? Aren’t you supposed to be intelligent?]

“I am intelligent,” I said. “The brighter the number gets the more power it requires to display. I’m getting free experience out of this for us, see? We’re almost at level eight. This is practically limitless XP mining! I’m gaming the system!”

[You’re going to get us kicked out of Nemendias,] Juneberry muttered.

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take for science and infinite experience,” I said. “If Nemendias is sentient, she will show herself. Either we get to meet Nemmy or I get us infinite XP by cutting down bigger and bigger numbers. It’s a win-win scenario.”

The armacus on my right hand started to vibrate. It was Emerald.

“Yes?” I asked, picking up the call.

[Where are you?] The youngest Princess inquired.

“Bathroom, six doors down the hall on the left hall from the cafe,” I replied.

[Okay, be right there,] Emerald hung up.

I didn’t have to wait long. The youngest Amadea burst into the bathroom and gasped.

“That’s a very big number,” she said. “Are you trying to outshine me?”

“Yes,” I deadpanned.

Emerald and I started to giggle. Agatha came into the bathroom and froze.

“What in the Astral?!” She growled.

“What?” I looked at her.

“That’s more than a negative one thousand!” Agatha said. “If you go lower than a thousand, you’re expelled!”

“I don’t feel expelled,” I commented. “This is fine, I can just keep cutting it away.”

“Why,” Agatha pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why are you the way that you are? What have I done to deserve this insanity?”

“I think it’s funny,” Emerald commented.

“It’s not funny!” Agatha growled. “If a teacher notices that they’ll kick Juni out of Nemendias and that’ll be that!”

“You’ve got a Crest,” I pointed out. “You can give me 601 points and I’ll be in the clear.”

“Stop gaming the Crest system, damn it!” Agatha snarled.

“I got you to hold hands with Licor,” I commented. “Isn’t that worth some measly 601 points? Repeat after me - Grogtilda Lic Misem, 601 points for excellent matchmaking!”

“Nemendias will not let me add more than one hundred per day, per student,” she said. “Plus the teachers can check WHY the points were added. I can’t just give points out for nonsensical reasons like that or they’ll take my Crest away.”

“Eh, whatever, might as well go all in if I’m already theoretically expelled,” I swung Endy at the number.

“WHY!?” Agatha howled at me, her eyes wide as the number above my head detonated into colorful sparks and white sand.

“I’m challenging Nemendias,” I said.

“No, no, no, this is bad… this is very bad,” the irate hybrid girl started to pace back and forth.

“Why?” I asked.

“If a teacher doesn’t kick you out, the ward will!” Agatha declared.

“I can carve my way through magic wards,” I said. “Did you happen to forget this important fact? Nothing and nobody can stop me.”

"You can't just..." she started to speak.

I advanced onto Agatha.

“I’ll do whatever is necessary, because if I don't, all of us will die,” I said simply. “Let Nemendias try to kick me out. It’s free XP for me.”

Lines of power converged above my head from the ward. A blinding, enormous [-3200] flared into existence above my head.

"By the Astral Depths!" Agatha covered her mouth with her hands.

“I’ve never seen it go that low,” she muttered. “This is bad. This is very bad.”

I felt a bit off. An unnerving, magical pressure focused itself on me. Lines of power began to dance around the bathroom, focusing themselves upon my person.

“Come on Nemmy, show me what you got,” I laughed. “Bring it! Come out and face me!”

[You know this is starting to look similar... sort of how how I died with Barrie,] Juneberry commented.

“Stop! You’re going to get yourself smeared into non-existence by the ward!” Agatha yelled. “You can’t just violate the student ratings system!”

[Get into my armacus, Juneberry,] I ordered. [Connect yourself to the pathfinder. Lead me to the heart of the wards. It shouldn't be a problem to find it now that it’s so focused on me.]

[Mkay,] the Searcher complied.

I unfurled the armacus and clicked it to the pathfinder spell. I started to walk in the direction of where the lines leading to the number [-3200] were coming from, following the path mapped out by Juneberry.

“Follow if you dare,” I told my two besties as I glanced behind me.

“Where are we going?” Emerald joined me at my side.

“We’re going where we won't need roads!” I laughed maniacally, kicking the bathroom door open. “We’re going to find Nemmy!”

Agatha rushed after us, staring with terror at the brilliant [-3200] above me that glowed like a welding torch casting ominous, red-tinted shadows.

I wasn’t really Junezia.

Junezia was just a ghost, a reflection of me, an idea of me that was forged from intelligence. It was a glove, a concept that I was wearing around me, letting me stay focused, pushing me forward through the black halls with a deeper sense of understanding of how the world functioned, of how magic and people and artifacts worked.

The magically-infused number lit my way forward like the Fresnel lens of a lighthouse beacon.

Nemendias was empty, there were no students in her halls as school had not started yet. Nobody stopped us, nobody got in our way as we descended into the gothic, black stone depths of the school.

With every hall and stairwell the interior grew gloomier, magical lights became rarer. The beacon above my head pulsed like a beating heart.

In about an hour of walking, I stopped in front of an ancient wall. There was something behind it, something concealed, something powering the floating number. I tapped the wall. It sounded hollow.

“Open sesame,” I said and struck the wall with Endy.

“You… you can’t just go around stabbing walls,” Agatha muttered.

“Can and will,” I laughed, striking the wall, feeling it weaken with each strike.

Something groaned within the wall, some ancient mechanism activated and the black, solid concealed doorway slid away from me before I completely obliterated it.

There was nothing but murky darkness within the tunnel in front of me. All of my senses as an Urbexer screamed that I had found what I was looking for - an ancient tunnel that has not been used in thousands of years. Old cobwebs hung from the ceiling. The floor was covered in several inches of dust. I stepped into the tunnel.

The number above me lit the way. My two companions followed me, looking bewildered, excited and terrified in equal measure.

The tunnel led to a spiral stairwell. I walked down the arcane, stone stairs, feeling the pressure of magical potential pushing against me.

There were numerous hexagrams upon the walls including one I recognized - Barrie.

The stairwell opened up into another tunnel that concluded with a cobweb-covered room. Stalactites formed by dripping water had formed on the ceiling through millennia of condensation.

It was a small stone room. A very old metal chair stood in the middle. An old, dust covered skeleton of a mage slumped in it. A table stood in front of the corpse, covered in gold coins.

I stepped towards the dust-covered skeleton.

A gold plaque was embedded in the table. It was in ancient Basq.

“I am Saint Innocentai, the architect of Nemendias,” Agatha reverently approached the plaque and read the words on it, her voice trembling. “Congratulations on finding my final resting place, my curious Nemendias student. For this, I reward you my treasure and a single ray of the Celestial Crest Pin of the Chosen that will unlock other mysteries to you when it’s fully assembled.

“You’d think I would get a full star for this, but no. I get only a useless wedge piece and some gold,” I complained as I grabbed a single ray of the 8 pointed star from the stone table.

I wrapped the piece of the crest in my fingers. The little, shiny, elongated triangle pin felt warm, filled with power of the ward of Nemendias.

I stepped towards the table with the gold plaque, took off my bag and poured the coins sitting on the table into Saccy and stared at the skeleton on the stone chair.

“Nemmy,” I said. “I found you. I know you're here. Quit screwing around and talk to me.”