“Well? What’s happening here? I certainly hope you weren’t about to sell the thing. Speak up.” The dense cloud of mana which seemed to be intrinsically part of the archmage began wafting out, filling the space as he froze me with his glare.

Or, to be a bit more fair, me being frozen didn’t have much to do with him in this case. Even with the archmage present, Warram had yet to release me from his skill, and it was all I could do to stare at the archmage, rigid and nonverbal.

“Mm? What’s this? Some sort of stasis skill? Strange one, too. Can’t be having that.” Almost too fast to track, a web of mana shot out from the palm of his hand before weaving itself into a dizzyingly complex shape. The sight of it sucked me in, and I attempted to follow the many twists and turns of the mana, but it dissolved nearly as soon as it finished moving.

Archmage Xander’Callis casts Greater Restraint Resistance on you.

You have been granted resistance to all suppressing and restrictive effects for the next hour.

Law’s Embrace removed.

I sucked air in greedily, giving myself a moment to recover before processing what the hell was happening here. For his part, Xander’Callis finally took in the other two members of this unpleasant gathering.

“I’ll admit, I placed a few enchantments on that bracelet in case my provisionary disciple was foolish enough to lose it or sell it. Seeing as you appear to have taken it from her after putting her into a stasis of sorts, however, might I presume that you would currently be in the process of stealing my bracelet?” The mana in the room thrummed with power as he spoke, almost becoming a physical, solid thing at the end. It weighed down on me, not painfully, but with the foreboding sense that it could crush me if it so desired.

Warram, as it turned out, was not immune to such things. I’d expected him to try to set the narrative, flapping his tongue the moment the archmage arrived, but he instead looked shell-shocked. Even with Xander’Callis asking him a direct question, he appeared to have forgotten how to speak until a further thrum of power further shocked him into remembering. Even then, it was an unsteady affair.

“Y- Your? Apologies. Your bracelet? I was not stealing anything. As a- As a member of the Sylum guard, I was merely confiscating what I thought to be an illegal item.” Once the word guard left his mouth, he seemed to find some sliver of his confidence again, straightening up.

Xander’Callis leaned in towards the guardsman, narrowing his eyes. “You’re the Goss child.”

Uncertain whether the archmage was making a statement or asking a question, Warram opted for a mute nod.

The room’s mana, already weighing everyone down, suddenly took on an unmistakably oppressive quality, and I let out a gasp. It was as if I’d been clamped down on by the jaws of a vice, threatening to squeeze me to a paste.

Then, the archmage started to swear.

A veritable stream of obscenities flowed from his mouth, half of which weren’t even in Common. He carried on for a good half a minute, ending his tirade by bringing his hands to his head to forcefully stroke at his temples.

“I just teleported into the middle of some sort of political scheme, didn’t I? Gods be damned.”

Having somehow found his tongue, Warram opened his mouth to deny the archmage’s claim, but Xander’Callis was having none of it. A wave of mana shot off in all directions, colliding with me, Warram, and Larius. The latter two instantly froze up.

Or rather, Warram did. It was hard to tell with Larius, as he’d essentially been frozen from the instant the archmage had arrived. He remained seated in his chair, either too cowed by the archmage and his mana to speak, or perhaps wisely deciding this was above his pay grade.

Despite the tension of the situation, watching Warram frozen brought me no small amount of joy.

Not so fun, is it?

As for me, the mana harmlessly swept by.

You have resisted Mass Stun with the help of Greater Restraint Resistance!

“Explain quickly so I can go home,” was all he said. In this case, I was only too happy to comply.

“Warram cheated off of me on a test, then accused me of being the one who’d cheated off of him. The instructor wasn’t able to determine who was lying, so he was going to have us in front of a truth gem. I’m pretty sure Warram wanted to get me out of my obfuscation gear and in front of the gem for ulterior reasons. When I tried to get Suds into it, he froze me and tried to arrest me for having your bracelet.” As requested, I kept it as brief as I could while also making it clear that it was decidedly Warram’s fault. Something told me that I did not want the archmage thinking that I was the reason he’d had to teleport over.

To this, the archmage sighed. It was a heavy thing, filling the room enough that I suspected a hint of wind magic might have been involved too.

“Such, such, a pain. Very well then. Here.” A wellspring of mana shot out from his body into the floor, forming a circle below our feet.

You have entered a Zone of Truth! No falsehoods can be uttered here.

You have resisted Zone of Truth with the help of Obfuscation Chain (Masterwork)!

“I believe I’ve agreed not to pry into your affairs too deeply or make you remove that chain of yours, so the boy will have to do.” Archmage Callis flicked his hand, and a perfect sheet of blazing white mana shot through Warram. In the wake of its passing, everything was completely dim to my mana sight. Identify Skill activated, letting me see what he’d done.

Nullify Magic

Completely removes the effects of all skills and enchantments from anything the spell comes in contact with. Negated effects remain disabled for one hour, and during this time, any targets hit with this spell are mana-locked.

The spell seemed to undo his earlier stun on Warram, but even unstunned, he had the sense not to try anything.

“Now, that should take care of any anti-truth skills or items you may have. So very plainly: Did you cheat off of Tess on your test?”

At this, Warram grit his teeth, opening his mouth to speak but making not a sound. After a few seconds of this, the wind finally seemed to leave him, and he slumped over in defeat.

“Yes.”

“Good!” The archmage clapped, happy to be getting somewhere. “To the best of your knowledge, did Tess cheat off of you in any way.”

With a sigh of his own, Warram continued. “No.”

“Lovely. Now that we’ve settled that, the big question remains. Was this some sort of personal grudge you have against my provisionary disciple, or was it primarily political in nature?”

For a moment, the fight resurfaced in Warram, and his jaw moved up and down a few times silently. As quickly as it reappeared, however, it vanished.

“Political.”

Huh. Guess he’s not just a petty asshole. Then again, the archmage had asked if it was primarily political. It was possible there was a scheme afoot, and that Warram was an ass.

At this, Xander’Callis started to grumble as he pulled up a chair and sat. He faced the two of us, somehow still managing to stare us down like we were children caught stealing from the cookie jar.

“Look. I’m going to be incredibly, unambiguously clear here. I hate getting involved in politics.” He spat the last word out like it was a curse. “To be sure, I could. I could grab one of those little chamber seats your relatives like to sit in. Do you know why I don’t though?”

Rhetorical though it was, he met both of our eyes, his expression fierce.

“Because when you’re in a life like that, you spend half your day scheming and plotting, and the other half protecting yourself from other people’s scheming and plotting. And at the end of the day, you realize you have no time left at all to do something. Indeed, the very moment one of your damned relatives thinks I’m their enemy or that I’m fair game to use in their machinations, all they’ll do is plot and plot and plot until I find myself dragged into things I have no interest in at all.”

Honestly, kind of relatable? For all the bluster, it sounds like he’s pretty much just a guy who wants to do his little research without people bugging him. I can get behind that.

“Now, that’s why I don’t deal with your families. Do you happen to know why your families don’t deal with me? Hmm? Goss child, what has your mother said about me?”

While the Zone of Truth didn’t force Warram to answer, he seemed to understand that keeping silent wasn’t much of an option here. “That under no circumstances was I to aggravate you. That you don’t understand reciprocity or scale, and if someone gave you a papercut, you would tear their arm off.”

I shuddered, suddenly seeing a new side of the man who up till now had struck me as a wrinkly, old teacher type, if a bit rude at times. Instead of denying the charge, the archmage clapped at the answer.

“Precisely! Precisely. I’m glad we all understand one another. So here’s what we’re going to do. Tess. Do you have any further business with the Goss boy? Any desire to deal with him at all in the future, in any capacity?”

The question caught me off guard, but the answer was blissfully easy. “No. Honestly, I’d love if I could never interact with him again and forget he existed.” True, I wouldn’t mind stabbing him once or twice, but if I had the choice between vengeance and never having to deal with him again, the latter would win out every time.

“Delightful! Then this is rather simple. Goss child.” Archmage Callis at last stood from his chair, managing to loom over Warram while intensifying the weight of his mana. “I do not wish to be dragged into something like this again, even by accident, so I will be clear. For as long as the Lady Astorius remains my provisionary disciple, you will abandon any schemes you have for her. If I decide not to take her on more permanently, then it will no longer be my concern, but up until that point, you will not subject me to this nonsense. Are we clear?”

A fog of mana shot out from the archmage, at least twice as thick as what was already present, and with it came a pressure, an unstoppered intensity that shook me from sheer proximity. I looked at the archmage, failing to keep myself from being awed even as I felt a headache coming on.

That’s not- Is that normal? I felt connected to the mana in a way I’d never before, my own mana core practically vibrating in the presence of the surrounding fog. I stared almost slack-jawed at the archmage, as if there were some fundamental truth I must be missing about the universe. He seemed to grow hazy in my vision as my headache worsened, before snapping back to clarity.

Detect Secret has reached level 8!

What-

“I believe I said are we clear, Goss child?” The fog condensed around the guardsman, giving him a constricting hug. Whatever the effect was, it clearly wasn’t pleasant, as it was after an audible gulp that he responded.

“Yes, Archmage Callis.”

And with that, all the pressure in the room suddenly vanished.

Wiped away in a single moment.

“Good! Lovely. Now, final details.” Far too spry for someone of his appearance, he spun about to where Instructor Larius still sat, stunned. “Just to be clear, did you have any knowledge of this scheme or were you aiding the child in any way?”

Like watching a statue suddenly come to life, Larius grew animated once more. Having the sense not to struggle against the spell like Warram had, he answered immediately. “No and no. Apologies for wasting your time, archmage.”

Having completely switched gears, Xander’Callis good-naturedly waved the apology off. “Oh, it sounds like your time was wasted just as much as mine. Nothing for it. As for what you’re going to do, I’ll request you give the boy full marks on his test, if you would.”

Full… What? Not like the test was really the point, but did we just attend the same truth grilling session?

To his credit (or arguably discredit), even as an ethics instructor, Larius didn’t attempt to gainsay the archmage. Still, he couldn’t help himself from asking the question. “Not to disagree with you, but might I ask why?”

Xander’Callis tut, tutted at the instructor. “No need for all of that — you didn’t waste my time. I welcome disagreements if they’re valid. Although in this case, I must insist. Any punishment you give the boy is invariably going to look like I gave it to him. People will ask ‘why did Warram fail that test?’ and it’ll get out that ‘he was caught cheating by the archmage and punished!’ you see? And I think as we’ve just established, I do not want any part of that. The boy passes. We bury this here. And the three of you do not go spreading this incident wide and far.”

Larius opened his mouth, though whether to object or just to gape, I never found out.

“Lovely! Then I believe I’ve concluded my business here. Apologies for the business with the stun spell, and a good day to you.”

And with that, the archmage teleported away.

That likely would have been the end of everything too, except for one key fact: He’d opted to teleport me along as well. In an instant, the interior of the classroom vanished, replaced with the familiar view of Xander’Callis’s study. A string-like bracelet sat in the palm of my hand, and as though he’d never left it at all, the archmage sat in his usual spot.

“Um. Thanks,” I offered. “I think I was pretty close to getting dragged off to some guard station and interrogated or worse.” What exactly Warram would have done without intervention, I wasn’t sure, but I was fairly confident I wouldn’t have enjoyed it.

The archmage grumbled unintelligibly, and though it was clear I didn’t know the man as well as I’d thought I did, it struck me as uncharacteristic for him. Whether it was the brief foray into the political, or the man was secretly some massive agoraphobe, I couldn’t say.

Still a bit taken aback by both his recent behavior and the sheer force he’d displayed, I found myself peering at him once again, trying to find whatever intense truth I’d felt earlier. Save for giving myself a worse headache, however, nothing came of it.

Rather than seriously acknowledging my thanks, calling me out for staring at him, or discussing the recent incident, he immediately moved on. “Your spells are leveling too slowly. You’re not practicing enough. What cantrips are the closest to leveling?”

A little bit of whiplash, but, okay? Not like I really wanted to talk about it that much either.

“Illumination’s at 9. Should get it to 10 next week, I think? Then Minor Healing’s at 7. I haven’t really practiced it much, because, you know, I need to be healing something.” Admittedly, I’d had a period in Ftheran where I’d stabbed myself with spider fangs to level up my Poison Resistance, but something about harming myself just to practice my healing felt too macabre when I had other spells I could practice just as well.

Xander’Callis wordlessly gestured to a drawer at the far end of the room, and it flew open, a small gray ball floating out of it. Instead of traveling over to the archmage, the ball drifted over to me. Curious, I inspected it.

Minor Flesh Homunculus

A soulless ball of flesh, animated with the breath of life.

It’s a… flesh ball? I waffled on whether to reach out and accept the gift.

“Flesh homunculus. Stab it when you need to practice, and then heal it up. And if you’re one of those squeamish types, it’s fully soulless. Can’t feel pain or even be aware that you’re stabbing it. Consider it the equivalent of a magical petri dish. Just a training aid.”

If he says so, I guess. The idea of me sitting there stabbing at a flesh ball and healing it up over and over again didn’t make me feel great, admittedly. Still, it was better than stabbing myself, I was pretty sure?

“Um. Thanks for this too, then?”

Once again, the archmage grumbled. Towards the end of the grumbling, I caught what could have charitably been a goodbye, and then without further fanfare, my visit to the archmage was forcibly concluded. Where previously the walls of the mage’s study had been, now were the base of the tower and streets of the Magic District.

Still not having fully processed everything that had just happened, I set off back home, only belatedly realizing I was now holding my mana obfuscation bracelet in one hand and the flesh homunculus in the other. The first, I put back on, while the second, I stashed away.

As I walked off, half in a trance, reflecting on what had just happened, one fact stood out more clearly than the rest.

Guess the test was more stressful than I expected, huh?

Character Sheet:

Name: Tess

Age: 26

Race: Human

Class: Arcane Arsenal

Level: 11

Prestige: 1238

Health: 500/500

Mana: 350/350

Stamina: 275/275

Constitution: 28 (+2)

Strength: 26

Endurance: 26

Dexterity: 21 (+1)

Intelligence: 31 (+2)

Wisdom: 27 (+2)

Perception: 28

Charisma: 21

Luck: 27

Skills:

Skills

Weapon & Armor

Spears: 11

Small Blades: 11

Archery: 10

Axes: 9

Heavy Armor: 6

Medium Armor: 5

Light Armor: 4

Swords: 3

Hammers: 2

Staffs: 2

Unarmed Combat: 2

Movement

Dodge: 6

Spell Classes

Fire Magic: 10

Water Magic: 10

Dark Magic: 9

Light Magic: 8

Mental Magic: 8

Life Magic: 6

Earth Magic: 3

Air Magic: 3

Magic

Advanced Internal Mana Manipulation: 5

Demonic Summoning: 2

Ritual Magic: 1

Spells

Conjure Water: 11

Flameploof: 10

Darken Small Object: 10

Illumination: 9

Sense Minds: 7

Minor Healing: 7

Summon Pebble: 3

Gust: 3

Resistances

Trauma Suppression: 13

Mental Resistance: 7

Poison Resistance: 6

Bleed Resistance: 4

Pain Resistance: 4

Heat Resistance: 2

Detection

God's Eye: 8

Detect Secret: 8

Detect Trap: 7

Craft

Construction: 6

Woodworking: 7

Jewelry Making: 5

Mining: 5

Alchemy: 5

Herbalism: 4

Social

Conversation: 5

Etiquette: 5

Dancing: 4

Trade: 3

Flirt: 2

Deception: 2

General

Drinking: 7 (+5)

Reading: 3

Gambling: 1

Writing: 1

Class Skills

Weaponmaster

Bind Weapon: 5/5

Arcane Armament: 2/5

Overload Weapon: 1/5

Armorist

Bind Armor: 5/5

Arcane Armory: 5/5

Resist Magic: 2/5

Augmenter

Mana Feet: 1/1

Arcane Vision: 1/1