I froze, the archmage’s almost flippant dismissal not fully registering. “Pardon?”

A wrinkled hand lazily waved through the air. “Yes, yes, this is the part where you ask ‘why’ and then convince me to change my mind. Let us both spare ourselves the effort, shall we? Your leveling speed is adequate, and you did not do anything to offend me greatly. You hardly did anything too incredible either, but more like than not, I’d have continued for another semester with you had it not been for that entire debacle earlier.”

Debacle? The only thing that came to mind was the incident with Warram and the bracelet.

“Yes, the one with the bracelet,” he amended.

Did he just read my mind, or was it that obvious what I was thinking? Even as the archmage continued on, I focused on my new mental fortress, remembering that it strengthened my ability to detect foreign influences.

“Frankly, I suspect your encounters with the boy are as of yet unconcluded, and I have no desire to get dragged further into politics or be forced to make good on my earlier threats. While it is nothing personal, I believe that continuing to aid you would only result in headaches for me.”

Of course it comes back to Warram. I really had to figure out a good way to stab him one of these days.

On the mental front, I wasn’t entirely certain what I was looking for, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Wonder what his mind looks like, though? I prepared some counter arguments as I cast Sense Minds, watching the spell ripple out from the walls of my mental fortress.

It was a somewhat surreal experience, as this time around, I wasn’t fully “in” my mental space, so to speak. Still, I’d found that I could focus part of my attention on it while hooked into the real world. The split focus afforded me a sort of bird’s eye view of the fortress.

“Now, I’m sure you find that unfair. As I’ve said, however, I have little desire to debate the matter, so-”

Much like they had with Suds, the ripples collided with a stationary object, although in this case, it was many times larger. It practically sang out to my senses, and a quick check with God’s Eye was enough to leave me speechless.

??????

Mental Magic: 54

Mental Resistance: 81

That level of resistance was astronomical. The resistance in and of itself was higher than I’d heard of anyone having any sort of skill. That wasn’t even mentioning the Mental Magic, which was, from my understanding, more than enough to get up to a host of questionable things. I found myself feeling like I’d seen something I wasn’t supposed to.

As it turned out, the world seemed to agree with me, too.

Detect Secret has reached level 10!

Congratulations! You have reached the Initiate rank in Detect Secret!

Based on your skill usage, you have been granted an augment.

Augment of Delving

All Detect Secret skill effects are strengthened while in dungeons.

Gain a vague sense of what percentage of secrets have been uncovered on your current floor of a dungeon.

Chance to increase the value or quantity of any hidden treasures found in dungeons by a small amount.

Note! This skill is not considered class-aligned. Moving forward, leveling speeds will be drastically decreased.

Neat! Although, not particularly surprising. I’d had the skill level up a few times in odd places, but the bulk of my levels had been from spotting things in dungeons or in the dungeon training rooms we’d used in Intro to Dungeon Delving. Having a dungeon-based augment was fairly expected.

Although, for some reason the study’s dense mana seemed even more pervasive after leveling the skill. I could feel my usual headache intensifying, a throbbing pain behind my eyes. It was a shame, but if nothing else, at least the end of my apprenticeship would signal the end of the discomfort.

Belatedly, I realized that the archmage had stopped speaking, and for a brief moment, I thought he’d somehow sensed my skill leveling up. As it turned out, he had sensed me. Just not quite from my skill leveling.

“Was that a mental sensory spell you just cast? It was so… faint. Gentle even. I almost failed to notice it, which I assure you is quite the feat. Let me…” Without waiting for a response on my part, the archmage erupted into a surge of mental mana which raced towards me. I stifled a yelp, and still partially focused on my mental fortress, I watched as tendril-like mental probes tried and failed to latch onto my mind. As if disoriented, they moved about in aimless circles.

Was it too much to ask for not to have my mind invaded without permission? “Hi. Hello. I know you’re the archmage and all, but can you maybe-”

“Ah! There we are.” With the mage’s exclamation, the tendrils reoriented themselves, pushing through the darkness of my mind until they came face to face with the fortress walls. “Such a curious mental space! I dare say a student could manage a remarkably well-received thesis simply studying the enshrouding effects alone. This is new since last I’ve seen you, yes?”

Archmage Callis didn’t retract his probes, but he finally did seem to wait for my answer.

“Am I allowed to object to having my mind scanned without permission? But also, yes. It’s a new skill. Which was supposed to make my mind harder for people to find, but I guess that doesn’t mean much to you.” I wanted to be a little peeved that he’d pushed through the skill so easily, but having seen his skill levels, it was to be expected. I just hoped having a skill like this wasn’t somehow illegal or banned in some way.

He tsked at me sternly. “I believe propriety and permission went out the window when you scanned my mind, child. But oh! Are those little mental defenders? Remarkable construction, especially on such a low-leveled skill. Here. Have one of them come down and attack one of my sensors.”

All right, that was almost fair. I suppose, if a bit more invasively, all he was doing was using a sensory technique on me, which is exactly what I’d just done to him. It still rankled a bit, but even if my apprenticeship was ending, the archmage wasn’t the kind of person I could win a fight with.

Deciding to humor him, I gave a mental nudge to one of the fuzzy mindling defenders. Undaunted by the mental height, it jumped off the wall and bouncily bounded over to one of the tendrils. Part of its body formed into a spear, and in a fluid motion, it stabbed at the mental sensor.

Mental Magic has reached level 11!

The Stygian Citadel has reached level 2!

Wow. Probably ranks pretty high for “easiest skill levels I’ve ever earned.”

“I’m imagining you gained some form of skill level, yes? Let’s try this, then…” Without further elaboration, the archmage sent the probes further in, until they were right up against the fortress walls. All at once, they started throwing themselves against the dark stonework, even their fairly gentle prods sending me reeling.

Mental Resistance has reached level 9!

The Stygian Citadel has reached level 3!

“Ah. It seems that was a touch harder on you than expected. Apologies. A wonderful skill you’ve managed to get your hands on, though. From what I can sense, I dare say it stands to be better than my own once it gets enough levels. Imagine that! I suppose I will not force you to divulge its origin; however, I would hardly mind studying it even further should you find yourself amenable.”

Wonder how many levels it needs before I’m not at the mercy of someone like the archmage. Still, it was nice to have some perspective. Hex clearly had left me something good if it was even better than whatever the archmage was using. Hopefully it wouldn’t cause me to end up as some sort of mental lab rat to the archmage, though.

“Does this mean the apprenticeship is still on then? You keep teaching me in return for getting to poke at my head?” I wasn’t entirely sure if I liked that deal, especially considering that his mini mental attack seemed to be accelerating my already pounding headache. Admittedly, though, it sounded better than losing my magic teacher completely. Plus, if his studies caused my skill levels to shoot up like they just had, it might even be to my benefit.

My question only earned me a dry chuckle in response. “I’m afraid not. Much as I was saying, even if you were far more interesting, it would not be worth the chance of my involvement in politics.” He spat the final word out, leaving no room for confusion as to where he stood on the issue.

I felt a small trickle of water slide down my cheek at his words, the sensation stunning me even more than the archmage’s dismissal had.

Am I crying?

That couldn’t be right. When was the last time I’d done that? And over some fancy magic lessons? Not that I had anything against crying -- great past time, had been a general fan before the advent of Trauma Suppression -- but seriously?

The archmage seemed to agree with me on that front, tutting as he caught sight of the tears. “Do stop that, won’t you? It’s macabre. I’m not sure what strange skill you’re using, but I assure you I’ve seen far too much in my life for a little blood to earn my sympathy.”

Blood? What’s he- I ran a hand up to my cheek and swept at the wet trail, finding it thicker than it should have been from simple tears. Knowing what I would find but still not believing it, I extended my hand out in front of my eyes.

Sorry. Wait. Sorry. I’m crying blood. Why am I crying blood? That feels like a very bad thing! I furiously conjured up a ball of water, trying to clean my face as if that would stop anymore blood from coming out.

You are bleeding! Lose-

Not now!

I could feel Trauma Suppression starting to sink in, but there was only so much it could do when I was actively losing health while bleeding from my eyes. My headache started getting worse and worse, as my simple chat with the archmage rapidly began to escalate into a horror movie.

“Hi! Please help! Not faking. Bleeding from my eyes!” Was it the mana in the room? Maybe if he teleported me out, I’d feel better. Or had he overdone his mental probing? In that case, I needed him to fix it, immediately. The headache wasn’t quite to the “claw my eyes out to make the pain stop” levels, but it continued to pulse, stronger and stronger. Considering this was already how bad it was with my levels in Pain Resistance, clearly there was something very, very wrong happening with me.

“Fascinating. You aren’t faking it, are you? Do you have any idea as to the blood’s origins? I assure you it could not be my mental probing.” He circled me, the inquisitive glint in his eyes not remotely reassuring as drops of blood started falling to the floor.

“Can we figure this out after you heal it somehow? Fucking hell, it hurts!”

Pain Resistance has reached level 5!

I clutched my head and bent over, the tears now skipping my cheeks and falling directly to the floor as I tried to counteract the outwards pressure on my head. Right when I thought my brain was about to explode-

Archmage Callis has cast Numb on you!

I nearly slumped to the floor as the pain subsided. It wasn’t completely gone -- and worse than that, the dull pain continued to grow -- but it didn’t hold a candle to what it had been before. I could still feel the pounding, and the blood continued to flow, but it wasn’t remotely as troubling.

Bleed Resistance has reached level 5!

“None of that shouting and swearing, now. Feel free to ignore the damage you’re taking -- I am more than capable of healing you through anything, and even were you to die, I have a few levels in soul magic through which I could likely anchor your soul to your body. Now, let me repeat myself. Do you have any idea as to the blood’s origins? Any strange notifications directly preceding it?”

Xander’Callis was treating my plight a little too flippantly for my taste, especially with the part about me possibly dying, but I supposed his words were reassuring in a twisted way.

And the faster I answer him, the faster we figure out what’s wrong with me. Swallowing the urge to (fail at) knocking some sense to him, I thought back.

“I hit the next rank in Detect Secret, I guess? Maybe it made my mana headache worse somehow. All the mana in your study started to seem thicker afterwards. You can’t reel it in somehow, can you?” I imagined as an archmage, whatever negative effects the dense mana was having on me were something he was immune to.

In response, the archmage simply stared at me blankly.

“Miss Astorius. There is no such thing as a ‘mana headache.’ Or at least not from being around too much mana. If anything, it should make you feel refreshed.”

Wait, what? “Then why have I gotten headaches every time I come here?” I guessed I’d kind of just assumed it was from the mana, but what else could it be? I strongly doubted it was something as mundane as the archmage’s cologne or something like that.

Xander’Callis pursed his lips and paced the room with a hum before settling on a possible answer. “I suppose if it is related to Detect Secret, it is loosely possible that you might be running afoul of some sort of illusion I’ve set? I will admit, there are things in this room I’ve set counterspells on to ensure no one pries through them, but for the life of me, I cannot imagine why they would be affecting you unless you were attempting to bypass them.” He paused to cast a healing spell on me, restoring the damage I’d been taking from my blood loss over the course of our conversation.

“Indeed, at most, I could imagine you starting to see through the glamors I have on the room, and only then if you had a good illusion-breaking skill. I will confess, beneath the illusions, this room is not nearly as tidy as it appears to be.”

I couldn’t help myself at that, breaking out into a laugh despite the growing puddle of blood and pounding headache. “Wait, what are you talking about? No offense, but this place has looked like a mess since day one.” I gestured to a particularly cluttered shelf, covered in trinkets and gizmos I couldn’t begin to guess at the purpose of.

At this, the archmage abruptly raced up to me, bringing his head only inches from mine.

His pupils seemed to constrict, almost making me feel like I was under some sort of magic microscope. I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d done to warrant such a treatment, but whatever it was, I was already regretting it.

“You weren’t even aware of the glamor then? You have some sort of passive illusion resistance that works that well?” He stood there, frozen, his entire attention fixed on my response.

“I mean. Um. Yes? I guess?” I considered lying, but I’d already seen the archmage cast a truth spell before, and with how much this had riled him up, I didn’t doubt he would cast it on me if he really wanted to.

Between God’s Eye and my more recent boon, Illuminated Sight, I was rocking a fair amount of illusion resistance. Still, so what? At most, it was something that helped me out with hidden treasure in dungeons.

“Remarkable! From your reactions, I’m quite certain you lack an understanding of how rare such a thing is, especially at the level of proficiency you already exhibit. This is even more exciting than your mental fortress, and we can be quite certain that one of my counterspells is attempting to fry your mind now. At the risk of having to bind you thoroughly with Oaths and geasa, let us see what exactly you are trying to pry into that you shouldn’t be. This will be ever so fascinating!”

… Yay? It was nice to be told I had something more special than I’d known. It was also a plus that I wasn’t dying of some incurable mystery curse. Was the archmage really going to try making my headache worse instead of just fixing me or turning off his “counterspells” or whatever, though?

“I don’t suppose I can opt out, can I?”

With a cheery grin, the archmage shook his head. “Not even the remotest of chances! Even ignoring how interesting this is, who knows what you’ve seen in here that you shouldn’t have? Let us check, shall we?”

Well, at least the numbing spell is still up? Barring fighting the archmage, going with the flow here seemed to be the best option. The faster we got this over with, presumably the faster I’d be done having a magical migraine.

Seeing my acceptance -- or more accurately, my resignation -- Xander’Callis only grew more animated. “Lovely! Now. Tell me what you see.” At his words, a drawer opened up across the room, a small sphere floating out of it. It looked ominous, perhaps even more so than the spell crystal I’d used to get my mental fortress, with a cracked black surface and a fierce, bloody glow. Equal parts curious and wary, I hit it with God’s Eye.

Cursed Core of Aethon’Thulus

The heart of an ancient blood demon, steeped in misery and anguish. A powerful reagent in sacrificial rituals, mass curses, and demonic summonings.

“Dude, what the hell?” Even without touching it, I felt revulsed just from looking at the thing. I hadn’t heard any bad rumors about the archmage, but just what kinds of spells was the guy casting in his freetime?

“Right! I will presume from your reaction that you are not seeing a simple paperweight.” It floated back into its drawer only to be replaced by another item shortly afterwards, a leathery tome, the cover of which was styled into a grimacing face with pained, empty eye sockets. Blissfully, the face appeared inanimate, but I kept expecting the book to shift or start staring at me. Eager to move on, I identified it immediately.

Forbidden Necronomicon of the Abalinth Order

This necronomicon is forbidden. By whom? Everyone. In fact, even the Abalinth Order eventually banned this book after the gruesome spells within were used against them by one of their own. While it may contain powerful spellwork, it is highly doubtful that even a single page within could be put to good use.

Once again seeing my expression, the archmage tutted at me before returning the book. “Don’t look at me like that. You try to find a necronomicon that doesn’t have the words ‘evil’ or ‘forbidden’ or ‘banned’ in the description, hmm? What would you have me do, be an archmage and not own a necronomicon collection?” He shook his head at the obviously ludicrous thought.

On and on the items came, each more suspect than the last and each of their apparent glamors easily pierced by my skills. Identifying a few of them brought me additional spikes of dimmed pain, and the archmage had had to cast a few cleaning spells to mop up my blood, but with him refreshing the numbing spell, it wasn’t too awful. Even with my reduced leveling speed, I managed to snag another level in Detect Secret as well. Apparently forbidden and cursed items behind high-level illusions were pretty secretive.

Being a lab rat is weirdly good for my skills, to be honest. Maybe I’d have to bleed out of my eyes more often.

After being forced to witness a host of things that made me rethink my view on the archmage, we at last came to a simple stack of blank paper. Though not quite fully smirking, the archmage seemed smug as it floated over, evidently convinced he’d finally “won,” so to speak.

And he was probably right, too, judging by the item’s appearance.

“Um. Regular paper?” That couldn’t be right, could it be? Was this finally an illusion I actually couldn’t break?

Xander’Callis appeared equal parts giddy and disappointed to have finally discovered my limit. Even with the promise of this entire affair ending, however, I somehow found myself annoyed that I couldn’t see past one of his illusions. This was supposed to be my thing, wasn’t it?

Recalling that I had at least a little bit more power at my disposal, I summoned up the basic version of Arcane Vision, enhancing my sight with my class skill. With the additional Perception and detection levels that it granted, I was hoping I’d have a better chance.

Shakily, and with a rapid increase in the flow of my tears, black text started to fade into existence on the paper. My headache was finally starting to push past the archmage’s numbing spell enough to be noticeably painful again, but I spared a glance at the pages anyway, somewhat overly curious to see what could possibly warrant the higher level illusion.

...for much of history, we have known that some classes of mana are treated by the system more favorably than others. Take the illusive Time magic, for instance, the first well-recorded instance of a Legendary school of magic. For all that previous scholars have tried, however, there has never been a single confirmed case of a Mythic school of magic. While the prevailing modern theory is that such a magic type simply does not exist, this research will argue the opposite, and in fact, will argue an even stronger claim: There may exist magic that goes beyond the conventional tiers altogether.

The following pages contain my research into higher tiers of magic as well as my attempts to learn or create a Mythic school of magic…

Huh. Neat. I stopped there, opting to get the reader’s digest by hitting the paper with God’s Eye instead.

Personal Research Notes of Archmage Xander’Callis

These-

Pain.

I dismissed the notification without thinking, collapsing to the floor as my body began convulsing.

No longer was the blood confined to my eyes, instead flowing from my mouth, my ears, my nose as well. I screamed, only dimly aware that the archmage had cast another round of numbing on me in addition to some sort of muffling spell.

“Strange. The pain appears to be pushing through the numbing spell. I wasn’t aware I’d even devised a counterspell that did such a thing. Or at least, certainly there wasn’t one on my research notes. A moment please.”

Xander’Callis I’m going to legitimately murder you! This wasn’t the sort of event to take “a moment” in! Why? How? How had this meeting gone so wrong so fast?

“There. While a bit of a security risk, I’ve temporarily turned off all the wards, glamors, and counterspells in the room. I’ll be making you form a few Oaths on your way out of course, but you should- Hmm. You don’t seem to be feeling particularly better, do you? How… odd. Another moment, if you would. No worries. If I cannot figure it out shortly, I will simply knock you out.”

I’m learning a biting skill and leveling it to 1000 so I can rip your throat out! I wanted, needed the pain to stop. Frantically, I searched through my notifications to see if there was anything that could help me, finding it hard to focus through the waves of pain which wracked my body. A few recent skill levels stood out, but they’d happened after the pain had started.

Wait. There.

God’s Eye has reached level 10!

Congratulations! You have reached the Initiate rank in-

Shit! At any other time, the notification would have been welcome, but evidently, my ability to see through illusions had just gone up. With clenched fists, I swiveled my head upwards, channeling mana into Arcane Vision and swinging my gaze around the room.

It’s something new. Something’s causing this. As soon as I find it, I can either smash it to hell, or get the archmage to disable it.

“I suppose there’s one remaining illusion in the room, of course.” He chuckled at that, somehow finding humor in the situation. Of course, he wasn’t the one getting tortured by some sort of spell. “But I will admit, even with your remarkable abilities, the idea that you’d come anywhere close to piercing it would be nonsensical. For passive illusion resistance, I would imagine you’d need at least a Mythic ability for such a thing, or a remarkably high-leveled skill.”

What is it, what is it, what is it, what is it? I identified everything around the room, rapid-fire, all thoughts fleeing me as I turned into a creature of pain and purpose.

“Or. Hmm. I suppose it could be multiple skills working in tandem? Still, those sorts of skills do not simply materialize from thin air. I can hardly imagine how one would come by them. Unless you’d been blessed by some sort of god -- in fact, unless you had multiple deific boons, I just do not see how-”

What is it, what is it, what is it? My eyes fell upon the archmage, and I considered pouncing at him, if just to make him knock me out. Reflexively, I cast God’s Eye on the man just as I’d been doing to everything else.

Instead of giving me the status line I’d received months prior, however, the skill failed to come up with anything at all.

Beneath my gaze and the effects of whatever augment I’d gained, Xander’Callis began to flicker.

His body flashed in and out of existence over and over again, intermittently revealing a dense fog where his body should have been.

Right when I thought my head was about to very literally explode, the special-effects show ended. Blessedly, blissfully, gloriously, the pain receded with it, leaving me only with phantom afterimages which ran through my frayed nerves.

In this case, however, I had no trouble ignoring my body. Mainly, that was because what lay before me was doing a far better job at grabbing my attention.

Eyeing the archmage, all my previous thoughts of vengeance fled from me, replaced with only a single question.

“Wait, what the hell?”