“Well, that was rather abrupt.” Marcus thought, staring at the corridor Felix had disappeared into.

  He turned to Klara to ask her what she thought of what had just happened and noticed a rather bitter expression on her face.

  “Klara? Is there something wrong?” He asked.

  “Nothing.” She replied, shaking her head. “It's just that I would have liked to have some time to spend together with Felix, but if he’s going to attend the Academy then we won’t be able to.” She paused for a moment and added quickly: “But I'll get over it. More than anything, I'm happy that he finally has a chance to make his dreams come true, and I want to support him as much as possible.”

  “I will support him too.” Marcus said. “And besides, if you want to stay here in Rennhafen with him, I could rent a house so you two can live together, or something like that.”

  “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.” Klara replied. “Felix is going to be busy studying and I don't want to get in the way. I will stay in Stonebarrow with you and wait for vacation days to see him. And besides, I’d rather know that he’s safe studying here in the capital rather than having him hunt orcs and other dangerous beasts in the forest.”

  The Vex Queen couldn't help but agree with her. He still felt bad for putting his friends in danger during the fight against the orcs.

  “You really want Felix to succeed in his studies, uh?” He asked.

  “Of course.” Klara said. “He dreamed of attending the Academy and becoming an Archmage since we were children, and now that he has a chance to achieve all that I just can’t risk ruining it for him.” Then she paused for a moment, turned towards Orr and asked: “By the way Magister, do you think he really has a chance to become an Archmage?”

  “Yes. Or at least he has a better chance than most.” The old man promptly replied. “Young Felix has an incredibly strong aura, and if he manages to learn how to utilize it properly he would definitely qualify for the position of Archmage. He still has a long way to go though, and only time will tell if he’ll be able to realize his potential.”

  Klara stared at the Magister for a moment, and then she laughed.

  “Well, that's a much more grounded answer that I expected.” She said. “But somehow, it makes me feel like Felix really has a solid chance at realizing his dream. As for me, I'll support him however I can.”

  “Me too.” Marcus chimed in. “If there is anything I can do to help him, don't hesitate to let me know.”

  Orr smiled brightly at the two of them.

  “Well, having friends like you two is certainly going to help him. But your emotional support aside, I don’t think he’s going to need much. I think I can convince the current headmaster to give him a scholarship, which would cover pretty much all of his basic needs while he’s attending the Academy.” He took a look out of the window. “Now, it's getting pretty late and we have a lot to do, so what do you say if we get going? If you want to keep talking we can do it while we walk.”

  “Fine for me.” The Vex Queen replied. “How about you, Klara?”

  “Yeah, I don't want to take any more of your or the Magister's time.” The girl replied.

  “Perfect. Follow me then, please.” Orr said, leading them down the corridor.

  “Out of curiosity, what exactly is an Archmage?” Marcus asked as they walked. “I think I've seen that term in some history books, but I thought it was just a generic way to address master sorcerers or something like that.”

  “No, it's actually an official title for a selected group of spellcasters under the direct authority of the Emperor.” The Magister replied without slowing down. “Archmages are chosen amongst the best spellcasters in the Empire, and are tasked with dealing with problems that require powerful magic to be solved. For this reason they are also given a great deal of authority and power, rivalling those of the highest nobles, in addition to near unlimited funding.”

  “Well, I guess that explains why Felix wanted to become one.” The Vex Queen commented.

  “It's more than that.” Klara chimed in. “Archmages are near legendary figures. Many of them were hailed as great heroes, like Alfund the Gray, Dellemar the Golden or Leroy the White.”

  Marcus nodded. He was pretty sure that Dellemar was mentioned in the chronicles of the Zaru wars, and he had found the other two names in some history books at least once.

  “I can't help but notice that you associate a color with each of these names.” He then said. “Is there a reason for that?”

  “Oh, it's just that each Archmage seat has a color associated with it.” The girl replied. “White, which is their leader, Gray —which is sometimes called Silver—, Golden, Blue, Red, Green and Amethyst.”

  “So seven in total.” Marcus commented.

  “Yes, though according to some sources there used to be eight of them in the past.” Klara added.

  “Really? And what was the color associated with the eighth one?”

  “Black.” The girl replied. “The Black Archmage, also known as the Dark Archmage, who is supposedly the strongest of them all and controls them from the shadows.”

  Hearing these words, Orr sneered.

  “These are merely legends, young lady.” He said. “There is no official record of a Black Archmage whatsoever.”

  “There are many rumors about it though.” The girl answered back.

  “Yes, but they are just that: rumors. Personally, I think that they originated from some nameless sorcerer or con artist pretending to be an Archmage in order to scam people. It's often the case for this kind of tall tales.” He paused, and stopped in front of a large double door. “Anyway, we've arrived. This is the museum's warehouse.”

  The door opened over a large staircase leading underground. The Magister led Marcus and Klara downstairs, until they reached a vast hall, illuminated by white magical lights dangling from the tall ceiling, similar to neon lights from Earth. Countless shelves filled with boxes were lined across the room, forming a veritable maze.

  “Follow me please.” Orr said, guiding them through the rows of shelves, until they reached a lone desk, where a young man with dark hair, dressed in modest clothes and wearing glasses, was waiting for them.

  “Good evening Magister.” The man bowed slightly. “This is countess Maar Kus, I assume?”

  Klara snickered as Marcus grimaced after hearing his name mispronounced once again.

  “It's Marcus, Sam, not Maar Kus.” Orr corrected him, before turning to the Vex Queen. “This is Sam, by the way. He's an intern at the Academy and he’s currently the assistant cataloguer of the museum. He's going to help us get the samples you want.”

  “Greetings, countess.” The man bowed again. “Sorry for not getting your name right.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Marcus replied. “You’re not the first one today.”

  “Thank you, countess.” Sam said. “In that case, I’m at your disposal.”

  “Thank you.” The Vex Queen said. “So, how do I get these samples? Is there a list or something I could check?”

  “Sure.” The young man said, producing a paper from the desk drawer and handing it to the Vex Queen. “Me and Magister Orr have taken the liberty of compiling a list of some particularly interesting species, each with the proper classification and a summary of their most peculiar and potentially useful traits.”

  Marcus skimmed over the list, surprised to see that it contained more than one hundred different species.

  “Well, this is even better than I expected.” He thought, looking at the names of various creatures he had never heard of before, and most importantly the traits associated with them. Some looked very promising indeed. “I might get more DNA today than I had in all the time I spent in this world!”

  “So, is there anything you’d like to try first?” Orr asked.

  “Hard to say.” Marcus replied. “They look good, and I'd like to try everything.”

  “I think that might be a bit too much.” The magister said in a half joking tone. “There are one hundred and twenty two items on that list, after all. Besides, you don’t have to eat them all today. You can come back anytime to take some more samples.”

  “Ah! Don't worry!” Marcus smirked, a predatory smile that showed his shark-like teeth. “I've got a much greater appetite than my size might suggest. Besides, I usually only need a single nibble in order to get the traits from a sample.” He paused and then added: “If it's fresh enough, that is. If it's dried, cooked or pickled or something like that, I might actually need a few bites.”

  “Don't worry about that, countess.” Sam said with a hint of smugness. “Most of our samples are kept under stasis, so they are as fresh as the day they were collected.”

  “Oh, that's good.” The Vex Queen nodded approvingly, feeling his mouth salivating at the prospect of so many fresh samples. “Let's not wait any further then, shall we?”

  “Of course. What sample do you want to try first?”

  “Hmmm.” Marcus studied the list for a moment, and chose a species that looked promising. “Here. The Killer Raptor, the one that has legs so powerful it can kick right through a man in full armor.”

  “Right away.” Sam replied, and walked away. A minute later, he came back with a rather large wooden box.

  “Here it is.” He said, taking out a weird contraption from the box. It looked like an hourglass without the glass part, made of two discs of black stone held together by three bronze rods. The most peculiar thing however, was that there was the talon of a large bird somehow floating between the two discs.

  Sam laid the weird contraption on the desk, produced a small focus instrument from his pockets—a small black stone, with fangs and needles tied to it— and pointed it at the hourglass thing. A moment later, there was a weird buzzing sound and the bird's feet suddenly stopped floating, falling on the lower stone disc.

  “Done. It's out of stasis now. You can take it.” The intern announced.

  Marcus grabbed the bird's foot, looked at it for a moment and then took a nibble out of it.

  Immediately, a stream of genetic information flew into him and he closed his eyes to process it better. The Killer Raptor was indeed a fearsome predator, with exceptionally strong leg muscles whose unique composition allowed it to leap for huge distances and kick with monstrous power, apparently enough to almost reach the speed of sound.

  Marcus reopened his eyes, a wide grin on his face. Now those were some really good traits.

  “Is everything alright, countess?” Orr asked, studying his reaction.

  “Yep. All good.” The Vex Queen muttered, still enjoying the lingering feeling that absorbing new genetic information had left.

  “Did you get the traits of the Killer Raptor?” The old man inquired.

  “Yes.” The Vex Queen replied. “Its leg structure, its muscles, feathers… got everything stored here.” He was about to point at his head, but then he instinctively pointed at his belly instead.

  “I see.” The Magister nodded, and wrote something down in a notebook. “Do you feel like trying another sample, or do you want to keep eating that one?”

  “Nah, I think I got everything I needed from this.” He handed the bird's foot back to Sam. “You can take this back.”

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  Sam took the sample without a word and put it back into the stasis contraption. He closed his eyes and after a moment, with a buzzing sound, the Killer Raptor’s talon resumed floating between the two discs. Meanwhile, Orr had seemingly finished taking notes.

  “Interesting... you acquired that information really fast.” The old man commented. “You also showed some interesting physical reactions.”

  “Really?” Marcus asked. “What kind of reactions?”

  “Well, your eyes, though closed, were moving as if you had entered a rem phase, you displayed some muscular twitching in your limbs and tail and... well, you made some noises as well.”

  “What kind of noises?”

  “Ehr...” Orr paused, looking a bit embarrassed. “I think they could be described as moans, albeit very soft ones.”

  “Moans?” Marcus raised an eyebrow. “You're telling me that I moan when I eat?” He turned to Klara. “Have I been doing that before?”

  “Well, yes.” The girl replied, averting her gaze to avoid looking the Vex Queen in the eyes. “Usually when you eat some new food. I just thought that you... really enjoyed it.”

  “Hot diggity dangit!” Marcus thought, feeling a little embarrassed. All of a sudden, the thought of having an audience was bothering quite a lot.

  “Well, if you want we can leave you alone while you consume your samples.” Orr proposed, immediately picking up on the Vex Queen’s discomfort.

  “No, don’t worry, I’m fine.” Marcus reassured him.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I do feel a bit embarrassed, but I can take it. And I’d rather know in detail what happens while I eat than be left in the dark.” He forced himself to smile. “Besides, at least right now we’re not in public.”

  “Very well.” The Magister conceded. “If you say so, I guess that we can keep going. Do you want another sample, countess?”

  “Sure.” Marcus picked up the list and selected another item from it. “I’d like to try the Lake Snake next.”

  “Excellent. Sam, go get that sample please.”

  As the intern walked away however, the Vex Queen tried to steel himself, taking a deep breath and doing his best to keep his emotions in check.

  “Alright, that was embarrassing, so I'll just try not to moan from now on.” He thought. “I think I can do it. I’ll just have to be aware of my body reactions. Sort of like manual breathing or something like that.”

  Marcus kept his body stiff as a new sample was presented to him, determined to not moan or twitch or do anything else embarrassing. However, his determination only lasted until he actually started eating those samples. After just a few minutes he had already forgotten about his embarrassment and was moaning and twitching his tail without any shame.

  He could hardly blame himself though, since the DNA he was getting was just too good.

  While there were a few unreadable genetic codes here and there that he had learned to associate with magical abilities, most of the traits from the creatures he was eating were completely natural and he was able to absorb them all. Countless genetic information flew into him, giving him a primal pleasure so intense that he almost forgot about everything else. Only during the brief pauses between each samples he regained some of his rationality, and during that time he was too busy marveling over the quality of the traits he was getting to really worry about anything else.

  From the meat of a turtle-like creature called Adamantoise, Marcus gained the genetic trait that allowed it to digest metal and coal and use them to grow an incredibly resilient shell made out of carbonated steel alloy. Then there were several aquatic creatures, which Marcus had never eaten before and that gave him the necessary information for creating aquatic and amphibious drones, in addition to the peculiar traits of each species, like the ability to change the color of their skin or swim at incredible speed. There was also a series of feathers from a huge bird called the Roc and skin from a bat-like creature called Tahura, whose wing structures could be used to optimize his Wyvern drones and make them much faster. Several different poisonous and venomous species were included in the list, giving the Vex Queen access to a plethora of toxins that his drones could produce. A few parasitic species also had very interesting traits, such as the Mimic Jellyfish ability to meld itself with the flesh of a host down to the cellular level, or the Brain Spider's ability to replace and control the central nervous system of its victims. And this was just the tip of the iceberg: he ate dozens of other creatures, from plants to animals, all of which gave him some potentially useful traits.

  However, without a doubt the best traits of all came from two species of beetles, the Sniper Beetle and the Bomb Beetle, which incidentally were related to each other. The Sniper Beetle had the ability to shoot explosive chemical bolts out of its abdomen with deadly accuracy and power, being able to kill or seriously harm even animals many times its size with its ranged attacks, while the Bomb Beetle used a similar chemical mechanism to detonate itself if threatened, causing a powerful explosion that would take out any would-be predator with itself —a trait that admittedly wasn't really good for the survival of the individual, but it actually helped the species' survival a great deal, since most predators quickly learned to leave the little explosive insects alone. The first trait was perfect to improve the ranged capabilities of the Artillery drones, while the latter opened a lot of interesting possibilities for the creation of kamikaze drones.

  “My drones are expendable after all, so I don't really care if they blow themselves up as long as they can take the enemy with them.” The Vex Queen thought hazily, still digesting the information. “And if I give them big enough explosive glands the resulting explosion would be actually rather powerful, at least comparable to an actual bomb I think.” He tried to imagine just how powerful his hive could become by implementing these traits and the thought made him smile ear to ear. “Man, if I had these traits a year ago, dealing with both the goblins and the orcs would have been a breeze. I could have just blown them to kingdom come and they could have done nothing to prevent it!”

  He was about to ask for more samples, but then he had to put a hand to his mouth to contain a burp, and suddenly realized that he was feeling quite stuffed. He glanced over the desk, at the pile of samples he had already tasted and that were put back in stasis, which were close to a hundred. Though he had barely taken a nibble from each one, the sheer number had been enough to fill his belly.

  With a bit of reluctance, he decided that maybe it was better to stop there for the day, lest he risked getting a stomach ache.

  “Alright, I think this is enough.” He said. “I'm starting to feel full.”

  “Very good.” Orr replied. “It was getting late anyway, and we couldn’t have gone on much further. By the way, do you think you could improve your Wyverns with the traits you got today? The king asked specifically for that and I tried to include some species that could have been useful in that regard, but we don’t have many species that can fly while carrying a person.”

  “Don’t worry, the traits I got are enough.” Marcus nodded. “I can make my Wyverns many times better now. Plus a lot of other drones.”

  “Excellent. I'm sure his majesty will be pleased to hear that.” The old man got up from his chair with the sound of creaking bones. “Ouch. Really starting to feel my age. I guess I need some rest now.” He turned towards Sam. “You can put the samples back to their place. We're done for today.” He turned back to the Vex Queen. “By the way, feel free to come again if you wish to eat more samples. We have many more, and we might get a few new ones in a few weeks, when the new shipments arrive. Just let me know in advance.”

  “Thank you, Magister.” Marcus replied with genuine gratitude. “I'll be sure to visit again soon, if I have the chance!”

  “Very good. And with that, I'd say our business is done.” Orr said. “I think your friend should be done with his enrollment too. I can accompany you to meet with him, and afterwards, if you want, I could give you a tour of the museum.”

  “That'd be awesome!” The Vex Queen said, but then Klara coughed loudly, clearly to attract his attention.

  “What's wrong, Klara.” He asked, turning towards his friend.

  “Ehm... as the Magister said, it's getting pretty late now, and unlike you none of us had anything to eat yet.” The girl said. “Besides, master Orr is probably getting tired after assisting you for hours. We can come back later to visit the museum on our own later.”

  “Oh right.” Marcus nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t think about that.. In that case, we can each go our own way after we meet with Felix.”

  “Well, I won’t deny that my old bones are getting pretty tired.” Orr nodded. “Thank you for your consideration, countess. Allow me to accompany you to the entrance then.”

  The Magister started walking back through the aisles, followed by Klara and Marcus. As they walked, the Vex Queen leaned towards his friend and whispered to her:

  “You told me it was late because you're hungry yourself, didn't you?”

  “Of course.” Klara replied with a smirk. “I wasn’t the one who ate half a museum. And besides, I've heard that there is a nice tavern nearby that makes very good steaks.”

  “Hmmm... I could go for some steaks.” Marcus muttered under his breath.

  “What? You just ate a whole exhibit worth of museum pieces! How can you still be hungry?”

  “I'm not hungry, just peckish.” The Vex Queen defended himself. “And besides, you know that I have a really fast metabolism.”

  “Alright then. We can go there together.” Klara said. “But since you eat so much, we're not splitting the bill! I don't want to lose most of my wage on your overeating!”

  “Don't worry, I am quite full right now.” Marcus replied, slapping his abdomen. “And besides, I’m going to foot the bill myself as a celebration for Felix’s enrollment.”

  “Hm... alright, that would be acceptable.” The girl conceded.

  It took them only a couple minutes to reach the entrance, where they found Felix waiting for them with a huge smile on his face.

  “Klara! Marcus!” He greeted them cheerfully, waving his hand. “How did it go?”

  “All good.” The Vex Queen replied. “How about you? Judging by how much you’re smiling, I’d say you managed to enroll, right?”

  “Yeah!” The young man said. “With full scholarship to boot! As soon as I said that I was sent by Magister Orr the office lady pretty much gave me everything I needed!” He turned to Orr. “Thank you for that, Magister! I can never repay you enough for this!”

  “Study hard and with diligence.” The old man said. “For a teacher like me, that’s all the repayment I need.”

  “I will, Magister!” Felix said, bowing his head with respect.

  “Very good.” Klara then said. “Now, what do you say about getting something to eat? We can tell each other the details over lunch, and then we can come back later to visit the museum.”

  “Sounds good to me.” The apprentice sorcerer agreed. “Are we going to that tavern we heard about yesterday?”

  “Yes. And Marcus has graciously offered to foot the bill, as a celebration for your enrollment, so don’t hold back.”

  They all laughed, and after saying goodbye to the Magister, they finally left the Academy, still chatting without a worry.

  After the Vex Queen and her friends had left the building, Orr immediately turned and headed inside the Academy, walking through several corridors until he reached a small, anonymous door without any sign or plaque over it. That was his current office, that he had kept in the Academy despite having technically retired. It was rather small and cramped, with libraries and a big desk leaving little space for everything else, and there was also no window, with the only light being provided by a magical lamp on the ceiling. Despite all this though, the office was overall rather cozy, and most importantly a keen observer would have noticed that the reason it was so small was that the walls looked especially thick around that room, which was due to the fact that Orr had added a few layers of cork covered with plaster to them. Adding to this, the Magister had also put several magical wards on the office with the result that the room was completely isolated from the outside world.

  For an old political animal like Orr, having a nest like this where he could talk freely without fearing being eavesdropped on was a huge advantage.

  The old man sat down at his desk, taking out a bottle of wine from a magically refrigerated compartment disguised as a drawer. He poured himself a glass, just to relax a bit. As Klara had noticed before, it was getting late and the Magister was also feeling rather hungry right now, but his lunch would have to wait. He had to make a report first.

  He started tinkering with his desk, pressing several hidden buttons in a certain sequence, and in response to this he could hear a series of mechanical locks clicking. Then, a secret drawer finally opened and the Magister grabbed a peculiar-looking broken stone enveloped in silver wires and decorated with black crystals. Anyone familiar with telemancy would have recognized it as a Twinstone, but it looked more polished than most. In fact it was what was called a Dark Twinstone, a special device made to ensure that the telepathic conversations couldn’t possibly be eavesdropped on through magical means. He held the stone, closed his eyes and focused his aura, waiting for his call to be picked up. A few seconds later, a contact was established.

  “Good day, Orr.” Dar's voice echoed inside of the Magister's mind. “What news do you bring?”

  “Good day, master Dar.” The old man saluted him back. “I've just met with countess Marcus and I’ve given her the samples we agreed on.”

  “Good. Did everything go well?”

  “Yes.” The Magister replied. “Countess Marcus was in an almost trance-like state while eating those samples, so I don't think she noticed that we had selected mostly non-magical creatures. Or at least she didn't complain or show any disappointment at all.”

  “If that's true, then it's good.” Dar said approvingly. “We don't want her to gain too many powerful magical traits, but we also don't want her to notice our intentions. Should she come back to the museum, give her a few more creatures with magical powers to keep her unaware. Just try not to pick creatures with particularly dangerous powers.”

  “I will master Dar.” Orr replied.

  “Good. Anything else to report?”

  “Yes, actually. I took the liberty of inviting one of the countess's companions —the half-djinni boy, to be precise— to enroll at the Academy, and he has accepted.”

  “I see.” Dark replied after a moment. “May I ask why?”

  “Because he has incredible potential.” The Magister replied without hesitation. “His aura is exceptionally strong for his age, and I believe he could become a sorcerer on par with an Archmage with the proper education. It'd be a waste to waste such a talent, even if he has been influenced by an Outsider. Besides, if he's studying here under my tutelage, he isn't guarding the Vex Queen, thus making it easier for us to eliminate her if we need to.”

  There were a few seconds of silence, as the sorcerer on the other side processed this information. During this time, Orr started to feel nervous, worried that maybe he had done something wrong, but then Dar spoke in a reassuring tone, dispelling his fears.

  “That was a good call, Orr.” He said. “Getting him out of the Outsider's aura of influence would make it easier for him to get over any potential conditioning, and if he's as talented as you say he could indeed become an useful asset.”

  “Thanks, master Dar.” The old man said, feeling a bit relieved.

  “Anything else you wish to report?”

  Orr thought about it. If he had been talking with anything else he would have had nothing to add, but Dar was extremely paranoid and he wished to hear every single detail, no matter how insignificant it could seem.

  “Well... it's just a minor thing, but I had a brief conversation with the Vex Queen about the Archmages, and her friend, the young woman, spoke of the legend of the Black Archmage.” He finally said. “I dismissed it as baseless rumors though and we changed the topic soon after.”

  “You did well.” Dar said approvingly. “The less people know about me, the better. Now, anything else you wish to tell me?”

  “No, master Dar, that was all.”

  “Very good. In that case, keep watching over the Vex Queen and her companions, and contact me if anything happens.”

  “I will master Dar.”

  “Excellent. Now, I won't keep you any further. Have a good day, Orr.”

  “You too, master Dar.”

  The connection was dropped, and Orr felt Dar’s voice leaving his mind. He remained sitting at his desk for a minute, sipping his wine without a word and enjoying the silence, something he really needed after a conversation with Darmerlen the Black. Talking with the sorcerer always made the Magister feel as if he was a young student being tested by a strict teacher, something that was a bit humiliating considering that he was more than a century old and used to have the opposite relationship with other people. But perhaps it was only natural, since the Dar was many times older and more experienced than he was.

  It was ironic really, he thought with a smirk as he finished drinking his last glass of wine, that he had to dismiss the legends of the Black Archmage, considering that not only he knew it to be true, but the real story was even more incredible than all the rumors combined.