Flynn listened as I explained my budding plan, looking uncharacteristically serious. His eyes sparkled with their typical confidence, but his mouth was drawn down into a thoughtful frown.

  When I finished speaking, he leaned back on the couch, tapping one finger against the side of his head.

  "So, we need to get Vesper up to at least the peak of the gaseous stages while also mastering mind magic enough to establish a perfect foundation, all within seven months?"

  "Seven months at best, but yes," I replied.

  Flynn hummed, then broke into a smile. "Sounds like fun. When do we get started?"

  "I can discuss specifics with Julian tomorrow afternoon. I'll also need to run this by Vesper, as well as tell her more details about our arrangement."

  "Right, the arrangement," Flynn repeated, laughing.

  I glared at him for a second before replying, "Moving on, we have another possible problem. Several of the nobles I bested took offense at their losses. They tracked me down today to—"

  "Assuage their bruised egos," Flynn interupted, waving a hand. "I know. I told them where to find you when they came by this morning."

  "Why in the hell would you do that?"

  "First, because they're not going to let this go. We can't avoid them, so why bother trying? Second, it's an important opportunity to get more experience. The more people we fight, the stronger we get. And third, because it's fun," Flynn said, ticking off each point on a finger.

  "How did you know they wouldn't just attack me?" I asked.

  "They're not suicidal. At best, they'd kill you, and then my father would turn their family homes into ash."

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "You take these things entirely too lightly."

  "And you take them too seriously," Flynn replied, smiling. "Besides, I'm planning to handle some of them myself. Can't let you have all the excitement, can I?"

  I shrugged, but didn't respond. Flynn had a point, even if I wasn't thrilled by his tendency to hand-wave away such issues.

  Seconds passed before I eventually asked, "Do you think we made a mistake?"

  "About?"

  "Not recruiting more mages. Vepser will help, but will she be enough?"

  Flynn shook his head. "No, we didn't make a mistake. I trust you, and you trust Vesper. But do you seriously want to hand the kind of power that the Founders wanted to a stranger?"

  "We'd have time to get to know them. Besides, I don't know Vesper that well. Who knows what she might do?"

  "She purposefully sought to become a healer, hesitated to accept your offer, and her only request is getting justice for her lost teacher. Hardly the behavior of some power-mad monster in the making," Flynn countered.

  After a moment, he continued, "Besides, if she does turn out to be that kind of mage...well, there are two of us and one of her."

  I scowled at the suggestion, but didn't say anything to counter it. Flynn was being pragmatic, and I doubted, or rather hoped, we'd ever need to go that path. I had taken lives, but I wasn't sure I was ready to cut down a...whatever Vesper had become for me.

  After a long pause, I stood and stretched. "I need to get some work done. Knock if you need anything."

  Flynn waved a hand. "Sure, sure. Good luck."

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I entered my room to find it empty. Fortunatus had gone off on his own again, hoping to test his abilities further, but we'd practiced enough that I didn't need his assistance anymore to enter my mental world.

  Julian had noted several times during our discussion that it wasn't essential to create perfect constructs right from the start. One could repair and "polish" those flawed aspects over time, but that felt like an excuse for laziness to me. Why start behind?

  I dove right into it, finding that my first attempt already had fewer flaws than the ones from the previous day. While creating tiles wasn't the same as a dagger or spear, past experiences transferred better than I had anticipated.

  Unfortunately, there were enough differences to make the process a slow, painful one. I had to alter the Aether-forged material just enough so that it resembled stone rather than metal, which was much trickier than I had expected.

  Time passed as I made, destroyed, and remade tiles. Whenever my core emptied, I exited my mental world and refilled my reserves, taking the opportunity to hone my mana gathering techniques. I had let that exercise fall by the wayside, consumed as I was by other priorities, but knew it'd soon become crucial.

  Around the sixth tile, I had learned to recapture some of the mana lost whenever I broke apart a construct in my mind. It wasn't much, around a sixth of the total energy at best, but that, coupled with my growing efficiency, would add up over time.

  When I exited my mental world after the third cycle to find that the sky outside had turned a deep orange, I knew I had run out of time. My mana vessels could handle at least a few more practice sessions before risking injury. Still, I needed to recover my stamina and get something to eat before I met with Sophia.

  I spent about half an hour refilling my core, ate a quick dinner with Flynn, followed by an even quicker bath, before changing into my dueling attire. Then, with a few final words of advice from my brother to "not embarrass yourself", I was on my way.

  Partway there, I realized I had not thought to finalize a meeting place with Sophia. Thankfully, she must have noticed the same thing, because she was waiting for me near the Academy's fountain.

  Unfortunately, she wasn't waiting alone.

  The rest of my former friends stood around her, all dressed in casual attire. Leon wore a formal suit, Simon's clothes had a few burns along the sleeves that suggested he'd just left an alchemy lab, and Amelia's loose-fitting shirt and pants looked like the type she'd wear for a sparring match.

  I ignored them and focused instead on Sophia, both to evaluate her possible abilities and keep myself from dwelling on any unpleasant thoughts.

  Sophia wore a simple, layered set of battle robes, complete with a travel cloak and heavy, durable boots. She had her blonde hair held back with a decorative headband, and a few rings dotted her fingers. Completing the appearance was a metallic rod hanging from the side of her hip.

  I could sense mana pulsing from both the rod and several other points across her body. None of them stood out as remarkably strong, at least no more so than I would expect from a lightning mage near the peak of the gaseous stages, but not weak either.

  "Good evening," I said as I came within earshot, smiling as I greeted the four mages.

  Simon returned my smile, and Sophia inclined her head a fraction, but Leon frowned while Amelia looked away without a word. The last one stung, but I had gone through worse than social rejections in the past few years.

  "Vayne," Leon said after a moment. "You look well."

  "As do you, Leon," I replied, meeting his eyes not as a servant but as an equal.

  It felt wrong, like wearing shoes that didn't quite fit. Flynn's training hadn't quite ground out my old habits. Still, I managed not to avert my eyes, keeping my back straight and my posture relaxed.

  No one spoke for a few seconds until I finally broke the silence, turning to Sophia and asking, "Do you have a preference for our sparring match?"

  She nodded. "Master Barlow offered her classroom. It has protective enchantments worked into the floor and walls to ensure the safety of onlookers and participants alike."

  Master Barlow was still alive? That caught me by surprise. She had seemed one foot in the grave two years prior. I certainly didn't expect her to still be teaching, if nothing else.

  I shook my head, refocusing as I replied, "Lead the way, then."

  The five of us began walking through the Academy, and as we did so, Simon fell into step beside me.

  "I gotta ask," he said. "Was that our design you used for those weapons?"

  I smiled. "Yes and no. I made some modifications over the years, but the base you helped me create served as a starting point."

  "I knew it! What about those constructs, though? They felt real. Too real. Can you...?"

  Simon trailed off, and when I smiled rather than respond, he let out an incredulous laugh.

  "You can! How? When did you figure that out? I thought only liquid stage mages had enough mana to pull off permanent constructs?"

  "I'll be staying in Volaris for at least a few more weeks. We can catch up over dinner sometime. And I still owe you a meeting with Vesper Ollais."

  "Speaking of, since when are you and her..." Simon trailed off.

  I shrugged. "We're not. We met a while ago while training as healers."

  "Healers?" he repeated, blinking.

  "As I said, we'll have to catch up."

  We spoke a little more after that, but mostly idle bits about alchemy. I still didn't have the mind for the field, but I couldn't deny some interest in learning more.

  Soon, we reached our destination. We stepped inside the room, and there, I received another surprise.

  Master Barlow stood in the center of the open space. She appeared even more frail than in my memories, doubled over her cat with eyes half-shut, skin sallow, and her white, wispy hair pulled back from her wrinkled face. Despite that, her mana burned and twisted with the same fierce might as I remembered.

  This time, I could estimate her strength. She wasn't quite as powerful as Duke Sion and certainly weaker than Alexandria, but I would comfortably place her as the fourth strongest mage I had ever met. Moreover, her mana felt by far the most controlled of them all, enough that I doubted I could've sensed her if I wasn't in the same room as the woman.

  "Well well, if it isn't the dropout," Master Barlow remarked. "Come back to show off, I hear? Knocking around your fellow nobles your idea of fun, is it?"

  She spoke with scorn, but I could see the faint gleam in her eyes. So, I smiled as I bowed my head.

  "If memory serves, you used to warn about the threat of unorthodox tactics. I was simply providing a first-hand demonstration of how that threat might materialize."

  "And the insults?"

  "I find that angry mages are stupid mages."

  Barlow let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Hah! Aren't they always? Still, I've got words for you later. First, let's get this done."

  The light mage turned to the rest of the mages in the room. "You. Estton girl. You're the only one fighting, yes?"

  Leon gritted his teeth, and I had a feeling he wanted to say something, but after a second, he relaxed and looked away.

  "Wonderful. We'll get this done quicker, then. Now, you two will follow the typical rules of a sparring match between mages. Avoid striking with lethal intent, avoid aiming at onlookers, and avoid attacking with your bare hands or feet. Each round ends with the first clean hit. Whichever of you gets to three rounds won is the victor. Are we clear?"

  Sophia and I nodded, and Master Barlow's mocking smile returned.

  "Splendid. Take your spots opposite one another and wait for my signal."

  Lights appeared on the floor, glowing lines that denoted the edges of our oval-shaped "arena." Two circles sat on opposite ends of the rough, each just large enough to fit a person. I made for one, while Sophia walked towards the other. We turned to face one another, waiting for the signal to begin.

  a lot to learn still, so any feedback helps.

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