"yeah it's late... see you Mars"

"see you"

Mars waved goodbye to Hanna that headed in the other direction before he called Victoria and began walking towards his own cla.s.s room where he and Victoria soon arrived

"...empty, guess we are a little early"

Mars found a table and sat down and petted Victoria that laid down on the table while he waited for cla.s.s to start, soon the beastmen twins arrived one of them once again seemed interested in Victoria and shock of the others hand before she ran over and watched Victoria at close range before she asked Mars

"my I pet her?"

Mars watched the girl and found her fox ears that stood straight up and trebled slightly look cute so he gave his okay

"sure, just don't touch her any weird places"

the fox beastman eyes lit up along with the rest of her face before she timidly reached out her hand and softly petted Victoria for a bit until the other twin yelled

"Lilly come on!"

"no Lee I want to pet the panther a bit more"

the other beastman twin, Lee clearly became annoyed at Lilly's refusal and gave a fierce glare at Mars before he stomped off and sat down at a table in the back

"so your name is Lilly, my name is Mars and this is Victoria"

Lilly seemed completely focused on Victoria and answered without looking up form her

"i know... you told it before"

Lilly gave a short glance at Mars before she ran off

'she seemed kind of shy... oh well'

Mars waited and soon the rest of the students arrived and the lesson began when the vice princ.i.p.al showed up, the cla.s.s was about basic spell structure and cleared up some of Mars's doubts about spells

'so in essence a spell is a mold and mana is the molten metal that goes into the mold, if you don't have enough mana you can't fill the biggest molds or the strongest spells, therefore only certain mages can cast tactical cla.s.s spells...'

Mars felt it all made some sort of scene and after the lesson Mars declined Chris's invitation to go to the cafeteria and went back to his room to sleep but was stopped on the way there by Ivan calling out to him

"hey Mars!"

Mars turned around and saw Ivan, Hanna and the 3rd prince Augustus walking together and quickly greeted the 3rd prince

"your highness"

Augustus gave a das.h.i.+ng smile

"please call me Augustus Mars"

"okay Augustus"

"so Mars, what are you up to?"

"...I was thinking about going to sleep"

Augustus tilted his head

"that's a little early?"

"yeah I was up late last night working on formation runes and only looked at the time when I ran out of materials"

"oh... I see"

just as Augustus was feeling troubled Ivan stepped forwards with sparkling eyes

"you study formations Mars?"

"yeah, what can I say it's interesting"

Ivan's eyes lit up even more before he gave a emotional sigh

"to think there was a comrade so close!"

"comrade?"

Mars looked at Hanna feeling puzzled, seeing Mars's confusion Hanna explained

"Ivan is very interested in formations"

"that's right formations are my blood, no my very soul!"

"...I see"

"since your out of materials why don't you come shopping with us?"

"well I suppose I could postpone my trip to dreamland, well then let's go"

Mars and Victoria went along with the group and joined their shopping trip, along the way Mars talked with Ivan about formations but quickly stopped and s.h.i.+fted the conversation as Ivan's eyes got more and more bloodshot the more he talked about formations, on the way Mars also noticed how a small group of people seemed to be watching them

'...well it's probably just the 3rd prince's escort'

Mars ignored the group of slightly shady people that watched them from all sides and focused on having fun with the others as time pa.s.ses quickly and soon Mars was back at the academy again where he said goodbye to the others and went back to his room with Victoria while carrying a bag filled with basic formation building materials

'...feels like I'm in a loop'

Mars put down the bag by the table before he sat down in the couch and was suddenly hit by dizziness that made him frown

'no, I'm just tired... time for bed'

Mars got up form the couch and made his way to the bedroom, throwing off his clothes on the way before he collapsed face first down on the bad and began to rub his cheek against the bed sheet

"ah, my love where have you been all my life?"

Mars pulled the covers up and soon he fell into a dreamless sleep...

in another part of the world of Alfan, the southern part of the empire to be exact a miner named Jim felt his body being shaken by a pair of small hands

"dad... dad, wake up"

"yeah... give me a second sweetheart"

Jim turned over and put his feet out over the side of his bed before he pulled himself up and sat on the bed side while he rubbed his sleepy eyes with one of his hands while the other found it's usual spot on the top of his young daughters head, after holding back a yawn Jim gave his daughter a kind head rubbing before he told her

"go tell your mom I'm up"

"okay dad!"

looking at the back of his 7 year old daughter Jessie runoff Jim got up form the bed and stretched putting his impressive arm and back muscles on full display, Jim had been a miner for almost 15 years now and he gradually felt his body being worn down by the hard work

'maybe it's time to retire... no I have to earn enough for Jessie to go to school'

having renewed his determination Jim quickly got dressed and walked out of the bedroom into the living room where his wife had already served the breakfast

"good morning"

"good morning dear, come have some food before you go"

Jim sat down at the table and began to eat his breakfast while holding back another yawn, soon he finished and got up

"dear I'm heading out now"

"okay, see you later"

Jim walked over to the door and grabbed his trusted partner that stood next to the door, it was a old but well maintained pickax that gave of a dull s.h.i.+ne

"dad don't get eaten by the golems!"

Jim gave a slight slime and turned to Jessie with a stern face

"what makes you think I won't eat them instead?"

"how would you do that?"

Jim gave a grin and showed of his pickaxe

"first i would chop them into little pieces with my pickaxe of cause!"

"wow, dad your really strong!"

Jim kneeled down and put his free hand on top of Jessie's head

"take care of mom while I'm away"

"I will!"

"okay then see you later sweetheart"

Jim gave his daughter a kiss on the forehead before he stood up again and walked out the door and began walking through the small streets towards the mana stone mine, on the way more and more st.u.r.dy looking men carrying pickaxes also showed up, they were all heading towards the mine Jim greeted the ones he knew on the way and soon he arrived at the entrance to the mine where he walked over to the crowd that had formed in front of the foreman's office

'I wonder what's going on..?'

Jim felt a little confused but soon he spotted a other miner he knew and asked him

"hey Alex what's going on?"

"oh, hey Jim.... it's nothing just that a new vain opened up on the lower levels"

"isn't that normal?"

"well... here the thing"

Alex gestured for Jim to come closer and only when he got right next did Alex lean in and whisper

"it seems like it opened on its own"

"...your not kidding right?"

"no I'm afraid not, me and a couple of guys were tasked with going down and checking it out want to come along?"

"why would I do that?"

Alex gave a grin and leaned even closer before he whispered

"there's a 1000 cel bonus"

Jim thought for a moment before he gave a nod

"sure sign me up"

"great to be honest I feel better having you watch my back, let's get the guys and go"

"okay lead the way"

Jim followed Alex over to the entrance of the mine, or rather a elevator that lead down to the mine that was at the edge of a giant square 50 meters by 50 meters and almost 100 meters deep cut into the ground with magic

'it's amazing no matter how many times I see it...'

Jim along with a bunch of miners stood at the edge of the square and waited on the elevator that soon arrived where the miners stepped on the open wooden elevator that took them down into the mine, Jim admired the how neatly the sections of dirt changed color the deeper the elevator went and soon the elevator reached the bottom and the pit and stepped off

'now where is the tunnel to the lowest levels... that's right over there'

Jim and Alex walked over to the tunnel that lead down to the lowest level, walking through the dim tunnel Jim remembered what Jessie had told him this morning and tightened the grip on his trusted partner with a slight slime on his face

'good thing the stories about the walls turning into golems are just stories...'

"there it is!"

one of the miners in front yelled out drawing the attention of the others, Jim made his way to the front of the group and saw that a side tunnel had opened up, following the others Jim squeezed his way though and was dumbstruck by what he saw on the other side

"are all dose... mana stones!?"

the miners felt like they were dreaming, in front of them was a small mountain of mana stones

"WE'RE RICH!"

one of the miners yelled and ran up to the mountain meanwhile Jim got a bad feeling and looked away form the mana stones and around the room, feeling puzzled he touched the walls and found them completely smooth, almost like someone had smoothed them down the room was also oddly square, it didn't seem like a natural cave at all

"hey Alex..?"

Jim turned around as he called Alex but came face to face with pure horror, he stumbled backwards as cold sweat purred down his body as his eyes was glued to the monstrosity that had silently showed up out of nowhere and now stood and blocked the entrance to the room feeling the cold gem like blue eyes staring at him Jim yelled at out

"GOLEM!"

Jim's yell got the attention of the other miners and almost all of them turned and saw the golem it was a little over 2 meters tall made of stone with 2 eerie blue gems for eyes, the golem however ignored most of the miners as it walked towards the mountain of mana stones past the stunned

and terrified miners until it reached one that was rolling around in the mana stones

"WE'RE RICH!"

the miner didn't notice the golem until it was too late, by the time he noticed the golem it already had its hand around his neck

*SNAP*

the miner dangled limply in the golems rocky hands as it turned around and looked at the other miners

"RUN!!!"

n.o.body knew who shouted but all the miners began scrambling towards the exit at the same time, Jim was the first one out and kept his lead as he ran towards the elevator

's.h.i.+t s.h.i.+t s.h.i.+t s.h.i.+t s.h.i.+t s.h.i.+T!'

Jim reached the elevator just before it set off the ground as it rose up towards the daylight

"what the f.u.c.k was that..."

all the miners in the elevator looked horrified Jim included

"look there's more!"

Jim looked out from the elevator and saw countless golems that ran out of all the tunnels like ant form a disrupted hive, but alas they were safe in the elevator as it reached the top

"looks like we made it..."

just as Jim breathed a sigh of relief did a loud bang sound out from behind him, he turned and saw a golem that had burst out the ground and was grabbed by its hand

"s.h.i.+T, LET GO OF ME!"

the golem either didn't hear his cries or it just ignored them as it took out a mana stone with its free hand and trusted into Jim chest

's.h.i.+t....'

Jim felt the pain of the mana stone being stabbed into his chest and soon his life flashed before his eyes and right before he pa.s.sed out did a voice sound in his head

"rise new golem and protect the mistress at all costs"