Between cla.s.ses there was a ten minutes break that students could use to relax, exchange notes or simply stretch their legs a bit. Lith was eager to understand if one or more of the girls was still angry or wanted to keep a distance from him.

The problem was introducing the topic without making himself sound worried or even worse, desperate. From his previous life, he had learned that girls could smell desperation from a mile away and they were usually good at exploiting it.

Before he could find a proper way to clear their relations.h.i.+p, Quylla spoke up.

"Did you really practice Forgemastering on your own?"

"Of course, I did." Lith felt slightly offended by the implication.

"But aside from small stuff I didn't manage to create much. On the contrary, I wasted quite a few materials, since Wanemyre left me stumbling in the dark." He snorted.

"Really?" She was genuinely surprised.

"How can your family afford a magic lab? It's not something you see often near a farm."

Lith realized too late his slip up. He couldn't tell them about Solus and her custom-made labs, so he had to improvise.

"They can't. I practice in a small clearing in the woods near my house. It's not much, but at least it's quiet and isolated."

"Then you can't really blame the Professor for your failures. Father always says that without a properly insulated magic lab, enchanting items is more a form of gambling rather than magic."

"Are you taking Forgemastering lessons from Orion?"

Quylla nodded.

"More like he explains to me the basics while he works. Father says that I could use a second specialization and that Forgemastering helps build the character."

- "It seems to be true, since she managed to look me in the eyes the whole time without blus.h.i.+ng. Orion must have been spending quite some time with them to make Quylla call him father already."–

"By the way, how was your report card?" Quylla had become much more talkative and straightforward compared to the past.

"Pretty good. With only one sour note."

"Let me guess." Friya scoffed. "Dimensional magic?"

"Got it in one." Lith smiled.

"Did Rudd give you an A- too?"

"The f*cker did much worse!" Friya slammed her fist on the desk, drawing the attention of most of the cla.s.s.

"Hus.h.!.+ Last time I hadn't the opportunity to tell you, but somehow the report cards of those who pa.s.sed the second test leaked to the public." Lith whispered.

"Most of our cla.s.smates are already envious of our success, don't give them the opportunity to report you to Rudd and give him an excuse to lower your grades even further."

The piece of news took them all by surprise. Friya looked at their cla.s.smates with anger and only after taking a few deep breaths, she managed to calm down.

"Yurial and Phloria got an A+, Quylla got an A- like you and I only an B+." Her voice was quiet, but her hands snapped a quill in half over and over, until the biggest piece was the size of a bean.

"It's beyond unfair." Phloria chimed in.

"We are more or less at the same level, but only thanks to Quylla giving us real lessons about dimensional magic and thanks to you teaching us how to multi cast properly.

"It should be you two having a better grade instead of us. I bet Rudd looked at our family's status first and at our performances later. Friya's grade makes no sense unless…"

"Unless he is punis.h.i.+ng me for what my mother did, implying that since I belong to a family of traitors I must have cheated somehow." Friya completed the phrase for her, rage and sadness resounded in her voice.

"I think I would have popped a vein if it wasn't for you, Lith. Thank you very much." Friya suddenly hugged him, causing the onlookers to start gossiping about it.

"What did I do exactly?" Lith had been caught by surprise and was unable to make heads or tails of her words.

"You were our supervisor during the second exam, dummy. You must have embellished our performances quite a bit, otherwise I doubt my report card would be this good." She handed him a piece of paper, on which was written:

"Friya Ernas:

Principles of Advanced Magic: A-; Mage Knight: A-; Healing: A; Dimensional Magic B+. School points gained from daily evaluation: 3,362. School points gained from the second exam: 1000/1000

Headmaster Linjos."

The candidate demonstrated to be cool headed even under stressful situations, capable of excellent teamwork and brave enough to put her own safety at risk to ensure the success of her team's mission."

One after the other, his companions gave Lith a copy of their report card. They had all scored full points during the second exam, while their grades went from a minimum of A- to a maximum of A+.

The only exception was Quylla, who had received an S- as a healer.

"We received our report cards just a few days ago. I would have never expected to be considered a Rank A magician." Quylla was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with joy.

"I honestly doubt we would have got full marks if you told Linjos how we puked our guts out after facing the first group of goblins. Did you paint us out like fearless adventurers? And if you did, how did you manage to sell it to Linjos?"

All eyes were fixated on Lith, eager for an answer.

"Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but you are overestimating my acting skills and underestimating Linjos. He would never believe such tale, I had to tell him the truth. Especially after what he did to you during the last test.

I wanted him to understand how hard the whole exam had been on you and how despite that you had managed to overcome every hurdle without my help." He winked.

"I simply forgot to tell him about the time you panicked, losing control of the lighting spell, and about the night when you all fell asleep leaving me to stand guard alone. And even if I did tell him, I'm sure you would have got full marks. You owe me nothing."

As soon as he finished his speech, Lith fell victim to a group hug.

"Thank you so much." Phloria said. "When my parents heard the Headmaster praising my talent as a leader, my mother was moved to tears and didn't nag me until I left home."

Considering that the report cards had arrived after Lith's visit, he was left pondering how terrifying Jirni Ernas had to be to make a couple of days nag-free so precious.

"Yeah, man." Yurial added. "Reading over and over my report card, especially the part where Linjos highlighted my strategic skills against the ogres gave me the strength to get up from my bed and return to the academy.

"Rest a.s.sured that when Linjos will summon us in his office to evaluate your performance, we'll return your favour in full."

Being careful about who he touched and where, while trapped in the ma.s.s of clinging bodies, Lith managed to free his arms and return the embrace.

"Thanks guys, but there is no need to. Just tell the truth and everything will be fine. Of course, if you could share my selective memory loss it would be peachy."

Professor Khavos Rudd walked in just in time to hear their laughter.

His left upper lip curled up in an expression of unbridled disgust.

- "d.a.m.n Linjos. Seeing the heirs of proud magical families mingle with dirty commoners and a traitorous b*tch makes me sick. In the old days, I would teach them a lesson or two about respecting the hierarchy and keeping the mana-line pure.

To add insult to the injury, not only are those five among this year's top percentile, but also that Lith is one of the Queen's favourites, like Linjos wasn't enough already. I didn't survive this long by antagonizing powerful people for petty reasons, but the G.o.ds know how tempted I am to do it just this once."–

"Sit down. School's in session." Rudd's stern voice put a stop to the chattering, forcing the students to return to their seats.

"My dear students, I would like to say that I'm happy to see you still so numerous, but the truth is that I'm not." His tone was so full of bile that it could melt steel.

"In my long career I had many cla.s.ses, but this is by far the most disappointing. The only reason so many of you are still here, is because despite my subject being compulsory, my evaluation is irrelevant towards your promotion."

Some students lowered their heads out of shame. The others stood tall, either because their grades were good or simply because they didn't care. Professor Rudd had long lost the respect and admiration of many of them.

The n.o.bles saw him as someone unable to stand his ground against Linjos, the others as a relic of the past. As an annoying, pompous old coot.

"Whoever already succeeded casting Warp Steps raise his hand, please." A little less than half the cla.s.s answered the call.

"Those of you that still haven't mastered the spell and fail at it sometimes lower their hands, please." Barely twenty raised hands remained.

"Three months of patience and effort brought us to such a pathetic result. Since some of you worked hard while the rest of the cla.s.s twiddled their thumbs, I'm not going to waste my precious time anymore.

"I'll explain to you how to turn a Warp Steps into a Blink or a Switch and then we will all go to the practice hall. You'd better take notes, because I'm not going to repeat myself."

Rudd waited only a few seconds before resuming his lesson, many students had yet to take out their books and inkwells.

"Those of you that have actually read my book, should have already noticed that the two spells that will get you out of my face once and for all are only mentioned but never described.

"That's because they aren't new spells, they are simply variations in the execution of Warp Steps that require a lot of talent and skill in the art of dimensional magic. You already know the magic words and hand signs. You just need to take one last step.

"To turn a Warp Steps into a Blink, all you need to do is to make the entrance Gate move towards you and close it as soon as you have crossed it. Switch is the same thing, but requires generating two sets of gates moving at the same speed and leading almost to the same coordinates.

"Very few can do it, that's why learning Switch is purely optional while Blink it's not. To make a Gate move, you need to use the other one as an anchor and stretch the dimensional corridor without making it collapse.

"This requires boosting the energy flow by adding fire magic at the very last moment, and a further injection of air, earth and water magic so that the balance remains unchanged.

Between the further mana consumption and the speed required to make it work, Blink has a range of thirty meters (33yards) tops, despite consuming the same amount of energy it would take to Warp a kilometre (0.6 miles) away.

Switch is similar to a Blink done twice but with a single spell.

By adding light and darkness magic in equal parts during the first steps of the spell, it's possible to induce a resonance that doubles the number of energy cores, creating two entry and two exit points.

Using six elements in such short time not only is a rare feat, but also requires a lot of focus. Hence why its range is further limited to 10 metres (11yards) and needs a clear line of sight between the caster and the target."

After finis.h.i.+ng his explanation, Professor Rudd Warped them to the training hall, splitting the students in groups according to their skill level.

Over an hour pa.s.sed, many Gates were opened, but none managed to Blink.

Half an hour later, much to everyone's surprise, Friya disappeared from her spot reappearing a few meters away. In a matter of minutes, she managed to Blink several times in a row.

Professor Rudd was seething with anger, but managed to hide his feeling and even congratulated her, encouraging the cla.s.s to follow Friya's lead.

Before Lith was forced into another group hug, a furious bellow resounded.

"It's not fair, she cheated!" Lyam Lukart walked toward Friya like he wanted to beat her, but despite being fifteen centimetres (6 inches) shorter than him she stood firm, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

"She cheated and I can prove it!"