with little progress.
When they reached the Training Hall, Professor Rudd was already there, waiting. The room
was 30 meters (98 feet) long, 20 meters (66 feet) wide, and completely empty. Small circles
had been drawn on the floor, indicating were the students had to position themselves.
The ground and the walls shown no trace of crevices. The room appeared to have been
carved out a single massive stone rather than assembled from smaller ones.
"Begin." He said even before the last gong announced the start of the lesson.
Normally Lith would have faked incompetence for a while before getting serious, but this time
he had no reason to pretend.
Professor Rudd walked slowly among them, taking a mental note of those who were actually
capable of triple casting. The small yellow wisp was the indicator of that.
Lith, Lyam and only a few others were capable of completing the first step. Many students
after several failures, took out their books trying to understand what they were doing wrong.
Thanks to all his training, Lith had managed to understand the timing necessary to stabilize
the wisp with water magic, allowing to add more energy to the core, turning it into two small
black spheres.
The problem was that he had no idea how to continue. After hundreds of attempts, he was
still incapable of making them enlarge and stretch. The event horizon form was the last step
before properly completing the exercise.
"Second step already, not bad, for a commoner." ¨C Rudd clicked his tongue, noticing the lack
of progress from the rest of the class.
After one hour had passed and he had made no further progress, Lith decided to ask for help.
"Professor, I have a question."
"What a coincidence! So do I. Tell me, did you read my book yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Did you understand what is written."
"Yes." Lith understood where he was going. Something similar had happened to him during a
college lesson.
"Then for your own good, you do not have a question. Go back to your place."
Fuming with rage, Lith resumed the spell.
More time passed, and since he was still stuck at the second step, he stopped for a moment
to check how others where doing. Yurial and Phloria had yet to produce the yellow wisp,
while Friya seemed to be able to generate it regularly.
"Seems she finally grasped triple casting. Let's see how Quylla is doing." ¨C
After looking around a bit, Lith was able to find her. Much to his surprise, he saw her generate
the wisp, turn it into the two black dots, and even manage to start giving them the funnel
shape.
Professor Rudd was incapable of deciding if to be more amazed of her, or furious with the
class. Several students tried to ask him for pointers and advice, but he gave everyone the
same reply he gave Lith.
When the lesson ended, no one had made any further progress. More than half the class had
not been capable to achieve even the first step of the Loop spell.
"Before you go, I want you to know that I'm disgusted by your attitude." Rudd said.
"I don't believe in equality, we are all born different for a reason. I don't believe in solidarity
either, an academy isn't charity. It's a battlefield where every mage fights for himself.
Yet when yesterday I told you that triple casting was essential, why no one had the guts to tell
me so many of you are not at that level? Did you hope that somehow, I would go blind and
not notice it?
Well, all you have managed to accomplish today, is to waste my time and patience. From
tomorrow onwards, is better for those who are incapable to reach the minimum
requirements to not attend my class. Dismissed."
Once outside, Lith eagerly ran to Quylla, hoping she could help overcame his bottleneck.
"How did you reach the third step? I managed to understand how to stabilize the first energy
core, feeding it enough mana to grow and split. But after that, it goes nuts. Either I use water
magic to stabilize one of the Gates or the other. I cannot do both.
Or better, I tried, even resorting to quadra casting to use two water magic pulses at once, but
nothing worked."
"You don't need quadra magic, it's actually really simple." Quylla Replied.
"The two Gates are so deeply connected that they act as one. You mustn't treat them as
separate entities, but as a whole. It's like healing someone with a dislocated shoulder and
broken fingers.
Two points in space, but only one arm. You must simply make the light magic circulate
through the whole damaged limb to take care of both issues. Easy peasy."
Lith casted Loop once again, doing as instructed.
"Quylla is right! I can make water mana circulate from one end to another, Eureka!" ¨C
Yet instead of stretching, the two black dots disintegrated with a popping sound.
"No, it's not!" He replied with a sigh.
Chapter 103 Red Lotus
Thanks to her outstanding talent, at the third lesson Quylla was able to execute Loop. Even
though he practiced night and day, Lith needed until the fourth one, ending up as the tenth to
complete the exercise.
At first, he had been frustrated by his inability to keep up with Quylla. Despite her private
lessons on dimensional magic and the long hours of hard work at night, he was always up to
two or three steps behind.
But then, he understood that being tenth on over two hundred students wasn't such a bad
result, especially since most of them had a way to go. Not to mention that his mana sensitivity
was slowly but steadily improving.
It was an odd experience, feeling the energy flow with the mind rather than his eyes.
Dimensional spells seemed to have hot and cold spots at the same time. The secret to
stabilize a Gate, was to infuse water magic only on the hot spots.
Using too much of it or affecting an already cold spot, would cause the spatial distortion to
collapse.
When the weekend arrived, Lith needed to vent out his frustration, so he proposed a trip to
the forest to forget about their worries and fetch some ingredients for extra points or money.
Since he got admitted to the academy, Lith had stopped working, and in case he needed to
get his family out of the Kingdom and rebuild their lives from scratch, it would require a lot of
gold.
But aside from Quylla, the rest of the group had its hands full between understanding triple
cast and managing to complete the Loop spell.
"I would love to come with you." Quylla seemed really dejected.
"But I'm useless in battle, and you are a great healer yourself. Without someone protecting
me, I would only be a burden. The best thing I can do is help them with dimensional magic
and practice for the next exercise."
Hearing those words, Lith's mood went from good to great.
"Work hard for me too. If you find any trick or shortcut to it, I'll make it worth your while."
After that, he only had to go to the portal connecting to the ground floor and the academy's
entrance. Before going out, he needed to get the clearance.
The clerk stationed at the front desk, besides the giant wood and metal double doors, looked
at him like he was a madman.
"Are you really going out alone? Where is your team?" If that was a joke, he didn't find it
funny.
"No team, just me. Can I go now, please?" Lith snorted.
"Do you realize that once out there you are on your own? Outside the exam period, you are
not bound to encounter friendly magical beasts. You are just a fourth-year student, you could
meet fifth years too.
Not to mention poachers, adventurers, monsters and gods know who. The academy is in the
forest, but doesn't own it. It's full of resources, and everyone wants a piece of it."
"No problem, I got this." Lith took out his Ballot, receiving a contemptuous look in return.
"That doesn't work outside the academy. The only thing you can use is this." The clerk showed
him a marble sized pendant.
"In case of trouble, just push its center to generate a distress beacon. But it's not a Ballot, at
all. First the rescue personnel will have to find you, only then a Warp steps can be opened. It
can take minutes!"
Lith smiled at the good news.
"Fine by me. It's that all?"
Grumbling about youngsters' idiocy, the clerk compiled a form and had Lith signing it.
"The castle gates are open 24/7. I recommend you not going to deep and returning for the
night. That's the moment when the big predators hunt. If you still want to go, that makes two
hundred points."
"Two hundred points?! I need to pay to risk my life?"
"It's the only to make you kids realize how important this decision is. Normally, the cost would
be split among the team members, but since you are alone¡"
Lith exchanged the points for the pendant, without a second thought.
Once he was behind the trees' cover, he put the uniform and everything related to the
academy in the pocket dimension, wearing his old hunter suit instead.
With everything that was happening, it was much safer appearing as a stranger rather than a
student. The clerk's words were the best news he had received in over a week.
Being alone, as long no one was able to recognize him or live to tell the tale, he had no reason
anymore to hide his real power. Lith had often thought how to conceal his face, and had
come with a solution during the four days break.
A mask would have been cool, but would limit his line of sight. Hoods were good only if they
abode to some magical principle, preventing them to come off while moving at high speed.
Not to mention the poor lateral vision.
His old self that had always loved heroes was really disappointed, but he had long learned
that practicality was much more important than looking cool. So he had his mother realize a
ski mask, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Once his identity was safe, he started flying among the trees, using Life Vision to check the
perimeter for enemies and preys alike. Being unshackled after so many months, gave him an
adrenaline rush.
Lith started moving faster and faster, alternating short flights with high speed movements
thanks to Fusion Magic.
"Solus, let me know you sense anything with a huge mana signature. This isn't Trawn wood
anymore. We aren't hunting for food, but for magical herbs and mana crystals."
"Yeah, too bad that library's books can't be brought outside. The forest's herbarium and
bestiary would save us so much time¡"
"Who would have thought that dimensional magic was that hard? We hadn't a minute
available to copy them. We'll do with what we remember." ¨C
Lith kept going deeper into the forest, jumping from tree to tree with an agility and speed
that would have put a ninja to shame. The killing intent he emitted kept normal animals and
insects at bay, allowing him to move unimpeded.
After a few hours scouring the forest, his patience was growing thin.
"Abundant resources my a*s! I haven't even spotted a single magical beast so far. Where the
heck is all the good stuff?"
"Down there, look at the bottom of the tree at your left." ¨C
Following Solus' directions, the only thing that Lith noticed was a big bush in the middle of a
clearing. Switching to Life Vision the scenery changed entirely, though. The world turned into
shades of grey, while the bush was the only thing of a deep green.
On the center of it, there was something that shined of purple light, the strongest magical
force he had ever saw. He floated down slowly, checking to have no competition for the
treasure.
"Odd, there's nothing alive around here except for trees and plants. Maybe that thing is
sucking all the natural resources. ¨C Lith thought.
By coming closer, he was able to catch a glimpse of his prize. It resembled a red lotus flower,
and it was floating in mid-air above the thick bush, emitting a sweet fragrance, like a flower
bed after the spring rain.
His first instinct was to extend his arm and take it, but his paranoia took the wheel, forcing
him to stop.
"Wait a minute. I get that I'm pretty deep in the forest, but this thing stands out a lot. Why
no one has found it before? And how the heck does that thing floats? More importantly, why
there is no insect buzzing around? And since when plants appear coloured with Life Vision? ¨C
Because their vitality was equally dispersed from the roots to the leaves, usually Life Vision
perceived small plants as almost lifeless, while big trees had barely a tinge of red.
alike, making it more sensitive to things that had an active circulatory system.
No matter if it was mana or blood, Life Vision sensibility was aimed to things that moved
quickly. The bush appearing of a blue colour was something that he had never forgot about.
With a wave of his hand, the space around the lotus was invaded by flames, and an inhumane
screech filled the air.
The bush suddenly moved, revealing countless green appendages hidden underground, that
now it was using to smother the flames. Each of that things was as thick as Lith's arms,
moving and writhing so fast that he couldn't get if they were vines or tentacles.
The red lotus swayed and moved along with the bush-thing, revealing to be connected to it
through a small tendril. The thing didn't seem to have a definite shape. It was a living mass of
vines that was whipping the air, trying to capture its prey.
The green appendages moved quick as snakes, grabbing Lith by the arms, chest and legs, only
to discover that he had already moved, leaving behind only an afterimage.
"Whatever you are, I'm not H-game material! Back off!"
With another wave of his hand, he released countless wind blades, cutting all the incoming
appendages like a hot knife through butter. The thing screeched again, its body no more lying
down revealed to be at least three meters high, filling the air with snapping vines.
Chapter 104 Red Lotus 2
The wounded vines spurted a purple liquid. Lith kept his distance, dodging the unknown
substance with minimal movements, to not lose his advantage.
"There was no sizzle when it hit the ground, so it's not an acid. Could be venomous,
thought." ¨C
Lith extended his arms, releasing two jets of fire from the palms. The appendages reacted
quickly, enveloping the creature's towering mass, and turning to a grey colour. The flames
had no effect, leaving only a black mark, like they had hit stone.
Lith had never met a plant monster before, so he was
particularly cautious. He kept several
spells ready to use, weaving a new one as soon another was consumed.
"Whatever this is, it doesn't seem to be able to move from that spot, running away shouldn't
be an issue. The problem is deciding if it's worth my time or not. With my luck, if I kill, it the
flower will wither instantly. ¨C
Sending and invisible tendril of pure mana, Lith used spirit magic to tug hard at the red lotus,
aiming to grab it and run. He had no desire to fight useless battles. The flower's stem bent
diagonally under the strain, but refused to move.
The plant monster screeched again, this time with fury.
"Look out!" Solus yelled. "It's coming from below!" ¨C
Lith scoffed at the creature's naivety, activating again his flight spell. But when he tried to lift
from the ground, he discovered that the grass was tightly binding his feet, preventing him
from moving.
Observing it with Life Vision once more, he discovered that the patch of grass below him had
become blue coloured too. Somehow it was part of the monster's body.
Before he could recover, several vines erupted from the ground, with their greyed stone-like
extremities trying to stab Lith's vital organs. Knowing an attack was incoming, Lith used earth
fusion to the extreme, hardening his body and using the arms to take off the brunt of the
impact.
Despite his iron bracers and magical protections, the vines managed to pierce his skin, digging
right into his flesh. Lith screamed in pain, while the tendrils kept digging in his own flesh,
without missing a single drop of blood.
Without allowing himself to panic, Lith used his Frozen Hearth spell, turning everything
around him into ice. Be them grey or green, fire hadn't done much damage to the tendrils, so
he had changed element.
Having become brittle from the sudden cold, Lith managed to break free from both the vines
and the grass, flying backwards trying to understand what was happening.
His wounds were covered in a purple sticky goo, he could feel his arms going numb, a tingling
sensation was invading his body. After what had happened with the Clackers, he always kept
a detoxifying spell ready, using it together with a healing spell to close the wounds.