Professor Azzurra remained the same, calmly sitting behind her desk, while writing something. Her huge hat was beyond charming. “Hello!” I smiled and waved at her. This time, I won’t be rejected.

  She barely lifted an eye, yet her attention turned to me. “Magnus Glanzvoll. You have returned.” Azzurra wrote and wrote. “I hope you created a worthy technique.” She put away her notebook. “I won’t give you a third chance.”

  I unconsciously straightened my back. “I assure you, this technique is 100 times better than my last. I made sure to iterate on previous designs. It even started out adept.”

  Azzurra didn’t change her emotionless expression. “Describe it.”

  “It is a recursive technique that infuses my constructs with properties of necrosis and makes them self-replicating through a stable absorption fractal. With the use of Lord Blitzer’s shortened circuit, I managed to cut the imbibing time to only 0,4 seconds.” Azzurra scratched her chin. “But that’s not all, stable fractal has been adjusted to disrupt any starpower it consumes, further increasing the combat power.”

  She simply nodded. “Show it.”

  I took a deep breath and performed. One hand on absorption duty, the other on necrotize and imbibing. Three forms at one, all shortened into perfection. In but three seconds, I melded the forms together. Once the recursion was completed, the construct rested in my hand.

  “Impressive. Demonstrate the usage with the solidification form.”

  A smirk grew on my face. Starpower surged through my right hand, and with a gesture, I willed it to become a spear. The parasitic poison engulfed the spear, turning it darker.

  Before it could give my hand necrosis, I thrust it into the ground. The spear stuck in the floor. It eroded the majestic carpet and grew like cancer.

  “Hmm… You are mistiming the motion of the imbibing form; it causes a significant lag – that, you can fix by extending your hand 2 millimeters further. The absorption form needs work as well – you are moving too abruptly, this form needs to flow, consider picking up The Art of Gentle Forms. Your recursion construct takes too much space; that’s a vulnerability. You can compress it further by channeling more sapphire affinity.”

  My mouth opened wide, and my jaw tightened. This cannot happen to me again. “A-am I dismissed?”

  The corners of Azzurra’s lips lifted. “No, you are accepted. The design is ingenious, and you have talent in channeling affinity. It seems that the awakened geist chose you for a reason. Welcome to technique design. Memorize your lecture schedule. You are in the advanced group.”

  “Thank you!” A heavy burden was lifted from my shoulders. I knew I wasn’t pathetic; I knew I could create magic of my own. I grabbed the schedule and burned it into my mind; the lectures happen every three days. The next one was tomorrow.

  “Do not get too excited. There is always improvement to be had in technique design. Do the required reading for the next lecture, I believe you will benefit from it.”

  “Of course.” I nodded, maybe far too quickly. “I have a question, actually…”

  She tilted her head a little. “Yes, what is it?”

  “Why do you have this hat?”

  She sighed. “I didn’t expect a human to not understand fashion, too. You will learn about it when you get older…”

  A spark appeared in my eyes. There was a place where witch hats were fashionable… Truly, the galaxy was full of surprises. I said my goodbye and left. The next lecture was on the book Technique, Iteration, and its Consequence.

  The days before the next curator meeting passed far quicker than I expected. There were no news about the Betrayer, nothing from the guards I asked, nor from the students who spoke to me. They spoke as if it had disappeared, never to be seen again, but Siege reassured me that geists couldn’t leave the station no matter what. It would require at least Lord level SE. The nightmares of the Betrayer were gone, replaced by the traumatic reenactment of my second time in the tribulation altar, which raised my SE by 1…

  I trained and I trained like hell. Constant work on my techniques, refinement of my combat style, sparring with Steel, since other students didn’t want to spar with me for a certain reason. Siege put me through hell. For three days, he increased the potency of toxins he gave me, some kind of nerve agent, distilled poison that killed the nerves… Each time, strengthening form grew rapidly, and I gained at least 1 SE. The confrontations were minimal.

  Azzurra’s lecture was interesting. It was the most information-dense thing I’ve encountered here. She truly taught the meaning of the book; her words dissected the important paragraphs and made me really understand what I had to do to learn faster.

  Yes, her voice was monotone, but it didn’t stop me from listening as if I was enthralled. My questions were answered with clarity I didn’t think could be achieved. Thanks to her, I managed to attach the self-reinforcing barrier to my hand and make it so that the starpower compressed inwards; it only took adding starpower compression form and anchor form.

  I forced Avennture to make me some more healing pills, but the guy seemed unusually shifty when talking to me. I suspected he was having too much fun with the plaguemorph.

  Simona encouraged me to try making something unique using two of my remaining cores, and she provided very curious primers. I rose to the difficulty, and my creations would prove nice food for God’s Flesh.

  Immortality Trait

  Type: Trait

  Rank: Adept

  Affinity: Emerald

  Description:

  An artificial trait gem created from Sired Flesh to replicate demonic immortality. Does not prevent soul decay. Does not protect against lifespan-stealing techniques. Does not protect against information overload.

  -Demonic Eternity. Grants Biological Immortality.

  Your mastery of Trait Imbibing Ritual and its constituents has reached Adept

  Life-giving Bones Trait

  Type: Trait

  Rank: Adept (Excellent)

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Affinity: Emerald

  Description:

  An artificial trait gem created to improve regeneration. The deep fusion between the nature of the primer and the geist of the core has allowed to raise the quality higher.

  -Source of Life. So long as the bones are unharmed, they create Healing constructs. Reduces effective SE by 5, allows for rapid regeneration.

  -Strong Bones. Increases skeletal durability by 50%.

  These were excellent, the SE decrease was annoying, but the trait I made from plasmoid would cover it… hopefully.

  I pushed myself every day, and often I visited the medical hall to gain more of those willpower tonics and energy potions. Some new forms caught my attention, but they did not prove that useful in my spars with Steel, I had something planned for them... My strength grew.

  Your SE has increased by 5. From 37 to 42.

  Your mastery of Strengthening has reached Knight

  Your mastery of Ice Bomb Technique has reached Adept

  Your mastery of Self-Reinforcing Barrier Technique has reached Adept

  Your mastery of Freezing Form has reached Adept

  Your mastery of Dispelling Form has reached Adept

  Your mastery of Starpower Imbibing has reached Adept

  Your mastery of Circular Technique Recursion has reached Adept

  Anchor Form learned at Adept rank

  Dizziness Form learned at Initiate rank

  Emotion Imbibing learned at Initiate rank

  Fear Form learned at Initiate rank

  Comfort Form learned at initiate rank

  Strengthening became second nature, and in turn, mind acceleration did too. I became faster, stronger, better, and I turned into a true threat. There were times when Steel couldn’t touch me before I defeated her. I read the books with voracious fervor, and without constant annoyances, I finally had an opportunity to focus on improvement.

  Then, the day came. I woke up earlier than usual, and we had to meet with our ‘new’ curator. I felt giddy inside; it was the day I would get my dungeon delving permission. Despite the prospect, an ugly shadow of dread stalked my every move.

  I stood in front of the classroom, trying to gather my courage. “Please, Siege, don’t throw another curveball at me.” With strengthening in my veins, I entered.

  “Oh, come on.” I sighed. Siege wasn’t here. All the students were, but the damn bald fuck, wasn’t.

  Ivaldie’s eyes snapped towards me, and she curtly nodded. “Magnus. Come, stand with me.” Her SE has grown to 47. I just couldn’t catch up.

  I approached her, my head tilted as I tried to find Kory. She was right at the end. Steel stood fourth. I waved at them.

  “I’d much rather stand with Kory.” I sighed. “Plus, I’m not really in the mood for grabbing Siege’s attention.”

  Ivaldie smiled. “That is a sure way to grab his attention. You have SE to prove that you are worthy. And I’m sure no one here will disagree.” She looked over the line, and all of them nodded. The looks in their eyes made me want to vomit.

  “Fine. But mark my word, if Siege does some bullshit because of this, I’ll blame you.”

  “As the class leader, I will take all the blame.” She didn’t even hesitate.

  I took my earned place, yet Ixis shrank back, refusing to even look at me. Her SE was only 35… It seems that ELEVATE brought its results. I shivered too. “Fucking asshole, Siege.”

  “What did you say?” I jumped back as that freak stared right at me. Siege barred his fangs.

  I took a deep breath. This guy did not care about words; he was just playing around. “I said you were an asshole for being two minutes late and scaring me.” I stepped back into the line.

  Some students gasped. Ivaldie was not one of them; she smiled.

  Siege nodded. “Well, maybe my internal clock is a little messed up. Can you fault a guy for that?”

  I tilted my head. “A guy? Sure. You? Not really.” I chuckled. He did too; everyone else hated his laugh just as much as me. I could see them crawling in their skin. Only Ivaldie remained unaffected.

  “Alright, class, from today I will be your new, bestest curator! Oh, how glorious.” He walked across the line and took a close look at the people. Then he leaned in front of Ixis, and one of his eyes started glowing.

  “All of you are pathetic pseudo-dragons who are probably going to die in a war. Like you.” He chuckled and poked Ixis’ head.

  “I-I won’t, professor! I will become a proper dra-” Siege’s hand got covered in pure darkness. He put his hand on Ixis’ skull and crushed it. Blood flew everywhere, and chunks of flesh dropped on the ground. I screamed in horror. The room got filled with screams and chaos.

  He wasn’t done. He reached further, deeper into the head and grabbed something. In his grasp, a geist materialized - a worm made out of twenty wriggling fingers, with one broken wing and a tiny screeching mouth. Ixis dropped dead on the ground.

  “What a little cutie!” He giggled; that wide, unnatural smirk was more disgusting than the blood. “Little Magnus, is that your geist?”

  “I don’t kn-”

  “I’ll kill you too if you don’t scout it, he-he.”

  Treacherling

  Species: Geist

  Standing Emissions: 4

  Affinity: Ruby-Onyx

  Note: This is a spawn of the Betrayer. It crawls into the brain and makes the person subtly act according to its creator’s goals. Despite low SE, its body allows it to use numerous techniques.

  I wiped the blood from my face and took a deep breath. “It’s not the Betrayer – it’s a spawn…”

  “I was right about Varaxis’s lack of caution. It’s already spreading,” Siege nodded and opened his mouth wide. His head spasmed, and with gurgling pure white liquid started spewing on the geist.

  “Siege?!” My mind accelerated. There was no time to think. Maybe the Betrayer already took control of him. I compressed and applied necrosis to my starpower, infusing it into a conjured spear. With a roar, I struck it into Siege’s side. Steel jumped at him, too, but he didn’t even move an inch. With a simple force form, he launched her right into the wall.

  “What are you doing?” He turned to me. The white liquid dripped on the floor, and the geist - it didn’t move at all. It was paralyzed.

  “I-I thought you were mind-controlled…”

  Ivaldie chuckled. “Good thinking, I should’ve struck too.”

  “Now, now, why aren’t you concerned for me? You’re my students twice over!” Rot spread across his side, and skin there grew darker. Some scales even fell off. “So heartless of you.” He shook his head and stared at the dead body on the ground.

  “Anyway.” Siege dropped the trecherling on the ground like a rock and clasped his palms. He moved his hands with such unimaginable speed that even with mind acceleration, it looked fast. Then he stomped on Ixis’ broken head.

  “What the hell!?”

  “Shut the fuck up, Magnus.” No harm was done to the dead student. Instead, her bones and blood started regrowing. I held my breath. “See, I learned a word from you – fuck. It’s a cute one.”

  Ixis breathed again, her face twisted in horror. She clawed at her head and ripped out her hair. She screamed. Other students summoned their weapons and prepared to fight. Siege didn’t even look at them

  “That won’t do.” On Siege’s finger, a black light appeared. He threw it at her. The screaming and scratching stopped immediately.

  “W-what is going on… Please-” Ixis said in panic.

  Siege put a finger over her mouth. “You are safe now, child. I took care of the geist.” He pointed at the monster on the ground. “Take it and bring it to Varaxis. Tell everything you figured out about it. Tell her that it’s the impostor situation and that the most amazing professor in the galaxy was right!”

  “I… Okay.” Ixis nodded with unnatural jerkiness. Like a robot, she stood up and grabbed the geist.

  “Shouldn’t you go with her. That’s stupidly dangerous. Have some responsibility.” I sniffled. My heart beat with frantic speed.

  “Don’t wanna. Varaxis will make me explain myself, and I’m not here for that.” He snapped his fingers. “Children! Our first lesson isn’t over. Come back in the line.” The shout was loud enough to make my ears ring. The chaos stopped that instant. He must’ve infused some sort of technique into that. “The line! Form the line! Ivaldie, make them listen.”

  She took a deep breath and raised her hand. Bright light shone from it, and I felt relief… It was a tell-tale sign of a compulsion technique of the diamond affinity. “The lesson is not cancelled. Professor Siege has dealt with the geist, come back in the line.”

  Whispers, worries, and more. The students were talking, panicking, even. Some even mentioned reporting Siege, but nothing came from that, as one glare silenced them. Kory was healing Steel. The line slowly returned to normal, but now Steel stood next to me, murmuring about being hungry.

  How did Siege know? How didn’t he know about the Betrayer being in me? Did Betrayer influence me, too? The questions wouldn’t stop, and I could feel my hands shaking with each breath. Was it that the monster made me go into this academy, warped my will? It made me retch.

  “Alright, my dear new students. With the impostor out, we can finally begin our first lesson. Aren’t you happy?” No one was. Their fear of Siege overshadowed the wariness they felt towards me. “Let’s go with introductions. Tell me about who you want to be…” He aimed his piercing glare at Ivaldie.