The next morning, I woke to find plumes of ethereal light clustering overhead. Within these clouds, miniature arcs of lightning crackled, creating a pleasant hum not unlike a telephone wire’s.

  I hummed along, drowsily pushing myself out of bed and into the kitchen.

  Some brilliant soul had developed a method to reliably summon coffee in the second area, allowing the Union to offer a free machine with every room. I filled it with water, set a pot inside, and punched a couple buttons before heading to the shower.

  I washed up, changed, and wandered back into the kitchen.

  The coffee was still brewing, so I pulled up a chair and sat down, watching drops of black liquid fill the glass pot, bit by bit. Drop by drop.

  I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

  When the coffee finished, I poured a cup and sat at the little table in the corner of the room.

  I took a sip.

  Sudden bolts of stabbing pain coursed through my hand. Where I’d been struck, there was a small circle of burnt skin.

  [(-1) 10 Hp]

  Crispy.

  Like a burger.

  Do they have any of those around here?

  I looked up, into the cloudy vortex.

  {BioEffect - Caffeine VI}

  [Effects have been applied.]

  [When effects end, a weakened adverse effect will be applied.]

  “Crap.”

  Energy exploded outward, scoring against my hands and face. The glass pot shattered, dumping my remaining coffee all over the floor. If that wasn’t bad enough, the bursts of energy snaked around, shooting toward Sharon’s little planter.

  I really should’ve just kept the seed in my inventory.

  Before the monster could move, I grabbed the planter and smashed it open, storing the fairy heart inside my inventory.

  {Error - Code 103}

  [Living entities cannot be stored within a player’s inventory.]

  Oh. Oh yeah, Sharon’s still in the seed.

  The glass box snapped out from my hands, clattering against the granite counters.

  Cloud fully enveloped us, circling around Sharon’s heart, reaching out.

  I summoned Crapshoveler and gave the smoky tendrils a good whacking, clapping against opposing mana.

  While the cloud appeared gaseous, there was a certain physicality to it. I could fight it.

  The storm settled.

  “What are you?” I asked.

  The cloud bubbled.

  While I’d only been at the academy for a week, I knew most of the basic monsters within the second area. But since I didn’t recognize this one, the cloud had to be either poorly researched or dangerous. It didn’t seem to do much damage, but then again, I couldn’t really hurt it either.

  Spilled coffee lapped at my feet. I let out a groan.

  “I’m gonna have to pay for that too.”

  The cloud lunged, flinging itself into the box. I twirled Crapshoveler over my head, blowing the storm to the edges of the room.

  “Hey! Do you talk? Can you talk?”

  Hesitation.

  Then, a notification.

  [For crying out loud. Put the heart down.]

  I glanced down at the glass box. “No.”

  There was a growl of lightning, and the notification changed.

  [Why not? You’re not going to use it.]

  “It’s a friend of mine’s,” I stated. “And he really doesn’t like it when people wake him up.”

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  I kept my eyes locked on the cloud.

  After a couple seconds, it almost appeared to shuffle back, creating an eerie sound equivalent to a cloud’s sigh.

  [Check the glass.]

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, running my hand over the edge—

  There was a sliver in the glass cage, running deep through the container, all the way to the seed, which glowed only faintly.

  [See? My heart broke.]

  I looked up. “Sharon?”

  The cloud made a motion equivalent to nodding.

  “WHY’D YOU TRASH MY APARTMENT!?”

  Sharon made a vague, cloudy motion equivalent to crossing his arms and scowling. [I’m still in the heart. Mostly. Partially. But a lot of me has been converted into a cloud of ambiguous magical energy, which doesn’t ‘sit still.’ My mere presence has already alerted the Union staff, who will be here any minute, which means I need to get out of here before they find me, and I need my heart for that, so please, hand it over.]

  I glanced at the door. “Ah. yeah, sorry, but no.”

  The room shuddered, repairing itself within a matter of minutes. I couldn’t fix everything—the coffee pot, for instance, had been made from glass, which requires a lot of intense heat I didn’t have or couldn’t picture myself having—but the counters, table, and my own hands and face were easily patched.

  I stuffed the glass box back into the plant, summoning a new pot for it. The intense magical energy caused plants to bloom out from the dirt.

  [...Excuse me?]

  “You can have it once we’re done,” I started. “But if they see you leaving, they’re going to hunt you down. Understand?”

  [...]

  “Good.”

  I clenched my hands, focusing my perspective on the table. Crapshoveler hovered down, set gently on patterned lines, to which I added a strong fragrance. I summoned a radio next, teleporting it in from the loft above us, where some students frequently partied.

  [What are you doing?]

  “Setting the mood,” I stated, finding a classical music station and cranking the radio’s volume as high as it would go.

  There were loud, crashing steps coming up the stairs. Guards. If they were looking for intense magical energy, I just had to give them one.

  So I sharpened my will, down to an impossibly exact line of mental energy, the weight of which distorted the room and furniture. I wound that energy around Crapshoveler’s blade, enchanting on it a specialized digging efficiency. Normally, I’d be extremely careful about how much power I put into my shovel, since too much of a weight increase would make it functionally impossible to use him in actual combat.

  But since I wasn’t actually intending this enchantment to work, I cranked up the level, from three to a hundred and fifty, the force of which already burned against my fragile skin.

  My door blasted off its hinges and armed union officers surrounded me.

  Immediately, my concentration shattered, resulting in a rumbling energy as the enchantment collapsed.

  “What are you doing?” I asked innocently, grabbing the side of my throbbing head.

  Their commander stepped through the door, motioning for the guards to remain calm.

  “We sensed a high ranking monster up here,” the main guard stated. She frowned, swatting at the air in front of her face. “What’s that smell?”

  “Cinnamon,” I stated. “It’s for enchanting.”

  The commander blinked. “That was enchanting?”

  I blinked back. “Yeah.”

  Several guards shuddered.

  Meanwhile, the commander poked the rolling cloud of energy, keeping a hand over her nose. “You’re a rookie, right?” She asked rhetorically. “Next time, call the office to use one of our enchanting chambers, or you might start summoning monsters. I’ve never seen this much magical waste produced in an enchantment.”

  The guards shuddered again.

  She signaled for the guards to move out, glancing briefly at the potted plant.

  “Hey, what’s with that thing?” The commander asked. “It’s radiating malicious energies.”

  I leaned close, speaking in a whisper. “Actually, I use a fairy relic to boost my enchanting. I try to keep it somewhere secretive.”

  “Oh.” She whistled. “Keep an eye on it. I know people who’ve killed for worse gear. And please, for the love of all that is good and holy, use less air freshener.”

  With that, the commander finally left, using either an ability, mana, or a command to set the door back into place.

  I let out a breath, collapsing on the couch.

  I sucked in a breath, immediately grabbing my nose.

  “Woo! That’s a lotta Cinnamon,” I grunted, getting up and cracking open my window.

  When I returned to my seat, the throbbing pain in my head made itself known, flashing my vision white. “I guess that’s all my mental energy for today.”

  How was I supposed to beat Ardenidi now?

  [Hey…]

  I glanced at the notification. “Oh, yeah. Here you go,”

  I staggered off, grabbing Sharon’s heart and offering it to the cloud. “If you really want to go, I’d suggest waiting until class starts. That’s when most guards leave the building.”

  Sharon shifted around. [Why are you helping me?]

  I shrugged.

  “Seemed like the right thing to do.”

  He shifted hue. [You’re a strong mortal, aren’t you? Mentally?]

  “I guess. But I’m not much of a mortal, honestly.”

  The cloud hovered noticeably lower. [Could you…would you be willing to fix the seed? If you can, I mean?]

  I grabbed the side of my head. Still throbbing. Still in pain.

  “Maybe?”

  [If you can fix this, I will be forever in your debt.]

  When I brought the seed closer to my face, I saw its cracks had widened. What was first a sliver was now a seam.

  [Without a heart to center a fairy, we become entirely abstract,] Sharon said. [And a fairy has only one heart. If they are too weak to fix their own heart, they must find a willing commander to fix it for them, forfeiting their own life. If you cannot fix it, I will be forced to find another.]

  “Ah,” I said. “Alright, but while I’m fixing this, you gotta stay safe. Is there a way to disguise that overwhelming energy around you?”

  Sharon slipped back into the box, making the seed glow once again. [If I concentrate, I can reduce the leak.]

  “Great.” I set the glass box back into the plant. Without mental energy, I couldn’t help. So I’d have to wait til tomorrow. “See you later, Sharon.”

  The plant crackled faintly.

  [What a strange man.]

  // {Notice} //

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