"You are not going anywhere, so you better start talking."
***
Lith spent the rest of the day practicing dimensional magic and Accumulation while waiting for the school books to be delivered and working on the sealed boxes during the night.
The time spent with Solus in the tower practicing Forgemastering, together with Nalear's lesson about the importance of magic crystals gave him a new approach to the problem.
Lith had discovered that the reason for his previous failures was that by damaging the boxes' mana pathways, the energy contained in the pseudo core diminished, while the one contained in the mana crystal would not.
This upset the balance and caused the explosion. Previously he had tried to keep the crystal isolated, thinking it was some kind of detonator that somehow was triggered by his attempts to pick the lock.
What he had to do, instead, was attacking them at the same time. Thanks to this discovery, Lith was now able to almost depower the lock.
Alas, almost wasn't enough. He was now able to open the boxes, but the resulting explosion still destroyed most of their content, not leaving enough for him to understand their purpose.
"It's still a huge success. I just need a few more lessons about how mana crystals and Forgemastering interact and I will be able to open them. I have only a few left, it's better to save them for later."
When the next day came, he was still pondering about Yurial's words, torn between egotism and his wish to change, to actually care about his so called friends instead of just pretending to.
His morning routine didn't change. Lith went to pick up Phloria early for their walk and then they went to meet with the others for breakfast.
- "It really doesn't feel like a high-school sweetheart at all. She didn't invite me to her room, we didn't talk about anything in particular. Phloria seemed to be more cheerful than usual, though. She smiled often when talking with me and made sure to sit in front of me."
"It means that she enjoys your company and likes to watch you." Solus pointed out.
"Still feels more like bromance than romance." Lith shrugged.
"You watched too many teen dramas. Based on your past experiences, relationships take time and effort to develop. Do you remember why unlike your brother you never managed to fall in love?"
"According to my therapist, I was too self-centered. I would only care about myself and protecting my own feeling, so I never opened up to any of the women I dated."
"It's exactly what you are doing even now. You are only thinking about what you want, not what it's best for her. The Ballot is useless for you. The Queen is openly backing you up, the Professors hold you in high esteem.
Not to mention how strong and fast you are. It's not like when you arrived. Your family is safe, you can defend yourself with ease and your word is not that of a country boy anymore. If anything happens, the academy will watch your back."
"The same could be said of Phloria." Lith still wasn't convinced.
"By my maker, if I had a body, I would slap you right here and now! Her family is not as powerful as the Queen. Also, is there anything that a student, if not even a Professor can do to you if you go all out?"
"No."
"There you have it! She is young and still traumatized, while you wouldn't flinch even if you ripped someone's heart out right before lunch. She needs it much more than you do."–
Knowing to be on the losing side of the argument, Lith dropped the conversation and walked past the doors of the academy's hospital waiting with his colleagues for the Healer lesson to start.
Much to everyone's surprise, not only Manohar had returned, but also was in charge of the class. Between his rare appearances, notable only for his whining ramblings, and the constant disappearing without notice, most students had almost forgotten about his existence.
"Good morning my dear students. Welcome back to class. You sure took a long break from the academy." His tone was clearly annoyed.
"It's not them that went missing for almost three months, but you!" Headmaster Linjos suddenly Warped in the middle of the class, his face beet red from anger.