"I can't believe it happened just a few meters from my room and I didn't notice anything. Maybe I could have helped them." Phloria was shocked by the news.
Yurial scoffed, telling to the rest of the group why no one cared about the fate of the Poltus family.
"Either it was the consequence of an internal strife, to get rid of the rotten apples before the whole household collapse, or it was an act of vengeance from the relatives of their victims. Those guys deserve no pity Phloria."
Lith couldn't care less about their background. Even if they came from a family of saints, he would have done the same thing.
- "No one touches my things, no matter the reason." He thought.
Solus sighed, wishing he stopped referring to them as objects instead of people.
"I wonder why the two you didn't roughen up are still unconscious. It has never happened before." It was the only part of the rumor that didn't make sense to her.
"I don't know and honestly, I don't care. Three guys following a single girl at night, knowing she has no Ballot. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together."–
Lith regretted deeply not having the opportunity to kill them for good, but he knew about the academy's security system that prevented deadly injuries.
It was the reason why he had used that torture technique. It would leave the victim exhausted and mentally scarred, but the body would remain in perfect health.
After breakfast, the group split up for the morning activities. Lith's group rounds of visits were uneventful, allowing them to make up for most of the time lost the day before.
They met back with Phloria for the first practical lesson of Magic Crystals.
After welcoming the students, Professor Nalear clapped her hands, making a crystalline mass as big as a melon appear on their desks along with what looked like a rune-inscribed wrench the size of a pen.
"Normally, when people hear the words 'underground mine' and 'extraction of minerals' they think about rough men with a pickaxe, but for magic crystals it's the worst image possible.
"Normal tools have no effect on mana crystals, no matter how strong you are or how hard is the metal. Best case scenario, you can crack one and hope that the resulting explosion will not trigger a chain reaction making the whole mine collapse.
There is a reason why only a mage can become a Crystalsmith."
Nalear picked up the wrench-like tool from her own desk. The students saw the runes lighting up one after the other until a small energy blade formed in the U shaped extremity.
Lith involuntarily quivered. The phenomenon reminded him of the blade that had killed him during his second life. He had never forgotten the pain of dying drowned in his own blood, gasping for air like a washed up fish.
- "There's nothing to be scared of. That thing is just the magical equivalent of a box cutter." Lith said to himself. –
"Extracting mana crystals doesn't require brute force, but finesse and technique. First, all of you must learn how to power up a mana blade. Pick up your own and hold it in the way that's more comfortable for you.
"Some hold it like a carving knife, others like a scalpel. Too many like it's a spoon. That's the only wrong way to do it."
The class laughed, following Nalear's instructions.
"It's very simple to use. Inject it with your mana, like if you were trying to imprint it."
Many blades appeared, but none remained for more than a split second.
"For those that didn't make it, just put some more effort. Those who made it, keep it coming. Mana blades can't be imprinted and need a constant flow of mana to function properly."
Lith noticed that he was the only one in the group with the mana blade turned off, so he corrected the situation. By using Invigoration, he noticed there was no pseudo core, just mana pathways that redirected the mana into a physical form.
"Well done everyone! Now put it down. Our lesson has just begun, don't waste your energies. You will need them in a while."
Lith powered on and off the blade a few times, appreciating the buzzing sound it produced while being activated or swung around.
- "I wish I could say 'Yurial, I am your father', but the reference would be lost in translation."– Lith sighed.