141 Temple of the Ligh

Dead silence filled the lecture hall as the image of High Priestess Sharlin faded from view, then as the news sunk in, the lecture hall exploded into a riot of chatter as the student turned to each other excitedly. Professor Floren did not take notice of the noisy students as he was still caught up in his own fantasy.

Every time he saw the message from High Priestess Sharlin, he would fall into a daydream of where he would save his lady from one of those foul beasts, and she would then fall into his arms, gratefully and grace him alone with her beautiful smile. Telling him he was her hero and that she loved him alone.

A few minutes later Professor Floren came back to reality still wearing his besotted smile. Overhearing some of the more lustful comments from the young boys closest to him, cold fury filled his being.

"Quiet!" he screamed.

With Professor Floren's bellow, the lecture hall fell silent.

"You have all heard our High Priestess message, and I hope you now understand just what a momentous task lies ahead of us all. The Mages Guild of Lower, Mid and Upper Realm have all voted to join the Temple of the Light. An official announcement will be issued shortly. We, of course, will be renaming ourselves to reflect this change."

Throwing the young men who had been speaking disrespectfully about High Priestess Sharlin an icy look he went on to add: "High Priestess Sharlin is our designated leader and our high priestess, and NO disrespect will be tolerated. Our Temple of the Light will punish those who are found guilty of this offense."

Although this 'law' hadn't been issued, Professor Floren was going to bring up this issue with High Mage Saunders and make the Lower Realm's Temple of the Light issue such a decree. He was sure that High Mage Saunders would be more than willing to issue such a decree.

How dare these lascivious young men, covet his lady — to even think about her in such a disrespectful manner was a disgrace — filthy perverted beasts, he thought.

Of course, he did not think about how many times he had lain on his own bed fantasizing about his Sharlin, nor about how many times his own hand had reached under his bed covers, as he had helped himself organism while envisioning that it was his Sharlin lying there next to him.

The young men who had been glared at flushed red and looked down ashamed that they had been caught talking crudely about the high priestess.

Jayde hadn't really taken much notice of what was happening in the lecture hall as ever since the announcement of the Radiant Realm, she had been talking to Isha. Now that Jayde had been made aware about the Immortal Realms, Isha was allowed to give her more information about it.

But his information was out of date. It had been nearly ten thousand years since the Protoss Artifact had been active. Isha had confirmed that the Radiant Realm was a central realm that connected all the other realms.

When Jayde had returned from Telia with Yinxin, Isha had reluctantly confirmed the existence of the Dragon Realm, but he hadn't gone into further details, now he confirmed the existence of the other realms.

Feeling something amiss with Isha tone Jayde asked: [Isha are there other realms as well?]

Instead of answering Isha directed Jayde to return her attention to her class.

Hmm, so there are other realms, Jayde through, smiling secretly to herself. She had come to realize that when dealing with Isha it was best to ask a question directly, his evasiveness always acted as a confirmation. Jayde found it delightful that Isha didn't lie, it made dealing with him a pleasure.

This High Priestess Sharlin is a problem though, Jayde thought. She wasn't sure why but ever since she had seen the woman's face she had been filled with disgust. Her instincts were screaming at her that this woman was trouble. Jayde felt as though this High Priestess Sharlin was an extremely dangerous woman.

After Professor Floren's rebuke, he began his lecture on Magic Fundamentals. His lecture did not contain any information on magic rather it was filled with how dangerous performing unsanctified spells were. When Jayde heard Professor Floren use the term unsanctified, her eyebrows rose, seems like this new Mages Guild was adding a religious connotation to magic.

Jayde felt a movement next to her, looking to her left she saw that Nova had raised his hand.

Professor Floren pointing to Nova, "What is it, young man?"

"Professor Floren are you saying that we aren't allowed to create new spells?" asked Nova.

"What's your name?"

"Nova Cloudswift."

"Mr. Cloudswift do you really think that someone YOUR age could possibly come up with a new spell?" asked Professor Floren disparagingly.

"Well Professor, I am not sure, but who knows," Nova answered with a small cheeky smile.

With a patronizing smile, Professor Floren said, "Have you any idea how many talented young mages just like yourself have lost their lives fiddling around with forces they do not understand?"

Not willing to give up Nova argued, "But once I have studied rune magic—"

"Rune Magic?" interrupted Professor Floren, "Please young man, the best rune magic practitioners are employed by the Temple of the Light," waving his hand dismissively he continued to add, "The only so-called rune magic teachers outside of the Temple of the Light are hacks who couldn't make it into our guild. Let me give you a piece of advice young Cloudswift, best you drop your rune magic course, not only will you not learn anything useful, but you are putting your very life at risk."

Professor Floren looked around the lecture hall, "And that goes for all of you. It is not that we want to curtail the development of magic, why would we? You have to realize that the Temple of Light values each and every one of you, we don't want you to risk your lives unnecessary."

Turning back to Nova, "Young Cloudswift if you are interested in researching new spells, then you should join us, the Temple of the Light is always happy to have curious young minds like yourself. And by joining us you will have the best rune magic teachers and mentors available to you."

Lowering his voice slightly Professor Floren looked around furtively.

"I am not supposed to tell you this yet, but the Temple of the Light will soon be offering various mentorship programs, but only that — the Radiant Realm has promised to share information with us, of course, members of the Temple of the Light will be given preference."

"Ahem, of course, you heard nothing from me," Professor Floren said giving a sly wink.

Most of the students swore they had heard nothing while grinning. Although each one swore secretly to themselves they would be joining the Temple of the Light as soon as the could.

Such naive fools, Professor Floren thought to himself before he continued on his with the lecture.

For the next hour and a bit, Jayde sat through the boring lectures from Professor Floren. Magic history was a half an hour lecture on just how many good deeds the Mages Guild had done for the Lower Realm, while Law and Governance was a half an hour lecture on the shortcomings of the lower governments and royal houses and how they had failed the citizens of the Lower Realm.

When Professor Floren finally dismissed the class at 10 am, Jayde was quite happy to leave the lecture hall, although the pure thought that she would have to listen to this man for two hours a day every day was depressing.

Majority of the students rushed to the teacher's area when they were dismissed, they all wanted to talk to Professor Floren, most had aims of trying to get close to him, and everyone wanted to find out how to join this new Temple of the Light.

Only a small group of students used this time to escape from the lecture hall. Jayde was surprised to find that her whole group joined her including the two new boys and girls.

Jayde and her group made their way to the front courtyard in the south wing, they only had a half an hour break before their next class. Servants were already waiting for the students carrying trays of tea and snacks.

Jayde group found a secluded spot under one of the large trees, all of them seat themselves around the table, as several servants served them. After the servants left Nova who had been silent up until now burst out. "What a pompous ass."

Jayde sent Nova a stern look, "Be careful the walls have ears," she hissed.

Ash reached over a smacked his brother across the head.

"Idiot!"

The group chuckled as they drank their tea. They chattered about mundane things while nibbling on their dainty sandwiches and small cakes.

After tea, the group walked together to the practice fields in the middle of the square.

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