Chapter 25: A Traitor?

Thursday was bound to be a rather uneventful day. The classes he had were 'Magic History', where they learned nothing they couldn't just read from the book, and 'Basic Spell Casting' wherein he was far beyond his classmates also making the class quite useless.

The fact that Kayley didn't come to class today was expected but for some reason, Villin still felt somewhat worried. He had no idea what the Room of Horrors was but as the name suggested, it probably wasn't anything fun.

In this time Villin continued practicing Reverto, after all, the spell seemed very useful and he would feel a lot better if he had a way to defend himself on a moment's notice. After another day (and some magic stones) worth of practice, he was now able to cast the spell within three seconds. He planned to get it down to one second before focusing on the new spell he had gotten.

And so Friday arrived, the day with two of the classes he had the best feeling about. 'Studies of the Web' taught by professor Edgard Messen, and 'Combat Classes' taught by Pompei. Other than these two there was also pill-making. Villin remembered the teacher's name was Crystal and she was the second teacher he had met. He truly felt something off about her but couldn't put his finger on it.

In the 'Studies of the Web' class, professor Messen allowed and even encouraged people to practice their spells within his class. This way he could correct any potential mistakes the students made. Kayley was also back in this class but she seemed extremely distant. Professor Messen talked to her separately for a bit before she was allowed to leave the class.

When the class was about to end, the professor spoke.

"Alright students, this will be the end of class. Villin please stay behind, the others can take their leave."

Villin walked up to the professor with a questioning look but the professor waited until the final student walked out of the door and the door closed before speaking.

"Villin, I just wanted to remind you that school books are important. If you pay really close attention to them you might even find something you hadn't expected in one of them. So how are your studies going?"

The professor said this extremely casual and if another student had been told that they'd probably only think his words were a bit odd for a moment before moving on. But alas Villin frowned before replying with a cryptic message of his own.

"I must say the book on enchantments is quite intriguing, even if a bit tough to read."

The professor looked at him in surprise but Villin could see the vigilance in his eyes. "Yes, enchanting truly is a fascinating subject, how far have you been able to read the book thus far?"

"Just the title."

This made things clear enough as the professor dropped the pretense and talked to him with a straight face. "Are you planning to further study that book Villin?"

After thinking for a moment Villin decided to trust the professor before him and answer honestly. "Probably not, professor. I will read the foreword but I simply don't see the use in that kind of magic when we have enchantments. According to the little information I gathered here and there, the magic you are talking about simply make the body tougher, I see little use for that as enchantments can make you more durable by enchanting the clothes you wear. Furthermore, it has many other uses, a strong or tough body doesn't seem all that appealing.

Even though he didn't show it Edgard Messen was relieved by this answer. Normally if he were to say no, he would've killed the kid but it seemed like this wasn't necessary. It looked like Villin simply said no since he was focusing on other things, not because he found it wrong in any way.

Nonetheless, he had to try and change his mind. There weren't many people that qualified for his 'special courses'. Firstly, they couldn't have any family that could be used against them. Secondly, they had to be mortal-born so they didn't have any connection with the magical society on the central continent. Thirdly, they had to be smart enough to understand the situation and not accidentally let other people know. And lastly, they had to have a naturally strong body.

"You might think it isn't useful simply because you do not have enough information on the matter. Let me tell you a few possible properties I believe you'll like. It can't just increase toughness and strength but also speed. Other than this, if you are a little skilled in the matter you will never have to worry about sleep again.

These few possible benefits he had chosen were carefully picked by him, he had a few eyes within the school and determined these were things the boy would find most appealing. And right he was.

Villin thought about those words for a long time. Speed and dodging abilities were often neglected by mages on the central and eastern continent as they had full trust in their magic. Villin had always found this foolish, if you could dodge an attack that was less magic power spent blocking it, he didn't get why this got ignored so often. Pompei was actually a rare case that didn't neglect physical prowess.

Villin stood still for a number of minutes thinking over everything in his head, meanwhile, Edgard Messen stood before him patiently awaiting a reply.

"The materials used for this can only be found on the Eastern continent as far as I heard, how would I even find them?"

Professor Messen was now smiling as he knew he had taken the bait. "The group I have been a part of has been active for quite a while, most materials have substitutes on this continent that get used for Pill-making.

Villin nodded a few times before looking at the professor before him. He had a good impression of this man from the start. Right now it seemed like he might be a traitor of the continent but he couldn't get himself to see the professor as evil or anything of the like "Alright then, I'll continue deciphering the words, I'll decide once I see how they actually get made."

Professor Messen simply nodded at him before throwing a paper his way, then he disappeared from sight.

All this time Villin had avoided using the actual words such as Gene Therapy or Gene Solutions. He simply did this since professor Messen didn't use them and so he figured it might be dangerous to say them aloud. In actuality there wasn't such a risk as long as they checked for eavesdroppers, it was simply a test of the professor to test his intelligence further.

The paper in his hand only held a place and a time. The location seemed to be in the mortal world while the time was after the school year. Once he read the text, the paper burnt up into flames.