Chapter 164: What Changed?

"nononoNO!" Villin shook his head violently as he stumbled around the cell. His mind was in complete disarray, "This is all fake, I escaped!"

He told himself this again and again but he didn't believe it. He was still here, he was still stuck.

Tears made their way down Villin's cheeks, he looked around desperately trying to find something wrong. A hole, in reality, proving this all wasn't real, but there was nothing to find.

After an hour of stumbling about without being able to have a coherent thought, Villin finally calmed down a little.

"At the end of the day, it all doesn't matter. If I escaped, I'll escape whatever this is too. If I didn't escape, I'll escape."

This thought brought him an immense amount of clarity. His mind calmed down within seconds as his eyes shot around the room. 

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"In the second grade, his actions showed how exceptional he was. Shortly after joining he was taken in by the white tower as a proper runemaster. Professor Theodore Crumb became the boy's mentor as he improved in his runology rapidly."

Silver paused as she noticed the headmaster stood up and approached her. Even though he seemed like a normal old man without magical powers, Silver didn't dare breathe as he came closer.

"Have some tea."

With these words, a table rose up next to Silver with a cup of crystal clear tea.

Once it appeared, the headmaster backed off again and sat back into his chair.

However strange the headmaster's actions were, Silver didn't dare to look disrespectful. She grabbed the cup of tea and mimicked the headmaster. First, she raised the cup up to her nose and smelled it. The tea smelled sweet, she could also feel a slight burn in her nostrils, the tea had a lot of magic power within it.

When she rose the tea up to her mouth and took a sip, she was incredibly frightened even though she tried not to show it. The tea had no taste, when the liquid should've touched her tongue, Silver didn't feel anything. It was as if the tea itself was incorporeal.

The headmaster looked at her closely when she took her first sip, but when nothing happened he seemed somewhat disappointed, "Continue."

"It was during this time that Villin met Ruby Von Hauser. The girl that was the youngest runemaster in history before Villin showed up. She also created a guild in the second grade called 'The Black Swans', and, at the same time, she was the true leader of one of the second-grade news stations, 'A Magus' Aid'.

And so, seeing the situation in the second grade, Villin decided to create his own guild, 'Athena's Forge'."

"Who is Athena?" The headmaster asked out of the blue.

Hearing his question, Silver thought for a moment before responding, "I'm not sure, but I have been able to gather that the name stands for wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. The three main tenants the guild cares about the most."

Hearing this response the headmaster clacked his tongue, he didn't quite seem to agree. For multiple minutes his finger tapped on the small table beside him as he was thinking, finally, he gestured for SIlver to continue speaking.

"At first, Athena's forge wasn't a big success. They made no real efforts to promote the guild and rumors were spreading that Villin and his group were Decorus spies. These rumors seem to be completely wrong. The only reason this spread was because they shared a room with Elinoire, the Decorus princess." 

Silver regathered her thoughts before continuing, "Villin and his friends commissioned one of the guilds to built them a large tower. Once this was built, they began enchanting it beyond belief. Due to its size and the enchantments, the general public continued paying attention to their actions.

"Then, they disappeared. All I could gather was that professor Crumb brought Villin, Ruby, Kayley, and a friend or Ruby called Hawk to the white tower. Sometime later, they returned. Villin said they won some sort of enchanting tournament and his funds increased drastically, he eve-"

"He didn't truly lie." the headmaster interrupted, "But he didn't tell the truth either. They went to the annual runemaster convention. I am sure you know of the massive cannibal bust that happened around that time. It was Villin and Ruby that caused this. They nearly died fighting cannibals and even witnessed one transform into a creature of darkness, one that is still on the loose, the first one to appear ever since the third central war. But, continue."

Hearing his words, Silver felt shocked for a moment. Of course, she heard of the cannibal bust that happened, anyone of the fourth grade or higher did, it was a huge piece of news. Still, she knew very well where she was and who she was facing and so she quickly continued speaking, "After this, Villin and his friends began the first 'Runic Exchange'. They organized a large competition where all enchanters could try and win a large price.

"This runic exchange proved that 'Athena's Forge' held the two greatest enchanters, Villin and Rein. Soon after, 'The Runic Army' got annexed by them. Or well, the second grade's section did. The runic exchange has now become a regular tradition in the second and third grades. This is accompanied by a pill-exchange and a combat exchange. When it comes to the former two they had a massive effect on students' average scores in enchanting and pill-making. Overall the average skill level has risen quite a bit, it seems that having a competition with a leaderboard was a great motivation for a large number of youths."

"I have heard of this 'exchange' that began thriving, I didn't quite realize Villin was the original creator, I must say, it truly is quite interesting." the headmaster frowned as he made a half-handed gesture to Silver to continue.

"After a period of time, Villin was one of the people selected to join a secret mission attacking Decorus's first grade while the others attacked the fifth. It was a trap. Decorus and Mafoli worked together and caused The Academy to have a massive defeat. Most people involved in the secret operation died while Decorus and Mafoli barely had any losses at all. All the teachers that went died and it seemed that all the students would too. Luckily a massive explosion blew a hole into the school allowing some to survive. Upon further investigation, it seemed that this explosion came from professor Crumb, some sort of self-detonation spell or technique that we aren't aware of." At this point, Silver seemed a bit hesitant. Everything that happened around this time was somewhat unclear, the techniques used to gather the information wasn't absolute and mistakes could've been made.

"And so Villin got captured, I see." the headmaster responded once Silver got to this point.

Silver nodded and stayed quiet as she saw the headmaster was in deep concentration once more. 

After a while, the headmaster spoke, "In the time he was captured, he managed to keep himself sane, learn transfiguration and create semi-true wards barehanded." his words trailed off as he tried to find the missing piece.

Hearing his words, Silver hesitantly spoke up, "T-there is one more thing, sir."

Hearing her words, he looked at her coldly, the mental pressure that had disappeared a good while ago once more appeared, "Speak."

Silver barely kept herself calm and told the headmaster what she knew, "Ruby Von Hauser, she shares some sort of connection with the boy. She was the reason we knew he was alive. She could even communicate with him, that was until the day before the first escape attempt. After this, Ruby said she could barely convey a few words, the magical interference had increased a bunch."

The headmaster looked at Silver, frowning, "A mental connection you say? Now how did that happen."

Once more the headmaster became lost in thought and the mental pressure dissipated. It was only after thirty long seconds he told her what he was looking for, "Now, at what point would a second consciousness have entered the boy's body? This should be easy, the problem is that he has been through so much. Was it the western continent that messed with his mind after killing his parents? It could've been professor Crumb who saw him as his successor. Then you also have the cannibals that had him within their reach, and finally, Decorus, who, I am sure, performed a massive number of experiments on him."

When Silver thought about this question she suddenly got a bad feeling, "Headmaster, may I be so brash as to ask you a question?"

The headmaster looked at her with surprise, he knew very well how terrifying he was in the girl's eyes, "Ask."

Hearing the affirmation, Silver's nervosity increased by another level as she raised her head, "Headmaster, if Villin didn't come here then, where did you send him?"

A cold laugh came from the headmaster's mouth. "Now, Silver, let me ask you a question in return. Where does fear come from?"