The Soldier Mage 32 Chapter 31

Lucius woke up from a tap on his shoulder. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around and found himself in a cla.s.sroom. Cla.s.s must have evidently been over because there was no one else in it anymore except for him and the person who woke him up.

Ever since Wilfred had gone away, Lucy had remained his close friend and the two spent a considerable amount of time together, part of the reason he was so tired today and fell asleep in the lecture. He already knew this subject matter thankfully, so he did not miss out on much. Although he could have skipped cla.s.s, like many of his peers did, he at least wanted to try and give the effort, not to mention that Lucy pretty much forced him to come as she badly needed the help.

"Come now, we've still got some time to do shopping before nightfall. "

Lucius rolled his eyes, she was costing him so much money. He was earning a fair bit now, all things considered, with his little venture of inspecting items for shops. At first there were many reluctant shopkeepers but those that accepted were doing more business and the others caved in.

He stretched and yawned, finding the energy to get up and follow her. While the first exams they did in the earlier years counted for test scores highly, in the third and fourth years there was little incentive to do well on these as over 80 % of your grade would be based on practical applications of magic. The academy spent those last two years making sure to train the mages well in combat to ensure they would survive their stay in the army, working alongside the mage corps.

Of the initial 67 students who had joined the academy four years ago, only 36 still remained. This was to be expected however, as the program got progressively harder and weeded out the weaker applicants. Due to its prestigious reputation, the Drecos Academy has the ability to set it's standard higher, forcing underachievers to seek other tuition elsewhere. Unlike the first year where the academy makes it so that the weakest students, by design, are eliminated, the further years have no such restrictions and if all students performed well they would all graduate.

"But there's only a few more days until the final exams and then we can graduate. We need to make sure we're prepared for it."

Lucy pouted and made a puppy dog face. More powerful than any spell she owned, it was impossible to resist.

"Alright alright, just for a short stroll and then we have to work on your knowledge about demon races and their attributes. I'd like to squeeze in some practice with you also, I think I'm really close to breaking through to [Barrier Lv.2]."

She jumped up and smiled.

"Alright, let's go get changed real quick and head out."

The senior students possessed more freedom, such as leaving the academy for personal errands after cla.s.ses. Lucius followed the over energetic Lucy who was looking at all the stands and things for sale. For being royalty, she was actually quite friendly and cheerful. Her curiosity was also something that he liked, she would sometimes get so enamored with a subject and then read up on it so she could find out more.

It was quite a surprise as the pair walked down the corridors and heard that a new student would be joining the academy today. Late arrivals were a thing but not those that would instantly jump to the last year. There was a provision for it outlined in the academy's rule; mages from another kingdom could defect and if they pa.s.sed the last exam of the academy, would be recognized as a mage with the mandatory army service still applying naturally.

Lucius thought about it for a moment.

"Oh, interesting. I wonder what kingdom they're from?"

Lucy shrugged.

"We'll see when we meet them. It's going to be soon, the finals are next week and there's little time to prepare. I daresay it'll be quite hard for them, depending on their proficiency though."

Overall, Lucius considered Lucy to be much better than himself which was why he had not known how to take it when she had asked him out. She did tell him that they would likely not get married or anything serious due to her family but that she didn't want to be deprived of the experience. They did spend a lot of time together, some other students were friendly but not something you'd call close friends. Especially with Lucy's half-sister and her gang making it so that befriending the two of them meant earning their ire.

It was easier when Wilfred was here, Lucius reflected. Although much younger, even though he came from another world, Wilfred had actually helped the two of them navigate the academy's first year without too many problems.

They walked for some time, leaving the academy grounds and heading towards the market district. It was getting a bit darker now and the light posts were starting to get illuminated. Only requiring a simple apprentice level Light spell, those hired to light these before nightfall tended to be weaker students who could not make it in the academy or other schools. The pay was good, considering the amount of work to do but not a glamorous position. These mages were too weak to serve in the army as well but they were employed for tasks like lighting fires, construction help for those with earth affinity and all sorts of menial things.

"Ohh, come look at this!"

Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked around until he saw her and walked in her direction.

A small wooden stand with a few products displayed was in front of him and Lucy was bent down looking at objects laid down on a large piece of cloth.

"The young miss has excellent taste. This jewelry is also enchanted to give a boost to Luck."

Lucius raised an eyebrow.

(Really now? Enchanted items cost way more than this but these are priced higher than normal jewelry, I smell a scam here.)

"Oh is that so? That sounds wonderful."

The merchant smiled broadly.

Lucius bent down and picked a small broach up. The design was well done, an Owl with sapphires for it's eyes and the broach was made of silver.

"[Inspect]!"

The merchants seemed confused at first, as Lucius uttered those words and turned the jewelry around, looking at it from every angle until it dawned on him that he was a.n.a.lyzing the item with a skill or spell.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken. This jewelry is as normal as can be.

The merchant was sweating bullets, looking very nervous.

"Oh..I see. Well I uhh..I've been conned as well then! Why that lying...selling me all of these at that price even though they're not really enchanted! Thank you young man for bringing this uhh...discovery to me."

(Don't try to weasel out of it that easily…)

"Ah, I understand now. What a terrible shame. I shall go notify the guards so they can apprehend that devious individual! Do you know his name or how he looks?"

The merchant did not know how to reply to Lucius' statement and felt cornered. But then Lucius gave him an escape.

"I can see my friend over there doesn't wish to spend the rest of the night giving a detailed report to the guards about this incident and would rather be home. Perhaps if we could cut our shopping short and head home sooner?"

Understand gleamed inside of the merchant's greedy little eyes and he had no choice but to acquiesce.

"Yes..yes, for thanking you help me find out about this, it's only natural that the lady gets to pick one for free. As..compensation."

Lucy looked at all the jewelry displayed and chose one, a small pendant.

The two quickly left before the merchant decided to try his luck with the guards and entered a small restaurant around the corner.

They sat down at a table and relaxed.

"I really wish you'd stop doing that Lucy. One of these days they're going to call your bluff."

"But I've got you as backup, it's fine. Otherwise, how are they going to get stopped from pulling this scam on people? Plus look how nice it is.

She took the pendant and attached it to her neck. As she did so, Lucius couldn't help but look at the great view in front of him. It did not help that she chose to wear something that enhanced her attributes.

"Yeah uhhh, looks great. Say, would you want me to actually enchant that? I've been practicing a lot lately and I can do a few enchantments."

"Oh really? I'd love it."

She handed the pendant to him and they spent the rest of the evening doing small talk and eating a meal before going back to the academy.

After saying goodbye, Lucius went to his quarters, now much better than during his first year here, and prepared what he would need to enchant the jewelry. His work outside was really starting to pay off now and just last month he had made 54 Gold in profit.

The next few days were rather uneventful and the pair are focused in their studies. Lucius helped Lucy study for the knowledge part of the exams and she helped him practice more in combat. Even though her defeat at the hands of her half-sister had proved to be due to cheating, Lucy never forgave herself and trained even harder every day since then.

She was now considered to be amongst the 5 strongest in their year but Lucius on the other hand still lacked a bit in that department. He had gotten better naturally but his inclinations were more towards pa.s.sive magics like enchanting and scholarly work. Outside of the academy, he would likely become quite wealthy from his works and undoubtedly end up writing a few books, furthering knowledge in certain fields of magic.

But for the present, he struggled to meet the expectations laid out. He wasn't the weakest in their year but there weren't many behind him.

Setting himself up at a table, Lucius took out what he would need for his enchanting. A small vial with a dust like substance, the jewelry piece and a scroll. It's one thing to enchant a spell you know unto a scroll, but to combine that spell on an item is much harder. The dust like substance is a byproduct of Zoisapite mining, the mineral is still valuable even when ground up as an enchanting ingredient.

The latent Mana remaining in it allows a connection to be established between the scroll and the item to be enchanted when the Zoisapite dust is poured over while a mage attempts to enchant the spell unto the item. No one knows exactly how it works but this is how it's done.

Aside from some rare alchemy recipes, enchanting is the most expensive trade there is. In order to bypa.s.s the limits of scrolls which can only hold apprentice level spells, rumors say that the elves can actually go beyond this but Lucius was never able to find out more about it, the enchantment has to be performed as the item is created. Hence why most enchanters also tended to be well versed smiths or partner up with one. For his part, Lucius was interested in doing everything by himself. He had already studied a lot of smithing techniques and even practiced a bit in one of his father's smithy.

The Deparng family wasn't the most famous or richest one but it was an old one. They had many contacts and businesses, ranking fifth in the top smiths.

Lucius laid out the scroll on the table and took the jewelry, sprinkling Zoisapite dust on it.

Closing his eyes, Lucius stretched out with his magic and tried feeling for the Zoisapite dust. Once that connection is made, he pushes forward with his mind, making all the dust imbue themselves into the item.

Straining, he tries to hold on until the process is complete else all that dust is wasted. Lucius composes himself and focuses until the process is finished. Great endurance and Willpower is required as the most dust is present, the higher the chances of success. However, should the enchanter fail to maintain a constant link on the dust, it'll be wasted, costing them a fortune for nothing.

After a few more minutes and feeling nothing more from the link, Lucius severs it and looks at his work. The pendant doesn't look physically different but under the gaze of his [Inspect] skill, the results are noticeable.

"Hmmm, this is nice. I reckon I could sell this for...100 gold maybe? But it's for Lucy so I can't do that."

Lucius took the pendant and put it inside a small wooden box, then he headed to bed, tired as a dog. He hoped that he wouldn't sleep through cla.s.ses again tomorrow and wondered a bit more about that new student.