Arcane Heir: History's Strongest Mage

Michael barely touched his food during breakfast, still deep in thought. He had expected the pills to at least have some effect on the others—though his unique soul trait had not shown any signs of appearing in the past three months.

He felt like he was rushing in blind. The headmaster had mentioned his unique soul trait would awaken, but never specified how—nor if he could speed up the process.

In the end, he lacked information.

Unfortunately, both his pills and scrolls were from the Ancient era before the great war. Nearly all information from this period of time was destroyed, only small pieces appearing in the public eye.

Many powerful families carried relics or tomes from the Ancient era, disguising them as family techniques or knowledge passed down through generations.

With this hoarding of knowledge and artifacts, it severely stagnated the progress of magic in the past two thousand years—or at least that's what Michael had discerned.

The trio had returned to the dorms after breakfast, intending to study. Yet Michael felt quite depressed in this moment, losing the motivation to go through another study session.

He sat on the lounge, letting out a deep sigh.

"That's twelve." Rudy chimed, wearing a crooked grin.

"Hmm?" Michael raised an eyebrow, his now dull emerald eyes questioning his friend.

"You've sighed twelve times since we left for breakfast—that was the biggest one yet." He added with a chuckle.

Michael's annoyance rose, "Well I'm glad I could be of some entertainment to you," he shot back, sending a glare.

"Whoa, chill man," Rudy raised his hands in submission, trying to deescalate the situation. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood ya know."

Michael sighed again, feeling a little guilty. It wasn't right to take out his frustrations on Rudy, not when the guy was innocent.

"That's thirteen." He interjected with a wicked grin.

Nevermind, I'm gonna kill him… he twitched in response.

Before he could act on his internal threats, Melody stepped in between the two, her sapphire eyes locked onto Michael—startling him slightly.

"Look Michael, I know you're bummed about the pills," she said, fidgeting slightly. "I'm also disappointed since they did absolutely nothing… It truly is a shame, especially since you went through so much to obtain them."

Rudy cleared his throat, leaning forward "You're supposed to be cheering him up…" he said in a harsh whisper—loud enough for Michael to hear.

"R-right!" she flinched, straightening up. "Well, you should just forget about them for now… okay? Our entire future at Arcadia is riding on these midterm exams, we need to make sure we pass."

Silence drifted within the room as Michael stared at Melody, blinking a few times.

A slap resounded as Rudy facepalmed, "Damn… Remind me never to turn to you for some words of encouragement." He lamented, shaking his head exaggeratedly.

"Pfft…"

Michael's hand shot up to his mouth, stifling the laugh that almost escaped on its own. He saw the two teen's gazes fall upon him briefly before the dam broke—causing his laughter to spill out into the room.

It was light, infectious even.

The gloomy atmosphere melted away with ease, bringing smiles to both Melody and Rudy's faces. The latter joined in, his booming laugh filling everyone's ears a moment later.

Michael felt a wave of warmth as he genuinely laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. All of the pent up stress from the incident, the faulty pills—and even the nightmare—seemed to wash away, lifting the heaviness upon his chest.

The antics of the two who tried to console him was too funny.

For a moment, he forgot all of the stress that had been silently eating away at him.

Michael only recovered a minute later, wiping away at the tears at the corner of his eyes, a big smile now painted on his face. "You're right Melody, we should make sure we study properly," he replied lightly.

"We need to receive top marks if we want to stay in the violet dorm next year after all." He added.

"Eh!? W-what do you mean?" Rudy's smiling expression faltered, his jaw dropping in shock and confusion.

"Hmm? You didn't know?" Michael asked, genuinely intrigued.

While the dorms were assigned based on the results of the entrance examination for first-years, every year after that was dependent on the results of the final exams.

Melody too seemed to be surprised that the guy didn't know.

She quickly explained this to him, only causing his complexion to pale considerably.

"So my food… my dorm…" he muttered, just above a whisper.

Panic crept in as he gripped the arm of the chair—as if to steady himself. "N-no! I can't lose it… Not my special menu!" he cried dramatically.

Melody and Michael shared a glance, both wearing odd expressions.

But before they could comment, Rudy surged to his feet, grabbing Michael by the collar as he dropped to his knees in front of him. "Big bro! You have to help me~" he wailed, seemingly for the twentieth time this week.

Melody let out a groan, rolling her eyes at the dramatic display.

"If you've had enough drama class today, we should really focus on studying…" she added, pointing to the table nearby. With a wave of her hand, textbooks appeared alongside some handwritten notebooks.

Michael let out a chuckle and pat his friend on the head affectionately, "Don't worry, we'll get you up to speed by the end of the year" he said confidently.

"You're the best!" he echoed, shooting to his feet.

"Alright, let's start off with spellcrafting," Michael said, stretching his stiff muscles as he stood up. This was one of Rudy's worst subjects—despite the fact it was the class he was most invested in.

Professor Murphy had this kind of effect on all the students. His classes were always the most packed and lively—even during theoretical lessons.

"Let's goooo!" he shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

With a shake of her head, Melody silently grabbed one of the textbooks and opened up to a certain page. Judging by the worn page, it was clear that it was frequently turned to this point.

"The tier two whirlwind spell, show us your current state."

Rudy's expression turned serious, though there was a flash of anger upon seeing the magic circle depicted on the page once more. It was as if he was cursing the thing in his mind.

He let out a deep breath and gathered mana towards his forefinger, the air surrounding him coming alive with traces of mana. Crimson sparks appeared as he raised his hand—as if to draw in the air in front of him.

Slowly, but carefully, Rudy began to construct the magic circle in front of him. The runes, were drawn with care, easily recognizable to the two onlookers as one's from the wind element.

They showed no surprise just yet. Rudy usually had no issues constructing the outer layer of the magic circle—it was the intricate inner layer where he would always falter.

If the outer layer depicted the element of the spell, the inner layer defined the structure. The information of what action the spell would perform—as well as what form it would take.

But as the display continued on, their impassive expressions soon turned to one of surprise, and even shock. Though slow, the mana flow was steady and accurate—the control immaculate.

I-Is this really the same Rudy I know? Michael thought in bewilderment.