Of Wizards and Ravens [Magical Academy, Progression Fantasy, Slice of Life]

"Ya' cannae jus' say that an' expect us to go off to sleep!" Salem protested, and Yushin actually looked somewhat ashamed, turning off to look to the side.

"It is… I apologize. I had attempted to constrain my own opinions and thoughts, and only bring this up with you in the morning. But I found myself unable to."

"It's fine," Jackson said, taking her hand and squeezing it gently for a moment before letting go. "Why don't you go ahead and tell us now?"

"Hold on," I said, then flicked my wand out of its locker. I muttered a handful of words, then felt the air tighten slightly around us as the hidden conversation spell fell into place. Salem's psychic communication was great for ultra-private conversations, but also, not having some chatter coming from us while in the middle of a semi-public area was its own kind of noticeable. Honestly, I expected that was why Yushin had spoken here – with so many people around, not even a cultivator could track every conversation.

"Are you all certain?" Yushin asked. "Again, I apologize…"

"Aye, we're certain," I said, only then realizing that I'd picked up the 'aye' from Salem.

"Very well. Though I am uncertain how, as she purportedly does not have an artifice affinity, nor does she have life enforcement, Elder Tywyll has agreed to craft a potion for me to solve or mitigate my problem."

"Tha's easy," Salem said, waving his hand. "She's an archhag. Hag magic's one a' the most flexible bloodlines in the world. Dragons or angels may 'ave more raw power, but hags can do a hell'uva lot more. Potions are well in 'er remit."

Yushin listened, pursed her lips for a moment, then nodded.

"I see. Regardless. The potion will provide a massive, albeit temporary, amount of poison chi to my life force, as well as cause the vestiges of my bloodline to temporarily shift to be little more than watered down traces of a white serpent. Any blood that I leave during this time will have that change, even after the potion wears off."

I felt my eyebrows creep up at that. By parsing through the spells in the grimoire, I'd started to realize just how difficult it was to manage to change a bloodline around, and that was using magic from an age with less limits than our own. For Elder Tywyll to be able to make a potion that did that, while also simulating the learning of an entirely new branch of magic, even temporarily?

"We need to lure them out and stage an attack," Jackson realized. "We have to let the assassin think that they've managed to take a blood sample back, so they can analyze it, only to reveal that you're just a poison cultivator with a bloodline who was there at the wrong time."

"Indeed," Yushin said. "Emrys, you will need to serve as bait. Even though they are unable to come onto campus without being disintegrated, I believe they will have put together that we are on a team together, and are likely to target you again."

"You didn't think to tell me this before I took a trip to Trees?" I asked, genuinely annoyed. I knew that Salem was a competent and powerful mage, and both his parents were were-ravens, but if we'd been ambushed…

"Elder Tywyll was the one who pointed it out to me and my uncle," Yushin said.

"My uncle and me. But… fine. I'm not happy about it, but fine."

"With your permission, Elder Tywyll will make sure rumors that your mental shielding has been reinforced through Salem's psychic affinity, letting you lie through truth spells, reach the ears of the sect."

"How?" I asked, but Salem shook his head.

"S' best not ta' ask."

My eye twitched in mild annoyance, but I didn't say anything as Yushin continued.

"We will need to use you as bait," she said. "The combination of the rumor and the increasing information they are able to gather should be enough to lure one out of hiding. Perhaps even their leader."

"I can fight a low perpetual core cultivator, but I'd rather not test myself against a powerful one, let alone a nascent immortal. But I want to help."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"That's why we'll wait, hidden," Jackson said. "At least, I will. Regardless of if it's the plan or not, I won't let you go out and face something like that alone."

"It is the plan. All of us will, emerging when you are attacked," Yushin said. "Furthermore, they will not send all of them. They will only dispatch their entire reserve when and if they find their target. Not for one lead. And together, we will be more than enough to take them on, especially with my healing uncle in reserve."

"Hope you're right," Salem muttered darkly. "Alrigh' an once they're out?"

"Ideally, they will send a pair. We could kill one, letting the other escape with the blood sample. That should allow us to both collect on one of the rather considerable bounties, as well as ensure the Divine King does not send any additional warriors, as he will believe this to be a dead end."

"At least, after you," I said. "Alright. So, I serve as bait."

"Can I serve as bait?" Jackson asked. "I would be more comfortable–"

"No," Yushin said, cutting him off. "You are not dating a psychic, and I killed the one who attempted to interrogate you. The rumor does not make sense if it is spread about you. And Salem was not directly attacked or interviewed, likely due to some combination of his bloodline, connections, and foreigner status."

"I'll do it," I said. Yushin had bought me a chance for my freedom. Now I would be able to return that favor to her. Without words, Yushin bowed deeply to me, and I gave a very formal bow in return. We spent a short while longer going over the specifics of the plan, before eventually dismissing the spell and heading our separate ways for the night.

Frankly, a part of me wished that Yushin had successfully managed to hold in her question and information until the following morning, as I spent that night tossing and turning, unable to sleep. In a strange way, it was even worse than the night before my duel with Gerhard. If Gerhard had won, I would have been devastated, but left alive. I could have found a way to escape again, and maybe even flee to somewhere else. It would have been awful, but I would have been alive.

But if Yushin's calculation of our ability to take on the members, if the entire sect showed up, or even if the nascent immortal themselves was the one to attack? There was a very real chance that I'd wind up dying in the fight against them. If they captured me to try and extract information, I'd wind up tortured, and then killed.

At around two in the morning, I pulled myself out of bed and began to work on casting. I could only really make two spellglyphs before the fight, at least without sacrificing an uncomfortable amount of blood, but that was two more than I had currently. I ran my fire through the creation of the glyphs, as well as using the technique to layer them together, then stored curses in them.

I wished that I was skilled enough with sealing curses to create something capable of sealing away the cultivator's magic. Even if it was only part of their chi, or if it only lasted a few minutes, it would be a massive boon. Unfortunately, the complexity of sealing spells was still well beyond my ability to shape – I hadn't even managed to successfully plot one on paper yet.

But, even with only misfortune and suffering curses to rely on, there were still some things I could do. I might not know exactly who was going to be attacking me, but I knew they'd be a cultivator, and that gave me options for constructing the curse's trigger and break conditions, as well as effects.

For a moment, I debated using some of the ether crystal dust that I'd just won. It would be enough to make two more, and I'd still have a bit left over. It was a balance between survival and the future. If I spent it now, those two spells might theoretically be the difference between life and death. Then again, they might not be – it was only two spells – and I could doubtless use the dust for another ritual in the future. In the end, though, I held off. Two additional spells were unlikely to make a difference against overwhelming odds, and I had to trust that Yushin wouldn't be wrong.

With my glyphs tucked in my locker next to my pair of healing potions and my hydra knife, I made it back to bed and had some fitful rest until morning. That morning, I rose and dressed quickly, then walked off to the gates of the school, where I headed off to the Charm and Fable for a morning shift. The work was normal enough – I had several people come in with angelus bloodlines and who spoke only in the bloodline tongue of the celestials, which was interesting. It made me wonder just how many other places the Charm and Fable's door was able to reach, as I didn't know of anywhere with so many angelus-blooded individuals.

Charm arrived toward the end to take over, and I was released to go enjoy the last of the festivities as they wound down. I agreed I would, but before I left, I took some time to layer a dragonfire infused greater arcane armor over myself, then started to explore along one of the large mercantile streets. I stopped by one of the sprawling forges that created customized armor and weaponry and made a show of looking at some of their weapons, before eventually deciding not to buy anything and head heading off again. This time, I stopped at an alchemist's shop, and actually got into a rather interesting discussion over the effects of clarity potions on a person's ability to shape and regenerate their ether pools, but I eventually was forced to leave.

I drifted from shop to shop, slow enough that Yushin, Salem, and Jackson would be able to follow without effort, and it was as I was cutting through an alley to visit a tattoo parlour that used alchemical inks and enchantments that I caught it. There was a faint smell of shadows in the air, more than the alley should have had.

Space bent, and an assassin exploded into existence next to me. Though it was hard to properly gauge just how powerful – or lack thereof – a cultivator was from scent alone, I thought this one was stronger than the one who'd attacked me.

No holding back, then.

I pulled my wand into one hand, drew my spellglyphed papers into the other, and prepared for battle.