Is he using wind magic right now?! It’s not possible for him to have developed a proper soul shape in one day! Seraphine wondered in shock.

  “...A contract.” Seraphine concluded under her breath, observing Aurelius’s movements with keen interest.

  “You need to advance to a second layer mage within the next month.” Sage Yeltz instructed Seraphine blandly.

  “Month?!” Seraphine nearly cried out, tearing her eyes away from Aruelius’s fight with Mr. Tona to stare at the sage.

  “You’re nearly there already. Sylven clearly believes that you are close to a breakthrough. And her support gives you a lot of advantages anyway.” Sage Yeltz replied calmly.

  “But what’s the rush?!” Seraphine asked, feeling the weight of training in her legs already.

  “I need help with some… discreet research. And I want you to join the Commission sooner rather than later.” Sage Yeltz explained.

  “Plus, it’d be a good way for you to stick it to your cunted family.” She said, lifting her shoulders up in a vague shrug.

  “...But I wanted to do some scholar work out on some ruins for a few years after graduation.” Seraphine pointed out, narrowing her eyes at Sage Yeltz slightly.

  “And I told you that doing scholar work as part of the Adventurer’s Guilds is not advisable. It’s much better to get promoted to a full fledged magic scholar within the Commission and take teams with funding out to excavation sites.” Sage Yeltz shot back.

  “...It’s about the romanticism of it all Ms. Yeltz. And I want some freedom before going to work in my 20s. Atlac knows that I need that.” Seraphine replied haughtily.

  “Trust me when I say that guild work is boring, and unattractive for someone like you. It pays relatively little, and most adventurers you’d meet aren’t well trained.” Sage Yeltz said plainly.

  “We both know that you’d be fine in the Commission, and that promotion to a magic scholar would take at most, 4 years for someone like you.”

  “Just lead your own team after 4 years. It’s not like you’re rearing to go pirate hunting.” Sage Yeltz finished.

  This gave Seraphine a short pause as she stifled her creeping smile.

  “Pft, pirate hunting?! It’s the 3rd century Ms. Yeltz. No one’s doing that anymore.” Seraphine said through gritted teeth, her twitching face determined to stay serious.

  “...I mean I did that a few times with Tona. We hired a few people from the guild too…” Sage Yeltz grumbled under her breath, looking disgruntled by the look of amusement on Seraphine’s face.

  “...Haa… I guess I have no choice in the matter anyway.” Seraphine dejectedly said.

  “I’m fine with everything you’re suggesting anyway. I can probably take leave to do my own research as a commissioner anyway, and I do want to get to 2nd layer sooner rather than later…”

  “It’s just that your timeline for me is beyond tight! At the same time, I’m sure you have your reasons for asking these things of me. So I will agree to follow your stupid suggestions if you promise one thing.” Seraphine announced, pointing her index finger directly at Sage Yeltz’s face.

  Sage Yeltz deflated slightly at this, expectant of what Seraphine was about to say to her.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Promise me that you will not become an archsage.” Seraphine said with fire in her eyes.

  Sage Yeltz just sighed, and stared over at Mr. Tona and Aurelius duking it out rowdily in the distance. And as Aurelius made strange noises that echoed through the gym, she closed her eyes and replied solemnly.

  “...I promise.”

  ???

  “...What was that?” Aurelius asked Mr. Tona accusatorily.

  “Woah, woah, calm down there, boyo.” Mr. Tona said, lighting up his cigarette leisurely.

  “...I cannot believe that I fell for that.” Pultris commented with shame lining the echoes of his voice.

  “Oh yes. I’m sure you felt the difference between you and me clearly.” Mr. Tona replied, letting out a puff of smoke nonchalantly.

  Aurelius just looked around in confusion, still very much unsure of what happened.

  “He was riling us up with magic.” Pultris growled unhappily, ending the effect of his wind magic with the statement.

  Immediately, the subtle hum of music around Aurelius faded to nothing and Aurelius could feel the rush of energy and strength in his body disappear with an intangible ‘pop’.

  His muscles untangled itself and gave him the feeling of a thousand rubber bands snapping against the insides of his skin instantaneously and his lungs, full of cool, delicious air just moments before, were halved in its volume.

  “ACH!” Aurelius groaned, nearly falling over in horrible pain.

  Clearly, the enhancement magic had… unsavory consequences after its application.

  Mr. Tona seemed unconcerned by Aurelius’s pain, as he continued on his explanations.

  “Yes. It’s my spirit contract with Mentris, a high ranking spirit of the water who happens to be able to grant me the ability to do a limited amount of mind magic.” Mr. Tona explained, looking at the scowl that was slowly appearing on Aurelius’s face.

  “I didn’t mess with your minds or anything. I just kind of amplified your rage a tiny bit.” Mr. Tona continued, twirling his returned cigarette case in his fingers.

  “What was the purpose of that?!” Aurelius cried out in irritation.

  “It was mostly for Pultris. I wanted to rile him up so he’d be more cooperative with you in the sparring session. A lazy spirit like him usually doesn’t lend out all of their power unless coerced you see.”

  “And since my job is to take a look at your maximum output, it made sense for me to throw a few jabs at his mind through the Commission channel. Quite easy to do, since he’s sealed.” Mr. Tona shrugged.

  “It’s usually quite weak, since subtle effects like these are more in line with wind magic. But clearly, it worked well enough to push him quite far.”

  “What’s more interesting is… you.” Mr. Tona said, leaning down towards Aurelius to observe him carefully.

  “Why did you get so mad? You don’t even know me!” Mr. Tona cried out skeptically, prodding at Aurelius’s cheeks with curiosity.

  Frowning, Aurelius swatted his hands away, and stared at him venomously.

  “Eh, I’m not paid to think anyway.” Mr. Tona shrugged.

  “You know the basics with the spear. And even managed to channel your soul through the weapon. Quite the interesting turn of events since mages don’t usually take interest in martial arts.”

  “But clearly, it’s very sloppy. We’ll polish out the basics first, and see where we go from there.”

  “Then I’ll also be preparing to have you make a staff next year, after you’ve gotten the basics down to a satisfactory level of mastery.” He said plainly, inhaling another mouthful of cancer into his lungs.

  …A staff?! Aurelius thought to himself fearfully.

  “And we’ll also regularly spar with the help of your little friend.” Mr. Tona finished.

  “Do I get a say in this?” Pultris quipped up unhelpfully.

  Mr. Tona just smiled and shook his head with a devious smile, clearly enjoying the process of pissing the angel off.

  “W-Wait. What’s this about a staff?!” Aurelius yelled out, feeling goosebumps crawling through his skin.

  “Yeltz said that you needed a staff.” The old man replied with his eyebrow raised questioningly.

  “I didn’t ask for a staff! I don’t want to drain my blood for something archaic like a staff!” Aurelius cried out, clutching his wrist in horror.

  “Relax, it’s not like I’m having you make a wand. The pain is much more bearable. Trust me. What do you think the purpose of you handling a spear is for anyway!” Mr. Tona said with a grin on his face.

  A staff, like wands, were customised magical tools for mages to improve casting efficiency. And while staves were not made from bone like wands, the process was still INCREDIBLY painful, with the mage needing to drain enough blood to fully submerge a prepared staff in a single horrifying session.

  “Things to look forward to.” Mr. Tona clapped in delight, and summoned a glass of water in the air for Aurelius.

  And with a sly smile, Mr. Tona said another string of horrifying words.

  “Now, let’s get started again. Shall we?”