"RRAAAHHH!"
It had been a few minutes since I told everyone the trolls were all gone.
Yet, the excitement didn't die down in some of them.
Overall, many of them were just happy the trolls were dead.
While others were excited since they helped kill some powerful monsters, they could be rewarded and get some prestige in both the academy and the Adventurers Guild, making getting high-paying jobs a lot easier, especially for the commoners.
I, however, was standing off a bit, healed enough to walk on my own by now, leaning against an undamaged wall, alone, examining the crystals from the trolls, concerned about their origins and what these were based on.
"What's wrong?" Terra asked as she walked over to me.
I looked at her and said, "Nothing."
She raised an eyebrow and said, "Your left eyebrow is twitching. It only does that when you are lying about something serious."
I paused and instinctively raised a hand to my left eyebrow.
'I didn't even know I did that…' I thought to myself.
Sigh, I looked at her, glanced at the other students, and said, "I would rather not say with prying ears."
She nodded and said, "With the professor unconscious and most of the other staff tending to the students or getting the academy authorities, we have some time to go to the basement and examine how the trolls got out of the labyrinth ourselves, and talk about the more serious stuff."
I nodded but turned to the arena entrance, unable to see the bodies around the corner, and said, "You're not wrong. We do have some time, but the academy forces aren't coming for the trolls. They are coming to investigate the explosion caused by my spell."
She looked confused. "Why wouldn't they be here for the trolls? Both matters are serious."
I turned to her and said bluntly, "Because they don't know about the trolls."
She paled. "Wh-what! Why not?!"
"Because the faculty sent to warn them are dead," I said coldly.
She turned to the arena entrance, in shock, and asked, "Did you…?"
Looking over there too, I saw Lavender moving around the edge of the arena toward me.
I shook my head. "No, I did not. The shadow did."
She turned back to me in shock and asked, "Aaron! Are you sure?"
I nodded. "They already confirmed it," I said as I reached a hand out to Lavender as she got closer.
^You were right. It was Aaron's body controlled by the shadow. We don't know why, though.^ she said to me as I got a vision of the scene.
Aaron standing over the bodies, with blood on his daggers, his eyes completely black and exuding an aura not his own.
I nodded and told her, ^Thanks. Please begin modifying everyone's memories. I will let you know if I need something.^
I then pulled out a small pouch and a scroll from my storage ring.
I opened the pouch and poured the dream dust into Lavender's cloudy form.
^Appreciate it, Jack,^ she said to me before moving off to the students.
I smiled and shifted my attention to the scroll.
Seeing the scroll and recognizing it, Terra asked, "Is that a Message Scroll?" [1]
Ignoring her for now, I said to the book, ^Appraise the use of the scroll. I want to make more in the future.^
^Affirmative: Beginning Appraisal.^
I only had one minute to send this message, so I quickly thought about what to say, then unrolled the scroll, pictured Zareth in my mind, and ripped the scroll in half.
A magic sigil appeared in front of me, and I spoke clearly.
"The academy arena was just attacked by some evolved trolls. Send some people to help investigate, but have them say it's to investigate the explosion that was seen from the city. Several students are injured, and some academy staff members have been killed by the shadow, so be careful."
The sigil disappeared, and I turned back to Terra.
"The Guild Master should send some people here soon. Let's go and investigate the basement before the academy forces arrive."
She nodded, and we went to gather the others who were talking to the other students.
"How did you move so fast? I've never seen anyone move so fast before!" one of the several students huddled around by friends asked Ark, who seemed a little overwhelmed by the attention.
"- I… um…" he stuttered, nervous and not sure what to say.
"He is a wind sorcerer," Araki said, putting an arm around Ark's shoulder. "Wind sorcerers can use some special magic allowing them to move extremely fast."
The students' eyes shone in excitement, and they were about to bombard Ark with more questions.
Terra, however, interrupted them first. "Please step away. Can't you see he is uncomfortable with all the attention?" Terra said while the two of us walked up to them.
They all looked at us, and Ark's face relaxed in relief, seeing me walking over.
The students paused, turned back to Ark, and realized they were all a little too close.
They backed off, and several apologized to Ark, feeling a little embarrassed.
He smiled shyly as I walked next to him, nodding to Araki in thanks.
He nodded back, and the four of us went to grab Zek and Orin, who were both examining the troll bodies.
"Find anything new?" I asked.
Orin looked up and shook his head. "Nothing abnormal for a troll… well, aside from the evolved parts, but nothing out of place not explained by the evolution."
I looked at Zek, who was standing on top of the troll's chest.
"Not much either. The mana from the first two dissipated rather quickly, especially considering the density of the muscles and bones of these trolls. My guess is that it was all forcefully sucked out of them and into the final troll," he said, hopping down onto Orin's shoulder.
I nodded.
"Lines up with what I found out. Come on, we are going to investigate the basement and figure out how they got here."
They both nodded and started following me.
But as we approached the destroyed gate, Orin asked, while looking at the damage, "Shouldn't we wait for the academy forces? They would probably be better with this, wouldn't they?"
I shook my head. "No. At the end of our duel, an anti-magic or mana dispersion spell was cast. Plus, Aaron was nearby and killed the staff members who went to inform the academy guards. The shadow is moving now, and I think the trolls were just a distraction."
Everyone paled as we walked past the gate into the basement.
"The shadow is moving?!" Ark asked, worried.
I nodded. "It seems that way. I don't see why he would kill the staff members otherwise."
"Could it have been insanity on Aaron's part? I mean, having something taking over must be causing him to go insane, right?"
I shook my head. "At this point, I don't think Aaron is capable of acting on his own. The shadow was definitely controlling him when that happened, and entities like the shadow don't do anything for no reason.
Whatever the shadow is doing to him has been weakening his soul for a long time, making it harder for Aaron to maintain control over his body without relying on the shadow to assist him. And in doing so, he is allowing the shadow more and more control, weakening his hold even more."
Everyone was silent, careful not to mention that the shadow was a god while Terra was here, and I had asked them not to reveal it to her.
"W-we can still save him, right?" Ark asked nervously.
I stopped walking and turned around.
Everyone also stopped.
I looked Ark in the eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Don't tell Kion this, but honestly, at this point, I'm not sure if he can be saved. He might not even make it to the afterlife."
Everyone was silent for a moment, processing that information.
*GRRROOONNN*
*CLANG*
The sound of metal groaning from strain and falling spooked us all, causing some of us to jump.
Turning around, at the back of the basement, I saw a massive Adamantine door with several runes engraved into it, dented on the back, yet left wide open.
Six pedestals surrounded the door, each with a dim crystal sitting on top. However, some of them were knocked over, and others had their crystals broken.
"Those are some powerful seals," Zek said, looking around at the runes and crystals, still sitting on Orin's shoulder. "They are on par with rank 6 barrier magic from… the Arcane school of warding, I think. But I can't tell if it was reinforcement, barriers or something else."
"School of warding?" Araki asked.
Zek turned to him and said, "Of the eight base elements, Arcane isn't an exact type of magic. Fire, of course, is related to fire, and water is related to water.
But the Arcane Element, the element with the most variety of spells, is anything not under the other seven base elements or the outer elements. Those divisions are called the schools of arcane magic.
There are several schools in the arcane element. Some of them are Warding, Summoning, Charm, Conjuration, Transmutation, and Alchemy. There are a few more, but that isn't important right now."
I nodded and added, "The arcane element mainly uses spell scripts and magic circles to get different results from magic. Some people, depending on their skill and specialization, can even mimic spells from the other elements.
The soundproof barriers you have seen me use, or the fusion magic I used earlier, are both based on arcane scripts."
"Ah, I see," Araki nodded.
"This sounds a lot like your area of expertise, Jack. Why don't you use arcane magic more?" Orin asked.
"My skills do lean more toward arcane than elemental magic, yes, but the arcane element has a massive drawback, its mana cost.
Fire, Earth, Water and Air all cost the lowest amount of mana. Lightning, Light and Shadow are double those, and Arcane is double that."
"Ah. And with your low mana pool, it isn't a good option," he nodded in understanding.
"Exactly. I do know a lot about it, of course, and I do use the arcane element sometimes or apply it on top of spells like the fusion spell earlier, but it's very rare for me to use it."
They all nodded, and I turned back to the pedestals.
I pulled out the blue book and said, "Begin Appraisal." I let go of the book, and it began to float around.
~
[1]: Magic scrolls are one-time use items that allow the user to cast a specific spell one time. Scrolls can be used by anyone, even by non-mages. The spell can be several levels above your own power and doesn't draw from your own mana pool.
A scroll can only cast the spell put onto it originally. It is possible to modify the spell itself by adding to the scroll later, but you cannot change the base spell/remove what is written. Only someone of Jack's current level or higher can do this successfully.
Scrolls are made with special parchment and ink. Both are made with special ingredients and infused with mana.
Any mistake or inadequate resource used can result in a misfire or unusable scroll. (It casts a fireball downwards while in your hands.)