In the plaza within the Academy's walls, Gawain stepped forward and pulled hard on the nearby lever. As he expected, it didn't budge. It seemed the sorcerers knew an intruder had arrived and had taken preemptive measures.
"They're quick to react when it comes to saving their own skins. But this just means we can't take the normal way up."
"Don't worry, Master. It's about to get windy. Lean in close so you don't catch a chill."
Gawain gave a casual wave of his hand. A vertical updraft manifested out of thin air in the center of the plaza, while his body began to shimmer with the violet radiance of gravity magic.
To be honest, controlling the storm in tandem with gravity magic allowed him to clear vast distances, though he hadn't yet mastered true flight. That level of control required a precision he hadn't quite reached. However, handling a vertical ascent while carrying another person was well within his current capabilities.
Sellen nodded and stepped forward, taking her apprentice's arm. As the storm and gravity magic took hold, she felt her body grow weightless—a sensation she had never experienced before.
"Ready, Master? We're taking off."
The words had barely left his lips before a magnificent vortex of wind gathered around them. Bolstered by gravity magic, it hoisted them both into the air, soaring easily over the obstacles below.
The nomadic merchant watched from below as Gawain and Sellen took flight. He swallowed hard, imagining the chaos that was about to descend upon the Academy tonight.
The two landed on the roof of a tower. There were no enemies here; they had likely retreated to bolster their defenses further inside.
Gawain stepped out from the structure and was immediately struck by the breathtaking vista. The true face of the Raya Lucaria Academy unfolded before him in all its glory.
Interwoven with spectral starlight and ethereal mist, the mysterious Academy flickered in and out of view, looking exactly like a scene from a dream—or perhaps something beyond imagination. Soaring spires pierced the clouds as if reaching for the stars themselves. The architecture was encrusted with countless glintstones that sparkled in the night, mimicking the twinkling of a vast galaxy.
The very air was thick with visible mana, drifting through the sky alongside the starlight. If he had to make a comparison, the concentration of mana here felt as dense as the curse-laden atmosphere of Lothric's Grand Archives. The only difference was that he didn't expect a death-dealing hand to sprout from every surface here.
Of course, like everywhere else in the Lands Between, there were traces of desolation and ruin. Under the Queen's rule, this place must have been even more beautiful—a true sanctuary of learning. Gawain wondered if he could ever restore it to its former brilliance.
He stood in silence for a moment, admiring the view, before moving forward. The two sentries who usually guarded the entrance were gone, leaving the path unobstructed.
Sellen shook off her own sense of awe. Her glintstone staff flared with light, and a barrage of spells—like a rain of falling stars—shot forth, accurately striking several peculiar glintstones ahead.
"They like to hide behind their toys and watch from afar," she remarked coolly. "But that is fine. It gives them a little more time to savor their fear before they perish."
Having cleared the surveillance stones, she turned to Gawain.
"Apprentice, in terms of combat, those sorcerers ahead are no match for you. However, fighting them in the realm of magic may prove fruitful. I know you are proficient in a completely different system, but you are still somewhat green when it comes to glintstone sorcery.
Think of today as a practical exam. Treat every hostile sorcerer in this Academy as an opponent for your studies. Show no mercy."
Gawain nodded. The sorcerers weren't going anywhere, and he was more than happy to practice the application of glintstone magic in a real fight.
In a secret classroom somewhere within the Academy, a sorcerer wearing a Twinsage Glintstone Crown slammed his fist against the wall in a rage. He had seen it with his own eyes: that loathsome, terrifying Witch had broken in.
And she had a stranger with her, clad in Carian Knight armor. Though he didn't recognize the man, the storm unleashed in the plaza was undeniable.
"Such arrogance... he seeks death!" the sorcerer snarled.
"Should we strike first, then?" a subordinate asked.
"No need for haste. We shall play with them. I do not know how Sellen secured the aid of such a man, but the idea that two people can take on the entire Academy is a delusion. We have our own means. Let the puppet soldiers and the husks wear them down first."
Gawain and Sellen passed through a small garden and ascended the stairs. Before them stood the elegantly designed Church of the Cuckoo.
The partnership between the Cuckoos and the Academy appeared solid on the surface. The Cuckoos served as mercenaries, guarding the Academy's interests in Liurnia, and in return, the Academy built this church specifically to teach them sorcery. But in the end, it was a hollow alliance born of mutual suspicion and hidden agendas. The church was independent of the main Academy body, and the Cuckoos were forbidden from entering the inner sanctum.
Gawain looked over the railing at the view below. Wrapped in thick night-mist, the ground was invisible.
The Academy was built atop an isolated cliff, with what he assumed was a bottomless abyss below, leading down to the largest glintstone deposit in the Lands Between. The concentration of glintstone was so vast that if one looked up from the Lake of Rot directly below, they would see masses of it erupting from the cavern ceiling.
After casting Great Magic Barrier on himself, Gawain took a deep breath and roared:
"Open up! Academic exchange!"
He kicked the doors open. Inside the church, a legion of puppet soldiers stood ready, commanded by several sorcerers. Seeing the intruders, they unleashed a storm of arrows and glintstone spells.
The swirling gale around Gawain's body deflected the arrows effortlessly. The few glintstone spells that made it through struck his barrier, doing little more than scratching the surface.
The sorcerers were stunned. Even through their stone masks, their despair was palpable. It was like trying to stop a Tiger tank with a shortbow.
"My apologies. I almost forgot I was supposed to use glintstone magic today."
Gawain suppressed the urge to end it all with a single Comet Azur. Standing within the Magic Downpour array Sellen had cast, he didn't bother dodging. He repeatedly cast Glintstone Cometshard, picking off the sorcerers one by one. When puppet soldiers charged him with flailing limbs, he countered with a Crystal Barrage, shredding them instantly.
As the last puppet soldier collapsed into a heap of scrap, Sellen gave a slight nod of approval.
"You've improved, though your technique still needs refinement. There is much room to grow in terms of mana efficiency. However... I noticed something other than glintstone magic in your casting. A peculiar power."
"You're sharp, Master. I mixed some crystal sorcery in there. I haven't quite mastered its full potential yet, but when prepared, it's among the most powerful magics I know."
"Crystal sorcery? It sounds similar to the Crystalians. If you take such pride in it, there must be a reason. Will you let your master study it later?"
"Of course. Perhaps one day the magic I know will flourish in the Lands Between. If that happens, I'll have done right by those who taught me."
Sellen's lips curved into a smile, though her thoughts remained private. Just as she was about to speak, she sensed the aura of a familiar object. High above the Church of the Cuckoo, she felt the mana of her mentor, Master Azur.
Master Azur was no longer within the Academy, so it had to be something he had left behind.
"Apprentice, come. Take me up there. To the second floor of this church. It leads to a place where I sense a familiar presence."
Following her lead, Gawain thought for a moment and remembered the room. He recalled a Graven-Mass of the Primeval school being there, along with Master Azur's glintstone staff. In the game, one had to start from the Debate Parlor and play Assassin's Creed across the rooftops to reach it. But now...
He looked around the interior. The church was a bit cramped for his storm abilities; he couldn't just hoist her up like before without risking an imbalance in mid-air. He'd have to try something else.
He decided on a path and stepped closer to Sellen. His sudden proximity made her go still with tension.
"Apprentice? What are you—?"
He reached out and scooped her up, his right arm firmly around her waist.
"Sorry, Master. It's the only way to maintain balance in here. Hold on tight; we're moving."
Before Sellen could process what he was doing, she instinctively followed his lead, wrapping her arms around him. Gawain adjusted his hold into a proper "princess carry," calculated the distance to the balcony, and leaped. With the aid of a localized gale, they shot up toward the second floor.
Unfortunately, several winged puppet soldiers were lurking on the balcony, attempting a sneak attack with their spears. As Gawain dodged mid-air, he slammed through the wooden railing. He and Sellen hit the floor and rolled several times before coming to a stop.
"God-damned... (Lothric swearing). I didn't see those stragglers. Almost crashed the flight."
He shattered the offending puppets with a backhand strike and turned to check on Sellen. She was dusting herself off and propping herself up, clearly finding the experience a bit too intense for a sorcerer.
"Apprentice... next time, please find a more conventional way up. And you were holding me far too tightly."
"My apologies. It's hard to maneuver in such a tight space. We'll be fine once we're back in the open."
"I shall forgive this 'wicked disciple' just this once. If it happens again, your master will have a punishment prepared."
Despite her words, seeing her apprentice's sheepish look of apology, she didn't take the matter to heart. In fact, a thrill like that wasn't unwelcome once in a while.
She looked down the hallway. At the very end was a room overflowing with glintstone. Inside sat a massive, spherical object composed of countless different glintstone crowns. She knew that beneath every crown was a living sorcerer.
This was a masterpiece of the Primeval School: a Graven-Mass. This twisted form was believed to be closer to the nature of a Starseed. Thus, the components of a Graven-Mass were not just enemies, but Primeval sorcerers who had voluntarily sacrificed their individuality to bring their existence closer to the stars.
Sellen's expression was a complex mix of emotions. In the past, she wouldn't have seen anything wrong with this form; she had even once believed it was her own ultimate destination. But now, her perspective had shifted. And all of it stemmed from this peculiar apprentice she had taken on. Perhaps, after taking the Academy, it would be time to rethink the future of the Primeval School.
She led Gawain into the room and slowly picked up an exquisite glintstone staff from the floor.
"This was the glintstone staff once wielded by my mentor, Master Azur.
Later, because he ventured too deep into the Primeval Current, he was driven from the Academy by the other sorcerers and even the students of his own classroom. Though he left, as the founder of the Azur Classroom, he left an indelible mark on this place. I suspect this staff was one of the things he could not bring with him."
She gripped the staff and closed her eyes, trying to sense her mentor's mindset in those final days, but she felt nothing. With a soft sigh, she handed the staff to Gawain.
"I have been teaching you for some time now. Looking back, aside from teaching you magic, it seems I have constantly been asking for your help. That is not how a teacher should behave.
Accept this gift. I believe Master Azur would be pleased to see his staff in your hands."
Gawain didn't hesitate. He accepted the gift solemnly. Just by holding it, he could tell it was the perfect catalyst that no glintstone sorcerer could refuse.
"My own first glintstone staff was a gift from my mentor," Sellen mused. "From that day on, I set my path firmly toward the Primeval Current.
Apprentice, you are not my first student, but I know you will be the one I am most proud of. Unlike me, you have the chance to reach far more of the Starseeds. Glintstone sorcery will flourish in your hands.
I suppose... this is what it means for the master's legacy to pass to the apprentice."
The sound of flapping wings from the distance interrupted her. She knew the professors had sent more puppet soldiers to block their path. She immediately returned to a state of combat focus.
"Always so persistent... and so annoying. Before we go any further, let us clear away these noisy distractions."
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Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash (218 chapter - Ongoing)
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