“That should be everything.” Amelia noted as she carefully placed a bunch of empty glass vials into one of the interspacial bags she was carrying.
Villin nodded and turned to Ruby, “How long until the traces of us will be gone?” he asked.
“I need another hour, I’ll start at the section where the workstations were at earlier. We’re done early so if you want you can still check out the other entrances.” Ruby said as she drew a few runes onto the ground.
Villin shook his head and responded, “No, we can’t say for sure that professor Howitzer, whom we fought actually went to warn all his allies before escaping, he might’ve figured they were already taken and escaped by himself. We aren’t used to fighting those from the east and if we make too much of a scene, the chances of The Academy finding out increases drastically.”
Villin was glad to see his allies seemed to agree as Amelia and Ruby nodded, Max still seemed a little out of it, he hadn’t had any contact with traitors prior to this and had been unaware of their existence.
“We can finish our initial purpose though, check the professor’s classroom and living area for the technique we require most.”
Hearing Villin’s suggestion, Max found something he knew to focus on and quickly did so, “Then I’ll work on getting rid of the enchantments upstairs!” he responded before heading up the stairwell they all came through, leaving behind the trio most familiar with each other.
“This is serious Villin. Twenty workstations and if our assumptions are correct, eight seperate teachers. This is way more then we had ever guessed.” Amelia said silently after approaching Villin.
Villin nodded in response, “With eight teachers and twenty workstations we can be sure they have at least forty students within the group, most likely closer to eighty.” he paused for a moment as he realized the true severity of the situation “The percentage of traitorous students and teachers is too high to handle. The Academy is not a safe place, even though we already knew this, we got a good reminder of that fact today.”
Amelia nodded with a grim expression, Ruby who was still working also seemed a little more serious, she also hadn’t known of any traitors before this but she had seen Villin’s memories in the second grade and knew of the ‘Mortal Club’ in the first grade.
“Villin, there is something else.” Ruby said seriously as she paused her work.
“What is it?”
“Some of the defenses upstairs, they’re created by Cornelius.”
Villin frowned when he heard this but he didn’t seem too stressed. I see, so he worked for the east as well.”
Ruby paused with a complication expression on her face, after a few seconds she elaborated, “This, the runes he used. They included a couple of atlantian ones.”
When he heard this, his head instantly shot towards Ruby, she seemed serious. Atlantian runes? But, he has to be dead, the explosion was insane. And even if he wouldn’t be, how did he return here when the Atlantians didn’t send him, and how has he already recovered?”
Ruby didn’t know what to say for a while, after all, Villin was right. She had heard what happened at the warehouse and she had seen what the explosion had caused. But after a bit, the facts were there, “Well, apparently he did survive, and got back, and got better. There’s no other way, Atlantian runes never spread on the central continent. Nobody but us have them currently.”
Villin grabbed his head as he thought of what was going on. He felt that there was something going on behind the scenes and that he was so close to being able to see it, but yet, it was still invisible to him.
After thinking like this for a couple of seconds, he sighed, “Let’s just get this done with, there’s not much we can do about Cornelius. If he is in The Academy, he’ll probably leave with the professor. If he doesn’t, we’ll find out and kill him.”
The plan was simple and brutish but it was all they could currently do without jeopardizing the growth of the guild.
An hour later, Ruby finished her enchantments and they all began heading back to the tower. Max had gotten a bunch of techniques and spell blueprints on transfiguration, this included the techniques that he wanted, allowing a puppet to recognize individuals and certain actions.
With this, it would probably only take a month or so for Max to finish another requirement and make a passive puppet, after this, Villin would talk to him about selling the techniques to the guild.
For now though, it was time to show Max the core tower as he had been promised. Since his magic power wasn’t inside of the core tower yet, for the first time Max would have to go on foot. He was joined by Villin, Amelia, and Ruby and they soon approached a small empty field near the border of K12. When they were there, Max and Ruby didn’t see anything special. Then, Villin put one of his hands on the ground.
The ground began shaking, surprising Max and Ruby. Max took a few steps back while Ruby grabbed her wand and looked around warily. The source of the shaking soon became clear though as a tower breached through the ground, reaching the surface. It rose all the way until it was completely visible, after which Villin transfigured them an entrance.
The first thing they did was bind the magical energy of Ruby and Max to the teleportation array, this way they could move through the core and central tower without having to go all the way here.
After this, they went to the floor where they kept the stations used for creating gene solutions.
When Villin opened the door and the two newcomers saw the unfamiliar stations, they both acted very differently. Ruby seemed neutral but Villin could see a faint bit of anticipation in her eyes.
Max, on the other hand, seemed like he was about to faint, “Y-you are traitors too? For the western continent?” he asked helplessly.
In response Villin shook his head, “Not really. I mean, Amelia and I learned how to make gene solutions from a western traitor but we didn’t act against The Academy, we just learned the skill to become stronger, the ultimate goal for every magus.”
Hearing the response, Max stayed silent for a while as he was trying to process the information, Villin broke the silence after retrieving two vials and a syringe.
This time, Max was confused once more, “Didn’t you two learn from the western continent? How come you have potions?”
Villin smiled in return, “These are gene solutions, a liquid meant to either swallow or inject, they look quite similar to certain potions. Also, we did get a whole bunch of potions earlier so if we offered potions, wouldn’t you know where we got it from.”
Hearing the complete reply, Max blushed slightly, “Oh, right.”
Villin soon continued, “These are two of the simplest gene solutions, one that increases strength. They have both been created by Amelia herself. They are simple to make and the chance of her screwing up is minimal. It’s one we both have that increases strength by a level. It can save your life and it’s not something that easily exposes you even if you show it off.
“But. If you take this, there will be no way back. With some testing and a good amount of suspicion, there are ways to figure out whether someone has taken a gene solution. If we were to be caught, you would most likely be arrested as well. Turning us in will also no longer be an option as you will be an accomplice.
“It has never been said but this is the final requirement to become a core member.”
After saying this, Villin looked at the reaction of the two. Ruby didn’t hesitate and took both a gene solution and a syringe from Amelia, she was about to stick it in her arm but Amelia quickly stopped her and shower where to stick the needle.
Max, on the other hand, felt more conflicted. He did feel proud as a member of the central continent and this had all come very sudden, “This, can I have some time to think about it?” he asked, looking at Villin.
“You have one week,” Villin said simply before leading them back out of the room and heading towards the teleportation array.
When they got back to the central tower, the members were just waking up. Other than those that guarded who they told not to mention they left and returned a couple of times, nobody knew they had left, there should be extremely few links between them and the crime scene.
As he thought this, he felt a slight magical pulse coming from Ruby as she set off the enchantments set up underground to erase the evidence. It seemed she also had the ability of making her magic power string-like so she could activate enchantments from a distance.
When Villin got back to his study, he sat into his chair and sighed. He would’ve loved to get into potioneering for a bit but it would have to wait, the auction date was getting quite close and there was no time to rest.
