One year later.

I spent almost the entire first year in the library expanding my horizons. As promised by Nocturne, there were no special problems on the territory of the academy.

Of course, partly because all the young and proud offspring of the nobles did not care deeply about the shadow in the form of a half-dead old man loitering around. I did not try to participate in any local events like competitions and other nonsense and were barely seen around. I wasn't interested in any academy missions either. The entrance to the library was free for me, nothing else interested me. Fortunately, food could also be bought for gold, in this regard I was not particularly picky.

Nissa was able to become an acolyte and lived in her own room for a long time. She was scared at first, but I wasn't very kind to her either, so she was as scared of me as she was of the academy itself. She had no choice but to adapt to the current circumstances. Judging by what I learned about her in half a year of travel, she was rather reserved. Due to the circumstances at the Earl Lawrence's house, her self-esteem was also low. Even the late Joe often bullied her along the way.

On the way to the academy, I was not too interested in the children, not sure if they would even survive. However, after she became an acolyte decided to give her some instructions from time to time.

Once, when I was returning from the library again with some records, one of my new acquaintances Jess came up to me and said that Nissa was in trouble. Apparently some rank 3 acolyte decided to make Nissa his maid or something.

- This acolyte is a disciple of a True Mage? - I clarified.

- Definitely not, he is over 30. But he is somehow connected with the Leicester Mage family from the nearby kingdom. They have several True Mages...

- I see. Thanks for telling me about it.

The stupid kid was obviously too scared to ask me for help.

As long as the acolyte was not a direct descendant of a True Mage, nothing else mattered. Having clarified this question in other sources and received an affirmative answer, I went towards Nissa's room.

It was forbidden to use magic inside the academy. There were golems on every floor, programmed to stop this. Magic could only be used in specially designated areas or in one's own room. The acolytes quarters were sealed off so that noise and elemental waves would not escape.

Naturally, murder was also forbidden. However, there were many forms of physical and mental violence that could still be used without violating the actual laws of the academy. There were even cases when some acolytes conducted experiments on others, naturally behind closed doors. Although formally this was forbidden, it was too expensive to try to stop all types of violence. If the acolyte's talent is not too high and he has no patrons, then no one will delve into this matter.

Approaching the door of Nissa, I wanted to knock on the door, but judging by the red color of the eyes on the small face painted on the door, there was no one there. Apparently we missed each other. I had to go to another floor in the room to Curtis.

There was clearly someone in his room. After knocking on the door and waiting a bit, Curtis opened it for me. He didn't have much of a choice. If the manager or the True Mage had come to him and he had not opened the door for them, then he would have simply been executed.

Curtis looked still quite young and had a noble demeanor despite being visibly annoyed when he saw me. Hidden under the acolyte's robes were the garments of a nobleman. Apparently he had a kind of fetish for beautiful clothes, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why he wears something so impractical around here.

- How can I help? - Curtis asked.

I grabbed him by the throat and threw him into the corridor. While he was recovering, looked into the room and saw Nissa on his bed, apparently unconscious. Convinced that she was here, moved towards Curtis again. He regained consciousness after hitting the ground, but did not dare to use magic.

- Bastard! Do you even know who I am? My father...

Quickly, I punched him in the face. The face turned into a mess in the blink of an eye. After all a True Knight is too strong compared to an ordinary acolyte. Curtis passed out.

The golem activated the recording device, but otherwise did not act as no one used magic. I took Curtis by the neck and went with him into his own room, closing the doors behind me. After checking the room for traps, neutralized them with Merik's spell and finally woke up Nissa.

I loved taking from others, but of course I hated it when they tried to take something from me. Although it didn't cost me too much effort to bring Nissa here, I still didn't intend to give her away to anyone for free.

While the little one was recovering, I placed Curtis on the table, tying him tightly. Then took out a painkiller from my pocket. This drug was used by Bertram at one time, otherwise he would have passed out due to pain during a breakthrough, which could have ended in failure.

- So, as I told you earlier, Mages are humans first and foremost. Apart from the modifications, their bodies are essentially no different from the bodies of mere mortals. Even True Mages are no exception, at least at the beginning.

I used to feel sorry for you, but now it is time for you to grow up. This world is not gonna wait for you to be ready. Today your task is to open the skull of this patient and study the brain by answering my questions. Then the same with the heart, liver, lungs, stomach. At the same time, do not forget that if the patient dies, then you will also die as guilty of his murder. And don't pay attention to the patient, he won't feel any pain. Surely he would be interested in listening to your explanations himself.

Nissa was shaking along with the scalpel in her hands, she tried to protest.

- But Mr. Tarrister, I...

- Hmm?

Turning to her, I showed her the same face. The face of a man whose mood has deteriorated sharply. Nissa and Joe have seen a lot on my way to the academy. If someone spoiled my mood, then he did not have long to live. By conducting experiments, I forced them to observe the process.

Seeing my expression, the little one was horrified and fell silent. Wiping her tears and holding the scalpel tighter in her hand, she set to work.

Over the past year I got to know two acolytes of the 3rd rank Kelly and Michael quite well. Both of them did not have outstanding talents and they were both already over 30, for this reason we managed to get along. Almost all of my acquaintances were acolytes in their years, I preferred not to contact children.

They were about to go on a sortie hoping to find useful materials and sell them for magic crystals. Without magic crystals, it is incredibly difficult to continue training, so acolytes often have to risk their lives in an attempt to find money for training. Of course, they were not going to enter the anomalous zone, but not too far from the anomalous zone with the name Vrocks Lands, something useful could still be found.

Since I was planning on going outside anyway, I decided it was worth joining them. Still, they knew the area better, and I needed to get a factual understanding of the anomalous zones and the surrounding areas.

Vrocks were extremely unpleasant creatures about 3 meters tall. Although they resembled insects, they often walked on two legs. All their limbs were a kind of murder weapon in the form of blades. The chitin on their bodies was also quite durable. But the most unpleasant thing is that they blended perfectly with the terrain and were able to hide the noise from their movements.

The sound element was very good at detecting, so they were happy to hear my agreement. I was glad that apparently I found suitable people for the first experiment in cooperation with Magicians.

We camped not too far from the Vrock Lands. There was solid jungle, but Kelly just burned the ground in a small radius, creating a small clearing for us. Even while eating, I released invisible and silent sound waves around me every minute. The expenditure of mental energy was minimal, but there was little that could hide from my detection, even underground. Suddenly, I felt several acolytes with my sound wave.

- About a hundred meters to the northeast, three acolytes and presumably two Knights. Maybe they found us too. They approaching us fast - I told fellow travelers.

Their faces instantly turned pale, but they quickly got up and prepared for battle. I also put on the helmet and recited the Sonic Sword spell to myself. Soon, among the vines of the local jungle, five silhouettes appeared.

They looked strange to say the least. The face of one was disfigured and seemed to be forever smiling. Some skulls of different creatures hung on the body. The other was wrapped in chains and was always licking his lips. In general, they looked more like circus performers than magicians. Two acolytes of the 3rd rank, one of the 2nd and two True Knights. Each had a distinctive sign in the form of a face twisted in horror.

- Who do we have here? - one of the clowns spoke, licking his lips.

- They are from Convict! - Kelly exclaimed with a tremor in her voice.

I glanced at my companions, apparently they did not perceive the guests as clowns. Their faces were filled with horror.

- Who gives a damn where they come from, just attack. - I said dodging the sphere of darkness.

One of the Knights with two blades in his hands ran into me. The second ran to Kelly who was already reciting the spell. After fighting off a couple of Knight's attacks, I used a silent vibration to throw off his balance, after which his head flew into the air.

What struck me was that Kelly failed to perform her spell. Her fireball literally exploded in her hands, her hand instantly turned into ashes and her body caught fire. She screamed in horror and pain, but not for long. The knight cut off her head, saving her from suffering.

Meanwhile Michael fought off the attack on himself with an earthen wall, only when the wall collapsed it turned out that he was gone. He just ran away! Wasn't Kelly his girlfriend?

I specially selected fellow travelers from the acolytes who looked most reliable in terms of character. At least they were probably the most adequate from the rest. I didn’t count on their combat abilities too much, rather the experiment was to understand whether it was even possible to work with other acolytes in a team. It was a complete failure!

To begin with, I rushed towards the rank 2 acolyte as he was closest to me. Spears materialized from the ground trying to pierce me, but it was useless, I easily dodged and opened his skull, after which I was about to move to the rest.

But it turned out that these acolytes actually had some skills, at the moment I stopped one of them completed the spell. A shadowy hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbing my neck and lifting me into the air, causing my mobility to suddenly become zero. Another acolyte sent a sphere of acid at my face at the same time.

I barely managed to cast an explosion in front of me, thanks to which I managed to avoid most of the acid, however, a little bit still hit the helmet and began to corrode it, causing smoke. The acid was quite effective against my armor, it was some kind of nuclear mixture.

My gold! The sight of the dark gold melting infuriated me. Getting rid of the shadow hand with another swing of the sonic sword, I had to remove the helmet and toss it aside.

Activating the formation on the back of my armor, I fired a bullet towards the bastard with a shadow hand spell. The knight who ran at me from behind flew away from the activation of the formation somewhere into the bushes. Clown who became my goal did not even had time to lick his lips again, I literally cut his body into two parts. Rising after landing, I rushed at the last one.

The ever-smiling clown laughed out loud, releasing an acid mist around him. His own face began to blister and the skin on his body began to corrode. The already ugly clown began to look like something indistinct while continuing to laugh insanely. However, I didn't want to know what was going to happen next, so I gritted my teeth and threw myself into the acid mist. Because of the fog, the visibility became zero and even mental energy could not really penetrate it, this madman was not as crazy as he wanted to seem. He tried to dodge under cover of the acid mist, but I didn't need my eyes to see him. Constant waves of vibration created a clear image of him in my mind. In the next moment, I cut off the head of this circus performer, after which I immediately jumped out of the range of the acid.

- Ahhh. - I was screaming from pain.

The soft tissues of the face corroded rather quickly. I did my best to save my eyes and suppress the decomposition of my face with my mental energy, but it was not so easy to do so. My face was disfigured.

Now I realized why Kelly and Michael were so scared in the first place. Those acolytes from Convict were absolutely sick bastards!

There was no need to look for the second Knight, he himself returned back again and I slaughtered him like a pig. Unfortunately Michael managed to escape beyond the radius of my detection, he will have to be dealt with later.