Back in the tower, Lia was relaxing her mind, using their No-Space telescope to do so. She casually found a new, lost space, enveloping it with her mana-soaked consciousness, connecting it to their unique basement. When returning to reality, she just sighed, realizing she did it all without thinking about it as her mind was still stuck back in the classroom, watching the Undead eyeing her even while Lucian was attacking it.

"It always happens…" She murmured, looking around, watching the clear night sky and the many twinkling stars outside. It was already late, way after midnight, and everyone else was asleep, yet she just couldn't stay put. She felt she wasn't tired, and her mind was working to its maximum, stopping her from meditating too. "Haah…" She shrugged, walking down to check what she fished out subconsciously.

Opening the door with her stamp, the little, cupboard-sized room was filled with useless trinkets and junk. She almost closed the door, discarding it, when her hand stopped, taking a second look.

"Junk…"

She whispered, crouching down and picking up a picture frame from the floor. It had a slightly faded, magically painted image behind cracked glass. It showed a family, a happily smiling, pregnant woman with flirty red hair and freckles, a young but burly husband hugging her shoulders while a small boy was sitting on his shoulders. Looking around more, she found many more pictures, somewhere the woman was holding a baby, somewhere it was now only the woman and the little boy and a small girl… while in the end, some had only the now teenager-looking, redhaired girl with a sunken face, trying to smile but failing at it miserably. Rummaging through it, Lia found old papers, possibly news, evacuation orders, and even recruitment fliers for armies she had never heard about. Finally, she found a date on one parchment, which showed the layout of a canyon and some possible battle plans. She could only convert it because she learned about it. It showed that it was the Year of Night 7E119, which was what later on, by Erias's own documents, converting old dates to their new ones after the first Victory Day, dated back to the Dark Ages, year 82, four years before the Exodus. In the end, she looked through everything; nothing dated after that, and after organizing everything for hours on end, she realized the girl in the picture was the owner of this small space.

"She probably died in this operation…" She murmured with a heavy voice, looking at the battle plans, deducing that it was a mission to ambush an Undead encampment or something similar. Lia was also convinced that she had died there or if she was lucky, she had just lost her holding bag. "I hope it is the latter…." She sighed softly, standing back up, watching the now neatly packed documents, images, and knick-knacks. Yet somehow, she felt that the young, tired-looking girl didn't have a happy end to her life.

"It was like that." A female voice said solemnly, and when Lia looked, it was Cici who was sitting next to her feet.

"Cici?" Surprised at her company, she flinched, "What are you doing here?"

"My nightly wanderings." She yawned, meowing a little. "I am a cat, you know."

"Ehm… um… yes? Um... Do you always come here?"

"Sometimes." Looking at the small room, she answered, "You ought to find more like this if you keep looking. Countless forgotten memories are waiting for rediscovery in No-Space."

“I… I can imagine that…”

"It is a sad fate." Cici continued, looking up at Lia with her glowing, yellow eyes for a moment, "In her time, there were people who probably mourned her. Called her a friend. But now, nobody even knows her name. Nobody even knows she ever existed."

"..."

"Same for us. My kind is slowly being forgotten too. Time is more vicious than the Undead, you see."

"How old are you?"

"Rude," Cici answered simply, but Lia felt as if she also chuckled while saying that. "This is how it is! Time makes everyone forget! It can be bad if you want to look at it that way, but it can also be good. It can heal things that otherwise would be untreatable. Many lives were lost in those days… and many lives will be lost again." She added, stretching her body, arching it lazily, but her words shocked Lia.

"What do you mean?"

"I lived through it, you know." She said, ignoring Lia's shocked gaze, probably because she did not want to answer the hundreds of questions that wanted to burst out of her mouth. "I remember how it started. I remember the feeling."

"What… feeling?" Lia gulped, blurting out one of her questions randomly.

"It was in the air." Cici turned around, slowly disappearing in the night's darkness, leaving behind her words, "My kind felt it with our souls. The realm was stirring because they came to harvest. I felt the same thing a year ago. A new harvest is coming, and this time, I fear they want to finish it for real…."

…
….
……

"I wouldn't believe her fully," Koadriana said, sitting at the table on the ground floor, having breakfast with everyone present. "Even if she was alive back then, she is the oldest living cat… like, ever! You heard about that dragon friend of our ancestor! Hell, you spoke with one! They are nutters!"

"I agree." Raufon nodded. "I know those true magical beasts can live very long as they are more attuned with the mana in the air… but for THAT long? Please!"

"Well, a mage can live for hundreds of years!" Ceiline said, thinking, tapping on the table, "One of our Heads lived for 1200 years, you know! What about the Head of the House of Honu? He is ancient!"

"Hmm…" Now everyone fell silent once again, rethinking it. All of them, including the eldest, Ceiline, was considered a kid in the grand scheme of things.

"I believe her," Rinzen spoke up, silently sitting amongst them, almost as an invisible guest. "I visited her shop. Those books… are old. But…”

"They are full of memories." Lia finished what Rinzen was getting at, making her nod. "Cici gathers others' works so someone would remember them even if everyone else forgets. No matter how silly their books are."

"Thinking about it," Aurora wrote with her hair, "It is an unfortunate thing… living so long, you see everyone forgetting about you and your family… friends… I wouldn't want to live THAT long."

"Yeah…" The others agreed solemnly.

"Maybe that is why the old heads of the Houses let time catch up with them," Keily said, not really thinking deeply about it.

“Probably… do you think…” Ceiline asked, watching the others, "If they did not… would they still be here? Amongst us?"

"I bet they would have gone mad." Koa answered her first, "They lived through the Dark Ages! They were the product of desperate struggles and war. I read about it back home… not everyone could adapt to the peace. There were reports of our own ancestor that he sometimes got extremely paranoid, suspecting that something was brewing as soon as they found sub-realms with Undead in them!"

"Which is always true…." Raufon added. "I mean Undead living in them."

"Well… we are going to face one of them anyway!" Keily stood up, picking up the empty plates from the table, "I, for one, can't wait! I already signed up for extra classes this year, taking up more dueling, the element of metal for my second one, and basic potion-making with herbology!"

"Ah…" everyone looked at him, surprised as potion making alone was something that may be the most demanding subject among all.

"Good luck with that!" Koa shrugged, encouraging him, but Keily looked positively confident in his capabilities.

"Well," Lia crossed her arms, scratching her chin, "I chose artifact making and metallurgy for this year, next to my previous ones."

"A third element?" Raufon asked curiously, but Lia shook her head.

"No, no. It is a supplementary course for my artifact-making class! Opparu said it would work out great! We ought to make our own artifacts this year. It is good to hire someone and provide blueprints… but I want to go all the way! Make my own with my two hands! If I succeed, I can make yours too!"

"I don't know," Koa chuckled, rubbing Lia's head vigorously, "I'd prefer an experienced hand make mine!"

"Do you have anything in mind?" Ceiline asked the group curiously, "About what kind of artifact you will make?"

“I… don’t…” Keily answered, a bit flustered but then relaxed when the others shook their heads too. "You have one?" He asked Ceiline, then glancing at Rinzen expectantly.

"I do," Ceiline replied, tapping her scales on her hands. "It is part of my body; I fused with it."

"You can do that?!" Keily yelped, surprised.

"That is unique," Rinzen commented, watching Ceiline with a shining glare. "Few can manage it."

"I used my own scales when I was shedding them as a little girl."

"You shed your scales?!" Now everyone else asked, and she turned bright red, looking really flustered and panicked.

"That is cool! We could make armor out of it!" Lia commented, standing, wiggling her butt in excitement.

"A sexy one! A bikini armor!" Koa added, watching Ceiline with eagerness.

"I… I… I don't really shed that often… once in every… four or five years… it is random!" She stuttered, wanting to hide somewhere just to get away.

"I don't have one." Rinzen continued, her cold breath calming down the over-eager ones, sparing Ceiline from more embarrassment, receiving a thankful glance in return. "My family says I don't need one. We need to make do without it."

"But it is useful…" Raufon mumbled, "It helps to cast spells much easier."

"It is still a tool." Aurora interjected with her own ideas, "It can't replace us. We are the source of magic, not the artifact. Still! I also agree that we shouldn't turn away from tools because of sheer pride and use them as necessary! They were invented for a reason."

"Yeah!" Lia agreed, "I already know what my artifact will be!"

"Oh?" They all looked at her, but she just grinned.

"I'm not telling! You will see~!"

…
….
……

Their third year seemed to start much more intensely than any of their first did. By the second week, many of them were swarmed with tasks, and the leisurely weeks that were their first year seemed so far away as if it had never even happened. Yet, at least in Koa's eyes, everyone was enjoying it, which was even weirder.

"Still up?" She asked, yawning, looking at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was already past midnight.

"Yep!" Lia answered, filled with energy, sitting at the big dining table with a massive sheet of paper stretched out on it, pinned down by multiple mugs while she was leaning over it, drawing.

"What… is… that?" Koadriana asked, looking over her, watching the really complex blueprint of what looked like a sword. No… it was a whip? Or… no? She just couldn't make out what it really was.

"My future artifact! I am almost done with the blueprint! Then I will ask Master Opparu to revise it, make the necessary changes and start looking for materials that fit my requirements!"

"Wait, is this a belt?" She asked, watching the different perspectives of the same artifact.

"Ummm, no, but you could wear it like that!"

"Girl, what the hell are you making?" She asked curiously.

"A sword!" Lia giggled and continued drawing.

"That is not any sword I have seen before."

"I know! You will see when I'm done with it! Now… I will need the help of Rinzen with this…." She murmured, biting onto the end of her pencil.

"For what?"

"To test out the materials for me. Her freezing spells are really powerful… I need stuff that can withstand quickly heating up and then cooling down! And remain flexible yet strong!"

"Haaah…" Koa sighed, giving up, rubbing her head before deciding to head up to her room, "Good luck, I'll stay simple. Craft a ring or a nipple piercing and be done with it!"

"Will you shoot water jets from your titties then?" Lia asked suddenly, making Koa stumble on the steps, laughing, and she only looked at her, winking, before disappearing from view. "Now…" Lia turned back at her plans, happily grinning, "After it is done, I will need to learn sword fighting… but oh well, first, let's make it!"