"Sounds like older students tried to do a small bit of hazing, and failed spectacularly," Lotte said, followed by a mischievous smirk.

They were currently at dinner and discussing their day. Lily had already spoken about her first class, expressing excitement, mainly since it focused on "professional" glyphs, which meant they needed to be near perfect.

Lily had even shown off her supplies briefly, and even Lotte flinched at the sight of the needle vial, albeit for different reasons.

As for what class she missed, apparently, the teachers were keeping up the basic elemental magic theme, as the next on the list was earth magic. Apparently, the demonstrations were extremely underwhelming, as the teacher had to bring buckets of soil and a wheelbarrow of rocks into the classroom.

"He basically just taught us to make small furniture out of earth and stuff, and I'm talking really basic. Here's a chair, here's a firepit, here's how to soften the ground for a sleeping area, and so forth," Lotte explained.

"What about the magic items?" Lily asked.

"Those were okay. Boots that don't leave a trace. A pouch that produced sand. A wand that turned rocks into clay. Stuff like that."

Those did sound better to Lily, but she was still glad she traded the class slot away. They finished their dinner, and Lily was finally alone in her room with Arakil.

Almost immediately, they began going through the book that was provided for her class. Arakil was chomping at the bit to see what had become of glyphwork in the current age.

With a lot of the book being illustrations, it meant that unless they spent the time analyzing each glyph in detail, they could get through the whole book in a timely fashion. This was good for Lily, who couldn't afford to stay up too late, and for Arakil, who still had no means of reliably manipulating his environment.

To further save time, Arakil said he would give his thoughts at the end of the book so that they didn't accidentally ruminate on one particular glyph or topic for too long.

This actually caught Lily by surprise as it was quite the opposite of Arakil's normally patient nature. She could only imagine he was starving for some potentially new knowledge, causing a twinge of guilt at her not giving him more since their arrival.

While going through the book, one of the first things Lily noticed was that it was more of a catalog than a learning textbook. The introductory chapter seemed to further emphasize this point, with the author stating that this was a collection of mostly "common glyphs" and a few "crafted glyphs."

Neither Lily nor Arakil knew what sort of classification the book was using, but thankfully, the next page actually listed it out for them. It appeared that they used a simple five-tier system to classify glyphs, which could be broken down to: Common, Crafted, Artisan, Master, and Forbidden.

Common Glyphs were for everyday use and could be freely distributed. These were so simple that they often were regarded as a "why bother" when a simple spell could replicate the effect.

Crafted Glyphs usually required some form of formal education to acquire, but could still be shared. They had some notable benefits and were the prime target for basic enchanting work.

Artisan Glyphs were usually someone's "magnum opus" and were quite hard to acquire. Usually, they would only be passed down to apprentices, but the author also simply stated that "money talks". There was also a brief mention that one could personally register the design and sell it.

Did Camilla help write this? Lily giggled to herself.

Master Glyphs were grand collaborations after years of research and were strictly regulated. Unless you were an agent of the kingdom or a high-ranking member of a guild, you would never see them.

Finally, Forbidden Glyphs were ancient and unknown ones that almost always originated from arcane ruins, or more commonly, were hidden in dungeons. The author emphasized the importance of reporting any unknown glyph to the authorities immediately, as you'd be compensated for any troubles you encountered.

Arakil broke his "no talking till the end" rule just to complain about this absurd system.

[I can perfectly understand someone not wanting to share their personal achievements with the world, but to have this system in place and ingrained into society is absurd. Why should someone be unable to research an ancient or lost glyph because it might be "forbidden"? I feel this would do nothing but diminish growth in the magical field.]

Lily wanted to naturally agree with Arakil, but she also understood that "laws exist for a reason," or so she wanted to believe. Not everyone had an archmage at their disposal, and if an unknown glyph was discovered, what if it harmed the person?

Lily held her tongue and chose not to share these thoughts with him, instead continuing to go through the book. Through the power of skimming, they managed to get through the book quite fast, and while Lily missed a lot of nuances of the illustrations, it appeared Arakil didn't have that issue.

[I'm a bit underwhelmed if I'm honest. Although I do understand this is simply an introduction to beginner glyphs, or "common" to use their absurd grading system. Even the few "crafted" were relatively simple, I do hope you get a second book in the following semester.]

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Was there anything new?" Lily asked curiously. She'd caught only a few glimpses of ones she didn't recognize.

[Nothing entirely new, but there were a handful of ones that were alternatives to existing ones. For example, they used a combination of water and cold rather than using an ice crest. I wonder if the ice crest has been lost to time, or if it's locked behind this absurd grading system.]

"If it doesn't, couldn't we register it ourselves? It would be one way to earn some money."

[I see that old alchemist still has her claws in you… Although I am loath to participate in this magical copyright patent system, we could certainly reap benefits from it. It would be one way to get funding for resources, or access to further research.]

"If you don't want to, I can drop it. It was just a suggestion, but it's all your knowledge, and I wouldn't want to exploit it."

[I'm not entirely altruistic, and it would be a relatively simple method to obtain resources that might be otherwise inaccessible. The biggest hurdle, however, would be how we choose to go about it, as not only would this earn you more fame, but questions will arise at the origins of such ideas.]

Lily sighed. That was definitely an issue, especially since she wanted to avoid being a magnet for attention. But it seemed that this mindset went directly against furthering their goals.

If I want to help Arakil sooner, then I guess I need to simply get used to it.

It was getting late, and Lily needed to head to bed, but she had one last topic to bring up.

"One thing that bugged me is that the book emphasized strictly following the illustrations… Do they not modify the sigils?"

[Judging by the grading system they've created, I can only theorize they do it to protect their practitioners. If everyone follows the same recipe every single time, you lower the chance of unexpected consequences.

Not to mention it would fly in the face of their system. If they've declared a "campfire glyph" is "common grade", then what happens if you adjust the sigils appropriately to create a roaring inferno? It clearly can't retain its classification. I imagine they would have you register it as a different glyph entirely, even if the underlying spell is the same.]

"That sounds… stupid? And tedious, do they have to register every single one?"

[I'm glad you've realized why I dislike what they've created. I imagine that anyone who modifies an existing glyph does not bother to register them, unless they want to sell them as a commercial product. The fact that there are official tools to grade enchanted items, like your professor displayed, also hints at this. But that is just my personal theory regarding the matter, and how I'd handle it.]

Lily nodded before stifling a yawn. It was well past her bedtime, and she needed to sleep before the day of activities tomorrow. She wished Arakil a good night before finally heading to bed.

***

The next day was another dull lesson about the kingdom's laws regarding magic. If Lily had stayed up any later, she probably would have accidentally fallen asleep, given how Sir Barnard Bladwell's voice droned on. Arcane Theory and Principles was rapidly becoming her most hated subject.

The only useful bit of information gleaned from the lesson was the laws regarding unknown magical items from dungeons. While the kingdom didn't demand you relinquish them, or anything equally absurd, it did require that if you wanted to use them in public or in cities, then they needed to be officially evaluated.

One would need to pay for the evaluation if one intended to keep the item. Still, if one wanted to sell it, then the fee was usually waived, on the condition that "upstanding members of society" get a right of first offer.

Lily couldn't help but wonder if that's why Arakil's book was taken from her initially, but she quickly shook those negative thoughts away. You couldn't change the past, and she was delighted with her current situation.

Practical Magical Combat was a different story, as most of the kids had a newfound energy in the class. This was likely due to the fact that it was the first lesson after their brief trip into the dungeon, which meant that everyone now had even more incentive to improve themselves.

Professor Elius noted that he wanted to start some mock duels next week and that this week would be focused on individuals' weaknesses. He divided the class into three groups—attacking, evading, and defending—and had each of them perform different drills.

Most of Lily's friends ended up in the defending category as their weakest point, while Lily ended up in the evading group. She silently cursed her bad luck, even though she knew it was her largest point of contention.

Unfortunately, despite her enthusiasm, her body just didn't want to move the way she wanted it to. After some repeated practice, she could hear the incoming bees as before, but no amount of foresight could help her body move faster.

The obvious solution was magic, and Lily's Nebula Veil was a prime target as she'd already used it to push and pull. If Lily could use it to overcome her lack of mobility, then she'd finally have a solution.

However, when she attempted it during the drills, she instinctively blocked the bees, which caused her dodging result to fail, even though it completely negated the bee. You could almost say that Lily had trained herself too well in this regard, as the moment she felt threatened, her cloak would move to intercept.

I need to somehow mentally compartmentalize it. Not just for this class, but also in the future. What if I'm using my cloak to climb, and then something attacks me? If I instinctively retract the cloak to protect myself, I'll fall!

Lily knew that one obvious solution to her hypothesized scenario would be to generate more nebula cloak substance to protect and climb simultaneously. While that was something she was constantly working on during her gradual improvements, it was a bit of a brute force solution when she believed she should use finesse.

I should be able to focus on maneuvering with the cloak and then defend myself with a timely talisman, or something else. I never would have imagined that my previous practice with Theo would come back to bite me.

When Lily was taking a break, she went over to see how her friends were doing. While the people assigned to evasion were physically tired, the ones doing defense practice looked absolutely drained.

In fact, their group had to take breaks more often in the hopes of allowing their Mana to recover. There was one exception, however, as Lily saw Lotte looking quite lively and with a triumphant grin spread wide on her face.

Her arms were coated with a greyish-black substance, and she would raise them up to block an incoming bee. To Lily's surprise, not only did that stop the bee, but the result was only a few pieces of what looked like scales to fall off her arm. Then, in mere moments, the scales would regrow to regenerate the defense.

Lotte looked absolutely thrilled while the rest of their friend group looked astonished. Even Professor Elius had stopped his instructions to watch her work and applauded her magnificent progress.

[Ah. Looks like the spell is working marvelously. It seems that my initial hypothesis with these bloodlines has some significant legs to stand on.]

Lily was practically flabbergasted.

Isn't this progressing too quickly? We only gave it to her a few days ago!

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