"Are you sure you don't want to take some time to mull over my words before making your final decision?" Faluel asked.
"I've had years to mull over my life. I don't seek the power of a Harbinger because I find any pleasure in serving you, but because it's the only path that will allow me to give my life a meaning." Friya said.
"Excellent answer." Faluel nodded, giving Friya a wooden chest the size of a shoebox.
"Why are you giving me a gift?" Friya opened the chest and found a heavy hammer made of Adamant wrapped inside a silk cloth.
"That's not a gift, it's your Forgemastering hammer. I told you that my tier five magic is nothing like the academy. To learn Hydra techniques, you need a better tool than that flimsy wand." Faluel stood up and lead Friya to her personal Forge.
***
Lith's tower, at the same time.
Lith had left Faluel's lair through another Warping array because the Hydra didn't want to force any of her apprentices to share with the others information about their personal life unless they wanted to.
"How did it go?" Solus asked.
Faluel had summoned only Lith to keep his recollection of the events of his life from being altered by Solus's perception. Like most people in his life, the Hydra had a hard time understanding where Lith finished and Solus started.
Lith looked around, making sure that everyone was still asleep before activating their mind link and sharing with her everything that had transpired during the last few hours.
'I'm sick and tired of hearing how creepy I am.' Lith thought as his eyes turned golden and Solus's turned dark.
"Well, that was interesting." Solus pondered what she had just learned, trying to guess what kind of mission the Hydra could assign to them.
"How are the others?" Lith said.
"Still dead tired. Faluel's ban on Invigoration whenever sleeping is an option sure slows things down." Solus replied.
They spent the time until everyone woke up by practicing Light Mastery. Lith had perfected its first three tiers but he still found it difficult to shape and control complex constructs.
Solus, instead, was close to perfect the internal control layer of the high tiered spells, but her constructs kept being frail.
Nalrond had offered to explain things in detail to them and even to teach them powerful spells, but they had refused.
Solus and Lith didn't even share their progress with each other because just by looking at their constructs, they could see that their way of using Light Mastery was different from each other just like it differed from Manohar's, Dawn's, and Nalrond's.
They feared that by comparing notes, their technique might lose its unique edge. Like all high-level disciplines, Light Mastery could develop in different ways based on its user.
Nalrond woke up first and prepared breakfast for everyone.
"I still don't think there is such thing as a test of wisdom." He said after hearing Lith's story.
"I mean, whatever task she assigns to you, it would just demonstrate your ability to follow orders whereas Faluel would need a way to determine if you are capable of wielding the power that she is passing onto you without becoming its slave."
"That's what I believe as well." Lith nodded. "I'm pretty sure it will be something apparently simple but actually convoluted. Like it happened when the Council had me fighting that monster, the Meneos, who is invincible as long as it touches the ground."
"Worrying about it now it's pointless." Tista said. "You can't solve a riddle you don't know. I'm more interested in hearing about Nalrond's and Quylla's respective dates. What was your partner like? Do you think there will be a second date?"
Both of them choked on their tea, burning their tongue and needing a healing spell before being able to answer.
"My date went well, but I don't think that I'll see Brina again." Nalrond said.
"Why is that? She is a sweet girl and Rena thinks the world of her." Tista said.
"Several reasons. First, Brina made it clear that she's looking for someone to settle down with and I'm the wrong person for her. Unless I tell her about my hybrid nature, I would be playing with her feelings, but doing that would compromise the safety of Selia's family.
"Everyone knows that I live with them and if Brina lets anything slip, my life with them would be over. Also, she didn't take well to discovering that I'm a mage. Between the undead attack and seeing me use dimensional magic, Brina told me that my life is too exciting for her." Nalrond said.
"I'm sorry to hear she dumped you." Tista patted his shoulder.
"She didn't dump me! Brina is just looking for someone with a less complicated background who enjoys the quiet life of Lutia." Nalrond replied.
"Which means that she dumped you." Friya said. "Welcome to the club. Being a mage is a curse upon your social life. If you decide to become a noble, leeches will swarm you whereas if you live dangerously, everyone will treat you as a monster."
"What about you Quylla? How did Morok take you giving him the boot?" Nalrond said, eager to make people stop spreading salt on his wounds.
"My date was a bit odd, but I didn't give Morok the boot. Yet." The room went into an uproar bigger than after Lith had revealed Solus's existence to them which irked Quylla to no end.
"What? Why?" Lith looked at her as if she was insane.
"Maybe she got her brain hurt while practicing Shapeshifting." Friya checked Quylla's life force for any sign of alteration.
"Let me get this straight." Quylla pushed her sister's hand away the moment she recognized the chant.
"Selia is free to marry an Emperor Beast, Kamila can date whatever Lith is whereas I'm the crazy one just because I hang out with the only person outside my family who doesn't treat me as a freak."
"Morok's not a person. He's an insufferable prick." Phloria said.
"Maybe he is, but at least he's a prick who says everything to my face rather than my back and doesn't care nor for the Ernas's riches nor the difference in our magical talent. Do you know how hard it is to find someone like that?" Quylla asked.
"Almost impossible." Lith said.
"Rarer than a golden fly." Tista sighed.
"I've yet to find a single one like that." Friya said, leaving Phloria in the role of the bad guy.
"Fine, I give up. Tell us about your date." Phloria said.
Quylla didn't leave out a single detail, yet she blushed a lot while admitting her envy for Morok's achievement of the Great Mage status.
"I don't know if I'll see him again but if I do, next time spare me the theatrics."
***
A few days later, life in Lutia had gone back to normal. All the traces of the undead attack had been cleared up and Rena finally found the courage to go back to her own home.
Selia and her children had returned to their household as soon as the reconstruction had been completed while Zinya needed more time to recover from the shock and so did her kids.
