Chapter 167 - The Truth About the Human Empire

  I was in the with a severe headache. Sihat day when I used the Aspect of Time, the pain had returned and had been b me quite a bit. The Celestial Aspects had their limitations, and while I knew how to use the Aspect of Time, the Aspect of Soul, and the Aspect of Body, I hadn’t fully mastered any of them yet. The Aspect of Time, in particur, was very limited in what it allowed me to do.

  I couldn’t make many ges to the physical world while I was in the blue dimension. What I could do with retive freedom was walk, which I already sidered a great achievement. Before, I could barely ehat mode without feeling like my eyes were about to burst from my face due to the pain. Over the years, I gradually increased what I could do. In battle, I could move without my oppo notig, and to them, it would seem as if I had teleported. However, there was the risk that the Aspect of Time would leave me defenseless afterward. Each sed in that blue dimension ed a rge amount of my mana; it wasn’t a power that allowed me to use it many times or for very long. So, it wasn’t very practical for me to use this power in battle.

  Besides ing a lot of mana, there was the risk of damaging my Special Eyes and temporarily rendering them inactive, which reduced my elemental versatility. If I activated the Celestial Eyes while my golems were active, they would be automatically destroyed.

  I also developed a sedary ability: taking someoh me into the blue dimension, as long as they were within my field of vision. They would face the same iion limitations as I did, and even our spells would be deactivated. The only thing I could activate in that pce, for now, was the Aspect of Soul, and if I tried to use the Aspect of Body, I would be immediately expelled from the blue dimension.

  “I had css with Professor Beatrix yesterday too. She’s really tough on us,” Chloe ented.

  “She’s famous in my kingdom. An elf with an important position in the army, and she’s never lost a duel in pure swordsmanship,” Syvis said.

  We were chatting while waiting for the professor to arrive.

  “I’ve been trying to kill her for years,” Thyra said casually.

  She’s speaking normally again. Maybe her speech ges when she uses parts of her bestial powers?

  “I don’t think you should be trying to kill a professor…” Syvis murmured, visibly unfortable.

  “She told me I’d only be a good warrior if I defeated her, so that’s the only effit way I’ve found,” Thyra responded, determined.

  We all looked at her, and I could see Syvis rubbiemples, clearly trying to process what she had just heard.

  “Maybe you overinterpreted it…” Syvis murmured again.

  The was crowded with all the students, as this ecial theoretical css, and we could all attend together. The room we were in was simir to the pce where I took the test; it was a massive space that looked like an amphitheater, with our desks arranged in a semicircle.

  “I don’t want to go, Sebastian!” a voice shouted at the entrance.

  We looked over and saw an irritated female student walking in. Behind her, another uniformed student was following, and I reized him as a member of the student cil.

  “My dear, it’s just a small event,” he tried tue.

  She turned and drenched him with water using magic. The knight was soaked.

  “Is that who I think it is?” Chloe asked.

  “I think so,” I replied.

  “All right, Alice… I get your answer,” he said, turning and leaving.

  oved closer to Syvis.

  “How terrible, throwing water on someone like that,” Chloe said, clearly unfortable.

  You did that to me all the time! I thought, but kept the ent to myself.

  Everyoched as Alice approached a chair and sat down, visibly irritated.

  “It must be a lover’s quarrel…” Syvis whispered, trying to make sense of the situation.

  “A couple?” Chloe asked.

  Thyra and I leaned in to listeer, and even Athena drew closer, curious. I g the goddess, surprised by her rea.

  “What? I love a bit of gossip. Strategy is born from information,” Athena said with a mischievous smile. I ignored her, trying to focus on the versation.

  “I heard they’re engaged because of an arranged marriage,” Syvis expined. “The royal family wao tie another knight family to them, so the two were betrothed.”

  “That’s tough… imagine being forced into an e with someone? I wouldn’t want that,” I ehinking about how plicated that must be.

  Chloe blushed immediately.

  “Y-you wouldn’t want it?” she asked, clearly nervous.

  “Of course not,” I replied without hesitation.

  “W-why not?” she pressed, looking away.

  You yourself spent your first five years dealing with e issues, so I think you already have enough reasons on your list.

  “Just because,” I said, ending the topic. “And what about you, Syvis? Will you have any responsibilities like that?”

  “Not me!” the elf responded, her face a little flushed.

  “Thyra won’t have a problem with that. Wheime is right, Thyra will kidnap her husband,” the wolf girl said, excited.

  “Is that how marriage works in the demi-human kingdom?” Chloe asked, curious.

  “I don’t know,” Thyra replied, shrugging.

  What do you mean you don’t know? Would you really kidnap someone? You’re insane.

  We ighe wolf girl, stunned by what she’d said, as we knew she’d actually do something like that.

  “In the elf kingdom, marriage is normal, right? Or do you also kidnap?” I asked, teasing Syvis.

  “Of course we don’t kidnap anyone! We’re normal,” she replied, looking at Thyra with a look of disbelief.

  At that moment, the professor ehe room through the faculty entranear the ter of the semicircle.

  “In my species, marriage is sacred, and we choose only one person for life,” said Cyl, the small cat in my p, pointing a paw at me.

  I know… you remind me of that all the time. I’m forever bound to a jealous dragon...

  Marriage among Cyl’s species was a soul bond, representing aernal tie between two beings. It was a bond of love strohan blood, as it was the soul itself that was in love with the other. I didn’t want to ask how her species procreated, as I didn’t see her that way, and she didn’t see me like that… at least, I didn’t think so.

  “Good m, css!” the professreeted.

  The professor, with short blonde hair with shades of brown, introduced herself:

  “My name is Natasha Sincir, and I am a True Human.”

  The impact of those words was immediate. All the students started whispering, exging incredulous ghe term ‘True Humans’ wasn’t used lightly. It was a delicate subject, surrounded by frightening stories and a rivalries. Chloe and I were already familiar with the cept, thanks to Sifu, but for the other students, it was as if a monster from aales stood before them.

  “Y-you’re one of them!?” asked a student at the front, his voice full of shock.

  “This ’t be true! This has to be a lie!” audent excimed, nervous.

  “It’s a crime in the kingdom to joke about this subject!” protested a third student, standing up.

  Before the situation could get out of trol, a firm sound echoed through the room. The door opened, and an imposing figure entered.

  “Is that the Headmistress?” someone whispered.

  Headmistress Victoria, the wolf womaered the room through the students’ door, radiating authority.

  “No one is joking about anything,” she decred, looking directly at the student who had protested. “In this academy, yoing to learn about everything, even forbidden topics. Today, we’ll have two lessons in one.”

  Two lessons in one?

  “By w, I’m required to stay close to Professor Sincir if she’s giving a lesson,” the headmistress tinued, “and I’ll also be taking this opportunity to give my own lesson, as our topiplement each other. Professor Sincir will talk about the History of the Human Empire, and I will give a lesson on the History of the Magiti.”

  The students murmured restlessly as Headmistress Victoria approached Professor Sincir. I was ied in learning about the Human Empire, even though I was already saturated with lessons on the politics of the three kingdoms over the past ten years.

  “Did you think a True Human would be some sort of demon?” Professor Sincir asked, with an enigmatic smile.

  The students, still tense, nodded in agreement.

  A part of me was curious about the culture of the True Humans, even though I had already learned quite a bit from Sifu. The problem with him was that, having been raised in a monastery since childhood, his knowledge of other civilizations was limited. He knew people he border, but his most ret tact had been during the war when he went undercover to gather information about a man named Jin Sidao.

  “If you thought I’d be some kind of demon because I’m from the True Human ti, know that every child there is taught to think the same of you,” Professor Sincir said as she wrote a word on the board.

  “It all started with this word here: Norse,” she underlihe word firmly, capturing everyone’s attention in the room.