Chapter 374 – Unmasked

Chapter 374 – Unmasked

Murmurs rippled through the ranks of students, anticipation and excitement. The infamous first-year stood amongst them, a name that had birthed countless rumors since the Mid-Term Trials—Matthew Reece Veernon.

Even Professor Valdibal’s steely glares failed to quieten the blooming chatter. Hundreds of heads bent to look for the first ranker as Kai went still like an ingot of lead dropped in a pond.

Pumping blood smothered the voices. His fists clenched, nails digging into his palms.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Every curse he knew from Earth and Elydes swarmed his head. He swore at Professor Valdibal, at his nosy peers, at the academy itself for putting him in that situation. All of his painstaking sneaking and disguises ruined by a blabbermouth professor; nearly two weeks of effort wasted.

He knew he couldn’t hide forever, but he’d imagined the unmasking would come from his own misstep. Not this.

Swelling irritation clashed with pressing emergency. Ranting and raging would have to wait. His perception of time slowed as his thoughts sped, but seconds inevitably ticked by. Several eyes lingered on his strange reaction, puzzled further by his veiled features.

It’s okay. It was bound to happen. This is just… sooner than expected.

Kai eased his taut muscles and let out a heavy breath. Rocking back on his heels, he peered around, his Shadow veil loosened to the barest suggestion. Gazes began slipping away from him.

“Silence! I won’t take this unseemly behavior here!” Professor Valdibal bellowed. A red tinge bled upward from the popping veins on his neck to his bald scalp. His aura swelled to blanket the crowd, choking the chatter. “I’ll assign one demerit to everyone for each second until you hush in proper order!” His incensed gaze raked across the wobbly rows, fingers drawn up to count.

At the threat of a permanent stain, students quickly quieted. More than one kicked or elbowed their slower companions. The settling mood in the Doursteel Grounds only ignited Kai’s urgency.

What do I do?

He dried his palms on his pants. Could the instructor not know about his efforts to remain anonymous? Just crossing a tower, they would have caught wind of the rumors. And if Valdibal still called him out as a petty slight, disobeying his direct command would offer the excuse to do worse. Perhaps not expulsion, but lots of demerits and punishments.

Another sigh escaped his lips. Fingers flexed and unflexed in jittery anticipation.

“As long as you stand on my combat grounds, I expect you to behave with decorum and discipline. Breaking ranks, unable to control your own emotions, will get you killed on a battlefield.” Valdibal barked. “Now, I’ve called Matthew…”

Once you set a course, delaying it would only worsen the anxiety.

“I’m here, Professor.” Kai strode forward.

Heads whipped toward him, tiptoeing and craning their necks to see. Somehow, the silence endured like a spell. Wind rattled a loose plank in the half-moon of stands around the field.

“Excuse me,” Kai hissed, pushing through the rows of gawking students.

Even with his focus straight ahead, the scrutiny from hundreds of gazes wore on him. A few intrepid mana scans brushed his presence. Once the first broke the taboo, it opened the gates to a flood of probes. His skin turned numb with tingles.

Shadow essence wove inside of him. No point making it easy. He’d never tried only cloaking his mana channels, but it felt instinctually right. Too soon, he crossed the sixth and last line of students. The grassy fields opened flat toward the distant woodland.

Kai stopped at a respectful distance from the professor, posture rigidly formal, expression as impassive as the butler’s. Resolve clamped down on his nerves, not letting his mind spiral or his body fidget. He’d survived the Sanctuary, cultists and a pale stalker. What were a couple hundred kids and some balding middle-aged mage? Let them judge and murmur. He would not squirm.

“Here is the famous commoner.” Valdibal looked him over with thinly veiled condescension, chin tilted up. The man must have cut an impressive figure in his youth. Now, his face sagged and his gut tested the buttons on his robe. “Not quite as the rumors say. Are your ears merely for decoration, Veernon? I expect my students to answer promptly when I call. ”

“My apologies, professor.” He dipped his head, arms and body angled to the degree specified in the Academy’s Codex.

“Do you think yourself special after doing well in a middling exam?”

“No, professor.” Kai held his bow the required amount and met the man’s creased face. Some battles could only be lost. He kept his silence.

Valdiball sniffed and snapped his attention at the murmuring crowd. His index nailed a pudgy boy in the second line. “Barsten, five demerits. I mean the words I say. We’ve wasted enough time. You should have all been provided with a pair of fitting wear for sparring.”

Huh?

Looking back, Kai caught the meaning. Several students donned a different uniform: slim long sleeves, tapered trousers, and a padded vest, black with burgundy bands. The woven enchantments shimmered with unfamiliar patterns.

Minor impact absorption, resistant to tears and temperature spikes, and a few others… Was it the package that arrived this morning?

“From the next lesson on, I expect you to stand in ranks and proper attire at the first chime of the bell. Tardiness and sloppiness won’t be tolerated. That also goes for you too, Veernon,” Valdibal threw him a flinty look and began pacing, hands clasped behind his back. “Whether you aim for a research career, to explore the high-mana zones, or command a mage battalion. Danger finds us all. The paths you pursue may only vary in its form and frequency. Unexpected threats are the guarantee of a long life. The question is whether you’ll be prepared to meet them.

“Bandits, beasts and assassins won’t hold their blades if you are a scholarly mage on the way to your summer estate. Vulnerability emboldens greedy hearts. Your thousand-word chants to scorch armies and sunder cities will do you no good with a slit throat.” Halting his march, he sternly gazed through the students, voice booming.

“It’s my privilege and duty to ensure every Raelion graduate handles siege spells as competently as cantrips and basic weaponry. In a pinch, even clubbing a foe with your staff has saved more mages than you’d dare imagine. When death rushes you, no blow is beneath your dignity. You’ll leave this class knowing how and when to apply each, or not at all.”

He underscored the speech with another sweeping scowl, scoffing at his disappointing troops. As he was about to pivot back to Kai, he halted and sighed at a raised hand in the first row. “Yes, Mister Forlow?”

A teen in sparring attire languidly stepped forward. “Kastor Varinne Forlow, sir. I have a question.” His voice carried a clipped, nasal drawl, mouth drawn in a sneer. “I understand the importance of preparedness. I do, professor. But isn’t this course meant to hone our spellcasting? Isn’t that why we employ retainers and lesser mages? To buy us time to deal with threats. I don’t mean to misunderstand, but we can’t actually be expected to brawl like commoners, can we?” He glanced back at his companions for support, eliciting a few awkward laughs.

Valdibal looked on, starkly unamused. “This course will cover all relevant aspects of combat. Magical and not. Raelion isn’t investing priceless time and resources in your education to see you die to a mana anomaly, beast wave or assassination. Any external defense won’t always be available or sufficient.”

Kastor opened his mouth to answer, but Valdibal continued undeterred. “Things can and will go wrong for as many reasons as the starry night sky. Even the Moons’ fate readers can’t predict every eventuality. And when danger looms, your skills are the last reliable line of defense. Combat Magic is a mandatory course for the first two years of Mana Studies. I do not require you to become war mages, but you will competently meet the minimum standard, or fail to graduate.”

The last biting word had just died down when Kastor jumped into the silence. “I completely agree, professor. The Republic can’t let the unworthy water down our magical prowess. And my House does fully support the military effor—”

“Mister Forlow. Perhaps you wish to test yourself?” Valdibal asked, a vein pulsed on his temple. From the squat buildings along the stands, a dozen burly attendants in gray garb had filed out and arranged tables of disparate equipment beside the field. “A practical demonstration is worth more than countless words. Veernon needs a partner.”

Kastor beamed like a kid at Christmas. “It’d be my pleasure, sir. A practical example is the best way to dispel foolish rumors. It’s a disgrace to have a lowblood…”

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

Kai tuned out the discount bully’s speech. With Valdibal’s pep talk done, the stares returned to bearing down on him. The crowd simmered with whispers. Excited, curious, hostile, brimming with schadenfreude.

A nice break while it lasted.

“…just lucky.”

“What House is sponsoring him?”

“Is that really him?”

“…he’s cute.”

“Leech.”

“Unfair, he got so lucky.”

“Do you think he does private tutoring?”

“I thought he’d be taller.”

You motherfu—

Kai clenched his teeth, scanning the crowd of two hundred faces for the culprit. When he gave up the distraction, Forlow was already sauntering toward him, face scrunched with flushed irritation.

Uhm… Did I miss something?

An attendant with a flattened face waited beside the professor, holding two heavily enchanted pauldrons. Both seemed shaped to fit on their right shoulders. The mana alloy gleamed with chains of intricate runes.

A piece of armor?

Forlow grabbed one with practiced familiarity, sneering at his confusion.

With a neutral expression, Kai took the second. Aside from tiny scratches on the polish and wear on the inner padding, the pauldron looked meticulously maintained. Beneath the engravings, the metal thrummed with layered enchantments, too dense to decipher.

“Thank you, Instructor Marion.” Valdibal nodded and turned to address the crowd. “For those new to this course, you’ll have the chance to become familiar with all kinds of protections. These wards are made to latch and enhance the academy’s sparring vest. Specifically, against magical attacks. They’ll still work on your normal uniform, though you may receive some bruises.” His gaze shifted from Kai to the spectating students. “Unless you wish to forfeit, Mister Veernon?”

Kai smiled thinly. “No, professor.” If he ran from a duel on his first public appearance, he’d be branded a coward for the rest of his academic life. That would be a damn headache.

It’s not really a choice.

The pauldron settled snugly onto his shoulder. His fingers fumbled with the leather latches, made more clumsy by the collective attention. He should have figured out how they fastened before wearing it, but now was too late.