Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

Chapter 134: The Truth About The Matter

"No clear motive—they're just someone who likes to disrupt other people," Donovan leaned back against the wall and let out a sigh.

Sir Leon de Harrington nodded, "My apologies then for having you talk to her. It seemed like she was fond of you and so I had to capitalize on that."

"Why don't we just ask Han? He talked with the Half Elf didn't he?"

His friend's words made him chuckle, "He cannot tell the truth from lies—whereas you can."

The Axe Wielder clasped his axe, the blade was glittering not out of enchantment but from dust, he frowned. "You'd think she'd lie?"

Many prejudices had been bestowed with the other Races and it wasn't hard to fall back on that but when Leon thought of the Half Elf, it didn't come to that. He shook his head, "It stems more from the fact that I find it difficult to trust someone. Han may be led to believe it's the truth when it's all actually a lie and then he would be deceived. Once we talk to him and use a truth stone or even the very dust you're using now, we'd be fooled. There is a fault in truth stones—sincerity and genuine belief will overcome it."

"And yet you trust Lu Rei's words?"

"She hasn't come into contact yet with someone who'd disrupt her words, although I admit it may be a little risky to fully trust everything she said."

"Okay, whatever the case, I still don't get why you're investigating this now, it's already in the middle of the sem—"

"And that's precisely why we need to investigate it, Donovan. No Academy would allow students to enter halfway through and without any prior knowledge at that. They have a good backer who managed to convince the Headmaster that they'd be able to catch up—it's just the second day so it might be early to say, but they are doing decently albeit their methods are unconventional. Dining ware? Dust and flour?"

Donovan still gave him a look, "And the reason why you made me ask about the Illusory Mage—"

"They're all connected now ever since the Mage contacted Timothy and Miss Ellynn—this Illusory Mage tends to choose victims who can't fight back or are easy to deceive—but now they chose them. What happens next is something we should keep our eyes on."

.. .

And so for the second day in the row, there was no Homeroom and General Studies—and Han was fine with that. All the better for him. Except for one thing, he had been a tad worried of what might have happened to them, he had left them with the other Players last night and they somehow managed to get back. 

It had come to him belatedly that there was a clear option to kill his Professors and gain Experience Points—heck it wouldn't surprise him that there were PKs. Other Players didn't seem to have any restriction from the Creators to kill another Player so how much more were the current inhabitants? 

The Demon Lord had been a prime example of that—although they've done it out of pure malice to him. "He could have waited for me to go up a few levels if they were smart about it." 

Han soon arrived in the courtyard and looked around. It was practically deserted. No other Students came to train at an hour like this? Or was there any other spot for them to do that? "Well, I wouldn't know about that, nobody told me." It really did kind ot sucked to be a transfer student, be it here or in his real world.josei

But it shouldn't matter for him right now.

He still had no idea where Timothy was, maybe he was with Penny or something but once again, it didn't matter. He glanced towards the sky and took note of the already setting sun and his darkening surroundings but it posed no problem to him. He collected his daggers out from his inventory menu. Picking one up, he threw it across the sky and watched it land among the grass.

No Skills this time.

It had gone decently far to him in his own assessment.

Transfering the next dagger into his right hand, he focused on a spot a considerable distance away from him. There was a scorched area there, as if someone had done a fire magic demonstration or maybe pulled out the water from the plants, he didn't know but it was his target. He threw his dagger through the air and watched it stick a landing a couple inches off his mark.

"[ Unerring Throw ] my ass," Han muttered to himself but this gave him something to speculate about. His Skill did improve his throwing range but the further he went, even without a moving target, he would miss by a bit. "There's natural skill and then Skill." He said to himself in conclusion as he glanced around his surroundings once more.

The coast was clear.

Han extended his hands towards the daggers and concentrated hard—for a stretch of ten seconds until he felt dumb. "I can't force them to come to me." But perhaps if he trained some more, leveled up and reached a breakthrough… telekinesis would be his, but for now, the young man ran forward and picked up his two daggers. Throwing was great but he couldn't just throw his daggers away—they cost him gold!

And so he swung it. No [ Unarmed Combat ] to use but that didn't mean he couldn't practice. Up. Down. Left. Right.

The daggers slashed through the air, an invisible foe for him.

And while he worked hard. Another did the same.

.. .

If only Han had come into this world with his smartphone—Timothy would have been amazed. No. The entire world would be. And that young man sat down on the ground with nothing but books all around him and many other titles in the hundred of shelves for him to choose from. The young man's jaws would have dropped if he'd learn a thousand titles would be available in such a small object. 

Then again, a library as large as this still awed him, compared to the one's in Han's world, this library contained secrets that taught one the path of a Mage. Timothy looked upon each text as he tried to decide which ones were for him to take—if one had a lot of options, it was easy to get analysis paralysis. But he also read a bit.

He didn't have much time now, he still had to find the library within the library but for now he struggled and pored over the books. 

His head spun at the lexicon used but he persevered. Until now, he still hadn't managed to obtain the Mage Class but soon enough he would gain it. 

He had to gain it.

And yet what made a Mage? Gaining a Class meant that you at least knew what you were getting yourself into. Was it having the powers to bend the world to your will? A book lay in front of him that contained Spells that shook the world, The Art of Earth Spells. Was it using words to cast Spells in languages he couldn't understand? Timothy glanced at the Magic Dictionary and his head hurt once more. Was it enough that he had a natural aptitude for it?

Did he even actually have it?

It was what people told him. Well at least one of them. That was what Professor Lavelda had said when he touched her rod and orb and he had watched Han struggle to form mana in his hand unlike him—but Han was kind of an idiot to him so that didn't count.

He had seen and marvelled as the Battlemage Carnus performed feats he hadn't seen before and watched him topple his fellow Students [ Mana Shields ]. Wasn't that the height of Magic? And yet the Half Elf, Miss Ellynn had performed a [ Mana Barrier ] and succeeded the blasts of ice that came from his Professor without even breaking out into a sweat.

If that wasn't natural aptitude or talent… well he didn't know what it was. But he just knew that he didn't have it.

On one hand, Timothy activated his [ Firestarter ] skill and watched the small ball of fire burn, it's original intention was to start a larger flame. On the other hand, he concentrated and watched a ball of mana appear… well, he couldn't see it. At its most basic form it was colorless but he could feel it in his hand, watch its form shift towards the shape of a ball as he maintained it.

How did one make this mana of his and turned it into a Spell?

If he couldn't at least learn how to change mana into something else by the end of tonight, even with him being surrounded by books would do him no good. And so it was time for him to search for his own Spellbook. Books that lectured him on the theory of magic was one thing and the ones in the books required by other Professors was another—but he wanted to find a Spellbook that called out to him.

Timothy watched the flame of fire flicker out from his hand and the ball of mana disappear. The House of Evocation, of Elements that blasted and made its dent into one's physical world was one thing that came to his mind when he thought of Magic. But it wasn't the only one available.

The young man personally had interest in another branch of Magic. Standing up from the floor, he collected the books and placed it in his bag but there was another title he had to find.