Alex spent the two days it took him to reach the academy drafting his new spell.
He still vividly remembered the day he killed the tier-2 monster — the ambush, the way the poison dispersed inside his Water Spear. The makeshift container he'd used had been clever, but the spell consumed too much mana, and most of the poison was lost since the spell was too thick to properly transmit the poison. If he wanted reliable long-range lethality, he needed something quieter, tighter, and cheaper.
An arrow.
'If I use wind to form a capsule around the poison… and if I design a two-step trigger so the air releases the toxin on impact…'
Alex kept turning ideas over in his mind. It would be his first time creating a spell using two elements at once, but the challenge steadied him. Thinking kept the grief at bay.
He also planned to visit the magic shop for a stronger defensive or escape spell — Water Shield was starting to fall behind. And once he reached the academy, he intended to take full stock of the potions he still had: those he brought after the first vacation and the ones he brewed in the jungle during the midterms. It was a large stash, but not enough. Not for a noble. Not for a capital noble.
If a Grandmaster is stationed where Bren Alederfell lives, Alex couldn't afford to rely on luck. Distance, poison, precision — that would be his path.
When he finally reached the town of Lyssan, he went straight to the magic shop. After browsing for a while, he picked up Water Scape and Water Bending, a mana sense training manual. By the time he paid, he had spent nearly ninety percent of his money — about 2,200 gold coins — leaving himself with only 250 and some spare change.
Then he headed to the alchemy shop and herbologist, spending another 200 gold on every herb he recognized as useful for potion-making.
Only when his preparations were complete did he return to the academy.
His plan was simple and brutal: train like there was no tomorrow. Even if that meant skipping classes.
When Alex stepped into his room, he didn't move at first. He just stood there, framed by the doorway, his eyes unfocused. Memories flooded in — nights talking with Marc, laughter bouncing off the walls, arguments over whose turn it was to clean the desk. Warm memories. Memories that suddenly hurt.
A sharp ache bloomed in his chest. He pressed a hand against it instinctively, as if he could calm it by force. But the pain only pushed him to clench his jaw and breathe through it.
That pain, he realized, wasn't going to fade. And since it wouldn't leave… he would use it.
He immediately sat at his desk and began drafting a schedule — a ruthless one.
He would sell potions to students to gather money and arm himself for the future. He would make potions at night, train spells the moment he returned after class, refine spells, increase mana control drills, and sharpen physical conditioning. He filled the schedule until there was almost no room for meals, and sleep became something he would "fit in if possible."
By the time he finished, the page looked like a blueprint for self-destruction — but it made sense to him. It was Necessary.
Once done, he walked to the headmaster's office to announce his return.
He knocked."Come in," Mikhail's voice called.
Alex entered and found the headmaster sitting behind his desk. The man didn't look up from his papers at first.
"What do you need, student?" Mikhail asked. He didn't bother to glance at the boy's face — to him, one unnamed student was no different from another. It simply meant Alex hadn't stood out yet.
"Hello, Headmaster. I came to announce my return from the leave of absence," Alex said.
That made Mikhail finally lift his gaze.
"Oh? You're Alex, then, right?" His voice held a rare spark of curiosity. He had received the report about Marc's death and Alex's sudden leave of absence, but he had assumed the boy would be gone longer.
"Alright," he said, slipping back into his usual mechanical tone. "I'll inform your homeroom teacher. You may wait outside."
Alex nodded, stepped out, and leaned against the wall. The academy handbook required returning students to report to the headmaster before re-entering class, no matter the hour, so he couldn't go directly to Scarlett.
Inside Class B, Scarlett was teaching as usual, though her eyes flicked to the two empty seats in the front row more often than she intended. No matter how she tried to focus, she kept thinking of them. After all the interactions, all the progress, all the small moments — she had grown attached.
She released a soft sigh before continuing the lecture. A few students glanced at her, concerned.
Mid-sentence, she felt the voice-transmission device on her desk tremble. So she instructed the class to begin self-study and picked it up.
Placing it against her ear, she heard the headmaster's voice: Alex had returned and was waiting outside his office.
She turned to the students. "Alright, children, please start the exercises on page 394. I'll be back shortly."
She left with a composed expression, but internally her mind was buzzing.
'He really returned? I was certain he wouldn't…'Then another, heavier thought struck her.
'Why would he return? What does he need from the academy now?'
As she reached the corridor, she spotted Alex standing near the office door. He was completely still, eyes distant, as though caught somewhere between memory and calculation. He looked a bit thinner too.
"Hello, Alex," she said gently.
His gaze refocused, slowly. He nodded. "Hello, teacher."His voice was empty. The gentle smile he once carried was nowhere to be found.
"Let's go to class. You have some catching up to do," she told him softly.
Alex nodded again and followed. He said nothing.
Scarlett searched for words that could help, but found none. So they walked in silence, the air around them thick with unspoken worry.
As they neared the classroom, Scarlett finally murmured, sincerely, "I thought you wouldn't return."
"I didn't think so either," Alex admitted. "But I promised Marc I'd do my best on the end-of-year test."
Scarlett blinked. "…Oh?"
A small spark of something — hope, perhaps — lit in her chest.'Then I'll finally see what he's truly capable of.'
When they stepped inside, every student turned. Their eyes widened at Alex's appearance, but his cold, closed-off expression warned them not to speak. No one dared to greet him.
And so, Alex returned to the academy — stepping onto the path of a borderline-mad training regimen and the first stages of a plan that would one day reach a noble's throat.