Chương 60: Evermore

Ryland hummed at Alaric's proposed solution.

"A meeting, is it? Are you certain this is a subtle answer to our problem, Headmaster?"

"Believe me, it is the best compromise I could come up with in short notice." The Headmaster sounded exhausted.

"Prevention would have been much better than a cure, but that ship has long sailed, so cure we must."

"It was inevitable if we're being honest." Alaric looked like he really wanted to contest that assertion, but he wisely decided against it.

"The core of the issue is thus—you are an enigma. An unknown quantity. No one, not even I, knows who you are or what you really intend. No one can vouch for you."

"Well, I wouldn't say no one …" Alaric raised both his eyebrows.

"We really don't want the Imperial Immortal of Ovrisiathe to come and vouch what an amazing spouse you would have made." That was so unexpected, Ryland found himself laughing.

"No, certainly not." It was common knowledge that most other Realms, including the Accorded Realms, either held Realm 55 in poor regard or outright considered them enemies.

"If anything, that would just make everyone decide I am a dire threat."

"Quite. Anyway, we want to upend as few sensibilities as we can. As such, I decided a meeting was in order in the not-too-distant future, although I doubt it will be that simple in the end. I will forward you the details as soon as I can, and I kindly request that you please attend."

"What if I am busy?"

"I kindly request that you not be busy." Ryland shook his head with a chuckle.

"Fear not, Headmaster. I will be there. Though I hope for your sake that you will keep attendance to a minimum."

"Oh, don't worry. I intend to make things go as smoothly as possible."

"Thank you. Before we part, have you considered what might happen if there are those who adamantly refuse to… accept my presence here?"

"I am desperately hoping that such a thing doesn't come to pass." Ryland nodded.

"As am I." Neither of them wanted things to devolve to such a stage that a direct confrontation of some sort became necessary. Because Alaric had granted Ryland a lot of grace. He had come here himself instead of demanding a meeting at his office and had framed his actual demands as nothing more than requests. Ryland hadn't failed to notice that, so he tried extending some grace of his own.

"Don't worry, Headmaster," Ryland said.

"I will make sure nothing untoward occurs. If you have nothing further to say on the matter for now, allow me to shift the topic—have you decided to act on my Fatehound's update?" Alaric took a deep breath.

"I wish I knew how to act." It was perhaps a testament to where their relationship had shifted even in the short time they had known each other that he was freely admitting to being stumped. A Headmaster admitting defeat to a lowly thief? Inconceivable.

"Well, that makes two of us," Ryland said. Alaric looked up, beard bristling in shock.

"Even your Fatehound can't locate the culprit." Then his cheeks turned minorly ruddy.

"Not that I'm admitting to relying purely on you and, erm, Castigor was his name, correct? I've just been unfortunately overwhelmed and sidetracked."

"Indeed. It was perhaps even intentional." A slightly long pause followed that statement. Alaric's eyes had sharpened before growing distant.

"Who could have the power to manipulate Living Mana like that?" Alaric asked.

"Especially in such a direct manner? Threatening to destroy not just Arcoryx Academy, but the entire city itself." Ryland's face darkened just a smidge.

"There are several entities in the wider Realms who are capable of such a thing. But I have identified one such entity—the Flourinus Order. Encountering a resurgent version of an Incursion I had already dealt with was no coincidence. It makes sense, doubly so when the thief they employed is obscured even from time." Alaric swallowed.

"This order… you're familiar with them." It wasn't a question. More a statement lined with a lot of hope.

"I am," Ryland said.

"And at the moment, they are…?"

"I'm afraid I'm not quite sure. I only met one of their operatives and he escaped before I could learn enough. But rest assured, Headmaster. One doesn't steal a Vestige of a Calamity to keep it as a showpiece in the living room. It will surface, one way or another. And when it does, we will pounce." Alaric nodded resolutely.

"I would just like to ensure that its surfacing isn't destructive like our latest Living Mana Incursion. And this Order… I will need to inform the relevant authorities."

"Of course. I would just be discreet, possibly wait until after this meeting of yours."

"Right. The meeting." Alaric rubbed his temple.

"One thing at a time, I suppose." Alaric took his leave afterwards. He looked distracted. Naturally. As Headmaster, his duties far exceeded Ryland's own. The issues he'd have to face, the people he'd have to deal with… Ryland was thankful he wasn't the Headmaster. Later that day, Ryland received a message from High Academ Tyra. A letter came floating on ethereal wings. The Glyphtech envelope dropped a missive on his desk before flying off much the way it had arrived. Ryland smiled at the message.

It was simple and to the point. The High Academ was finally free, and she'd be delighted to escort Ryland to the restricted zone of the Department of Herbology and Potions. As soon as his next class was done, he could go about acquiring another piece of himself. There was a strange feeling inside the classroom when Ryland appeared. He would never have called his students disrespectful, but they seemed extra sharp now.

Every single one of them sat straighter in their seats, every eye never left him, every face never stopped hanging on his words. Hmm. Ryland decided to wonder about it less and take advantage of it more. Today's topic was a bit more difficult—soulfulness. But rather than the soul of the mage, they now focused on the soul of the world at large. There was something very intriguing about teaching the way Ryland was doing. Something fulfilling. He wasn't just teaching young practitioners of magic.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Ryland was also teaching himself in a way. He was delivering the core concepts that he had learned over his long life, something he was very convinced would help any mage improve their magic, if they weren't aware of the principles already.

But by condensing and reformatting his experiences and knowledge in a way that curious young academics could comprehend, he was putting his own understanding in a new light. For instance, he had never fully actualized the idea that souls were affected by not just other souls but by the soul of the world itself. People changed based on their experiences, and these experiences were driven by a combination of other people in their lives and the world they inhabited.

Since people were intrinsically connected to their souls, to the magic driven by their spirit, changing a person changed the shape of their manasoul. In other words, the presence of other manasouls could cause a mage's manasoul to shift. To transform. To evolve. Ryland was aware of the driving principles of manasoul mechanisms. After all, his experiences were what had driven his meteoric growth. But he found it an enjoyable exercise to reframe his understanding so that his students could take advantage of it too.

That was what their current lesson was about. Ryland actively challenged his students to think of a recent experience that they would consider personally significant one way or another. Just as with their prior soulfulness exercises, their job today was taking that significance and understanding integrally how it was effective in changing them and their magic. Not an easy exercise, that was for sure. It was as much a task for mindfulness as it was for magic itself.

"I'm aware it may not feel like it's affecting your magic just yet," Ryland said. He had already caught a few frowns and looks of puzzlement.

"But if it hasn't helped manifest your Tier [7] Glyph by the end of the semester, then I am more than willing to bear all your complaints." No one actually complained, of course. Especially not when Ryland stood there as living, breathing proof of what true magic could accomplish even without the Grand Frame's help. Something no one dared to contest after what had happened with the Living Mana Incursion. Or at least, that was what Ryland's mind tried to suggest.

But that was because his thoughts were dominated by everything Alaric had told him. It seemed highly improbable that every random academy student suddenly suspected the weird sub-Academ was capable of ripping apart space and banishing the entirety of a Primordial-ranked Incursion of Living Mana. How would they even connect the dots? It wasn't like Ryland had been visible that far up in the sky. It wasn't like he had advertised his involvement with the Living Mana Incursion. Yet, they did seem a lot more attentive.

Since Viren and Acrypha decided to visit him after class, he decided he'd confirm whether that really was the case with the two of them.

"I've never seen you this confused, sir," Viren said.

"I was merely wondering about the change in the students' demeanour," Ryland said.

"Because I'm starting to harbour my own suspicions as to why they'd act that way." Viren and Acrypha exchanged a quick look.

"You haven't been hearing the rumours, have you, sir?" Acrypha asked. Ryland tried to hide his surprise. He had already revealed his befuddlement. It really wouldn't do to show his astonishment at the existence of rumours—ones that apparently were about him, going by Acrypha's tone.

"What rumours?"

"The ones that are trying to come up with all sorts of reasons for how the Living Mana Incursion was defeated." Viren grinned at her.

"Some of the idiots think it was divine providence or some crap like that." He flushed as he turned to Ryland with no small amount of mortification.

"Uh, sorry sir."

"With what happened," Acrypha said.

"Divine providence is as good a reason as any." Ryland tutted.

"Hardly."

"I like the rumour that suggests the Living Mana kept evolving so much that it transcended beyond the point where it could continue interacting with our world."

"It picked an excellent time to transcend then," Viren said a little sarcastically. He pointed almost aggressively at Ryland.

"The actual reason is standing right here. Entertaining any of the rumours is disrespectful!" Acrypha turned to Ryland.

"Are you feeling disrespected, sir?"

"Not particularly," he said.

"Though, I suppose I haven't heard all the rumours. But what's really confusing is my class's reaction. Assuming you haven't been telling everyone—" They vehemently shook their heads to confess it wasn't them.

"Then there should be no reason for the students in our class to suspect me, right?" Viren and Acrypha exchange a quick look once again.

"You're forgetting a key difference between those students and the rest of the academy, sir," Acrypha said.

"Which is?"

"That you're teaching them." Ryland blinked. Had he really been so open during classes that his students were relatively certain he was the one who had dealt with a Primordial-ranked Incursion? Hmm. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, he preferred being frank. Hiding himself away was never going to last. But there were consequences to his presence and his power. Alaric had raised some undeniable concerns.

Ryland wasn't so thoughtlessly uncaring that he'd be happy to gallivant about as he preferred, happy to tell people that he wasn't responsible for their emotional wellbeing. They had no choice but to trust him, after all. Curiously, none of the students had brought it up directly. No one had raised a hand and point-blank asked if he had destroyed the Living Mana. No one had asked who in all the Realms he was actually supposed to be. What a curious state of affairs.

"Enough of that," Ryland said, swiping away the thoughts and considerations.

"You were here to continue your lessons, yes?"

"Yes!" Viren said, clearly sensing Ryland had no more wish to speak of it any further.

"I finished manifesting prints by myself. It came a whole lot easier after the battle." Ryland nodded approvingly, smiling when Viren created some swirling lines of mana above his outstretched palm.

"Well done. Now, as with Acrypha, you must manifest an intention and shape the prints to match that intention." Viren was excited to get going on that.

"I'll get it done soon. Just you wait, sir." Acrypha didn't have any real updates to share. She was still working on getting a handle on her intentions before she could actually shape her Glyph for real. That was, until Viren elbowed her very sharply. She glared at him. Which was somewhat amusing since Viren was the one rubbing his elbow with a pained wince.

"Do you have a recommendation on whether I should evolve my Soul Glyph or one of my other Glyphs, sir?"

"Good question," Ryland said.

"In general, I would suggest always evolving your Soul Glyph as that grants you access to even more spells, unless you can evolve one of your other Glyphs into a Soul Glyph. But of course, it depends on what Glyphs you have." Acrypha looked down. Ryland and Viren waited patiently to see if she would provide any further clarification, but she remained mum on it. Clearly, she was still fighting against her natural reticence. Ryland decided against pushing her, and he was glad to see Viren remaining quiet too.

"One last thing, sir," Viren said.

"Do you think you could give us a little demonstration of using Glyph Prints to construct a Glyph?" Acrypha stared at him.

"Did you get hit upside the head during the battle? You can't just ask someone to create a new Glyph. That takes ages —""This is Ryland we're talking about, Acrypha." Viren turned beet-red as soon as the words left him.

"I'm so sorry, sir!" Ryland cleared his throat to hide his chuckle. And to stop Acrypha from unleashing a biting reply.

"It's alright. I'll be happy to demonstrate. Please pay attention because I'd like you to learn if you can." He held out his hand, but it wasn't the Glyph Prints that came out first. What he had instead was a spell circle. Then came the prints. He brought out several of the ones that the Grand Frame had seen fit to gift him with. Each one glowed impossibly bright, shading the room with a blue glow.

The Glyph Prints swirled above his palm, straight lines running between curls, flat bases, and recognizable shapes like triangles, squares, and the highly common circles. With the barest press of Ryland's will, they started coming together into a singular shape. The Subglyphs and the Soul Glyph of Genesis in the spell circle broke down into more prints as well, combining together with the free ones he had pulled out. Then, golden lines of the Encapsulation Print emerged alongside the blue Glyph Prints.

"Crystallize the intent in your head," he said as the prints came together, conjoining into a singular expression of magic, of a will powerful enough to reshape the world.

"And let it flow through yourself and your magic." For all that Ryland was intrigued by the act of magic before him, his eyes were on his pupils. On the boy and the girl who wanted to learn from him. On his surprisingly powerful wish to keep them safe and protected. With a blistering flash and a tremor that shook the whole room, Ryland's Glyph Prints had joined together to form a brand-new Glyph. One that was making both Viren and Acrypha stare like they were watching…

like they were once again watching what had happened to the Living Mana. [Achievement Recognized: Glyphmaster You have created a Tier [24] Conceptual Glyph despite being merely Adamantine-ranked. Rank up from Adamantine [28] to Adamantine [34]. Reward: 80 Glyph Prints.]"What is that?" Viren asked in a hushed tone.

"Oh. That's a Glyph of Evermore. It grants you very temporary immortality." Viren and Acrypha continued gawking.