Chương 102: Chapter 100 - Rooftops.

"Now, the magic containment brigade has sent some auxiliary members to assist us today should anything go wrong and a medical team is on standby." he gestured at the young woman in professor robes next to him.

"Assistant Professor Serin is here should anything go catastrophically wrong, let us endeavor to avoid that. Now we will begin with fire, yes I know what I said before, yes this is dangerous, that's why we have so many helpers today." He began to pace across the front of the class room, lifting one leg and spinning in a 180 whenever he reached the ends.

"Fire, regardless of your affinities, bring forth fire, should you fail with this, you may bring forth water instead, yes. Most of you should be able to achieve one or the other, BEGIN" he clapped his hands together with a boom. Nythera held out her hand, recalling the affinity test with a frown. This is going to be flux-expensive, isn't it? Oh well, I need to show my lessers how it's done, I have an upstanding reputation to maintain.

Pumping flux into her hand, she tried to drive the concentration as high as possible. Not a wisp of fire flux came from her tremendous capacity. Nor was concentrated flux generating anything special. Just need to get a spark and maybe I can turn it into fire flux? Come ON! Forcing the energy denser and denser, her little spark of energy had turned into a tiny, blinding sun. Without a single ounce of fire flux. Ok fine, we do water then, clearly there is something wrong with fire.

Carefully dispelling the energy, letting it dissipate gradually into the energy-rich air, she refocused. Deep breath. Focus. No matter how or when or with what emotions she tugged, all that came out of her was pure, unattuned flux. Even with Authority utilized, nothing changed.

"How curious, you've used six times the flux of your classmates and it is all pure as the driven snow. You must truly lack any affinities, yes" The professor said from over her shoulder. He clasped a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Well never fear, your flux capacity and control are both excellent, but we can't all do everything." he darted past her, clearly having lost interest in his star pupil. The snickers were like salt to a wound. She grit her teeth. There goes my glory days… I'll just need to rule through fear if I can't amaze them with technique. Back to the usual. Nythera rushed through her classes, eager to get past the school day. Valerius is cooking again and on the roof this time! How perfect.

If I need to kill him it's a nice place to do it where none can see. Hours later, Nythera burst through a door on the roof, gasping for air "Why…. was … this … place… so … hard… to…. find" She nearly collapsed onto the stone.

"Ah, finally, I was wondering if you were going to skip our rendezvous. It would be such a shame after I got these spices specially imported." Valerius remarked from his perch on an ornate stone pillar next to an open-fire grill. The smell of exotic spices, the tang in the air, silenced any complaint from her. That and three full fish laid out on the grill, simmering with delicious fishy fat.

"Where did you even get this whole grill thing?" she asked.

"This? It's not a grill. I borrowed a retrofitted flashfire furnace the alchemical students made by promising not to rat them out for it."

"They weren't angry at your threat to blackmail?" She leaned forward to breathe in the scent of spices.

"What can they do about it? I had all the leverage. They are lucky I didn't start demanding payment. If the teachers found a school resource used like this they would be pissed." Valerius shrugged. Valerius lifted a handful of grounded leaves between his paws and a moment later they disappeared, sprinkling evenly onto the fish out of thin air. I wonder if he has a cooking skill? Can you use the power of another skill to level one faster?

"This is my family recipe, nearly as coveted as titles in our land. The spices you see me dropping on the outside are only half the story. The other half go directly into the meat of the fish." Valerius slapped a pile of spices with a paw, teleporting it all in an instant. Nythera's role, as it turned out, was flipping the fish with special-fish-flipping tongs, gripping them from the double-tail. From up on high, they could see the students milling about in the Arena Courtyard, rushing to night rendezvous or clubs.

The only other thing up on the roof space with them were trees. Planted uniformly and at a substantial distance from each other, they had metal cables running down from the trunk into the roof. Completely packed with flux. Is this school powered by trees? How did they do this? I need to see if I can steal a few trees, if I can concentrate enough flux I could probably make some really nasty weapons. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Oh yeah, the trees? Turns out those actually power the lights." Valerius remarked without looking. The food was better than it looked, the spice layered finely on both sides and packed in the center left no bite without it. The view was equally nice. They all look like tiny ants, milling around in the dirt. This brought a smile to her face.

"If you haven't heard already, the aetherite study students are incredibly busy, you're lucky I'm even available" Valerius teleported an oversized chunk of fish directly above his waiting maw.

"What's going on?" She asked between bites "Why so busy?" He sighed "you are really out of the rumor mill" he didn't stop eating, chewing through his own explanation with a tiny handkerchief covering his mouth "well the teachers are basically always gone and in their place they just dump a ton of reading homework on us. We read all class, then go back to our rooms, and read. It's awful."

"Do you know what happened to them?" she asked absentmindedly.

"Well it's not something I can or should talk about, but you might have some interest" A dangerous glimmer appeared in his eye "how about a fair exchange, my secret for your secret, one by one." Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. He did this intentionally, I suspect the entire dinner invitation was for this purpose. Fine tit for tat then, I need info and he's willing to exchange.

"Fine, but I get to ask first." Valerius agreed by tearing off another chunk of fish.

"So answer my prior question, what is going on with the aetherite teachers?" she watched for his reaction. He froze "For some reason I thought you would ask something else." Valerius paused to swallow.

"Well you see, Tesset and Oracrest are working in collaboration with a few older Cat Clans from Feltonia. They are working on an expedition based on a research hypothesis from eighteen years ago." Valerius took another bite.

"What? A research expedition? Where?" she asked.

"That is another question and you will need to pay for it. Now it's my turn." His eyes carried a dangerous shine. I'm going to need to be very very careful with what I say.

"Where are you from? As in, where were you born and raised." I might need to find a spot to dump his body.

"What do you mean? Didn't I already tell you, me and Rowen come from Ascentia in the Far North." she blustered.

"Look Nythera, I appreciate your attempt, but Ascentia doesn't exist, well it hasn't for about fifty years when the Monoformics wiped it off the map." he smiled innocently "So cut the bullshit and tell me where." You know what, fine. Information comes with a price and if he talks I can always dump his tiny body somewhere. Actually with the Aether Cannon I might just be able to turn him into a bloody mist. This expedition could be relevant and perhaps I can get aetherite or fluxcutter information from him.

Fine, I'll play his game.

"I'm from a place called Vathrial, where I was born and raised." she answered as curtly as possible.

"I've never heard of that place before, where is it? Is it far? How did you get from there to Tesset Kingdom?" Valerius' voracious hunger for knowledge revealed itself. Two can play this game of information baiting.

"That is multiple new questions, I answered yours already. My turn. What is this expedition for?" she smirked. Valerius scowled "I really shouldn't be saying this, I could get expelled and sent back in shame. Not a word of this is ever to be leaked, are we clear?" Nythera nodded "As long as you don't repeat what I've told you, this information will never reach the ears of another soul." She clapped her hands together as the meal was finished.

As long as nothing you say is a threat, that is, I might need to tell Rowen or even Lance depending on what's going on around here. Valerius nodded slowly "This expedition is for two primary purposes. Feltonia's interest is in finding a path out of Aelthyr, either to another world in this realm or more hopefully, to the Great Blue realm, and thus the wider Everplane. Tesset's goal is well… Nythera how much do you know of the political situation on the Southern Edge? If you don't know anything I can't explain much."

She looked away in embarrassment "I know the Kingdom of Tesset is here, and there is the Blackpowder Republic and the Mage Council…" her voice turned to a mere squeak as she went. He glared at her "Your education leaves much to be desired, even Mewlings know more than you. Yes those are all the major powers in the South, and they are in a three way struggle that Tesset is currently winning, largely due to the fluxcutters, which they have a monopoly on. Do you know why they have a monopoly?" She shook her head.

"They didn't even design the original technology, Aetherite stabilization was discovered in Mage council vassal state. But they do have the only supply of Aetherite in the entire South and by far the most abundant on Aelthyr. It is right here, off the Edge from Oracrest. It provides 70% of the world's Aetherite, the other 30% coming from a mix of places in the West and North edges. The East Edge has none." Valerius said with a proud look, sticking his chin up as he graced her with his vast knowledge.

Welp, I know exactly where that Aetherite comes from. I guess all the wakepaths leading out bring a bunch of it with them then. It's a miracle no one else has invaded yet. Which means there are more wakepaths… going where? Another flux-sea with storms and islands? Multiple of them?

"So get on with it, what's the second reason? You owe me the explanation." Nythera pushed.

"Welllll they figure if it's coming from the mist, there has to be a source of all the Aetherite, those floating rocks have come drifting out for the last thousands years or longer after all. See they uh…" his voice turned to a whisper and he leaned in "They think they found the source, and they want to go investigate it directly to see if they can mine the aetherite in larger quantities.

Blackpowder and the Mage Council are starting to team up because of the threat Tesset represents and they need power desperately." Valerius glanced around with a worried look. And that is how you extract information, he's more invested in giving it than I am. Also, Fuck.

"You mean they are going to fly straight into the mist?" Nythera began slowly "They wouldn't have happened to find some kind of hole in the mist, did they? A gap of somesort?" I should not have said that. I should not have asked that. Valerius' jaw hung open, his eyes wide. His barrette slipped from his head as head cocked to the side.

"How could you know this? This is highly confidential information, that's not possible unless…" Well, play the game of information and sometimes you lose. I might need to turn him into mist after all. How much does he really understand?