Chương 19: A Crazy Idea

Ch 19: A Crazy Idea It was the middle of the night, exactly the time I had told Sahirah, through yet another letter, that I intended to meet her. Along with it, I'd sent a copy of the spell that had been her own idea, one I hoped would let us reclaim our freedom despite the relentless surveillance. Taking a steadying breath, I inspected the Presence Erasure spell one last time. The syntax, the module connections, the quality of the ink...

even that one rune with the weird shape that I'd gotten right on the second try.

Everything aligned with the specs. Satisfied, I slid my thumb across the Mana Drain module while my other hand reached for the doorknob, slowly activating the spell at the same time the door opened. I'm not going to lie, I was worried the two Greys standing outside my room would immediately notice me and ask why I was leaving in the middle of the night during curfew. But to my utter amazement, the moment I fully opened the door and stepped outside, neither of them reacted. They didn't even flinch at the sound.

Which meant this variation of the Illusion spell was working exactly as intended, erasing my entire presence from their perception. It probably even concealed my scent and the subtle traces of my movements. Still, I was fairly certain that if I left my door open, they'd notice the inconsistency the moment they were outside the spell's range and realized I was gone. So I quietly locked the door behind me, pleased that the mana consumption was low enough for the spell to last perhaps half an hour.

More than enough time to rendezvous with Sahirah, whose absurd mana recovery should let her maintain the spell indefinitely, assuming my calculations were correct. Grinning, I walked right in front of the two Greys leaning against the wall. Boldly, or, more accurately, stupidly, I flicked one of their ears just to see what would happen. Both of them turned to glare at each other, blue eyes narrowing as each silently blamed the other for the touch. Then, without a word, they each took a step away from the other.

I laughed. And deciding I'd tormented the poor bastards enough, I stopped before they ended up genuinely hating each other. I was already more than satisfied with how robust the spell had turned out to be. Leaving the duo behind, I headed down the corridor, whistling Young Folks, that song that refused to leave my head, as I made my way toward the food court. As long as my spell was active, I had no reason to fear the Mimics.

The Illusion had already proven itself against them more than once, and once I meet Sahirah, we would be safe together. When I reached the now-empty entrance, my first thought was that Sahirah hadn't arrived yet, or worse, that she had stood me up. Then reality caught up with me. If she was already here and using her own copy of the Presence Erasure spell, I wouldn't be able to perceive her. And, obviously, since I was also using mine... she wouldn't be able to perceive me either.

Smiling at my own stupidity, I checked that no one else was nearby before deactivating the spell. A heartbeat later, Sahirah did the same. Her outline emerged from nowhere, as though she'd been standing there the whole time. Which, of course, she had. We both burst into laughter, and she reached out to poke my shoulder, just to make sure I was actually there.

"Can your spell hide both of us at once?" she asked.

"Or does it only work on the caster?"

"It can hide both of us," I said.

"We just need to be close enough when you activate it." Without another word, she slipped her hand into mine, making absolutely certain the requirement was met. A moment later, she activated the Presence Erasure spell. I felt... nothing. The spell wasn't affecting either of us directly. Instead, it rewrote the perceptions of everyone within range, replacing reality with a version where we simply weren't there. And with Sahirah's ridiculous mana reserves, she could probably keep it active until sunrise.

"A girl needs to know something," she said.

"What?"

"How serious were you when you suggested using Principal Zorik's office for our training?" I grinned.

"The spell works, doesn't it?" She mirrored the grin. Neither of us voiced the obvious truth. The hearing that had torn us apart had left a bitter taste in both our mouths. And apparently, a certain Nadiri girl had also developed a taste for petty revenge. Even if that revenge amounted to the sort of juvenile rebellion we were probably a little too old to be indulging in. Without discussing it any further, we started walking toward Principal Dickhead's office.

Along the way, Sahirah complained about her new room in person this time, and I simply listened, nodding every so often. Honestly, I was probably enjoying the one sided conversation far more than I should have after spending days apart. When we finally reached the office, Sahirah fell silent, worried the two Grey guards might somehow see through the illusion if she spoke loudly. I, on the other hand, had already tested the spell's limits.

Without the slightest concern, I walked to the door, turned the handle, and stepped aside with an exaggerated flourish, gesturing for her to enter first like some nineteenth-century gentleman. She immediately caught on to the performance. And to my surprise, she played along perfectly and entered the room like a Victorian lady. It made me wonder what courtship rituals existed on her homeworld. That curiosity didn't last long.

The moment I entered and locked the door behind me, I found Sahirah already powering down and moving the large glass globe off Principal Dickhead's desk, making room for us. I was surprised the thing didn't explode from her mana, but I said nothing, knowing full well how self-conscious she was about it. And besides... I didn't want to make her angry right now. Because the mischievous smile on her face told me she was already in the mood for some taboo meditation.

"Did you bring the Fire Moon book, Eric?"

"Of course." I reached into my improvised backpack and handed it to her. She opened it on the desk to Chapter Eight, the second stage of dual cultivation. And for a long moment, she quietly studied the illustration. Two Greys sat cross-legged beneath the blue moon. Unlike the first stage, they weren't holding hands this time. Instead, their foreheads and the tips of their noses touched, their eyes closed in perfect harmony. Without saying anything, Sahirah walked over and opened the window.

Outside, the blue moon sat exactly where it had in the illustration. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Why do you always insist on recreating the book so faithfully?" I asked. She smiled under the blue moon.

"Because there are things I still can't tell you while the translation spell is listening." Yeah. Curse the invasive translation spell and its complete lack of privacy. But no matter how much I thought about it, I still couldn't unravel the mystery that was Sahirah. Her hidden surname, her uncanny ability to erase evidence, her absurd mana reserves. And now this strange familiarity with the dual cultivation techniques from the Archmage's book. None of it fit together. And all I could do was let out a quiet sigh.

Implementing proper translation into my system clearly wasn't happening before I somehow got Elitha's help.

"What are you waiting for?" Sahirah's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. When I looked up, she was already sitting cross-legged on top of the desk, waiting for me. And I climbed up as well, slipping off my shoes only after I was on the polished wood. After all, I intended to enjoy every second of disrespecting Principal Dickhead's office. A tiny repayment for everything he'd put me through since the day I'd arrived. Then I remembered something.

"Did... you bring protection?" Naturally, I meant mana-conductive ink and a quill to draw the protective runes that kept me from exploding whenever her mana got involved. Sahirah simply pointed at the illustration between us.

"The second stage of dual cultivation is about the resonance of mana and soul." A playful smirk spread across her face.

"We won't be exchanging mana this time, so protection is not required." An awkward laugh escaped me. No protection sounded great. But no mana sharing? That was the fun part.

"Can we at least talk?" I asked, remembering how she'd insisted on complete silence last time.

"No." Sahirah sounded almost impatient.

"We must let our bodies sing until all our mana dances to the same song." I was confused. The runes always made sense in my head, but these parts of Grey magic always sounded mysterious to me, like trying to understand some badly documented code repository. Still, despite my recent change in mentality about taking those aspects of their magic more seriously, bodies singing and mana dancing was a bit much. Perhaps it would make more sense if I thought of it in terms of frequencies and vibrations.

But the moment I did that, a problem became obvious.

"Wait," I said.

"You have so much more mana than I do. How are we supposed to find the same frequency?" To my surprise, Sahirah was the one looking at me as though I were the confusing one by mentioning a frequency. And, perhaps deciding we had already talked too much, she slowly leaned closer.

"You think too much," she said softly.

"A girl listens to you, and you listen to her. That's all." Feeling the warmth of her breath against my face, I gave in to her methods without arguing further. I leaned closer as well, until our foreheads touched and the tips of our noses met. Several moments passed before I even attempted to feel my mana. This was the closest I had ever looked into her eyes. Green and amber. Both eyes stared at me, and the small smile on her lips made it clear that this stage would be far more intimate, even without sharing mana.

After all, how the hell was I supposed to resist the urge to ignore the training entirely and simply kiss her? As if sensing the same danger, she gently closed her eyes. I did the same, and the closeness suddenly became much easier to endure. Present, but way less immediate. As for the dual cultivation, it was just like before, and Sahirah seemed better at this than I was, taking the lead. Soon, I felt a faint vibration coming from her body through the tiny point where our foreheads touched.

It was so subtle that, for a while, I wasn't even sure it was real. Time passed. I tried listening to her mana. Then I gave up and tried making my own mana vibrate instead. After everything we'd learned during the first stage, controlling my mana flow had become natural. Figuring out how to make it vibrate was simply a matter of experimentation. And it turned out that imagining a tuning fork did the trick. Soon enough, all my mana was singing its own song. But the melody was clearly different from Sahirah's.

Mine was a low tone. Hers was a deep and warm. The two songs felt impossibly distant, so different that no amount of adjustment could ever make them resonate. Still, we kept trying. Time passed. Eventually, I felt Sahirah herself becoming restless. Her nose slipped away from mine for a moment. She adjusted her posture. Her attempts to alter the vibration of her mana became shorter and more frequent, though the range of those adjustments seemed limited, just like mine.

Just as thoughts of failure began creeping into my mind, an idea struck me. If I was thinking in terms of frequencies... Why not use harmonics? As long as Sahirah could maintain a steady tone, perhaps I could find a matching harmonic within my own range.

"Uh–" Remembering the rule about silence, I stopped myself. Instead, I placed a hand on her shoulder, projecting calm and tranquility through my touch. Whenever she tried to change the vibration again, I pressed slightly harder. Somehow, she understood the message and calmed down. The vibration of her mana held firm now, constant as a single piano key struck to ring out forever. I removed my hand from her shoulder and focused completely, slowly searching through every possible frequency my mana could produce.

The search for the harmonic was gradual. At first, it was only a tingling sensation moving through my body. Then, as I refined the frequency and searched for that perfect point, things escalated quickly. The entire desk began to vibrate under us. One of Principal Dickhead's drawers slid open on its own. Then another, and another. When we both opened our eyes, we saw ourselves glowing. Different colors, yet resonating. Papers spilled from the drawer, but neither of us spoke a word.

We stayed alert, our minds anchored to the present. We slowly raised our hands, our palms approaching each other without touching. Sparks bridged the gap between them. White from her. Pale blue from me. And unlike the competitive and almost violent nature of the first stage, this one was calm. Cooperative even. And yet it filled my chest with a warmth that wasn't intense enough to make me sweat, but felt as though it would linger for hours, as though we would gain a lot from it, but not all at once.

"We made it," I whispered. With a gentle smile, Sahirah let her mana settle, slowly ending the resonance. Almost immediately, she reached for the book and turned several pages before reading aloud:"And when two souls discover the songs that belong only to them, when separate melodies learn to walk the same path, coherence is born. This song shall endure through every season, forever engraved in memory and soul."

"I didn't get a single word of that abstract nonsense," I said with a smile, "but I missed this, Sahirah. I'm glad you're back in my life." She rolled her eyes, but that was followed by faint smile. The kind that became especially beautiful beneath blue moonlight. The kind that practically begged to be interrupted by a kiss. My heart pounded in my chest as I slowly leaned closer. She didn't move. Not even an inch. She simply watched me, her eyes daring me to move closer. I took the challenge.

And yet, just as our breaths mixed– A loud voice came from the other side of the door.

"Did anyone enter my office while I was away?" Sahirah and I exchanged a look of pure disappointment. Yeah. Principal Dickhead had impeccable timing when it came to ruining moments. And unfortunately, we didn't have the luxury of dwelling on it. Without needing to exchange a single word, we sprang into action. Sahirah checked that the Presence Erasure spell was still active while I shoved the Fire Moon book back into my improvised backpack as fast as I could.

We slipped our shoes back on while Principal Zorik spoke with the guards outside, but just as I reached for the surveillance globe to put everything back the way we'd found it, I heard a doorknob turn. Every drop of blood in my body went cold. I grabbed Sahirah's wrist and pulled her against the wall just as the door swung open. Only then did it hit me that Zorik wasn't an ordinary Grey. He was stronger than the average teacher, and I had no idea whether the illusion would fool someone like him.

The only thing keeping me from panicking was the fact that the original illusion spell had come from Elitha Hearthstrong herself. Principal Zorik's gaze immediately landed on the mess. Then, for a terrifying instant, his blue eyes shifted directly toward where we stood. Sahirah silently pulled the Presence Erasure spell from her pocket. Its edges were already smoldering as it struggled to maintain the illusion. My heart nearly stopped. Then Zorik's eyes drifted away. The burning ceased almost instantly.

The spell had won. He looked back toward the doorway.

"Come inside. Now." The two Grey guards entered cautiously. Their eyes swept across the office, taking in the papers scattered across the floor and the drawers left hanging open, before one of them suddenly stiffened.

"Principal... we swear no one entered your office while we were on duty."

"We never left our posts," the other added immediately.

"If someone had come through this door, we would have seen them." Zorik listened without interrupting.

"Smart creatures. A Mimic most likely did this," he said flatly. Sahirah and I exchanged a look. Poor hideous worms. They were about to take the blame for something we'd done. Principal Zorik turned back toward the guards.

"The two of you will be tested immediately. I cannot risk either of you serving as a Mimic host."

"We were already tested this afternoon," one of the guards answered.

"The inspection team cleared both of us," the other added. Principal Zorik slammed his palm against the table.

"How many days have passed since we discovered the Mimics?" One of the guards opened his mouth to answer, but Zorik cut him off.

"I pay teachers who are supposed to be among the most capable mages in this city. I pay all of you. I even hired outside specialists whose entire profession is detecting Mimics." His voice grew colder with every word.

"And people continue dying day after day." A bitter laugh escaped him.

"So tell me... how is it that the only successful extermination since this crisis began came from two first-year students?" Sahirah and I froze. We were the only ones who had actually killed a Mimic? My jaw dropped. Beside me, Sahirah gripped my hand just as tightly, equally stunned. Even the guards had no reply. With a dismissive flick of his fingers toward the hallway, Zorik said, "Wait outside. I'll personally supervise your testing."

As the guards left and Zorik slowly began gathering the pages we'd scattered during our successful resonance, I leaned toward Sahirah.

"You know what I'm thinking?" She didn't answer. She simply looked at me. I stole a glance at Principal Dickhead before whispering,"I'm thinking the two of us have a great opportunity to get rich... and save this school from the Mimics." Her mismatched eyes widened.

"Us... hunting Mimics?" A grin spread across my face.

"First I need to make a deal with the principal. After that, we recruit the whole sales crew..." I couldn't help smiling wider.

"... and finally, we fuck those Mimics into oblivion as a team. What do you say?" She glanced at Principal Dickhead. Despite standing only a few steps away, he couldn't perceive either of us. Several seconds passed before she answered.

"I'm starting to think you might not be right in the head, human," she whispered.

"But this could be a girl's chance to never worry about the price of meat again." And so, beneath the blue moon and inside Principal Dickhead's own office, Sahirah and I came up with a plan. We hadn't even checked our status after completing the second stage of dual cultivation, yet the craziest idea either of us had ever had was already taking shape. First, I'd tattoo the casting assistant on my arm. Then, I'd negotiate a deal with the principal, a deal that might demand the end of our separation. After that...

We'd hopefully recruit the whole sales crew for Mimic hunting. Smiling to myself, I couldn't help thinking that my school life as the CEO of a garage startup was about to become a whole lot more interesting.