Kalina, addressed by those of the Pyramid as The Head Archivist— all four shared the same title, which sometimes led to confusion— observed as little Lovela took away the two students from the courtroom.

The smaller one, J’ro if her memory served her right, was still visibly dazed from the ordeal, but the boy should be fine with a few days of rest. His werebeast skill would help with the physical recovery. Still, she worried how the child would react when he realized the fact that someone intruded on an inner part of him— one that was supposed to be completely private. Children were unpredictable in these things, as Kalina learned long ago, yet they had the highest recovery rate.

Children, so fragile yet so resistant at the same time.

The adults who were freed from mind spells were often erratic and delusional afterward— their psyche attempting to protect itself from the next attack. They often started hearing and seeing things that were not there, and Kalina read that this was the work of the subconscious mind trying to build up resistance towards mind magic, possibly leading to a skill of some kind. Some went into complete denial— the worst case possible.

The mind craved protection and in children, this protection often came in the form of nightmares, as it gave them a clear separation of reality from imagination. Some adults also had nightmares, but they were few.

The dark-haired one, Tercius— the smell about him— interested Kalina.

He used to be under the spell of the mind, but she had no worries for him. Those capable of active defense, like the one boy exhibited when he broke the spell, were rarely affected in meaningful ways other than becoming more careful and solitary.

The smell about that student was undeniable.

Energy.

For a moment she had almost doubted her skill, but there was no mistake.

It was old, the Energy smell about him— two or three months old, not old like Kalina who slowly approached the end of her second century— but her keen nose picked it up. She didn’t hone her nose and skill for over a century with nothing to show for it.

The Energy was not his own, Kalina could tell, the one every being naturally refined. Refined Energy, as Mistress Prime called it. Kalina liked to think of it as Personal Energy.

Her skill hinted that the boy's organs still had lingering traces of this Energy— using it slowly to better develop themselves; not allowing it to move towards the skills, where they would be used for skill growth. It was peculiar... she only saw that kind of behavior in refined Energy, which this was clearly not. What was more stunning was that the boy’s body took the Energy as his own, without the refinement...

It was novel...

The boy's height and abnormally large Mana smell could be attributed to him being exposed to an abundant amount of Energy as he grew.

But where did a child get such Energy? Was there another spring of Energy in… a town or village somewhere? How absurd, Kalina scoffed.

She would have to find out where the boy was from and take a few deep breaths there. Kalina could only imagine how wider on the inside were his mana channels. She could smell that he would forcibly open his Well soon— a painful ordeal even for a disciplined adult mage.

With a simple application of mana through her amulet, a telepathic connection was formed with Mistress Prime.

Kalina sent her thoughts about the entire event. <... I have solved the immediate problem I found, but a few details will still need to be addressed. I think the root of the issue is smuggling. Again.>

Kalina suddenly felt the amusement of Mistress Prime from the other side of the link.

The Mistress laughed heartily.

A ripple of disbelief ran through the link towards Kalina, mirroring Kalina’s own, as Mistress switched languages.

Kalina calmly stated.

she said and terminated the telepathic link.

Kalina knew the boy's name and year of training so she could look up his records easily, once she went back to the Repository. For now, she had a few questions for her dear late Disciple's Disciple. A small ripple of grief washed over her when she remembered her promising Disciple, too soon perished. Kalina had a degree of blame for that...

“Little Helfira, attend me for a moment. That student, the one who removed the mind spell by himself...”