Slipping back into my room, I laid onto the couch, closed my eyes, rubbed my temples with one hand while feeling the pounding headache mounting in my head. I still had an hour or so before I planned to meet downstairs for my daily exercises. Soon enough, I could feel myself falling asleep, the stabbing pain in my head gradually fading. Suddenly, I heard a sharp knock on my door, breaking me from my stupor.

Suppressing a groan, I stood and crossed the room in a few quick strides, opening the door to find Simon standing in the hallway.

"Good morning, Vayne. I'm glad I caught you just waking up. I wanted to let you know I spoke to my father, and he agreed to get you all of your supplies for a fee, of course. We have a supplier in Volaris, and once you pay, we can head down and pick everything up now." Simon explained, handing me a small piece of paper.

Opening the folded parchment, I glanced down and blinked several times hard, hoping I was just sleep-deprived. When the number remained the same, I knew I did not imagine things.

"This is...expensive. More than I had expected." I said, looking back up to Simon.

"Yeah, I know. Normally, I would say 'I can get you the family friend price' to keep a customer happy, but, frankly, that is the friend price. Nothing you want is particularly rare or expensive, but demand has gone up, driving up prices." he replied, giving me an apologetic smile.

I nodded several times, holding up my index finger as I turned on my heel and walked into my bedroom. Fortuna glanced up at me with a yawn, blinking his eyes slowly.

Problems?

I did not bother replying, instead grabbing the pouch of gold I kept behind my dresser, shaking the bag slightly. I only had enough to cover half the supplies I wanted, which meant I could only do this treatment once. I grimaced, before sighing and returning to the main room.

"If it's all the same to you, I would like to head down there now and grab everything," I said with a smile, holding up the coin purse.

Simon nodded, and together we walked down to Volaris, where citizens had begun their days. I pulled my shirt tighter, wondering not for the first time if there were any spells to resist uncomfortable temperatures, but pushed my discomfort away.

"So...what do you need all of this for, anyway? A few of those supplies are pretty uncommon even for mages." Simon asked as we walked.

"Training of some kind. I would prefer not to go into details if it's all the same to you, Simon." I replied, turning to him.

Nodding once, Simon smiled and said, "Not a problem. Do you still want my help making those potions? Free of charge, of course."

I chuckled, replying, "That would be excellent. Although you helped me improve as an alchemist, I am still far from an expert."

We soon arrived at Simon's supplier, a sprawling warehouse with a multi-colored glass roof and dozens of packed shelves. Boxes floated through the air, reminding me of the automated trays the Academy employed for their cafeteria.

Simon walked past me, greeting an older man, and I watched with interest as they shook hands, a warm smile on the man's face.

"Good morning, Simon. I got the message from your father, and we are just finishing up your order. While you're here, could you come with me? I need your help inspecting a few supplies." he said, gesturing with one hand.

Simon glanced over to me, and I gave him a nod and a grin. Disappearing into the rows, I crossed my arms and idly examined the warehouse. Judging by the way boxes and containers floated through the air, apparently sorting themselves, I surmised that the entire building must be extensively enchanted. Maybe I should take notes, in case I ever wanted to replicate the effects for myself later.

Several minutes passed before Simon, and the older man returned, shaking hands again. I noticed that, unlike most of the time, Simon stood tall and stared at the man in the eyes, moving with confidence rather than timidity. Turning towards one of the shelves, Simon gestured, and a small box floated down, landing on the ground in front of him.

Opening the top with one hand, Simon examined the contents before nodding and standing up, walking back to me.

"All set. I checked myself, and everything looks perfect. Are you ready to head back?"

"Of course. I wonder, could you give me an idea of the sort of enchantments you use in this place? I would love to have a self-sorting library of some kind for myself. Cleaning and organization has never been my favorite activity." I remarked as we left the shop.

Turning towards me with a grin, Simon shook his head and replied, "Sorry, Vayne. That's a proprietary family enchantment, and I'm afraid you couldn't afford it without your lord's help. And even then, we only set it up, not tell you how."

"I see. Keep demand up, and make sure whatever price you set on it is the market price. No one can undercut you if there's no competition. Smart." I remarked.

Simon smirked, and I saw a glimmer of cunning in his eyes. Although I doubted he had the stomach to be ruthless, it seemed it was not for lack of skill.

"Now then, I'll mix the potions while you take notes. And make sure to pay attention." Simon replied, giving me a look that almost looked cocky.

"Next, we need to purify it down and get rid of anything unnecessary. The reaction produces a lot of waste, and if it stays in there, the potion will lose power. You can use this reagent to trigger a secondary reaction to burn off the impurities." Simon explained, turning down the heat and placing two drops of faintly glowing blue liquid into the vial, which began vigorously bubbling. He had already finished the numbing and healing potions and moved onto the final mixture, which was by far the most difficult.

I nodded, jotting down everything he said and doing my best not to fall asleep standing up. I was now approaching two days without sleep, and it was becoming almost impossible to focus. I had long stopped feeling surprised at his skill, but I did think of something as I watched him work.

"Simon, this is a complicated formula way above the skill level of an apprentice. I doubt most fifth-year students could successfully prepare this."

Nodding, Simon did not look up but replied, "I agree. The distillation is a nightmare, and the measurements need to be exact, or the entire thing will fail. I bet some master mages couldn't do as good a job as I am now, but luckily I learned from the best."

"If that's the case, why are you taking alchemy classes? You are good enough that they are just teaching you what you already know. It sounds like a waste of your time and energy."

Smiling, Simon did not reply for several seconds, adjusting several flames and gently swirling one vial while weighing out another tray of green powders. Finally, he looked up to me and sighed.

"My father asked the same thing. He said, 'Those idiots at the Academy can't teach you half as well as I can!' But I believe in covering all my bases, and I don't want to risk that they know something my father may not. And in my opinion, more practice is never a bad thing."

It sounded like an excuse, and I knew Simon was the type to stay with what he felt comfortable doing, rather than broaden his horizons.

"Alright, last step is to pour in dried leaves from a silver mandrake, which stabilizes the entire mixture. You have to gradually do it and keep the heat at precisely the right temperature. Too fast, and the leaves will burn. Too low, and they won't break down and release their sap." Simon continued, adjusting the heat with a careful hand, before slowly pouring in the silver-gray plants.

Several minutes later, he poured the red-black mixture into a glass vial, stoppering it and placing the finished product on the table. I smiled and put one hand onto Simon's shoulder, nodding several times in appreciation.

"Nice job, Simon. It seems I owe you once again." I said, turning towards him. Before he could say anything, I reached into my pocket and handed him a small folded piece of parchment, where I had written several book titles.

As he opened it, I continued, "While I was researching for my lords, I found mention of an ancient water mage, known to history as the Water Dragon, who did not follow the traditional style for water magic. While it's an extraordinarily arrogant title, if half the stories are true, it was not unwarranted. I did not have much time to read more on him, but I recommend starting with these books if you want to improve your magic."

Simon nodded, looking back up to me and grinning.

"Thanks, Vayne."

I mentally chuckled at the irony that I helped two apprentices develop their magic in ways inspired by some of the strongest mages in Ferren history, once out of duty and the other out of friendship.

I slipped the potions into my pocket and bowed my head to Simon gratefully.

"No, thank you, Simon. I will be sure to pass my gratitude to my lords, as well."

Within a few minutes, I had the potions safely stored inside drawers in Cortos' sanctum. Each drawer had enchantments to keep supplies fresh longer, maintaining each compartment at the ideal temperature. As long as those enchantments remained active, my supplies should keep their effectiveness for several weeks.

Hopefully, that would be enough time to improve my tempering as much as possible, so that I could survive the treatment. I hoped my plan would keep me alive, but there was no point in taking too many risks. Usually, I would prefer to wait longer and not take that step for at least a few months, but I needed to make more gold. And if my channels became durable enough to push three times as much mana through them safely, I could quickly recoup all my losses.

Sighing, I returned to my room and laid onto my bed, closing my eyes. Tomorrow I could go out to the city with Simon, Amelia and her friend, but tonight I needed rest.

"So, what do you think?" Amelia whispered to me as we watched Simon talk animatedly to her friend, Caroline. I had not seen her around, but she was a year older than us and an expert enchanter and alchemist.

Although the first few minutes of dinner had been awkward, Amelia had thought to ask Caroline about her latest research into alterations to the formation of crystals for superior mana storage. As soon as he heard about this, Simon immediately burst into questions, most of which I could not follow.

Eventually, Amelia had made an excuse to grab a drink from the bar, dragging me along with a tilt of her head. Even though I was not a courtship expert, it did not take much thinking to realize she was

"They look like they are having a lot of fun. I never thought there would be two of them." I remarked, smiling at her.

She chuckled, nodding once before replying, "Truthfully, I was doing myself a favor more than anything else. I love Caroline, but if I have to listen to her ramble about the difference between an area-restricted enchantment and a volumetric-restricted enchantment one more time, I might scream."

"What is the difference?" I asked, only half-joking. I received a smirk and a glare for my troubles.

"Are you ready to start classes again?" Amelia asked after a minute of comfortable silence.

"Of course. Maybe this semester, I can finally get good enough with a weapon to beat you most of the time." I commented, taking a sip of my water.

"I wouldn't hold your breath." Amelia retorted.

I almost burst into laughter, something about her comment striking me as ironic. Even as we stood in the crowded restaurant, I moved through the breathing of Iron Forging, feeling every mana vessel in my body gradually strengthening.

Moving over to us, Simon smiled and said, "Caroline and I are going to head back to the Academy and take a walk around the building. DO you two want to come?"

I was about to agree, but Amelia subtly stepped on my foot with her heel and shook her head.

"No, you two go ahead. I think I may turn in for the night," she replied apologetically.

Nodding, Simon returned to Caroline and held out a hand for her, helping her stand.

"That hurt, you know," I said, making my annoyance clear in my voice.

"You're not the brightest one when it comes to romance, are you? Simon wanted to be alone with her. If we came along, wouldn't that defeat the purpose?"

I paused before nodding and chuckling, moving my foot around and feeling the beginnings of a bruise forming.

"You have a point. At least you picked up on that, though next time, I would prefer you to warn me without trying to break my toes."

Amelia grinned, before placing one hand on her mouth and hiding a yawn.

"I wasn't saying that exclusively to give them privacy, though. I do think I'd like to turn in for the night. I had hoped to stay out later, but I ended up having to take care of some business this morning, and didn't sleep as much as I'd have liked."

We made our way back to the Academy, discussing combat tips as we moved. Amelia had also begun learning a new combat style, heavily focused on energetic dodges moving into blindingly- fast counters. I would have to pay attention when she started using this new form to make sure she could not surprise me with any unexpected moves. The most significant advantage in combat is often not speed or strength, but a lack of preparation, in my opinion at least.

Stopping in front of her door, we stood quietly for several seconds before Amelia looked up to me. We were closer than I realized, and I felt the same pounding in my chest that I often had whenever we were alone. Idly, I noted that I had felt less nervous facing a wolf by myself.

Before I could say anything, Amelia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I froze for a second before returning her embrace. When we stepped apart, I stared at her for a moment before smiling and saying, "Good night, Amelia. See you in the morning."

Turning, I walked away, ignoring the impulse to do what I wanted to do. I was a commoner, and Amelia was a noble. And I was planning to abandon Ferris, to find the other sanctums Cortos left behind and grow as skilled as possible. Keeping her at a distance was the best idea, and growing closer to her was sure to end poorly for both of us.

Yet despite everything logical saying I should not pursue a relationship with her, I could not help but think I was making a mistake.