The day Stroud had been waiting for had quickly arrived.

In the morning, he rolled out of bed and lit a candle at his desk as was routine. Still bleary-eyed, he trudged over to the washbasin and splashed some cold water on his face.

The materials I requested should be ready.

Anticipation was building within him, but… it was a strange feeling. It wasn’t a burning excitement. It was a cold, taut string, and it pierced through his lethargy as it wove new scenarios and contingencies into his framework of existing ideas.

Cool droplets of water dripped from Stroud’s chin and his nose as he raised his head and turned around. Indeed, there was a letter waiting for him just inside the door. Or, letters — to be exact. Three of them in total. His brow wrinkled as he flipped through the notes.

One of them he was intimately familiar with. He felt the texture of the paper and the weight of the fold and knew right away that the sender was Lady Adelais.

The second item was a mystery, but the third bore the Marwood crest on its wax seal — a seal that had already been split.

A low, rumbling growl echoed through Stroud’s chest as he temporarily ignored the others and flipped it open.

Fortunately, the Baron’s handwriting was exactly as he remembered.

Stroud, thank you for your letter. Celina and everyone else is healthy and doing well. And should the weather continue cooperating, the harvest looks promising this year. I’m already looking forward to the day we can all gather and celebrate with a meal, but for now, please continue looking after Maeve.

That was all it read. It was simple and superfluous, and yet, Stroud’s pulse quickened as he gazed over it again and again. For a long while, he couldn’t put it down.

A throbbing pressure was building inside the chambers of his heart, cracking the foundation of ice. The lion had seen a chance and was seizing upon it, but its escape attempt was swiftly thwarted by the combined efforts of the snake and the frost seed.

Dark greenish-black scales coiled around the golden beast’s waist and dragged it back as the seed frantically worked to repair the damage.

With trembling hands, Stroud walked over to his desk and tossed the letter into one of the drawers. He managed to stabilize, but a hint of anger flashed across his eyes. His thoughts were directed toward the Headmistress.

The message from the Baron likely hadn’t been tampered with, but Lady Adelais was also sending one of her own.

I am in control. That’s what she was telling him by having the letter unsealed before it reached his door. He had already guessed she might be tracking correspondence — he just didn’t like the petty games she played.

She didn’t care what was being exchanged between him and Baron Marwood, but she was always hovering over everyone’s shoulder, watching them with a smug grin…

Stroud frowned and grabbed a small pocket knife to open the crestless missive. The number of people he had relationships with was few, so his curiosity elevated a notch as tore it open.

Be careful in the coming days, kid. Unless you’re tasked with a mission, try not to leave the Sanctum.

This one wasn’t signed, but only one person ever referred to him as ‘kid’ — and that was Hrer.

He was skeptical that the man actually cared at all for his life, so rather than a true warning, Stroud assumed this was Hrer’s way of telling him that the information he had last provided was important. Much more important than he initially thought.

Whoever that young Tundra Walker’s father was — he was dangerous. And soon, he would be arriving in Frostrane.

What is their goal? Stroud’s mind wandered as he positioned the corner of Hrer’s letter above the flickering candle flame. It seems much too soon and too sudden for them to be preparing an attack on the city… Eyes clouding over, he watched the parchment burn.

Could they be making an attempt on Lady Adelais life? No…

The woman never seemed to leave her roost, so unless the opponent was significantly stronger than her, such a mission would be exceedingly difficult. Otherwise, they would’ve already ended things long ago.

What then? Stroud strained himself, cycling the frost seed. Us? Lady Adelais’ agents… Is the man here to combat her information network. Pairing that idea alongside Hrer’s message seemed to make the most sense.

At that moment, the snake slammed into the walls, causing Stroud’s heart to skip a beat.

The final letter in his hands felt much heavier now as he unfolded it.

Orders from Headmistress Adelais

Issued: Summer, Day 72 of the Second Crossing

Stroud of the Marwood House, your request for materials has been approved. However, due to the volume of goods being provided, it has been decided that they will be delivered directly to your lab. Report to the location before noon to receive them.

In addition, your recent contribution has earned you 50 Merits.

Fifty Merits was a lot. Everything he had just spent after weeks and weeks of effort only amounted to 65...

Might there be a chance? he mused.

Having it almost all replenished in one go got him thinking — thinking that the special request of his may not be such a far-fetched idea, after all. However, there was definitely a limited time frame, so he needed to act now.

Mind snapping back into focus, Stroud retrieved his pocket watch. Grabbing breakfast at the mess hall would be difficult if he wanted to swing by Dowd’s office as well before reporting.

Clothes flew out of his dresser in a flurry and he grabbed whatever was on top of the pile. In short order, his hand was scribbling across a page.

Headmistress Adelais,

In light of my recent accomplishment, I would like to submit a rather unusual request. I’m unsure of the burial traditions of the Cosmae, but if the body of the Stray that was recently executed hasn’t been disposed of…

***

Hurrying down the winding stairwell that led to the lower floors, Stroud’s breathing was heavy. Dowd had held him up for a few minutes longer than he would have liked when he went to drop off his inquiry.

Damn. His stomach rumbled as he leaped down the last few steps and landed on the floor. He wanted to keep running, but now that there were apprentices around, he composed himself.

Stroud kept his head down as he skirted around the edge of the busy lobby. He passed the hall that led to the miscellaneous workrooms and was just about to duck off toward the spellcasting chambers when a familiar voice called out to him.

“—Stroud! Is that you?”

Stroud spun quickly on his heels, wearing a strained smile as a slender red-head blazed through the bustling throng of bodies. “Good morning, Madam.” he bowed and straightened out his unkempt appearance. “I didn’t think I’d run into you here at this hour…”

“Ah!” Maeve startled, fidgeting with her robe like she was suddenly nervous about something. “I was, um... Instructor Reeve was just providing me with assistance on an upcoming project, so we had to reserve a lab...”

Arriving behind her rambling was the old, pudgy Magus

Stroud’s impression of this man was still mixed. When Sir Reeve had visited the Marwood manor, he was easily flustered and appeared somewhat incompetent. But here, in the Sanctum, he was always at ease. Stroud also knew that someone without a certain level of skill or usefulness would never last long working for Lady Adelais… And rumor had it — Instructor Reeve had the longest tenure among the staff.

“It's been a while, Stroud. I’m heartened to see you doing well.” The man’s wrinkled face creased into a smile.

There was somewhat of an awkward air between the two of them that Stroud couldn’t place as he returned the compliment with a polite dip of his head. “I would say the same to you as well, Sir. Thank you for helping out the Miss in my stead. I’ve been lax in my duties as of late…”

“It’s no trouble for me, young man. Maeve is talented and a hard worker.” He placed a hand on her shoulder as his grin broadened. “If I ignored apprentices like her — I wouldn’t be worth much as an Instructor.”

Maeve’s spirit recovered at his words. Her bright eyes sparkled as she asked: “So what brings you here Stroud?”

“I’m running some errands for Magus Dowd. Speaking of which…” Stroud glanced to the side and shuffled a bit, trying to make his haste apparent.

“Oh! Sorry if we’re holding you up!” Worry suffused Maeve’s brow. She knew he’d been working for Dowd for a while, and among the older apprentices, the Instructor had a reputation for being pretty strict.

“It’s no problem! I’m glad I bumped into you, Madam… Instructor Reeve…” He bowed again to them both, waiting impatiently for Reeve to dismiss him.

“All right, I hope to see you around again, young man.”

Maeve had left him with a wave before she spun off to head upstairs, but Stroud could feel the Magus’ beady, dark eyes trained on his back as he raced toward the end of the long passageway with quick steps. They didn’t leave him until he found his way into the familiar room containing the entrance to The Nidus.

***

Arcane Bolt Control Test: Blended Spirit Blood Ink, low-quality raw Nura

Result: -

Stroud tapped his foot absentmindedly as he inspected the scorch mark left behind on the wooden test dummy. There was about a finger’s width deep indent left in the center of the black smear. It was a pretty pathetic result, in his opinion — for a Tier 1 spell. But that was the cost of using the shitty raw Nura provided by the Sanctum to cast.

He knew all his talismans were achieving over 70% spell efficiency because he hadn’t missed out on any of the possible bonuses on his commissions for the last three to four weeks. On a dummy like this, Arcane Bolt should be capable of punching a hole nearly all the way through.

At least my aim was pretty good… he grumbled to himself as he moved back over to his desk at the other end of the lab. Most of the space in between had been cleared out to avoid any accidents while he was experimenting.

Everything had been shoved against the wall nearby. It was a jumble of tables, equipment, and boxes. But since he knew what he would be working on, he hadn’t wanted to unpack most of the supplies he’d received earlier when he’d arrived.

Now, which blood should I try first? Stroud’s eyes turned to the vials filled with viscous crimson liquid neatly arranged next to his journal.

He first wanted to test the general potency of all the samples before mixing with them with his own blood another round of spells.

Hrer’s remarks the other day — especially the one about thinking back to how he signed his oath with Lady Adelais — was what had spurred this desire. And he was angry the idea had eluded him for so long.

Was Nura a necessary ingredient in spellcasting? Up until a week ago, he would have absolutely answered yes. But now, he wasn’t so sure...

When Lady Adelais had them sign the binding oath — they had used their own blood to seal the deal. At the time, Stroud hadn’t thought much of it. Maybe there was just something special about transcendent runes that required a different catalyst?

But the more he thought back on the process, the more foolish it seemed to label that as a one-off occurrence. At its core, the contract contained within the oath was a spell, and the medium used to cast it was a talisman… Talismans were written in blood to begin with, so there was surely some link between blood and spellcasting. Additionally, their potency was also affected by the quality of the blood used.

Stroud sighed as he flipped open his journal again. There were so many signs pointing toward an answer.

Blood could be used to catalyze blood. He was sure of it. There was something contained within the blood of all beings that gave it power. Hrer was trying to lead him there, but that was just the beginning…

Spinning a vial between his fingers, Stroud checked the label. This one would be first. He used a measuring tube to separate the same volume of blood from the sample that he had used during the test with raw Nura.

Arcane Bolt Test 1-1: Blended Spirit Blood Ink, Blood of the Single-Horned Saban (strength similar to a First Order Magus)

With the appropriate amount of blood and an arcane bolt talisman in hand, Stroud approached the spot he’d marked off earlier as his firing point. His nerves were almost completely suppressed by the frost seed. He could feel its cool energy radiating throughout his whole body as he tipped the open test tube, spilling the contents onto the parchment.

Hot red rain poured down upon the blood-soaked landscape, and the metallic smell filled Stroud’s nose as he breathed in deeply and angled the page toward his target.

“Please work…” he mumbled. There was a brief delay, and one of his hands twitched in tandem with his heart.

His aim faltered, but the talisman didn’t. A beam of brilliant, silverish light shot forth and pierced into the dummy’s shoulder like a bolt of lightning.

Stroud stood frozen for a moment. At least I didn’t miss, he exhaled. And as he approached to inspect the damage, his lips curled into a very slight but genuine smile.

The hole in the test dummy was much deeper and cleaner than his first trial's attempt. He ran his fingers over the coarse wood, flinching back slightly when he felt the lingering heat.

Hole around the size of my thumb, more intense heat. He was already making notes in his mind about the results, but there was one phrase, in particular, that had risen to the forefront.

Blood Casting. That was what Stroud decided to call it until he learned the proper term. For now, it was enough to know that it worked; however, there was still much to learn before he began Blood Steeping.

Stroud returned to his desk.

Arcane Bolt Test 1-2...