Lith spent the last days preparing Tista's homework during his absence and studying once again Lochra Silverwing's book "The basics of magic".
Archmage Deirus's words had inspired him, making Lith suspect that maybe there was something he had overlooked for all those years. If Solus was right about Lochra being an Awakened Magus of the past, then her book could contain part of her legacy or at least point him to its location.
'After all, everything she explains about first magic in her book can also be applied to true magic. I learned every word of the book, but I think I failed to comprehend its full purpose until now.
'As Yurial's dad said, Gravity magic is an obscure subject because of its difficulty, but the same can be said about Silverwing's Hexagram. What if they are both legacies left from past Magi about true magic?
'Back when I first learned how to perform the Hexagram, I had no idea arrays existed. Now, the more I look at it, the more I'm certain it's not just a parlor trick to impress the academy's old fogeys.
'If I'm right, it's not only the first true magic array I learned, but it's also part of the legacy of one of the most powerful mages in the history of the Griffon Kingdom.'
Lith's experiments lead him to discover that he could enlarge and empower the Hexagram at will. There were two major difficulties in the process, though.
The first was that the bigger the array grew, the harder it was to keep all the six elements in perfect balance. To achieve stability the spell required for each element to receive exactly the same amount of mana and for them to have their energies flow as one.
The second was that he had no idea what it was supposed to do. Being a pessimist by nature, Lith suspected it could also just be an elaborate prank from a long dead magician. If Lochra was really dead, of course.
'According to Kalla's words, she may still be alive. So either I find her and ask Lochra an explanation or I need to bang my head until I crack open this mystery.'
At his arrival at the academy, Lith was in for a surprise. The fifth floor of the White Griffon academy was almost identical to the fourth one. The only major changes were that his new room was in a different position and it was much bigger than the previous one.
It was also equipped with a forgemastering laboratory and a healer's office. Fifth years students were fewer in numbers compared to their juniors. In a good year, they would be around one hundred and fifty.
Because of the recent events, between those who died during the attack and the ones that had failed due to the anti mana toxin, there were less than one hundred students attending the fifth year.
It left a lot of free space, granting those who had made it much more liberties.
Each room was customized for their needs so that a Healer could receive patients from outside the academy or a Mage Knight practice their swordsmanship.
Having only one specialization, Phloria's apartment was entirely dedicated to sword practice. It had a soundproof room complete with golems as training dummies. Thanks to their magical nature, they were made of materials which density was identical to the human body.
They could also be programmed to assume different shapes and sizes, mimicking all the creatures that her Mage Knight course would cover.
The golems were also equipped with a sort of Artificial Intelligence. It allowed them to retaliate to the student's attacks by following the most common combat patterns of the various creatures the golem replicated.
The students were allowed to personalize their training dummies' AI to further increase the difficulty level. The first thing Phloria did was to input her own style to practice against herself and find the flaws in her execution.
"It's the first time I'm actually happy to have only one specialization." Phloria said while showing Lith her personal training facility.
"How so?" He noticed that the living space hadn't improved much. Once again, the habitations were poorly furnished, there was just enough to live and practice properly. Everything else was on the student.
Aside from the forgemastering lab and the medical practice, Lith's room had only a bed, a wardrobe, a work desk, and a few bookshelves as furniture. He would never waste money to embellish a place he used only to sleep.
Especially since he would live there only for a year.
Phloria, on the other hand, was more carefree. Her room had already a second wardrobe full of clothes. Soft carpets covered the whole floor allowing her to walk barefoot even during the cold winter mornings.
It was the only commodity Lith almost envied.
Almost.
The Skinwalker armor was capable to reproduce not only clothes, but also shoes. He only had to will for it and the armor would reshape itself from the pajamas form to the uniform, covering his feet.
The transition would only last for a split second. The enchanted clothes turned into a semi liquid state, running over Lith's body while changing its color and composition on a molecular level.
'It's worth every single point I spent on it.' Lith thought every time he used the armor's properties.
Unlike Lith's desk, which was always empty unless he was studying a particularly difficult subject, Phloria's was decorated with egg-shaped nacre ornaments on small pedestals. They were arranged in a semi circular form.
She had even a couple on her nightstand. She had never allowed him inside her own bedroom, except when the group gathered to study together. Even then, he had never seen them before. Clearly, she hid them before their arrival.
"Because unlike Friya's, my training room allows me to spar with multiple golems at the same time. It's also big enough to accommodate two people. It means Friya and I can work out together, or I can simply train you a bit with the sword." She replied.
"Good idea. The only problem is if we'll have enough time for that." He sighed.
"Well, last year was different. Now if we finish late, you can always sleep here." Phloria swept her hair, blushing a little.
"What are these things?" Lith changed the topic. It wasn't like Phloria to make such an odd and rushed offer. After he had almost died, their relationship had slowed down quite a bit. Too many things had happened too fast. His constant mood swings had contributed to making things worse.
"Do you really have never seen a…" Phloria almost chocked on the rest of the phrase. The most shocking thing about visiting Lith's house had been noticing how his room was as big as one of her closets.
He was always so aloof to luxury that she often forgot about his humble origins.
"A what?"
Phloria touched the closest egg. The upper part of the magical item opened, projecting a hologram the size of a photograph. It was completed with sounds and colors, depicting a younger Orion while he was reading a story to Phloria when she was a little girl.
It was a short clip played in a loop.