As expected, when I walked into the classroom with Lisa, dozens of eyes locked onto me with curiosity. The weight of their collective gaze prickled against my skin.
When Lisa introduced me to the class, a ripple of murmurs spread through the room, and there were many gasping sounds. Valerie's reaction was the most obvious, her eyes widening to an almost comical degree as her lips parted in silent surprise.
I had become an object of fascination overnight— it was a weird feeling.
The absurdity of it all tugged at my lips, forming into a smile. I offered the room a polite smile before retreating to the side of the board. I am here to observe rather than dominate the space.
Once class began, Lisa commanded the room effortlessly. Her lecture was so well-structured that even I found myself absorbing details like a student in a review session. The material was familiar, yet her delivery made it fresh.
Most of the students were engaged, their earlier curiosity giving way to genuine focus. Questions occasionally raised, and to my mild amusement, a few were directed at me—subtle tests of the new assistant's competence I assumed.
Two students in particular were relentless, their inquiries were sharp and probing. They seemed determined to expose any gaps in my knowledge.
But I had spent too long watching this world to be caught off guard. Answering came easily, and gradually, their challenges faded into the rhythm of the lesson. By the time the bell rang, the atmosphere had settled into something almost comfortable.
Lisa dismissed the class with an assignment, and we stepped into the hallway—only to be intercepted immediately.
"Excuse me?"
Someone approached us. Even without looking, I recognized the voice. Valerie's voice was honeyed, but the calculation in her eyes was unmistakable to me. Her stand was poised and deliberate, with Ducas behind her.
Lisa responded in an ice tone. "Yes?"
The shift in her tone was so stern that I nearly reacted, but I maintained my calm demeanor, looking at Valerie with curiosity.
Valerie dipped her head in a show of deference. "Ah, I apologize, Professor Lisa. I was hoping to speak with the assistant professor."
I suppressed a sigh. Of course, I already knew what she wanted to talk about. Lisa's gaze flicked between us, her face unreadable. I offered her a reassuring smile.
"I'll meet you in your office, Professor."
For a heartbeat, she simply stared. Then, with a curt nod, she turned and left, her cloak whispering against the floor as she went.
Alone with Valerie, I let my smile settle into something more neutral. "What did you want to discuss, Miss Valerie?"
Her lips curved in a mirror of my own expression, though hers carried an edge. "I didn't realize you were the assistant, Sir Arthur."
"People often hide their true roles," I said lightly. "Don't you agree?"
A flicker of understanding passed over her features. "Indeed."
Her agreement came too quickly—proof that she recognized the double meaning. We were both playing a game, and we both knew it.
To an outsider, it might have looked like a sociable exchange, but the tension beneath is palpable. Valerie's smile was that of a predator sizing up prey, and though I matched her calm, I didn't miss the way her fingers twitched at her sides, restless.
Then, with deliberate grace, she withdrew an envelope from her cloak and extended it toward me. The parchment was thick, and the seal was pressed with enough force that it looked important to me.
"Here, Sir Arthur."
I took it, weighing it in my hands. "What is it?"
"Nothing significant," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "Just an application for the assistant position under Professor Lisa."
The sheer audacity of it nearly made me laugh. Each professor is allowed only one assistant, and by handing this to me, she was making her intentions painfully clear: Step aside and get lost.
"I'll ensure Professor Lisa receives it," I said, tucking the envelope into my shirt with deliberate slowness.
Valerie's smile didn't waver. She didn't care about this copy—she'd likely already submitted one directly to Lisa. This was nothing but a power play.
"Thank you, Sir Arthur."
"Of course. Please take care of Ducas," I added, nodding toward the boy behind her. "And don't hesitate to seek me out if you need anything."
Her eyes gleamed. "I will."
I ended our conversation there, suddenly aware of another presence in the room—a gaze as sharp as Valerie's. My attention shifted to the corner, where a pale, blonde-haired girl stood in silence.
Felicity. Valerie's self-declared rival, which meant she, too, was vying for Lisa's favor.
Our eyes met for a fraction of a second before I looked away, but it was enough. Her gaze was like a lioness looking at her prey.
I had no interest in their competition, yet here I am, caught in the middle.
With a quiet exhale, I left, the weight of their expectations pressing against my back. All I want is a quiet life, but fate seems determined to barf obstacles in my path.
Lisa was waiting in her office when I arrived. She didn't ask about Valerie, and I also didn't explain anything. Instead, I handed her Valerie's envelope, which she dismissed with a glance before tossing it into a drawer.
Then, without a word, she passed me another stack of files—materials for the next class. I gladly accepted them with a nod and went to my own office across the hall.
***
Two weeks of tension and progress went by.
Mornings began with assisting in her classes, afternoons were spent preparing lecture materials in my office across from Lisa's, and evenings often dissolved into quiet research sessions where I'd catch glimpses of her mysterious work.
Today is no different. The soft morning light filtered through the glass windows of Lisa's office as I lounged on the couch. Hekate purring contentedly in my lap. The white feline had taken a liking to me.
"I still don't like the feeling she gives me," Persephone murmured, feeling iffy about Hekate.
-It's just your connection reacting.
"Knowing that doesn't make her glowing eyes any less unsettling," Persephone stated to which I replied.
-I understand.
I didn't really understand but I felt like that was the right thing to say.
Lisa's voice cut through our conversation. "How are things with the others?"
She didn't look up from the stack of papers she was grading, her quill moving in precise strokes.
"Better," I said automatically, then amended, "Mostly."
The memory of my meeting with the Acting Headmaster surfaced. His summons had come shortly after the opening ceremony, it was obvious he had become curious about me.
So I went to meet him, not that I had a choice.
He'd begun with pleasantries before cutting to the chase. 'Your origins aren't in any of our records,' he'd said, steepling his fingers. 'For someone Professor Lisa hired personally, that's... unusual.'
I'd kept my answers vague yet truthful. 'No, I had no notable lineage, Acting Headmaster.'
' In your opinion what it was that made Professor Lisa hire you as her assistant? '
'I didn't know why Lisa chose me over more qualified candidates. I had a proper interview. She asked me various questions and I answered them.' The dance of half-truths had been almost enjoyable—like playing chess against someone who didn't realize the board was rigged.
Also since then, the school's social landscape has become increasingly complex.
Faculty members fell into three camps: those who sought my favor to get closer to Lisa, those who kept their distance out of respect, or fear, of the Headmaster's apparent approval, and Eddie's faction—the quietly resentful traditionalists who saw my appointment as an insult to their seniority.
Eddie himself never openly show any bad behavior towards me. Just yesterday, he'd "coincidentally" bumped into me near the library, his smile not quite reaching his cold eyes. "Arthur! We really must have that tea. I'd love to hear how you're settling in."
I'd declined with practiced politeness, but not before noticing the way his jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
It was quite hilarious to mess with someone like him who has two faces. Since I knew his real personality. I had fun watching him act like a good person.
Lisa set down her quill, studying me with those piercing black eyes. "If you're handling it, then it's fine."
These two weeks the heart-shaped icon above her head remained, unchanged. But I was gaining a little bit of her trust every day: how she no longer locked away her research notes when I entered, or the way she'd begun leaving me to supervise minor classroom exercises.
"Here." She slid a folder across her massive oak desk. "Next week's curriculum."
As I rose to retrieve it, Hekate leaped gracefully to my shoulder, her weight was a familiar presence by now. As I picked up the file, the sprawling parchment beneath revealed covered in the intricate swirls and sharp angles of runic script.
I didn't understand it but I knew that it was notes about the topic Lisa is researching. Now she gets more time to work on her research since I am doing all the extra work she used to do.
"Device... Skill... Storage..." I murmured, picking out the few words I recognized from my dreams. The rest might as well have been spider tracks, but I knew their significance. This is a revolutionization for magic itself in Lower Realm.
Lisa's chair scraped back abruptly. "You can read runic?" Her voice held an edge I'd never heard before.
I schooled my features into innocent curiosity. "Only a little. My grandfather collected antiquities—some had similar markings." Another lie.
"You just lie naturally. " Persephone said raising her brows in appreciation. Well, I could be more confident about it if she couldn't sense that it's a lie, I could only think that.
Lisa looked at the white cat, to which the white cat meowed. She didn't have any skill to tell if I was lying, she must have asked Hecate about it. I don't know what she said but it might have been a positive response, as it must have satisfied Lisa because her shoulders relaxed marginally.
"It doesn't matter," she said, It was an obvious reaction. It didn't really matter, I am a young man who does not suppose to have knowledge about her research. If she couldn't figure out the problem with her research then how could I do it?
I pretended to study the document, buying time to assemble my next move. The symbols blurred before my eyes, but in my mind, I saw the finished invention from my dreams—a palm-sized orb thrumming with captured magic.
"Miss Lisa," I began carefully, "are you trying to create a way to store skills?"
The silence that followed was so absolute I could hear the tick of the walk clock.
Persephone broke it with a psychic whistle. "Well played. Look at her face" which only I could hear.
Lisa's usually impassive expression had fractured—her lips slightly parted, eyes wide. For someone who'd gone to such lengths to conceal her research even using runic language, having it laid bare so easily must have been shocking.
I chuckled inside seeing that, it was a rare reaction.
" Is it possible to do it? Store skills? " I asked again, taking her out of her stunned state.
"It's theoretically possible," Lisa finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Persephone fluttered down to inspect the notes. " Store skills? She wants to create an item that can store skills? ...Look at these calculations—she's built prototypes, interesting."
There was a reason Lisa had a device that could block a drone's vision in her office, this is where she does all her research, and she could not let Higher Existences know about it.
There are usually four ways to gain skills.
Firstly, Natural Affinity,skills gained according to talent and interest.
The second is to forge paths, create new skills through sheer will, or learn from some who already have them.
The other two ways are the easiest ones but difficult to acquire.
One is to get the Divine blessing, Becoming an Avatar for a Higher Existence.
And other one is Script Rewards, Rare skills earned by completing mythical Scripts.
Normally Sub-main and miscellaneous 'Scripts' give items. If one wants skills then they need to get the actual story right, through Hidden or Main Scripts.
'Scripts' are rare themselves, but if someone could find really unique ones and get the real story. It provides 'Character skills' which is mythical, Zoe's heart is that kind of skill.
But a skill-storing device would allow magic to be traded, stolen, perhaps even mass-produced.
" Hmm? She had an interesting idea, but it will create headaches for other coots, hehe. " Persephone snickered.
But should she be laughing like that? She is also a higher existence, but I know she doesn't care about that, her actions always surprises me.
But she is also right. If an item that can store skills appear then it will be a problem for Nubeculas. People worship and entertain them so that they can get chosen by them as an avatar and have strong skills. But if skills can be stored, they can also be passed. Higher Existences won't allow that.
"Even if she succeeds," Persephone mused breaking my thoughts, "the energy requirements would limit it to one skill per vessel. And only lower-tier abilities at first."
-Levels and grades of skill that can be stored will also be a factor.
It is likely to be a failed project. I added in my thoughts.
Lisa's fist clenched on the desk and as if she could hear our conversation, she said. "I can refine it."
Since I was listening to Persephone I didn't realize that there was a long silence.
The raw determination in her voice sent a shiver down my spine. This wasn't just academic curiosity—it was personal.
" I believe I can do it. "
For the first time, I saw past Lisa's icy exterior to the fire beneath. The way her fingers trembled ever so slightly, the faint flush high on her cheeks—she wasn't just a brilliant researcher, but a revolutionary.
"It's possible," I agreed softly, meeting her gaze. "If anyone can do it, you can."
The words hung between us, and for a heartbeat, something unspoken passed between us—an understanding that went beyond assistant and professor.