The news that Archibald was being questioned brightened my day. I wondered how many other students were involved in nefarious activities? Hopefully there would be some consequences.

My first class today was elemental magic, taught by Irene. I always enjoyed her lessons so the day was off to a great start.

"Be seated." Irene said as she started her lesson. "Students, you might have heard about yesterday's raid. Alchemical Perfection served as a front for a criminal enterprise and former customers are being interviewed. Don't be alarmed if the guards question you, the academy expects your full cooperation with the law. Further, it is true that some students were involved in the raid."

That caused a lot of whispering and stares in our direction. I was sitting next to Helena, with Hatsumi and Kaito standing behind me. Nyx was sleeping on my desk.

"Silence." Irene said, as the muttering grew too loud. "You can all gossip during your break. Yesterday's raid was a success but it has also shown why training and education are important. Today we will talk about one of the problems our students encountered: Illusions."

My ears perked up. Countering illusions would have been very useful!

"As you know, illusions are light magic. They can change what you see, or prevent you from seeing something, making it invisible. However, they only affect your sight. An illusion does not produce a sound, or a smell. Unfortunately, those can be simulated with other magic. It is possible to change your voice with healing magic, or potions. And wind magic can be used to create some sounds." Irene said.

Shin raised his hand.

"Shin."

"Isn't there a spell to see through illusions?" He asked.

Irene nodded. "There is, but it is a light magic spell. However, there is a very advanced spell using neutral mana which can help you as well. An illusion is an ongoing spell and you can detect the mana itself. The problem is the spell's complexity, so many mages will never learn it. Instead there are some other ways to spot an illusion. Any ideas?"

"Elandir."

"You can hear them, or smell them." He said.

"Exactly. Your other senses can help. However, don't discount your eyes just yet. Someone invisible might still leave footprints, unless they are using an illusion for that as well. They will still displace water if they step into a puddle, which brings us to other counters. If you simply sprayed some water into an area you could see where the invisible person is. And if they move too fast you might see distortions. A lot of it depends on how good the enemy mage is. Keeping something hidden requires mana and concentration. If something moves faster, or further away from you, it will be more difficult to conceal. That is why an illusionist might hide people before an ambush but might have trouble keeping a group hidden during the fight." Irene explained.

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I raised my hand.

"Koyuki."

"What if they are not invisible, but pretending to be someone else?" I asked.

Irene nodded. "That is an excellent question and another problem when fighting an illusionist. They could simply look like an ally. Now there are two different situations to look at, combat and social. First, let's cover combat. If you see someone in plate armour but do not hear the sound of someone moving in armour that would be a reason for concern. Make sure that what you hear and what you see match. Further, you can use scents. Bodyguards can use a special perfume, for example. It ensures that someone can't just take their shape and walk up to you. The military often uses hand signals, or codewords, if identification is important. Keep in mind that besides illusions, someone could simply steal a uniform."

I raised my hand again.

"Koyuki."

"What about false targets?" I wondered.

"Ah, yes illusions can be used in many ways. You could provide some fake targets to distract the enemy. Of course, once your spell passes harmlessly through someone you will know that you are facing an illusion, but your spell is wasted. The good news is, the enemy is using mana on the illusion. The important part here is to observe the battlefield and communicate. You don't want multiple people to fall for the same illusion. You can also look for other clues. Illusions are not physical. A leaf would float through them, a branch or a twig won't interact with them, the wind won't move their hair,... A battle is chaotic, spotting details will be tricky, I know. But cheap spells, like water or wind, can help to find out what is real." Irene replied.

Elandir raised his hand.

"Elandir."

"What about destroying the illusion?" He asked.

"It is possible to dispel an illusion, yes. However, identifying the spell and shattering it is beyond your skills. Dispelling magic is hard, requires a large core and a lot of training. It will also require you to see the magic first. What you can do is force the enemy to drop the spell. An illusion needs mana and concentration. Attacking the illusionist directly might force them to drop some of their spells and focus on defense. Also attrition can work. If you can endure, magic fatigue will force them to drop the spell in time. And, there is one more thing that you can do…"

Helena raised her hand.

"Helena."

"Area spells!" She proclaimed.

Irene smiled. "Indeed. What does it matter if they are invisible, or if there are illusions among the enemy troops, if you simply drown the entire field in fire?"

Her red eye seemed to have a flame inside as she spoke. I shuddered. I still remembered how she had dealt with the spiders during our first camping trip. Irene was a dangerous woman. Thankfully she was on our side.

The moment passed and Irene continued her lecture: "Now there is also the social side. As the situation with Eva has taught us, infiltrators can be dangerous. A highly skilled infiltrator will use more than illusions. They will change their perfume, their behaviour, even their voice. Spotting such an agent is not simple. However, the more you know about a person the harder it will be for someone to replace them. If you truly know your friends you will notice if they were replaced."

Shin raised his hand.

"Shin."

"What about shapeshifting?" He asked.

"Actual shapeshifting is beyond most mages, especially if you are trying to impersonate someone. Even creatures like dragons have a fixed human form. They can't just turn into any shape they want. There are rituals which allow you to truly change your body but we will not go into that. What can be done more easily are some small changes, combined with illusions. But some mages use partial changes for combat. It is possible to temporarily grow claws, however it is not a very popular form of magic and mostly practiced by some orcish tribes."

I raised my hand.

"Koyuki."

"What about monsters? Nyx can change her size." I wondered.

"Monsters are much more likely to have some form of shape changing powers. That is because shape changing requires a lot of mana and inborn abilities are very efficient. It makes it hard for mages to replicate them. However, you could argue the way a spellblade alters their body is shape changing, since it will change their skin, muscles; Although some would argue reinforcing your body and changing it are different." Irene said.

The class had certainly given me some things to think about. Maybe we should come up with a secret hand signal to avoid infiltrators. Or maybe Cassie could make perfume? No, it would probably just explode.

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