"Why is he bowing?" Lexie stared at the creature on the floor, trembling and shaking.

"It's because he reached your soul core and acknowledged your dominance over him," Naem explained.

"It was in my soul? I didn't feel it doing anything." The last time the V'Sala tried to take over her body, it had shown her terrible visions. Nothing like that had happened now.

"Exactly." At her confused look, Naem added, "A soul touch is like an exchange, likened to a human handshake. As you touch his soul, you are also forcing him to touch yours. Previously, when you were reluctant to take ownership of your exploration of his soul fully, he also did not have to delve deeply into yours and could play around in the shallow parts, effectively frightening and toying with you. But now that you have both been introduced fully, he was forced to face the full depth of everything you are, and now he has surrendered."

"Oh." Lexie looked down once more at the cowering creature and wondered why she felt a little bit of pity toward it. Now that she knew what it actually was, how it felt, it was hard for her to blame it for acting out the way it did.

"So I can ask to use its domain now?" Lexie asked Naem.

"You don't have to ask," Naem said, sounding almost exasperated.

"I know, but I think I would rather ask than command. How can I…I mean, does it understand what I'm saying?"

"Of course. You are speaking Eldritch."

"I am…" Lexie just realized that she had been speaking in a different language, which she didn't know this entire time. Naem was giving her an arch look, and she gaped.

Of course. She didn't even realize her mouth was not making the sounds it was supposed to be making. She was speaking telepathically with him and also making hissing noises. How had she not realized?

"A soul-touch with an Eldritch creature also enables communication," he said. "So you can speak its tongue without learning from a book like your father did."

She nodded and turned back to the creature. "V'Sala."

It peeked out at her from under one hand, then ducked its head again. "Please do not destroy me," it said. "I do not wish to be denatured."

"I won't," Lexie told it. "I simply want to use your domain to craft a card. Can I?"

It nodded frantically, and Lexie almost wanted to pat its head to reassure it that she wasn't angry at it.

"Thanks," she said, and she held her hand out to Naem. He handed her her crafting tools, and she sat on the blackened ground and began work. She zoned everything out, the sound of the creature's whimpering and Naem's presence fading into the background. She only focused on carving and activating the pathways in the blank card, connecting what she needed and doubling back, checking that her math was correct.

"You need to go return soon," Naem said.

"I know, just a second. I'm almost done." Lexie bit the end of the Eldritch pen as she considered how to adjust the connecting pathways for her purposes, then decided to leave it as is. The Land Card was used to provide a link to both a power source and an environment for the activation of a card. The power source wasn't available, so it would only provide the environment. She didn't need to do anything extra.

When she was done, she told Naem, "Finished. I think."

"I see."

She got to her feet and held the card out to him. "Do you want to see it? Look, I even crafted a little dimmer switch at the end in case I want to reduce the efficacy. Isn't that so smart of me? Aren't I a genius?" Lexie typically didn't like tooting her own horn, but in this case, she felt it was warranted.

Naem hesitated before he took the card, analyzing the pathway she crafted. "This should be adequate for your purposes. You've done well."

"Thanks." She beamed and held onto his hand as he transported her back to the dream world. After saying the ritual words, she imagined the chiming of the cymbals to wake her up. It was the next morning, and she had a brand new land card in her hand.

She got out of bed in a very good mood, practically dancing to the common space where Jace and Dewie seemed to be doing some kind of yoga.

"Morning!" she sang to them.

"Morning to you, too," Jace responded mid-stretch. "You seem cheery."

"That's because I am. What are you guys doing?"

"Ayergersic meditation," Dewie said. "It's supposed to help twist my pathways back in the right orientation. Then I'll be able to do magic the right way."

That piqued her curiosity. "Really?"

"Yeah. Found videos on the NET and Jace agreed to do it with me."

"Friends don't let friends get their pathway reoriented on their own," Jace quipped.

"Right." Before she went to shower, Lexie felt the need to ask, "Are you still not having visions anymore?"

Dewie nodded. "At least, that's one good thing to come out of this."

"I guess. Did the visions stop suddenly?"

"Kinda, after that first week. Journeyman told me they wouldn't come back. He says my pathways were twisted around all wrong when I was born, which was what was causing the visions, and now that they've fixed it, I shouldn't have the visions anymore." He frowned darkly. "But if they have fixed it, then why is my magic still not working right?"

"I'm sure it will, it just takes time." Lexie had never heard of someone being born with twisted pathways before, but she supposed it sounded plausible. After all, mundanes were born with faulty magical pathways, which was why they were mundanes. They had no general mana affinity.

Dewie was probably struggling with his general mana affinity, too, which was why he struggled with every magic type he tried. Ironically, he had the opposite problem Lexie did. She had a high mana affinity, but lower mana capacity, while Dewie had a high capacity with lower affinity.

Lexie made a mental note to ask her father about ways to help Dewie once she got the chance.

However, her dad didn't answer her call that morning on the way to breakfast. Xena was busy with training, so Lexie grabbed a quick oatmeal and retired to her seat, placing another call to her dad, which he didn't pick up.

Was he still asleep? Was he busy?

Her mood was saddened while she ate. She missed her dad, and she missed his cooking. While the food at Victoire was great (exceptional considering it was school food), it didn't have the extra kick and flavor that her father's baking experiments had, nor did it taste like home. She couldn't wait for winter break when she would get to have her dad's snickerdoodles again.

She sighed deeply.

As she ate, she got the sense she was being stared at. She was starting to get used to that feeling. Tons of people stared at her these days, but when she looked around, she found out who was really eyeballing her, hard.

Rufina and her gang.

It looked like the other girl still hadn't given up her quest for retribution, and she looked like she wanted to kick Lexie's ass.

She might try it now that Xena and Torin weren't here.

Lexie held her gaze and raised an eyebrow. She wasn't scared of Rufina or her pets. Of course, she didn't want to make a mess in the cafeteria again, but she had a way to take her down without as much collateral damage. The minute the other girl made a move toward her, she would activate her <True Windbreaker> and localize it to just her legs to trip her up. Like an adjusted <Getting Out of Hand> card.

But Rufina didn't move. She simply scoffed and looked away. Good.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Lexie continued surveying the dining hall and caught the gaze of a few people from her classes, including Anais, who was sitting with friends, and waved at her. Lexie waved back. A few second-year students were also giving her curious glances. Why? Were they talking about her? Did she have something in her teeth? She was starting to get self-conscious.

She quickly finished up her breakfast and headed to the first thing on today's agenda, which was meeting with her staff mentor.

Professor Stein's office was as busy as ever, but when she arrived, he said, "Alright, all of you can leave now. I have a meeting with a mentee."

"Who?" someone asked.

"Me," Lexie said from the back, and the taller, probably older, individuals turned to stare at her.

"Lexie," Stein said. "Come in."

The small crowd made a path for her to walk through, and she nodded her thanks. While she made her way in, she heard a few people whispering, "Is that her?"

Someone said, "Yeah, I heard what she did," and Lexie couldn't figure out what exactly they were talking about because they all left before she could ask.

"Have a seat," Stein said, and she obeyed. His office was a mess, to say the least. There were more books sprawled on his desk than on his shelf, with only a fragment of space for him to work in. Someone had blown a hole in the wall behind him at some point, and though it had been plastered, there were still soot marks around it. Tools and robes littered the floor.

"Sorry, we haven't been able to have our meetings earlier," he said. "As you can see, I've been very busy."

"No problem," Lexie said. "Do you want me to give you a rundown of my project and where I am in the process?"

"No. You can just keep sending me your activity logs and reports. I'm more interested in discussing what happened at combat class the other day."

Lexie's breath caught. "What do you mean?"

"Bonds shared that you used a standard deck of cards to create a non-standard effect."

"Oh. Yeah, I did."

"How did you manage that?"

She shrugged. "I'm a genius."

He smiled a little wistfully, and it took about ten years off his tired face. When she'd first seen him, she figured he was in his late forties or something, but when he smiled, he could easily be early thirties.

"Your father used to say the same thing," he admitted.

"You knew my dad?" Lexie asked, cocking her head.

"Of course. He had this job before I did, and we were also partners in the field."

"Oh." That was a surprise.

"Do you mind showing me the deck you used?"

"Sure." Lexie materialized the Party Planner's Deck and handed it over. He shuffled through the cards and frowned.

Lexie hurried to add details. "I combined four of the cards for that effect."

"That must have taken a lot of mana."

"It did. Which is why I saved it for the end, and I was pretty exhausted after it."

He gave her a curious look, and his dark eyes gleamed with intelligence. "From what I know of card magic, combining cards the way you do can be very dangerous. It can hurt your pathways."

"It's not generally advisable, but it's not illegal either. I checked. And it's only dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, which I do."

He gave her a long look. "Your father and I were partners up until his defection. We were very close, so much so that I was almost your godfather. Did you know that?"

Lexie shook her head. Her father had never even mentioned him, so how close could they really be? Then again, her father typically avoided mentioning his past due to how painful it was.

"I was part of the team sent to capture him when he went rogue. And when I saw him, saw how much he had destroyed and how many people he hurt chasing his goal, I blamed myself." He eyed the cards in his hand, tapping them against the table. "I blamed myself for the many times I saw him bend the rules and never reported it, the times I saw him do things that shouldn't have been possible, but accepted it anyway. Summoning deadly creatures, secret meetings with necromancers, dangerous magic experimentation…I turned a blind eye to all of it. Partially because I trusted him never to go too far, and up until that point, he was the [Hero] I looked up to the most. And also because, in a way, I was scared of what would happen if I reported him. I didn't want him to get into trouble, didn't want to lose him as my partner. And even though I was aware of his investigation into his wife's death, I didn't report anything until it was too late."

He heaved a heavy sigh, tapping faster. "So I blamed myself because if I had stopped him ahead of time, none of that devastation would have occurred. He would not be marked as [villain]. I didn't move to stop him because I was too much of a coward and was too blinded by my loyalty to him."

He stopped tapping and looked at her as though waiting for a response. Lexie didn't know what to say. She was kind of waiting for him to get to the point of it all.

"I see a lot of your father in you," he said. "In your drive and your willingness to push the boundaries of what you should be able to do. But I also see it as my job to establish safe limits and step in whenever I see anything going out of bounds. Do you understand?"

Lexie nodded slowly. "I think so."

"Good. I will not be turning a blind eye to you, Lexie. It's why I requested to be your staff mentor. I owe it to your father, your mother, and to the world as a whole to ensure that you develop into a healthy, well-adjusted [Hero] and to ensure you do not follow in your father's footsteps."

Lexie narrowed her eyes because she wasn't sure she liked his judgmental tone when speaking about her dad. "I don't plan on being a [villain], professor."

He smiled wanly. "Neither did he." He handed her back her cards, and just like that, the meeting was done.

But Lexie wasn't home free. On her way down the hall, she bumped into the green-haired professor coming out of his office. Lexie was almost sure he'd planned his exit to coincide with her arrival because he didn't seem surprised when he saw her. He smiled brightly, showing fanged teeth, and leaned against the wall.

"Lexie Sparrowfoot," he said, holding out his hand. "I don't think we've officially met. My name is Pietro Madswick. I'm the Professor of Necromancy and Soul Magic here at the academy."

"Oh." Lexie had no choice but to take his hand and shake it. His palm was clammy to the touch, almost like a corpse. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I was wondering if you would be interested in extra lessons. I think you would benefit enormously from–"

"No, she's not." The voice boomed, loud and commanding from behind her, and when she turned, Stein was giving Professor Madwick a hard look. "Go to class, Lexie."

"Um…okay." Lexie didn't need to be told twice. She scurried off to her class, wondering what that whole thing was about.

She spent some time in her lab before she had her second major appointment for the day, working out with Torin. He was supposed to measure her progress, and so she had to do a ten-mile sprint and jog, followed by a lengthy boxing session.

It was torturous as usual, with Torin criticizing almost everything about her boxing moves. Worse, they weren't alone. A bunch of second and first years were also sparring in the boxing gym, and Lexie felt more self-conscious than usual, which also had her making more mistakes.

Finally, Torin stopped, rolled his eyes, and said, "Are you even trying?"

"Yes, Torin, I am." She snapped. "I'm not going to try any harder with you on my butt every second."

He shook his head. "Have you been following my training schedule?"

"I have," Lexie said, which was not entirely the truth. She'd been following it most of the time, but not strictly, as sometimes her research would cut into that training time.

Torin shook his head. "This is harder than I thought it would be."

That stung, so Lexie shrugged. "Well then, maybe you shouldn't have picked me as your mentee."

"Who said I picked you?"

"I assumed." Ever since she'd found out that Stein had requested to be her mentor, she'd wondered if Torin had done the same. After all, it didn't make much sense for them to be paired together apart from that. "And I know why. Your mom asked you to, didn't she?"

Torin didn't deny it, adjusting his boxing pads. "It was Journeyman's decision at the end of the day."

"Yeah, but you put your name in the hat."

"Because someone else might not see what I see. For example, what happened in your combat class."

"What? You heard about that?"

"Everyone heard about it. It was all the first years could talk about yesterday, debating if you had actual wind powers. I know it took a lot of mana to generate that effect. Imagine if it were a real hostage situation and you were out of mana at that point. The villains would win, and you'd be dead."

"Okay, okay, I get it." Lexie sighed. "I'll start training more."

"Good. Now let's go. Hit the target, and hit it as hard as you can, alright?" He held up his boxing pads one by one, shifting location after Lexie landed the punch, throwing her whole body into it like he taught her.

Torin nodded his approval, and as Lexie got into the rhythm of it, he started up a conversation with her again. "My mother wanted to know if you'd be coming over for our Ashwick dinner."

Ashwick was like Christmas in this world. "I don't know. Maybe. I'll have to ask my dad."

"You should know my Uncle Luther will be there."

"He's back?" Lexie hadn't seen Luther in the news recently since he went to one of the alien planets.

"Yeah. Nearly all our extraterrestrial [heroes] are back. She knows Luther and your father have some issues, but she says to assure Aiden that Luther will be on his best behavior."

"Alright. That's good."

"Hey, Tory."

Torin was distracted by the female voice for a second, and his stance slackened enough for Lexie to accidentally land the hardest punch she could on his eye.

"Oh my God." Lexie put her gloved hands over her mouth as Torin's head whipped back, and for a second, he lost his cool composure. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"Ooof," someone that sounded like Kai Skysoarer said, "Wow. Lexie, you just got the drop on Torin. You might be a legend after all."

Lexie glanced over for a second, then shot Torin an apologetic grimace. "Sorry. You okay?"

"Fine." He coughed and turned to Flora. "What are you doing here?"

"Just picking up Lexie. We have herbology in a second."

"Right," Lexie said and was more than eager to rip off her boxing gloves. "I'll go freshen up. Thanks, Torin. Bye."

Before he could say anything, she swung out of the boxing ring and ran to the locker room.

Once she was cleaned up and dressed, she walked with Flora to herbology.

"We might have to postpone our visit to the healer," Flora said. "She got busy."

"That's a shame." As they walked, she noted that Flora was looking at her out of the corner of her eyes.

"What?" Lexie asked

"You don't have a card that could change soil types, do you?"

"No," Lexie said. But there was her mother's necklace. "Why do you ask?"

Flora sighed. "No reason. Just a thought."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.