"Who would do this?" Damion asked.

His dormitory was trashed. Cushions were off the furniture; every drawer and cabinet had been rummaged through. Everything from Damion's closest had been tossed out onto the floor and the same had been done to Elicia's room.

"I've sent a message to Professor Moretti, he oversees security for the school," Elicia announced. "But since he is still looking after the students in the Wilderness Exam, I'm not sure who will respond. Is anything missing?"

So far, Damion had not found anything missing, and he did not really expect to. Between his personal spatial storage, his three spatial rings and the Magic System Inventory, he had more than enough places to hide his valuables. Only the items he kept within the spatial artifacts were valuable enough to be worth stealing, and he kept them on him at all times, usually within the Magic System Inventory.

A few minutes later, Professor Moretti arrived and surveyed Damion's disheveled dormitory.

"You said there is nothing of value missing?" Professor Moretti asked as he reviewed something on his tablet.

"Of value no, I keep everything of value in my spatial storage artifacts and I keep those on me at all times," Damion answered. "But it is hard to tell if something of little value was taken or not, but I can't think of anything that is missing."

"And the three of you were outside the dormitory, practicing?"

"Yes. Arica is visiting and I thought it would be good to compare notes with another C Rank mage."

"I have reviewed the logs, and I can see that someone entered and exited the dormitory while you three were together outside. Unfortunately, the person or persons who entered, were able to mask their identities. There is nothing I can do to determine who it was."

"So, am I supposed to just wait for the next person to come along and trash my dormitory?"

"No. I have strengthened the security measures on your dormitory. Only you and Elicia may freely enter now. The door will not open to anyone if neither of you are inside. And if you are inside, can only be opened by one of you."

"Are you saying anyone could just enter before?"

"Because we log whenever someone entered into a dorm room, and theft is punishable by expulsion and one year of service to the Crimson Order, there have never been any instances like this before."

"Thank you, professor," Damion said, even though the man really had not done anything.

"I must say, despite the thief not being detected, I would think this is the actions of an amateur," Arica said.

"What makes you reach that conclusion Mage Miller?"

"The fact that they trashed the place," Arica reasoned. "They obviously have resources, to be able to avoid detection, but they did not find what they were looking for and in frustration, they trashed the place."

"Well thought out," Professor Moretti praised. "Do you perhaps have a suspect?"

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"I don't know the students in your school enough to make any sort of educated guess. The target of the theft seems clear though, Damion's spatial artifacts."

"I agree with your assessment. The thief must not have expected Mage Wells to keep the artifacts on him at all times. They may try again, but I think it unlikely. I see the trashing of the dormitory not of frustration, but as a message to whomever sent the thief."

"To who sent them?" Damion questioned.

"Yes, they are saying, 'look, I tried to find it.' That, along with the increase in security, means they will likely give up any further attempts at theft."

"Do I need to start watching my back for a mugging?" Damion joked.

"Not while you are at school. But as I'm sure Dean Teft has advised you; it would be better to sell those spatial artifacts until you are strong enough to protect them."

"Thank you, for the assistance, Professor Moretti," Damion said as the professor left.

Damion spent the rest of the afternoon holed up in his study, working on his artifact, while Arica resumed studying the Iblis spatial artifact. This left Elicia feeling left out. The other two people in the dormitory were perfectly happy to retreat into research and not say a word to each other all afternoon. Having seen Damion's behavior before, Elicia was not overly surprised, but now that she witnessed Arica doing the same thing, she thought it must be something about geniuses.

The three of them ate dinner together and when Damion announced he was going to bed early tonight, Elicia rushed into the bedroom behind him, leaving Arica to fend for herself.

'System, begin upgrade.'

{Affirmative.}

Elicia joined Damion in his bed quickly, but after changing into her sleeping outfit, snuggled up next to him and went to sleep. Considering how aggressive the young woman had been the night before, Damion was a bit surprised, but he figured it might have to do with their house guest.

Damion fell asleep soon after and dreamed of the Magic System awarding him millions of credits for his magic cores. Once he acquired the Anti-Regression Potion he purchased hundreds of Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Intelligence Potions turning him into a titan among mages.

As he was happily destroying the status quo of Nerotath in his dream, Damion happened upon an isolated city nestled in some mountains. The name of the city rested on the tip of his tongue, but he could not speak it. As Damion was trampling down the forces of the nobles sent to stop him he saw the face of a little girl in the crowds watching his heroic acts.

At first, he thought the girl's face was familiar yet did not quite fit with any memory. The longer Damion stared at her, the more certain he was he knew her. It was not until the dream shifted so he was alone in a field with the child, who raised their arms towards him and shouted "UP" that Damion realized who the girl was.

"Bethany," Damion shouted in his dream as he rushed towards her.

His little sister was slightly older, she had grown since he had seen her last. The morning of the Saung beast wave. Why the girl appeared different than the last time he saw her did not cross his mind. He was just happy to see his little sister again.

"Where's my bunny?" Bethany asked her brother as he lifted her into his arms.

Only as he picked her up did he see his parents standing behind her, both with tears in their eyes.

"I have your bunny in a safe place," Damion told her. He had kept her favorite stuffed bunny toy in with the rest of his family's belongings in the Magic System Inventory. As Damion was reaching for the System in his mind, his dream broke and he found himself lying in bed, tears on his face.

When Damion awoke, he also woke Elicia. The young woman sharing his bed pulled herself closer to him as she felt his trembling.

"What's wrong?"

"Just a dream," Damion said. He reached up and stroked Elicia's hair as he recalled his sister's face.

Elicia did not say anything back, but with her head resting on his chest, she could hear his heartbeat. Neither of them spoke as the night went on. Elicia eventually fell back to sleep, but Damion could not. His mind kept drifting back to the city and the crowd.

When morning finally came, Damion lay in bed after Elicia had gotten up to fix breakfast. It was not until late in the morning, long after he normally would have gone on his run that Elicia and Arica poked their heads into his bedroom to check on him.

He stayed lying in bed, lost in his thoughts, despite their calls to him. It was not until Damion heard something else that he was brought out of his wishful dream.

*Ding*

{System reinitializing...}

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