The sun hung low over the training grounds, casting long shadows across the grass as Lilith crossed her arms and studied her two students. Josh stood panting, his hands on his knees, while Sol slumped onto the ground, wiping sweat from his brow. The blue glow of his failed spell flickered out in his palm.
"Now that you've become a 2nd-Circle Mage, Joshua," Lilith began, her silver hair catching the fading light, "you'll enter a different world than 1st-Circle Mages."
Josh straightened, curiosity cutting through his exhaustion. "How so?"
"Because now," Lilith said, reaching into the folds of her dark coat, "Primordial Gems come into play." She withdrew a small, crystalline stone that pulsed with an inner light. Josh's eyes widened as she tossed it to him. He fumbled the catch, nearly dropping it before clutching it tight.
The gem was warm against his palm, its surface etched with veins of shimmering blue. It hummed faintly, like a heartbeat.
"These aren't just pretty rocks," Lilith continued. "You'll need vast amounts of them to refine your Primordial Core if you want to advance to a higher circle—and to open your Mana Orifice."
Josh frowned. "Mana Orifice? What's that?"
Lilith sighed, as if she'd explained this a hundred times before. "Think of it like an organ—one responsible for mana recovery. Every descendants of Arman has one. But once you learn advanced magic—like Spirit Summoning—your Mana Orifice detects the shift and matures. And when it matures, it closes."
Sol, who had been quietly catching his breath, finally spoke up. "Wait, so the better we get, the harder it is to recover mana? That's backwards!"
Lilith shot him a dry look. "Blame the gods—or rather, blame Arman for loving them too much." She knelt, tracing a symbol into the dirt with her finger. "When Arman's children—the first mages—began wielding greater magic, the gods saw them as threats to their non-magical creations. So Arman, in his devotion, created the Mana Orifice to limit his own children's power once they grew too strong."
Josh turned the gem over in his hand. "But if it closes, how do we recover mana at all?"
"Primordial Gems," Lilith said, plucking the stone back from him. "The first demon, one of Arman's children, discovered their power by accident. Back then, dragons hoarded these gems as delicacies. The demon stole one, ate it—and for a brief time, his Mana Orifice reopened."
Sol let out a low whistle. "So we've got to basically eat these things to keep going?"
"Yes, for recovering mana, but you can also extract their Primordial Essence. That's what refines your core."
Josh's eyes lit up. "So if I refine mine enough, I can hit 3rd Circle?"
"In theory." Lilith pocketed the gem. "But refining your core isn't like learning a spell. It's slow. Dangerous. Fail, and your core could shatter—leaving you unable to cast so much as a spark. Or dead."
Sol grimaced. "Charming."
Josh, however, bounced on his heels. "But if it works, my core changes color, right? You said yours is white—that's 4th Circle?"
Lilith nodded. "Blue for 1st and 2nd. Green for 3rd. White for 4th. Purple for 5th—though good luck finding anyone alive who's reached that."
"Can I try now?" Josh blurted, vibrating with energy.
Lilith flicked his forehead. "No. Master summoning first. You barely scraped past the basics."
Josh deflated but didn't argue. Instead, he turned on his heel and marched back to training, hands already glowing with mana.
Sol watched him go, then sighed. "He's been like this since the mission. Hero complex kicked in hard."
Lilith arched a brow. "And you? Still resigned to mediocrity?"
Sol flopped onto his back, staring at the sky. "Master, I'm Rank-E. I'd need a miracle to hit 3rd Circle."
For a moment, Lilith was quiet. Then—
"There's a rumor," she said slowly, "about a place called Amon's Inheritance. A realm—or perhaps a trial—that grants power beyond natural limits. No one knows where it is. But it's said to defy the gods' rules."
Sol sat up. "You're joking."
"I don't joke."
For the first time in weeks, Sol's eyes held a spark of hope. Then it dimmed. "Even if it's real, how would I find it?"
Lilith shrugged. "Luck, maybe."
Sol groaned. My one good stat.
---
Later: The City Plaza
Sol tugged at the itchy apron wrapped around his waist, scowling. "Let me get this straight. You dragged me here to… hand out pies?"
Lilith, now disguised with rounded human ears, handed a pastry to a grubby-faced child. "Volunteering clears the mind. And it's good for morale."
"My morale would be better if I was training," Sol muttered, but he took the tray of pies anyway.
To his surprise, the work wasn't terrible. The grateful smiles of the poor—starving families, orphaned kids—struck a chord he hadn't expected. For a while, he forgot about ranks and spells.
Then he noticed the man.
At the next stand over, a brown-haired volunteer kept glancing their way. Not at the crowd. At the two.
Sol nudged Lilith. "Master, that guy's staring at you like you're the last pie at the feast."
Lilith didn't even look. "Mr. Brownlee. He's harmless."
"Harmless? He's been eyeing you since we got here!"
"Mm. He does that every week."
Sol gaped. "Every—wait, you volunteer every week?"
Lilith smirked. "You assumed I spent all my time scowling at students?"
Before Sol could reply, a commotion erupted at the plaza's edge. A cart had overturned, spilling fruit across the cobblestones. As the crowd surged to help, Sol glimpsed Mr. Brownlee again—except this time, the man wasn't staring at the two.
He helped the poor guy who fell over from the cart.
And his eyes—just for a second—flashed with kindness.
Then the moment passed. The man turned away, and back to the volunteer stand.
"eh, I guess you're right about him being harmless... Still, he should stop glancing at people like that, it'll creep someone out soon." sol shrugged.
at the next stand, the man still kept giving them glances.
First was lilith, now this guy? have they perhaps found out that I do voluntary work? It was the second prince all along, disguised as someone handing out pies.