Three weeks later, Cale stood in front of a wooden doll target in a large arena, his breathing steady and trying to ignore the growing panic in his chest. This was the first Offensive Magic exam of the term — first of three in fact — and he had done absolutely everything that he could to prepare. He had even asked Julius for help with studying the incantations.

Cale had no doubt that he wasn't going to do well, but he might just be able to pass, and if he did that, then he wouldn't have to worry so much about Valerio.

Almost the entirety of his grade in this class depended on how well he did during the three exams of each term. If he failed just a single one, he wasn't going to be able to pass the class, and would likely be held back if he failed to pass more then three classes altogether.

He couldn't be held back, there was no time for it. Once this year of classes was over, the novel's plot was going to pick up speed exponentially, and he didn't want to be around to get caught in the crossfire.

And that was assuming that he even survived.

It didn't bear thinking that he wouldn't.

Cale held up his palms straight in front of him and recited the incantation that he had painfully memorized. It was five sentences long, in a language that he didn't used to know, and had to be said smoothly. If even so much as a single syllable was off; if he stuttered on a single sound; if he paused too long between the words or sentences, he risked a potentially fatal backlash.

Calla was weak, but his magic was powerful. If his magic backlashed, it would undoubtedly kill him.

The only relief was knowing — through practice with Julius — that he was still an ice mage.

As the last word of the spell left his lips, the air around him abruptly dropped to below zero, a faint sheen of frost spreading out all around him. In a matter of seconds ice formed on the ground in front of him, spreading quickly to the target and almost climbing up over it.

The ice stopped just short of reaching the head, but he had at least managed to immobilize the entire target's body, so it should still be a pass.

Cale breathed out sharply in relief. At least he wasn't dead yet, that was always something.

Soon, the temperature around him reverted back to normal, the warmth of summer still clinging to the arena.

"Good work," Valerio said and smiled at him.

Cale resisted the urge to run away when that sly smile was aimed at him. Something was going on inside of that man's head, and it wasn't going to go well for him. Or his cousin, probably.

"Thank you, Professor," Cale responded and returned the smile, a fake one that he couldn't make real no matter how hard he tried. Valerio just terrified him too much for him to manage it yet.

Valerio nodded at him and said, "You can go to your next class or take a break now, it's up to you."

Cale didn't say anything, he just nodded and then hurried out of the underground arena.

The arena was large, underground and built of stone, and reminded him far too much of the old gladiator arenas of Rome for his peace of mind. He was thankful that he didn't have to spend another minute of time in it, and hurried as fast as he could without running up the steps to the door out.

As the exam went in alphabetic order based on people's last names, there were still a lot of people sitting around on the stone benches around the arena, waiting for their turn. As he practically ran by, none of them spared him so much as a glance, more concerned with reciting their own incantations in their heads and ensuring that they didn't forget them.

It was, after all, a matter of life and death.

Crossing the threshold, he was surprised to see Julius standing there waiting for him, his arms crossed over his chest and leaning against the stone wall. The uniform looked like it had been fitted to his body, so well did he wear it.

Cale smiled slightly at him and asked, "What are you doing here? Don't you have class?"

"Waiting for you, obviously," Julius answered flatly. "And so what if I have class? Unlike you, my grades aren't in any danger."

Cale rose an eyebrow in amusement but didn't say anything back.

Instead, he started walking again, and as he had grown to expect, Julius followed after him, walking just half-a-step behind him.

"The library again?" Julius questioned, managing to somehow insert a sneer in the short sentence.

"Yes."

"Hmm. Don't you ever do anything else, Frosthaze?"

Cale smiled, though Julius couldn't see it. "No, not really."

After that, they didn't say anything else. Together, they walked to the library, the doors wide open as it was the middle of the day. Cale walked in a leisurely pace, knowing where the books he wanted to read today were located and that they hadn't been borrowed.

Passed the doors they found themselves in the huge library, several floors tall and with thousands upon thousands of books.

If he managed to survive past the end of the novel's plot, he wanted to become a librarian here. It wouldn't require any great skill in magic, and he would be free to pursue all of the books available in the school. It would essentially be a dream come true.

Except for the fact that he was in the wrong world.

The table was, as expected, empty when they arrived. The vast majority of students had classes right now — those that didn't have their own exams, it depended on what year you were in — and so the library was blissfully quiet. An atmosphere of peace had settled over the entirety of the building, and as they sat down, he could vaguely make out the figure of the head librarian stacking books in another aisle.

Cale opened up his book bag and pulled out a whole pile of notebooks and pens, each of them dedicated to a different subject. With them, he also pulled out two books that he had borrowed from this library and that he planned to return today.

Julius had pulled out his own things, presumably his current homework considering that he didn't enjoy reading nearly as much as Cale did.

For the next thirty or so minutes, they worked in silence.

Eventually, Cale frowned and flipped the pages of his two books — both of them at least five hundred pages thick — and tried to find the information that he was looking for. By the time that he had flipped through both four times each, he sighed and rose from his seat.

"I'll go look for another book," he told Julius, who made no indication of hearing him.

To be honest, Cale didn't understand why Julius insisted on hanging around him, especially considering the fact that Julius didn't appear to like him much. No, as he had learned over the last few weeks, Julius was a big fan of Sayer and spent most of his time trying to figure out a way to get close to him.

And every time that he failed, it just made him grouchier. For a young teenager, he acted very much like the perpetually annoyed Gatekeeper.

Cale sighed a little as he stared at the line of books in front of him. Spotting the one that held the subject matter that he wanted, he scowled at the height of it. Even the heels on his boots didn't make him tall enough.

He looked around and saw the library stool standing just a few meters away. Without wasting any time, he dragged it over and climbed on top.

With it, he was easily able to grab ahold of the right book.

Getting down from it was easy, and unlike the various protagonists in books and movies, he didn't fall. It was a very sturdy stool, after all.

Cale nodded a little to himself and opened up the book, reading at the same time as he walked back to their table. He settled back down opposite Julius, continuing to read without noticing anything around him. They spent the next hour like that, just working on their homework in comfortable silence.

By the time that they finally stopped, it was time for lunch.

Well, to be more precise, it was time for Cale's lunch, as Julius had a different schedule. Cale packed his books, the ones that he planned on leaving with, and shoved them all down in his bag while grabbing another group of them in his arms. These were ones that he had already borrowed and had finished with today, meaning that he was going to return them.

Julius didn't say anything as he left, and so Cale chose not to say anything either.

Besides, he had the feeling that if he did, Julius would just spit venom at him.