Novus was still in a bad mood after learning about the whole truth of last year’s terror. He really couldn’t understand how they thought their deception would hold.

Many things were starting to fall into place inside his head, as hints he got through his final year in the Academy began to connect into a cohesive story.

Why his parents didn’t want him to visit. Why the school had more guards. Why the trips to the city got canceled. 

Everything was gradually showing the big picture Novus had been ignoring, spending too much time worrying about exams rather than actually observing everything around him.

Of course, it wasn’t completely his fault, as surely the government put gag orders over the teachers and staff to keep the students in place.

Novus, as cynical as he could be, thought that instead of being a protective measure, keeping them isolated served another purpose.

If the criminal who terrorized the Capital was actually a Necromancer, then the Academy and the Council could fear that certain students, or even members of the staff, would attempt to contact him to learn the mysteries of the lost “art” he was using. 

[Redi Facticii] was one of the forbidden schools of Arcane Science, lost to time after it was forbidden, during the founding of Via.

If there was a single unifying element that all teachers and students, actual students, of the Academy had, it was curiosity. Learning about long-forgotten Spell Formulas might have been too much of a temptation.

-I’m an idiot.- Novus declared to himself with a whisper as he climbed the last stretch of the street before arriving at The Chain.

He’d never seen it himself, at least not up close, since he never visited the Highborn Highlands, the noble’s district of Rigel.

He felt a mixture of disgust and awe upon seeing the majestic mansions surrounding him. Tall walls surrounded each estate, but even so, the main buildings could be seen from the outside, with blue tiles crowning them, or in some cases, when it came to newer buildings, black tiles, imported from the mines of the Harisse Sea.

-You two, stop and show your papers.- An authoritative voice up ahead barked orders, catching Novus’ attention. He finally arrived at his destination, a tall gate of twisting bars, made out of Cibmolii, a Cibus enriched metal alloy held in high regard for its high resistance to arcane and mundane damage.

Novus knew the theory behind it, but he never took one of the optional Arcane Crafting classes during his time in the Academy, he was always more interested in Arcane Theory than practice.

The gate looked as if somebody turned thorn vines into metal, extending to the sides with equally crafted fences. They reached the edge of the cliff, closing off The Chain boarding area from any intruders.

Standing guard there were 7 guards, two in the front door, 4 surrounding the platform that would be elevated towards the Royal Castle, and one more, an Ensis in full uniform, observing everything from a watchtower crafted in the same style as the fence, integrated to it as if it was growing out of it. 

This kind of architecture was relatively new in the Kingdom, thanks to recently developed advanced [Aedifiix] Spell Formulas, from the Arcane School colloquially known as “Artisanal Magic”.

This school had the unfortunate fame of being for the simple-minded and those who lack any kind of ambition, and most Highborn with aspirations to elevate their rank tended to ignore it in favor of flashier or more well-liked schools of Arcane Sciences.

Novus actually liked [Aedifiix] scholars and students, they tended to lack the excessive arrogance of most nobles, but in exchange, they usually attempted to talk about their passion projects whenever they had the chance.

Novus approached the gate, forming in the queue behind two groups. The first one was talking with the guards and seemed to be a merchant and his laborers.