Chapter 70 - Faking

During the next magic class, Lily finally volunteered when Instructor Richardus made his proposition to the students. She was confident in her ability to fake a subpar spell, which made her feel quite perturbed about what she was trying to pull off.

I'm actually looking forward to screwing up; what a bizarre turn of events. But the alternative is worse, in my opinion; if I'm good at all types of magic, I'll have a giant sign pointing toward me. Thanks to Astral magic and being one of the only Lagia capable of casting spells, I've already got more than enough attention.

As Lily stood up from her desk to go to the front, she overheard Theo whispering, "Good luck." Sadly, she was going to let his well wishes down.

"I'm surprised you didn't volunteer yesterday," Richardus commented. "But I'm glad you feel confident enough today. Please repeat the chant out loud, slowly and carefully, before we start."

Lily nodded and did so, paying careful attention to her enunciation. Richardus nodded along, and Lily barely caught a small smile when she finished.

"Excellent, you may proceed," he instructed.

Lily took a deep breath and mentally reached for her Mana Core. Immediately, she noticed it had come to a stop again and silently cursed that she'd still failed to keep it reverse-rotating even slightly. Putting that failure aside, she spun it and felt Mana coursing through her, and she began to carefully complete her chant.

The instructor had grabbed a larger bucket, perhaps anticipating a good result due to her practiced chant beforehand. Lily couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt at how she would be dashing his expectations, but once again, she regained her resolve as she robbed the spell of its Mana at the very last moment.

The water magic manifested, and a tiny trickle of water poured into the bucket. Richardus and Theo looked dumbfounded while some of the other students chuckled and giggled.

"Did I screw up?" Lily asked, hoping her ears failing to droop on command wouldn't give away her attempted deception.

"The chant was near perfect," Richardus finally spoke, looking troubled. "I was quite literally preparing to congratulate you for your due diligence in practicing it after class. My gut wants to say you lacked the required Mana to cast the spell, but when that happens, the spell doesn't even manifest at all. It's most peculiar."

"I told you rabbits can't cast spells," one of the kids snorted, failing to keep it to a whisper.

"Then what happened to Tim?" another asked. "Or that light spell she showed us? Or the water she just made?"

"Maybe he just got spooked by how weird the spell looks," the same kid suggested. "They were tiny little stars, just like this tiny little water. Definitely not mage-worthy."

Lily frowned and felt an urge to defend herself rising.

Should I throw out the Nebula Veil? Or maybe cast Moonlight into his eyes?

"Enough!" Richardus demanded, causing the class to flinch. "I will not have you disparaging others. Since you've clearly forgotten some of the fundamentals, I will also remind you that some bloodlines weaken other forms of magic."

"Yeah, I can't do air magic!" Theo quickly agreed.

"My point exactly," Richardus said. "Although I will remind you not to shout out in class."

Lily watched as Theo wilted in his seat, a rather peculiar sight for such a large individual.

"Do you wish to try again? Or have you practiced any of the other chants?" Richardus offered. "Since it seems water is not your calling."

Lily hesitated before replying, "I did practice one more."

The instructor nodded, "Let's hear it."

Lily recited the chant for the fire spell, and once she finished, the instructor nodded and told her to proceed.

Lily took a deep breath and began the chant again. Richardus seemed hopeful, and Theo appeared to be on the edge of his seat moments before Lily starved the spell again. The spell manifested, and a tiny little flame appeared above her palm, barely as big as one of her Starlight spells.

"I did it," Lily said with a smile.

Richardus had a pained look on his face, and some of the kids couldn't help but giggle to themselves again.

Yeah, yeah, it's a tiny little flame. Laugh at the little bunny and her little fire spell. Lily thought bitterly. She was already starting to regret her decision to hinder her reputation.

"There's a chance you only have proficiency in your bloodline magic," Richardus said softly in one of the kindest tones she'd ever heard from the man. "I'm sorry."

Lily shook her head, "Don't be. I'm just happy that I can do magic at all. The alternative is much worse."

"That's true," Richardus chuckled softly. "I'm glad you're so positive; your star magic is quite a sight. You have the diligence to make a fine mage one day."

"With those little sparklers? I doubt it," the boy muttered mockingly.

Lily was watching the instructor's face turn red in real-time, and while she was looking forward to him exploding on the student, another idea rushed to her mind.

"Sir, since my chant demonstration didn't go so well, can I show another spell?" Lily offered.

Richardus paused and looked at her. While his face didn't return to its original shade, at least she had temporarily halted its escalating redness.

"As long as it's not an offensive spell, then you may," he answered.

"It's not offensive; it's defensive, I think," Lily replied happily.

"Lame… It's probably more tiny lights," the boy once again muttered.

The instructor must not have heard that comment as he seemed to be trying to puzzle together what Lily was talking about. Lily had only ever discussed the attack spell she used against Tim, the fire glyphs, and Starlight.

"Defensive?" Richardus responded. "Very well, you may proceed."

Lily smiled as she gave a small hand flourish accompanied by a short mental chant, causing her Nebula Veil to manifest. The starry cloak formed like rolling clouds tumbling downwards from her neck, and once it was complete, she did a small twirl while controlling it to wave.

An excited buzz filled the classroom, just as Lily had hoped. The Nebula Veil was her favorite spell for a good reason. Flexing a bit of her advanced control, she had it partially wrapped around herself.

I wonder what I'll be able to do with it once it becomes my first signature spell.

"Pretty!" a girl shouted.

"Why did she show those stupid lights and not this !?" the boy demanded.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Lily almost expected Richardus to explode at the class's constant chatter now, but he seemed to be genuinely at a loss for words. His face contorted into wrinkled expressions as he tried to focus on various parts of her starry cloak.

"What is this?" Richardus eventually asked.

Lily's inner celebration immediately halted; she had not thought this far ahead and wasn't exactly sure how to describe the spell.

"Um… It's my star cloak," Lily replied, sounding unsure.

"I suppose that partially describes its appearance," Richardus responded. "I've never seen anything quite like it. Where did this come from?"

Thankfully, with Arakil and Rose's help, they devised a reasonable excuse for Lily to learn new Astral spells—dreams.

Arakil, through Lily, had quizzed Rose on how she felt and controlled her own bloodline to gain some insight into how the world handled it. For Rose, she would have flashes of inspiration and have her instincts take the wheel—thereafter, she could reproduce the effect by recalling that situation until she owned it herself.

This made perfect sense for a dragon, according to Arakil, and while Lily wanted to use that excuse for herself, it was shot down. Neither of the two could imagine Lily giving in to instincts, but Arakil provided a reasonable compromise in learning through dreams.

Lily wanted to protest the idea as unrealistic, but Rose immediately agreed with Arakil. With two against one, Lily was forced to accept their proposed solution.

"I wanted the stars to protect me," Lily replied. "And this was what I dreamed of. I think my bloodline responded to my desires."

"Intriguing!" Richardus answered excitedly. "I admit to investigating a bit more about ancient bloodlines after discovering I'd be teaching another, and that generally falls in line with what I've read about."

"Really?" Lily asked, a little surprised.

The instructor nodded, "Instincts, urges, and even voices have been referenced for deep bloodlines, so why not dreams?"

Damn. Arakil and Rose were right. I kind of don't like it. Doesn't it make me sound lazy? Being rewarded for sleeping? Not to mention insinuating that I'm childishly dreaming of spells like someone obsessed with fairytales.

"Can I touch it?" Daisy asked, interrupting Lily's thoughts.

"Is it safe to do so?" Richardus asked in return.

Lily nodded and grew the cloak out a bit, "It's perfectly safe to touch."

The instructor wasted no time grabbing hold of one of the edges and rubbing it between two fingers, his eyes sparkling full of fascination.

A few of the students also rushed up to touch it, Daisy being one of the first, and even Theo.

"It's so soft!" Daisy exclaimed happily.

"I expected it to be cold since it looks like the night sky, but that is not the case," the instructor commented.

"It keeps my body neutral if I wrap myself in it," Lily explained. "I think it might be waterproof, too."

"Can we test that?" Cal asked excitedly.

"Sure," Lily replied.

Richardus cleared his throat to grab everyone's attention; Cal looked disappointed, probably expecting the idea to get rejected.

"If it's done carefully and controlled , I don't see any problem doing so," the instructor explained.

That excited most of the class as they seemed excited to see the effects. Richardus instructed students to fill buckets with water, which they did while he commented and corrected their chants.

After Lily extended the cloak a bit more, they began taking turns dunking an edge of the cloak in the water and, when pulling it out, marveled how it was still bone dry. A few even tried vigorously shoving the bit of cloak in the bucket, but it came out unharmed despite their attempts.

That led to the next stage of testing, during which the instructor had Cal softly launch a ball of water toward Lily after getting her permission, of course. She agreed, eager to test the extent of her Nebula Veil, as Arakil had mentioned it was primarily a magical defense.

Cal did a sort of half chant, half gesture, similar to what Lily had seen Rose do, and a magical ball of water was soon launched at her cloak. The spell hit the cloak and burst like a bubble, the water trickling to the ground.

"Did you feel any impact?" Richardus asked. "The spell, while seemingly harmless, is supposed to have some force behind it when it pops."

Lily shook her head, "I didn't feel anything."

"Damn," Cal chuckled. "Guess I need more water to get through that defense."

"You gotta try harder!" the boy from earlier shouted.

Lily turned to look at him and noticed he was attempting to throw one of the filled buckets towards her. Some of the kids cried out warnings, but before anyone could stop him, the bucket was already tossed.

Logically, she knew it wouldn't actually hurt her, but she still raised her arms to protect her head, and her Nebula Veil reacted to the call. The cloak retracted inward, surrounding Lily before surging forward, creating an almost impromptu shield as it blocked the bucket, which rebounded off it and fell, cluttering the floor.

Water was sloshed everywhere as the bucket clanged noisily across the ground, and kids jumped back to avoid getting wet. Thanks to her cloak, Lily was entirely uninjured and bone dry.

"Mark!" the instructor screamed. He had already turned red in the face and looked furious .

"I was just testing the cloak!" Mark shouted back, feigning innocence.

"Enough. Class dismissed," Richardus ordered before storming over to Mark and clutching his arm. "We'll be taking you to see the disciplinary counselor."

Mark tried to struggle, but Richardus' grip on him was like a vice.

"Are you okay?" Richardus asked, turning to Lily.

Lily nodded, "My cloak stopped everything."

"See! She's fine ! Everyone's fine!" Mark protested. "I don't see what the big deal is?"

The instructor ignored his appeals as he continued marching Mark out of the classroom, nearly slamming the door behind him. Immediately, the class was gossiping, wondering what was going to happen.

"Are you okay?" Theo repeated the question.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I can't say the same for Mark," Lily said, attempting to be humorous.

"That's good, that cloak of yours is really amazing!" Theo praised.

Lily nodded, "I'm happy to have it. But I wonder why he did that?"

Theo sighed, "I can hazard a guess, but I don't want to point fingers."

"Oh? Well, I'll take the guess with some salt then," Lily replied.

"Mark was part of Tim's group of friends," Theo replied. "Maybe Tim asked him to do it, or maybe he was upset about what you did to his friend? I'm not sure… I'm making a lot of assumptions."

Lily groaned and shook her head, "I hope it's unrelated. If I never see Tim again, it'll be too soon!"

"Umm… Since class ended early, do you want to go practice a bit?" Theo suggested.

"Okay, that sounds like a great distraction," Lily agreed. "Do you have somewhere in mind?"

"Yeah!" Theo exclaimed excitedly. "Instructor Richardus set up a small training area for me; we can go there!"

He got a whole training area? He did mention he has a minor bloodline. Is that the reason? Will the instructor also make one for me? Well, if Theo is offering to share, I'll gladly take him up on that offer.

"Sounds great. Let me grab my things, and you can lead the way!"