The ride up to the seventy-seventh floor in the elevator felt more like a walk to the gallows than Nick would have liked.

When he was finally released onto Master Tholm's private floor, he took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders before marching up to the man's study.

"Come on in," the gravely voice of his mentor greeted him before he could even knock, and he pushed the door open, only to blink in surprise.

Archmage Tholm was a known presence by now. Even muted as his rings made him, he could still pick him out of a crowd.

There was another man drinking tea with him, who Nick recognized as the Vice Tower Master, Ebenexer Politod, yet he couldn't sense his presence at all.

"Come, Nicholas," Tholm repeated, gesturing for him to take a seat on the one free armchair.

He did so cautiously, eyeing the unfamiliar guest with wariness. "Hello, Master Tholm. Pleasure to meet you, Vice Tower Master," he greeted. His only interaction with the man had been during the commencement ceremony, and honestly, he hadn't made the best first impression.

Politod was bald, with a broad face, midnight blue robes, and an amused, knowing look that Nick had come to associate with those who had reached the status of apex predators and could never truly be threatened.

The feeling of sitting beside him, yet being completely unable to get any idea of what his presence in the ether might be like, was unsettling.

Nick had gotten used to having his senses spoofed while living with Master Tholm, but this was more like the Compass of Interesting Times—something he was quite sure was a divine artifact.

That a man could be that stealthy… He probably wouldn't even realize if he was standing right next to him. Hell, even his wind sense, which operated purely in the physical world, couldn't detect anyone's presence, and this couldn't be a projection either.

"Perceptive little guy, isn't he?" Politod chuckled in his gravely tone.

Tholm sighed, "He is the most promising of the new recruits, but he has a bad habit of keeping everything to himself until he can't anymore."

Ah, so he already knows. It wasn't that surprising, given the Tower's influence over the city. It would have been stranger if he didn't know that a major operation was happening against the criminal gangs.

"Master Tholm…" he started, but he was cut off by the man's raised hand.

Silence settled over the study as Nick realized his teacher was waiting for the other man to share his thoughts.

It was hard to tell what was happening, as both men were old and highly skilled at controlling their bodies to hide their tells, but there seemed to be some form of respect from his mentor toward the other.

Since the Tower Master had been absent for the past three weeks due to a Royal request, Politod was probably the most influential mage in the West at the moment. He was the one who set the rules, and he would decide the Tower's position on this whole matter.

That he was here with Tholm probably meant the two had been trying to untangle the mess of connections, involvements, and responsibilities that bound them all to this plot.

"He is quite quick-witted," the man chuckled, "If only every student of ours could be so. Ah, but I suppose that comes with its own dangers, doesn't it? Being so clearly above the rest makes it easy to think oneself infallible."

Tholm nodded shallowly, "It is in part my fault. I've let him have too much freedom, and didn't clearly state our position."

Politod hummed, nodding thoughtfully, "That is part of it, yes, but it's not all on you. My old friend, Grandmaster Wolfram, seems to have a special connection with his family. It would make sense for him to seek his aid in a time like this."

There were clearly layers to this conversation that Nick wasn't aware of. His decision to talk to Xander instead of Tholm last night was the main point, that much he could tell, but the two men didn't seem concerned about why he made that choice, or even about what he found out.

Is that what it's like to be so powerful, so far above everyone else, that even the threat of a foreign adversary attacking is just a minor inconvenience?

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Nick wasn't the nicest person, that much he knew, but there was a vast gap between that and the complete indifference these two men were showing.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to wave the flag a bit, to remind everyone whose backyard this is. We might need to do some cleanup, but that could be a good opportunity for your little apprentice to learn the weight of responsibility," Politod mused, then nodded briefly to Tholm, flashed Nick an almost cheeky smile, and disappeared.

Nick stared at the empty chair for a while. He still wasn't convinced the man had ever really been there, but he doubted he'd find out the truth anytime soon. Wait, what did he say? That I might need to be involved?

A throat being cleared made him turn away from the empty chair, and he saw that Tholm was staring with a raised eyebrow.

Ah, that's right. The chewing out.

In the end, it wasn't that bad. Nick was forbidden from going out at night, and he would have to help his fellow apprentices with their projects for the next three months.

Usually, he would have resented these limitations. He was a free man and could never stand for anything that would hold him back.

But in this case, it would work out just fine. He had no intention of going out while the Duke and his people searched the city for possible accomplices, and knowing that the Vice Tower Master had taken an interest in the matter, even if only for political reasons, he could rest easy.

It was no longer in his control. There was no reason to worry about it anymore.

I'm sure this ominous feeling I have means nothing. Nothing at all. He only said I'd need to be involved to scare me. I'm sure of it.

Still, for now, he would need to show his willingness to accept Tholm's punishment. If there ever came a time when he had to sneak out, he would, but that didn't matter right now.

At least he didn't bar me from the next session with Lasazar. That's supposed to be tomorrow, and I would've been so mad if I had missed it.

"Come on, we need to get there before anyone else if we want to reserve the entire chamber for ourselves!" Raphael, Tholm's senior apprentice, told him.

Nick followed him, using a simple application of [Telekinetic Field] to match the older apprentice's longer strides.

They hurried down the twenty-second floor's corridors, where experimental elemental chambers were located. Apparently, Raphael was working on an artifact capable of significantly boosting a person's affinity, but to complete the testing, he needed three uninterrupted hours in one session, and since there were so few of these opportunities, it was very rare to get the chance.

Today, a seminary for full mages on elemental magic was being held on the lower floors, so only apprentices would show up to occupy a room.

When they finally arrived, only two other apprentices could be seen rushing from the far end of the corridor, and Raphael started sprinting seriously toward a specific door, which caused the others to begin shouting obscenities and pick up their pace.

Nick smirked along and, out of a sense of camaraderie with his fellow apprentice, flicked his finger at the others, sending them stumbling over invisible obstacles.

That gave them the edge they needed, and Raphael seized a silver handle first, yanking it open and shoving Nick inside, then slamming it shut behind him with all his strength.

For a moment, they breathed heavily before bursting into giggles like schoolgirls.

"Did you see their faces? Ha! I always told Lucas to be more careful about where he stepped, with his poor sense of space!"

Nick rolled his eyes at the lame joke. It was no surprise that spatial magic nerds would all be into dad humor.

Once they'd regained their composure, they finally looked around the room, and Nick had to stifle a gasp.

He'd known the Tower was a nexus of spatial magic from the very beginning and that mages trained in the art could use it as a lighthouse in the dark, requiring only a fraction of the mana normally needed to navigate through the dimensional void.

But he hadn't realized how intense the feeling could be when it was compressed and packaged into something even apprentices could use.

All around them, auroras flickered to life before fading into the ether. Stone warped, transforming into wood, then into water, only to reform as if nothing had happened.

For a moment, they were in a sparse chamber, and then they found themselves in a cozy forest glade, only for the scene to shift again and again every few minutes.

And the mana! It was so thick and clear here, nothing like the extremely subtle workings of the chamber used for the practical test.

Even just standing there, Nick could feel himself learning more about spatial mana.

It wasn't something he had been very interested in for a long time because it was only useful to him within Alluria, as someone of his level couldn't hope to teleport without the beacon that was the Tower to guide him, but he might need to rethink that belief.

There was a subtlety to the mana that told him it could be manipulated as easily as force magic. If he could add something like a spatial blade to his arsenal…

"Alright, let's get to work," Raphael said, pushing his fringe back and setting about releasing his equipment from the ring on his finger.

He was also the owner of a spatial ring. This shouldn't have been surprising, since he was clearly a noble. Still, Nick had learned that although his family was rich, they weren't particularly generous, as most of the wealth was held by his grandfather. As a result, Raphael only managed to earn a spatial ring last year, after surprising Tholm with a rudimentary inventory pouch of his own.

That accomplishment had earned him the title of Senior Apprentice, and now that Nick was watching him work, he could see it wasn't undeserved.

He smoothly set up his equipment, never once questioning a decision, and within a few minutes, he was finished.

"Alright, time for the measurements. You mentioned you have a sensory skill, so try to write down everything you notice happening. I can cross-check my data with yours, and it will help me learn more about the stability of the affinity ring," Raphael said.

Nick nodded, not minding being used as a glorified measuring tool if it meant learning more about such a complex field of magic, but he had a question first.

"Can I ask something?"

Raphael grunted in agreement.

"Why the affinity ring? There are already similar items for other affinities, and they're often seen as nothing more than crutches." Nick had been very interested in those artifacts. Still, he'd quickly learned that the only way to boost one's elemental magic without risking dependence on an artifact was to craft a focus, much like he did with his wand, but that required a lot more resources. Element-specific foci were considered more of a niche item because most mages tried to stay away from over-specialization.

"That's because spatial magic is different," Raphael replied, placing the ring he'd been working on—a simple band of steel—on a stone pedestal as the room around them flickered again, transforming into a beach this time. "It is true that if your goal is to get better at it, affinity-enhancing artifacts aren't the way to go, but most mages don't learn a single spell in spatial magic, much less the entire school. My goal isn't to grant more power to those who already have it, but to give it to those who don't."

After thinking it over, Nick smiled. "You are building up to creating moving teleportation beacons."