The following week, Alex was making potions together with Eve. He wanted to prepare a batch large enough to last the following months, so he could explore the wilderness without worrying about not meeting the quota.
"Alex," Eve suddenly asked.
"Yes?"
"I want to go to a magic academy!" Evelyn said excitedly.
Alex turned to look at her. His first instinct was to outright refuse, but he stopped himself.
'Relax, Alex. This isn't Tessara,' he reminded himself. Still, the fear of her experiencing anything like what he went through lingered deep inside him.
"Are you sure?" Alex asked.
"Yeah! I want to learn alchemy and anatomy like you did. When I reach the advanced stage, I want to become a healer—just like you!" Eve said, wanting to follow in her brother's footsteps.
"You know you don't have to copy me, right? Your path is yours to choose, and you have plenty of time to figure it out. So give it time," Alex replied gently. "Still, I'll look into the academy thing. Give me a few days."
He planned to visit a few academies, check their atmospheres, and ask around to see which ones were safe and reliable.
Once he finished the potions, Alex headed toward the palace.
He needed two things before exploring: first, learning multicast properly; second, binding his first element to his soul.
For the first, he wanted to ask Vanessa to spar with him, hoping to test his new skills and improve his double casting. Training alone had only gotten him so far—he'd hit a ceiling he couldn't break through without pressure.
He wanted multicasting to become as natural as breathing, and for that, he needed a beating—or at least the threat of one.
'Nothing makes someone improve faster than survival instincts,' Alex thought.
About fifteen minutes later, as he approached the teleportation hall, a thought hit him.
'We can't harm each other willingly!'
He stopped walking.
That part of the magic contract had completely slipped his mind.
Now he needed an alternative.
'If there are no options, I could ask Marina… but I really hope Sylvana can help.'
He didn't want to owe Marina anything—not after what she did to Evelyn. If he had to be indebted to someone, Sylvana was the better option.
After teleporting to the palace, a maid guided him to Sylvana's office. She announced him, then allowed him inside.
"Hello, Alex. How rare to see you looking for me. What do you need?" Sylvana asked.
"I want to ask a favor," Alex said.
"Oh? And what would that be?" she asked, curiosity rising.
"I need someone to spar with to train multicasting, but I can't ask Vanessa because we can't hurt each other willingly," he explained.
"I see. And I suppose you don't get along well enough with Marina to ask her… which only leaves me, right?" Sylvana said, analyzing the situation instantly.
"Yeah. Do you have time?" Alex asked.
"Well," Sylvana said, "it just so happens that I do. And since I'm going to train you, I might as well train Vanessa too. So I'll train you both together."
Claiming she had time was an exaggeration, but for the sake of strengthening Alex—and making him owe her—she could rearrange things.
The two teleported directly outside Vanessa's room.
When they entered, Vanessa was playing with a set of needles.
"What are you doing?" Alex asked.
"I was testing the sleeping poisons I got, but they're trash compared to the ones you make," Vanessa said.
"Are you really that interested in the poison?" he asked.
"Yeah. Sometimes it's hard for me to get proper sleep, so I thought poking myself with a little poison would help me fall asleep."
Alex had expected mischief—her poking random people for fun—but apparently, he'd misjudged her intentions.
"It's really that big of an issue?" Alex asked, genuinely curious.
"Yes. Problems with sleep are common in the Morningstar bloodline," Sylvana answered. She had dealt with it herself in the past.
Alex sighed and took out a sleeping poison from his ring, intending to give it to Vanessa.
"I hope I don't regret this, but if you need it to sleep, I can make them into pills so you don't have to poke yourself," he said.
Vanessa snatched the potion from his hand with frightening speed and laughed.
"Thank you! And yes, if you can make it into pills, that'd be perfect!"
'I have a feeling I just got played,' Alex thought.
"So what brings you two here?" Vanessa asked.
"Alex came to spar, so we're taking you as well," Sylvana said.
"Although I'd love to mop the floor with Alex again, the magic contract prevents it," Vanessa teased.
"Heh. You seem to have forgotten that you almost got put to sleep by someone a whole realm beneath you," Alex countered.
Sylvana turned sharply toward Vanessa. "Is that true?"
Vanessa stuttered. "W–Well… he was a novice mage, so I was kind of having fun when he poked me with a needle by surprise… but I expelled the poison with aura, and in the end I beat him."
"No excuses. The fact that you got hit by surprise at all is bad enough. Remember—a hit like that left me poisoned for centuries," Sylvana said sternly.
"It seems that ever since your mother ascended the throne, she's been neglecting your training. And that's about to change. You'll both be sparring with me."
Vanessa knew the look in her aunt's eyes. Training under a Morningstar elder always came with suffering—plenty of it.
Sylvana opened a breach to the training room and dragged them both through it without hesitation.
On the other side, she released Vanessa and said:
"Change your clothes. You have five minutes. If you're even one minute late, I guarantee that minute will be the one you regret most in your life."
Sylvana seemed to have turned into a sadistic maniac, but not wanting to test her words, both Alex and Vanessa rushed to change.
A little over four minutes later, they stood face-to-face with Sylvana, who had changed into her own training uniform.
She tossed a training weapon toward Vanessa.
It was the family's signature weapon—the morningstar.
"Now, I'll restrict myself to Grandmaster," Sylvana said. "Your objective is to land a single hit on me. Good luck, kids."
She drew her own morningstar and released her aura fully, crashing down on them like a tidal wave.
Vanessa glanced at Alex. "The moment this contract ends, I swear I'm beating you to a pulp for making me go through this again."
Alex gulped, unable to pull his eyes away from the excited, almost predatory gleam in Sylvana's expression.
He took out a mana potion and drank it,
'Did I make the right decision?' he wondered.