The God of Magic: Archmage Academy (OP, LitRPG)

Upon their return, Sen noticed Bright Sail Academy seemed different than before. It felt like a lifetime had passed since he’d walked through these hallways. In a sense, it had. He wasn’t sure things would ever be the same around here, but he knew one thing. The cult of Harpis would never bother anyone else again. 

He’d made sure of that. 

It turned out that classes were still suspended, but scheduled to start back up later in the week. Instead, students had been asked to help with repairs to the campus, and there were armed patrols of city guards all around the exterior of the academy. It reminded him of the gate guard’s reaction when a group of around forty people suddenly showed up looking like they’d just left a battlefield. It hadn’t taken Professor Crosp long to clear everything up, especially with proof of the quest they’d left to compete and his academy credentials, but Sen had felt the guard’s eyes linger on them for quite a while until his group had moved beyond their sight. 

They’d received several looks moving through the city as well, but other than that, they made their way back to the academy unaccosted. Apparently, the city guard had already alerted the dean and mayor of their arrival, because when they reached the courtyard of the academy, the two men were waiting for them. 

The dean looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. Deep bags had moved in and settled under his eyes. Mayor Tobias, who was known for his neatly pressed outfits and the golden orange ponytail that hung confidently from the back of his head, looked as if he hadn’t even changed outfits from the night before. It almost looked like he had slept in what he was wearing. They both turned in unison as Sen and Sikar led the others into the Academy. 

As they approached, Sikar held a hand up so the students behind them would wait. Together, Sen and Sikar walked up the meet the dean of Brightsail Academy and the mayor of Bright Sail. Withershade scanned the large group behind them. “This…this looks like everyone.” His eyes were wide and full of worry. He turned to Sikar. “How much did it cost us?” he asked. 

Sikar’s arm tensed, and for a moment Sen wondered if he’d punch the Dean in the face. If Sikar didn’t, Sen just might. “Blood, sweat, and mana.”

The mayor shook his head. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Starting a war with the cult? I’m…I’m not saying we should’ve abandoned the students. But I was going to negotiate with them when they sent their demands. Now, what will they do? First it was the academy, next time it will be the town itself! How many lives have you endangered by acting on your own?” Tobias asked. 

Sikar started to respond, but Sen jumped in first. “There were never going to be any demands. The cult planned to kill them. They were a sacrifice to summon a god,” Sen said. He no longer hid his distaste for either of the men before them. If he were being honest, he’d been fairly neutral on them until now. But now neutrality had turned to hatred. “Should we still have stood back and done nothing? Would you sacrifice all these lives?” 

The mayor gritted his teeth. “Congratulations. You’ve saved what, forty? What will you do when they come to kill forty thousand?” the mayor asked.

Sikar shook his head. 

Sen stared back at him, infusing mana into his voice. “Me? I won’t do anything. I won’t need to. The cult of Harpis isn’t coming. I killed them all.” 

Even Sikar lifted a brow at that.

The mayor took a step back at Sen’s sudden change in voice. He turned to exchange a look with the dean. “How’s that…that’s not possible. A group of students and a few professors wiped out an entire cult?”

Laurette approached, her hand resting atop a sheathed sword. “Green Book contributed healthily. I expect Brightsail will compensate us for that and recognize us as an equal institution? After all, this was a major victory for us, best we share in the spoils.”

The dean glared at her. “If what you’ve all said is true, then, of course, High Professor.” He turned to the mayor. “We need to get ahead of this. The cult attacked us first. We made a stand, and they invaded. We returned the favor. If we act quickly and spread the word, we can capitalize on this. Both the town and the academy will benefit greatly.”

The mayor took a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re right. This should deter other cults from coming. The town will only benefit from our new strength. Between this and the academy war, our influence will spread.” He’d gone from seething in anger to greedily looking to exploit the work of others. Just like a politician. 

“Of course, you’ll be making a generous donation to the academy for the students’ hard work, won’t you, mayor?” Sen said rather than asked.

The mayor’s jaw dropped, but with a hardened expression, he nodded. “Uh…of course.”

The dean looked at Sen happily. He was pleased with him. But that was only because his turn hadn’t come around. “And you, Dean Withershade, you’ll be tripling the reward offered by the quest for each of the students and faculty members that assisted. You’ll also compensate each of the students you failed to protect. I think a minor artifact and a visit to the special library are in order.”

The dean swallowed. “For all of them?” he asked.

“If you want to claim my victory. That’s the price. Otherwise, I’ll withdraw from the academy immediately. You’ll lose the student you so desperately wish to exploit,” Sen said.

Sikar chuckled, earning a glare from the dean.

With a sigh, the dean nodded. “Of course. It’s only right we take care of our own.” 

Sen nodded, happy with negotiations. None of those things would benefit him all that much, but his friends didn’t have access to the special class he did. This way they’d grow stronger, and all of them would be one step closer to becoming magicians no one would ever threaten again. Sen had made a commitment to claim the power of a god from this time for himself, but here and now, he was making another. He would raise up the greatest magicians of this generation alongside him. Or at least get them on the right track. 

Laurette stared at Sen as if she’d grown newfound respect for him. “I was half hoping you’d refuse him. I think his talent is wasted under your tutelage, Withershade. Green Book would be a much better fit. And he’s such good friends with my little Ano as is.” She smirked and brushed past the two most powerful men in Bright Sail. 

Sikar turned to the students and beckoned them further. 

The Mayor protested. “Wait a moment, we need to debrief. If we’re to move quickly, we need to know what happened. You can all rest after—” 

“No,” Sen said, and that was that. 

Later that afternoon, an announcement came around in the form of letters slipped under dorm room doors. There would be an assembly the following morning. Sen already had a feeling what it would be about. The rankings. 

Things were quiet the rest of the day, and that night Sen’s room was more crowded than it had ever been. Ilm and Milim shared a bed on the far side of the room. Samara slept in the spare bed, sprawled out with her sword lying next to her. Joseia and Oliver made a pallet on the floor, and Sen cast a spell of silence to drown out Joseia’s snoring. Mori and Sen each slept in their own beds as usual. While Ano floated above, near the ceiling, sleeping on his large pillow. His arm hung limply off the side.

It had been Milim’s idea to have a sleepover of sorts, though everyone was still so exhausted from previous days that they pretty much went straight to sleep. It was odd having so many people in their room, and it seemed their gang of misfits was growing at a rapid pace, but he didn’t necessarily mind it. Besides, Milim had been through a lot. If this made her feel better, then so be it. 

When he was sure everyone else had fallen asleep, he turned his attention to Tutor. 

I suppose now’s as good a time as any. Show me that notification.

[Quest Reward: A Boon of the God of Magic.]

[This reward has been earned. Please see the Guardian of the God of Magic’s boon for your reward.] 

Sen blinked. “What?” he asked, sitting up. 

Beside him, Mori stirred in his sleep. Sen sighed. What’s going on, Tutor? Who’s this guardian? How am I supposed to find him?

[That’s all it says. No directions. No instructions. Nothing.]

Sen rested his hands on his knees and let his mind wander. Until now, most of his rewards had been instantaneous. As if they had suddenly appeared out of thin air. He felt the slight drain of magic when they did so. The System was drawing upon his own power to make the rewards materialize for him. This time, he hadn’t felt that. Why did this reward contain a mystery all of a sudden? What was different about it?

Well, part of that was obvious, he supposed. A boon of the God of Magic would clearly be good. The problem was that boons were created by gods. But he was the God of Magic. So how could he possibly have created a boon for himself? Technically, a boon was just a reflection of his own power. Anything it could do, he should theoretically already be capable of. But so far, none of the rewards from his quest had been bad. He’d gotten rare essence spheres, powerful spells, and even an upgrade to the academy war prize, which ended up with him receiving Xochi. 

By all lines of reason, this boon was something he could use, and the quest had involved taking on another god. It had to be good. The question was, where was this guardian, and how could Sen find them?

He shelved the thought for now. The stone tablet Crosp had given him before the invasion of Castle Harpis was still sitting right where he’d left it. He’d received a notification after that as well. A jumbled-up message that hadn’t made any sense. Could it be possible that his unique class had broken? Maybe the System was balancing out the fact that he was gaining power at an insane rate. Making him solve some mystery to receive a quest reward he’d already earned, sending encoded messages. It was a lot to take it. He needed to sort out this guardian mess. But Ragmár’s message was on his mind as well. The professor told him that this was just a copy of a copy. Maybe if he tried the copy itself, or even the original message, things would be clear. 

But that would require visiting the Castle of the Kingdom of Magic. He wasn’t quite sure he was ready to see the castle’s current state. How hard would it be to find the ruins Crosp described? No, that was a monster he could slay another day. For now, he needed to rest. He’d saved his friends, and the end of the school year was rapidly approaching. God or not, he still needed to pass his exams. 

He chuckled at the thought as his wandering mind finally settled down. 

That night, Sen slept better than he had in some time.

Faira

The two of them floated high in the sky above the ruins of the castle the Cult of Harpis had occupied until recently. Very recently. It looked as if someone had dropped a meteor on the entire island. There was a massive crater in the courtyard, and pieces of the castle still crumbled away. 

She turned to look at Blood, but as usual a mask obscured his face. She always made a game of guessing what expression was on his face. This time, she pretended he was so dumbfounded that drool spilled out of his mouth. 

Blood turned to stare at her. “Stop that. I hate when you look at me like that.”

She pouted. “What do you think happened?”

“Someone killed Harpis. My question is, why were they pretending to be him? Someone’s up to something, Faira. We’ll need to discuss this with the others.” He surveyed the island one last time and then turned and stepped through a portal made of blood.

She giggled, tilting her head towards the island. “Well, I planned to take what I could for myself, but…it’s all kinda broken now. Oh, well.” She turned to follow Blood through the portal and found it had disappeared. He’d brought her into the middle of the ocean, and then ditched her.  

“Ugh! I hate that stupid idiot!” She sighed and flapped the wings on her back to test them. It would be a long flight home; might as well get started. “I’m so telling the old man about this.” 

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