The Female Mage in the Dormitory

Moros was a gifted thief, so gifted that at only sixteen, he could come and go freely in a place like Dalaran without permission.

All along, Moros had hidden in the unoccupied apprentice dormitories, relying on several stolen access badges to stay in whichever room he wanted.

For a thief, the most dangerous place could also be the safest.

That was why he had remained at Violet Academy, in the apprentice dormitories.

However, tonight, that freedom of movement faced an extremely serious challenge.

Heaven knew why such a terrifying presence had moved into the apprentice dormitories, which were usually almost empty.

He had only left the dormitory for three days, making a small fortune outside Violet Academy before returning to rest for a few days.

Only to discover that his room in the apprentice dormitories had been occupied.

That was highly unusual, because once an apprentice dormitory room was in use, other apprentices' access badges could not open it.

Normally, a guilty Moros should have quietly left after seeing that his room was being used by an official apprentice.

But that room held the spoils Moros had gathered in Dalaran over the past few months, including some quite valuable ones.

Moros could not possibly stand by and abandon at least a month's worth of work.

He was unwilling to accept it.

Unwilling to give up, he had used every trick in his thief's arsenal to quietly unlock the door, intending to check the situation before deciding whether to stay or leave.

As a result, he met with tragedy.

The moment he opened the door, Moros was blasted away by an Arcane Missile. When he scrambled to his feet and tried to flee, an irresistible force descended upon him, pinning him firmly in place.

Before he even saw his opponent, Moros had swiftly met with disaster.

He was forced flat against the floor, unable even to lift his head for a look at his enemy. Under the restraints of arcane magic, he could only glimpse, from the corner of his eye, a pair of glowing purple cloth shoes on his opponent's feet.

It was under these circumstances that Orendo, after casting a basic magic shield on himself, opened his door and saw a man in black lying on the corridor floor to his left, while a female mage in blue robes stood to his right.

The moment Orendo saw the blue-robed mage's face, he was startled and decisively said, "Excuse me!"

Bang!

He shut the door.

Damn!

He had thought there might be two mage apprentices fighting outside, and had wanted to witness a mage duel, even the lowest-level kind.

Orendo had planned to watch, but instead found himself caught up in this scene.

Of the two people outside, he could not see the face of the black-clad thief lying on the ground, so he did not recognize him.

But Orendo remembered the blue-robed female mage clearly. She was the blonde mage who had kept saying, "Everyone in Dalaran is trash," the unknown high-level mage whom Orendo had accidentally blasted with Fireball.

He had never expected to encounter her here, just as Moros had never expected to encounter such a ruthless figure in an apprentice mage dormitory.

Boom!

A soft sound rang out.

There was no doubt about it.

The door to Orendo's room was easily opened.

The female mage walked in.

"Good evening, madam." Before she could speak first, Orendo immediately greeted her with a smile.

One did not strike a smiling face. Knowing he was no match for her, Orendo had a clear understanding of his own limits.

"Oh?" The female mage tilted her head slightly. Her blue eyes, like deep springs, swept across the room before finally settling on Orendo.

"It seems you truly are an apprentice. In fact, you are even an apprentice trainee." Her expression remained blank.

Orendo immediately followed her lead and said, "That's right. So I wasn't lying to you... I only arrived in Dalaran the day before yesterday, and moved in here not long ago."

Facing a mage whose strength was unfathomable, who could crush him with ease, and who spoke so unfavorably of Dalaran, Orendo felt there was no harm in sweetening his words.

Suddenly, a notification from the Eye of Truth appeared in his retina:

[Host, this female member of your race has used a detection spell on you...]

Before Orendo could react or feel anything, the female mage spoke again.

"Compared to our last meeting, the energy within you has doubled. I can also see that your soul and body are somewhat incompatible."

That last sentence immediately sent a cold sweat down Orendo's back. Viscount Severosa muttered, not knowing how he should respond.

"But that has nothing to do with me. Apprentice, mind your own business." Fortunately, the female mage left immediately after tossing out those words.

Boom!

The door shut on its own.

Orendo did not go out to check again. He fell asleep amid his doubts, only to later be awakened by the Eye of Truth.

[Host, you should go to class. This is what you asked me to remind you of...]

All right, Orendo had indeed asked it to do that. Come to think of it, as an alarm clock and reminder, the Eye of Truth was as useful as it was in every other respect.

After changing into new mage robes and washing up briefly, Orendo cautiously opened his door.

The female mage was gone.

Nor could she possibly have been standing in the corridor.

However, the black-clad boy who had been lying on the floor in the left corridor last night was still there, completely motionless.

He isn't dead, is he?

Orendo was alarmed.

He carefully approached and looked down. He saw that the black-clad boy's back was still rising and falling, and he seemed to still be breathing through his nose.

He probably was not dead.

Then why was he still lying on the floor instead of leaving? That unfathomable female mage had not seemed intent on killing him either.

Orendo gave him a light kick. With his eyes closed, the latter muttered, "Stop messing around. I'm sleepy!"

Definitely not dead.

Orendo stopped paying attention to the black-clad thief and left on his own. He still had to attend the public class he had missed yesterday.

He had already skipped class yesterday, so he could not miss it again today.

The public classroom for public classes was on the left side of the apprentice dormitory area. As Orendo made his way there, he encountered only a few hurried mages, or perhaps apprentices.

There were not actually many apprentices and mages at Violet Academy. In this world, there had never been many humans who could become mages, or who were qualified to become mages.

Although Orendo had spent the past two days in the library, he had also walked around the academy several times, yet had seen fewer than twenty people.

Perhaps the apprentices and mentors stayed in their own mage towers all day, or perhaps his exposure was limited, but Violet Academy naturally gave Orendo the impression that it did not have many people.

Fortunately, as he neared the public classrooms, he finally encountered more living people. Clearly, compared to official mages, apprentice trainees still held a certain advantage in numbers.

There were three public classrooms, and Orendo saw around a hundred apprentice trainees distributed fairly evenly among them.

Class was about to begin, so Orendo did not think much of it. He casually chose one classroom and entered with thirty or forty fellow students.