Inside the Astrology Council Chamber of Raya Lucaria Academy, several glintstone chairs formed an incomplete arc. Magic had shaped the ceiling into a flowing night sky, its false stars following the trajectories laid out in textbooks-a masterpiece of the Caria Conspectus from three hundred years ago that no one had dared alter in the slightest.
"Recorder, close the door." The current chief sorcerer of the Caria Conspectus tapped the table with his staff. "Today, we will discuss how to punish 'New Stormveil' for its insolence."
As the oldest instructor of the Caria Conspectus, the elderly chief spoke first, his voice raspier than rusted gears. "According to the seventeenth law of stellar trajectory calculation, the expansion rate of any terrestrial power is inversely proportional to the degree of magical interference. New Stormveil-a lowly Tarnished leading a rabble of even lowlier commoners, including those disgusting Demi-Humans and Trolls-cannot even distinguish the fundamental differences between Caria Comet and Olivinus Meteor in their magical equations. Yet they dare covet the Academy's territory. Their actions must be severely punished!"
The chief of the Olivinus Conspectus was a woman, her voice as venomous as a cold-blooded serpent. She gave a few mocking chuckles, toying with three miniature meteors that constantly shifted their orbits between her fingers. "My dear Caria Conspectus, New Stormveil is not quite as worthless as you claim. The children of Olivinus have devised an interesting model..." She waved a hand, scattering a projection of starlight that displayed a map of Liurnia. "Look at these Albinauric recruitment sites. Their distribution forms a peculiar variant of Lusat's seven-pointed star. Crude, but quite creative. Perhaps Stormveil is not simply a pack of Barbarians. I suggest capturing a few live specimens to study their adaptability to magic."
"A seven-pointed star is merely a shape. It proves nothing,"