Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Endra could only guess that the Empress didn't want her people knowing of the existence of other worlds. But since she couldn't let potential enemies do whatever they want in her empire, this whole secret war had to occur.

It worked for the most part, with the mages wanting Soul-based spells in their arsenal. Endra certainly felt their usefulness with the Soul-sense and the shield he learned to use. The latter, especially, felt like a huge jackpot.

The shield was invisible to everyone else but Endra, made no sound, and was practically instantaneous. With mana-created shields, they weren't really shields, really. Just obstacles surrounding Endra protectively. And they were too impractical and slow to use. The slowest for Endra were Hard Air shields (which were a huge waste of mana and willpower to begin with), and the quickest being water shields, which still needed a second to form from the moisture in the air.

The Soul-shield, on the other hand, appeared instantly, since it was created from Endra's soul, and its strength was very reliable as well, since it depended on the strength of one's soul. The one Heralt demonstrated was stronger than the forcefields of the Orgonians; and although Endra's hadn't reached that level, it was at least half as strong as the otherworldly shields.

The only downside to the shield was that Endra couldn't use it in public, as he wanted to keep his soul-spells a secret. He could only use it against otherworlders or turncoats. But that was fine.

Before, Endra always used some other method to divert incoming spells, the main one being contained explosions. But they were noisy and a bit dangerous. Endra could predict their heat and strength to a degree, but nothing was 100% certain. This defensive method became especially dangerous if the enemy sent a large amount of small objects.

But with the shield, Endra had more options. At the very least, he could use the shield while disguising it behind an illusion.

Speaking of his illusions, Endra reached a point where no one in his year could see past them. By combining the World of Darkness and the World of Thoughts, Endra could turn entire fields into a vast empty darkness.

Evin's affinity with Exivear had properly passed on to Endra, so if he was smart with his usage of Dark and Thought energies, he could create cheap, yet effective invisibility in one area. It was also lighter on his head, as it was much easier to cover his body with darkness, instead of trying to make himself invisible from every side, like he used to with Evin.

His opponents tried using Talismans to clear out all the illusions, but that only allowed them a brief moment of clarity, before the shadows would take over.

The mana they needed to cast the Talismans was much more than what Endra needed to recreate the darkness.

His other spells also got upgraded. His invisible gun was halfway through becoming as strong as real modern gun. He changed his flight style to feel more natural and easier instead of just letting his body be tossed around by a gust of wind. His Qanatohm spells were stronger and quicker. His control of the air was subtler and deadlier. And his core was finally strong and vast enough to not be a hindrance to his imagination.

Hence, Endra quickly became the strongest student among the second years. Honestly, he felt he wouldn't lose to anyone among the Academy students.

Through a drunk Terrence, he learned that most of the 1st to 3rd year students' time was spent mastering their own spell-casting methods, mastering chants and gestures, or trying to create an original spell. Especially with Imagination casters, they relentlessly tried their best to polish their imaginations to the best of their abilities.

Endra could become better at casting, but by mage standards, he was already a good enough graduate.

From the 4th year on, they would heavily specialize towards one field of magic. Endra was still unsure about his future specialization. He called himself a Jack of all Trades and felt proud of it, but he knew he needed to narrow his focus sooner or later.

But then again, he didn't want to specialize in something he would regret later on. Hence, he decided to introduce himself to everything first.

The Academy had a variety of other classes, so Endra simply learned everything he could. Magical engineering, healing, inscribing, engraving, manipulating, etc. Even if he wasn't going to work as these professions, it would be good for him to know what they were about.

As for how he could learn them so quickly, he became the Chairman's personal disciple and had him teach things privately. Endra didn't want to do this, but this was the easiest and quickest way to become properly educated.

And thankfully, Kent wasn't stingy with his knowledge. And the man genuinely seemed to want to help Endra, whatever his end-goal was.  He was also vastly knowledgeable, deeply familiar with the various fields of magic. And honestly, Endra couldn't understand everything that was being taught to him.

He also lacked practical experience with these things, so his plan was to cool off after learning about the basics. He'd tackle all these specializations one by one at his own pace. His current goal was to stock up information.

He wanted to learn more about Heart-casting, but Sufia suddenly decided he was ineligible to attend her class, as he was absent for too long. Even with Kent's pleading, the old woman refused to teach him.

But, Endra wasn't discouraged and just focused on his other things.

Another thing that the Academy put emphasis on was a student's fighting capability. Of course, Endra had no problems in this department. He didn't choke, his spells never fumbled, and he wasn't unfamiliar with strategies, tricks, and dirty tactics.

And if he wanted to, he could be the biggest pain in the ass against his opponents by refusing to show himself during the fight. In fact, all his battles against Decatur were fought like this. But he still properly fought the stronger opponents in the Academy. Arza, Bella, the few spars Bokh himself attended… he knew he shouldn't overrely on one spell too much, so he was happy to improve his basics.

He definitely needed to get challenged, so he found himself almost looking forward to the Helm Class tournaments that were coming soon.