Though it hadn't been long, he had to head to Aurus' study hall to continue his tasks. He quickly adjusted his clothes and left. Upon arrival, he noticed Aurus was already waiting, standing by the desk.
"Sorry for the delay," he said, bowing with measured respect.
Aurus raised an eyebrow but didn't respond. He wasn't blind or stupid; he simply didn't seem interested in scolding him. He pointed to the scroll on the table with a subtle gesture.
"Let's continue."
And so they did. William, without hiding much, began to show more ease with the ancient language. He didn't reveal he could almost read it fluently, but he no longer feigned clumsiness as before. Aurus seemed pleased with the progress, occasionally watching him with a sharp gaze.
For weeks, they worked with simple texts: tales about the Storm Isle, legends of lost sailors, massive creatures, and arcane rituals. But over time, Aurus entrusted him with his most prized possession: a scroll he had kept for decades. A spell he had found in his youth, purely by chance, and had never fully deciphered.
"This is the real challenge. The reason I've spent years gathering documents in this language. If we manage to decode it… we might uncover something great."
William understood the moment he saw it. The scroll vibrated, as if it were alive. It pulsed with latent, ravenous energy. For a moment, he wanted to read it entirely. But he clenched his teeth and resisted. He knew how dangerous it was. Over the past weeks, he had learned that reading magical language drained him more than any physical training. Every word demanded a brutal mental toll. It wasn't worth the risk. Not yet.
Three months passed.
He trained every day without rest until his body changed. More resilient, more defined. He drank the calming tea daily to recover from the effort of translating the texts. The numbers confirmed it:
Strength: 2.2. Agility: 2.4. Vitality: 3.0.
The clashes between nobles and commoners hadn't stopped. The academy tried to cover them up, but some fights ended with young students seriously injured, regardless of status. Authority, however, remained blind. Or pretended to be.
Meanwhile, Aurus and William continued translating. The spell spoke of seals, invocations, sacrifices… and a cursed island that only emerged when the southern winds came to a halt.
The Storm Isle was real.
And William could feel it getting closer. The magical tongue was pulling him toward something he didn't fully understand. In recent days, the mask from his visions had become more tangible. Sometimes he saw it from the corner of his eye, other times reflected in mirrors. It was watching him.
During one especially vivid dream, William awoke to a burning sensation in his arms. When he looked, he saw reddish lines running along his skin. As if the spell's symbols had printed themselves onto his flesh and were slowly fading.
It wasn't just a dream.
"I can't keep ignoring this. If this is part of my power… I need to understand it," he murmured in front of the mirror. His eyes were darker than usual, as if the fog still lived within them. "I need answers… before it consumes me."
The sunrise bathed the stone walls in golden light. William got up early, the memory of the masked figure still lingering in his mind. But he couldn't afford weakness. Not now.
"Today's regimen: physical training with increased magical resistance. I'll apply twelve percent mana to your muscles," Angel announced bluntly.
"Couldn't you have said that before I stepped out of bed?"
"Pain is the best alarm clock."
Angel had refined a technique: using small amounts of mana to apply pressure on strategic points, like internal weights. The result was a more effective training… and far more painful.
After an exhausting routine, William headed to the baths. Every muscle burned. But he didn't complain. His body was different now: firmer, tougher. His stride carried weight. His gaze, depth.
In the showers, the other cadets looked at him with respect… or with fear.
"That's the guy who left Vayne bleeding," someone murmured.
"They say there's a demon in his head…"
William didn't respond. He let the hot water soothe his body. The steam wrapped around him like an invisible armor.
In the dining hall, his group was already waiting. Dixon had puffy, sleep-deprived eyes. Cedric was slurping coffee like it was the only thing keeping him alive. Thom hummed a tuneless melody, and Theo flipped through a book with a blank expression.
"Does anyone sleep here?" William asked as he sat down.
"Sleep? With the nightmares in this academy?" Dixon scoffed.
William's tray was overflowing. Angel had been clear: he had to triple his caloric intake. Meats, fruits, grains, bread… and more meat. A feast meant to fuel a machine under constant reconstruction.
While eating, his eyes met those of some nobles. There was hostility, yes. But also something else: fear.
Vayne Redvale held his gaze… for just a second. Then, he looked away.
"Fear is spreading," Cedric said quietly.
"Let them be," William replied.
"If you don't stop them with words, you'll stop them with action," Dixon added with a grim tone.
As the evening fell, William returned to Aurus' study. The professor was waiting with the scroll already unrolled.
"Today we'll work on the final part of the text. I've reviewed it—it's far more complex. The structures are incomplete, but it looks like a fragment of a spell… an ancient one. Look at this."
The scroll, covered in Volgaris characters, seemed to pulse with energy. William narrowed his eyes. Some words began to make sense, as if his mind was molding itself to the language.
"This isn't just a spell," he murmured. "It's a key. A ritual of unlocking."
"You understand it?" Aurus asked, astonished.
"Not fully. But I can feel it… like something inside me knows how to proceed."
Aurus looked at him with a mixture of fear and fascination. William, in turn, remained cautious.
"We have to be careful. Keys can open doors… but not all of them should be opened."
Aurus nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off the scroll.
He had waited half his life for this. And he didn't intend to stop now. No matter how dangerous it was.