Nadrina had never described something as both beautiful and terrifying before, but the wooden staff she now saw couldn’t be described any other way. At least, she thought it was wood. It had a grain like wood did, but the top half was a pearly white, while the bottom half was a midnight black. The white seemed to glow with its own inner light, while the black seemed to absorb all the surrounding light. Black and white combined in the very middle in a beautiful gradient. Excluding its unusual coloring, however, it was simple and unadorned. To the layperson, it might simply appear to be a tall, oddly colored walking stick. However, even a novice like Nadrina could feel the vibrations of magic spilling off it in waves.

Swept up in the intoxicating mana coming from the staff, Nadrina dreamily got to her feet and started toward it. Part of her knew this was probably a bad idea. Breaking an artifact of this quality would get her more than just expelled. Her feet refused to listen, however. The staff beckoned to her with an undeniable allure, and she wanted to hold it more than anything she’d ever wanted before.

So distracted was Nadrina by the sight before her that she had forgotten just where she was. She was just inches from grasping it in her hands when another hand shot out and gripped her wrist with enough force to grind bone. She cried out in pain and alarm, but all sound died in her throat as she looked up into two cold, grey eyes.

“The hell are you doing in here?” Professor Aldric snarled.

Chapter 4

One of the alarm arrays going off in his office interrupted Aldric’s boozing and brooding.

He’d enchanted them in such a way that the mana used to make them would maintain a small level of connection with his mana pool. If anything tripped them, he would immediately feel it, provided he was still close enough. Someone had just opened his office door while he was still in his staff dorm trying to pass out drunk.

His first hopeful thought was that Zasia had come back, but his mood soured again as he dismissed the idea. There was no way he was out of the doghouse yet. Even he’d never seen her that angry before. More likely, it was Kedrin coming to kick his worthless hide out of the academy.

Not eager to face the music, but realizing it was inevitable, Aldric got to his feet and started making his way back to his office. Maybe he’d get lucky, and it was just some thief breaking in. The more he thought about it, the more the idea of beating the daylights out of some petty criminal with an obvious lack of common sense appealed to him. At least he’d have someone to work out his frustrations on—