I wasn't able to focus on much for the rest of the day.

  I tried to at least get some training done with the orb, attempting to attune to it like Emberheart had instructed. But I made almost no progress. I was unfocused, and my mana reflected that, swirling erratically instead of flowing smoothly into the metal sphere.

  Corruption mages. The words kept echoing in my head.

  Corruption Studies the next day didn't even come close to answering my questions. Professor Brume just droned on about reporting procedures and safety precautions whenever corruption was discovered. All bureaucratic nonsense that had nothing to do with what I actually needed to know.

  When it was finally time for lunch, I rushed to the dining hall. If anyone would know about corruption mages, it would be Aurora.

  She was surprisingly early, already sitting at our usual table. I went straight to sit across from her.

  "Hey," I said, dropping into the chair.

  "Hello. You're early." She noticed immediately, of course. Her eyes studied me with an analytical look.

  "I have a lot to talk about."

  "You do?" A flicker of curiosity crossed her face. "What happened?"

  "Let's wait for the others."

  She nodded, though I could tell she was already trying to figure out what I might say.

  Lina arrived a few minutes later, her blue hair pulled back in a simple ponytail. She looked tired, carrying what looked like another new notebook. She sat down beside Aurora with a small greeting.

  Erick showed up last, as usual. He had both sleeves of his platinum uniform rolled up today, showing off those runed bracers. He dropped into his seat with his typical lack of ceremony, already eyeing the food.

  I waited until we all had our plates, then leaned forward slightly.

  "So... do any of you know about corruption mages?"

  The reaction was immediate and intense.

  I felt the temperature drop, though whether that was real or just my imagination, I couldn't tell. Lina looked at me like I'd just admitted to murder. Erick's eyebrows shot up, impressed. Aurora was examining me carefully, as if checking whether I could be trusted with whatever she was about to say.

  Lina was the first to recover enough to speak.

  "You shouldn't talk about that!" Her voice was low but urgent. "It's forbidden magic. The kind that gets people thrown in prison!"

  "No one's going to prison for talking about it," Erick said casually, stealing food from the center platter.

  "So you do know about it," I concluded, looking at him.

  "Only a bit..." Lina admitted reluctantly.

  "I take Greystar's class," Erick said, like that explained everything.

  I looked at Aurora, who had remained silent through the exchange. She looked back at me, and for a moment we just stared at each other. A silent contest of wills that I somehow managed to win when she finally sighed.

  "Yes, I know about them." She set down her fork carefully. "I assume you're going to ask about the runes we found?"

  "The runes?" I asked, confused. Aurora clearly thought I knew more than I did.

  Something clicked for Lina. Realization dawned on her face, her eyes widening. Even Erick sat up properly in his chair for the first time since I'd met him, actually paying full attention.

  Aurora sighed, recognizing her mistake. "The runes on the ground at the expedition site. Contrary to what Lina initially believed, they didn't have residual mana. They never had mana in the first place."

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "So that's why I couldn't sense anything from them," Lina muttered, almost to herself. "I just assumed the corruption had consumed it all, but corruption magic is..."

  "Unreliable," Aurora finished. "Yes. Creating a rune from pure corruption would be essentially impossible due to the sheer amount of corruption energy one would need to channel and control."

  Unless some massive spell was used. Something like altering reality itself, perhaps?

  The implication settled over me. It was becoming clearer how I might fit into all this, and I really didn't like what that meant.

  "Why is it unreliable?" I asked, needing to understand.

  Aurora answered patiently. "Your body contains mana. Corruption spreads through mana, feeds on it. It's quite simple when you understand the mechanism. A mage trying to use corruption would essentially be poisoning themselves. But many ambitious mages still try to find alternative methods to make it work."

  "From what I've read," Lina added quietly, "the experiments with corruption runes failed because the mage would need to have corruption inside their body to properly imbue it. Which is..."

  "Suicidal," Erick supplied.

  "Then what exactly are corruption mages?" I asked.

  "Mostly ambitious fools who try to uncover how to work with corruption safely," Aurora said. "From what we know, none of them have truly succeeded. Not even Greystar."

  "Wait." I stared at her. "Greystar is a corruption mage?!"

  "She was, before joining the academy," Aurora responded like it was common knowledge.

  "Now I understand why she's not allowed to teach first years..." Lina said slowly. "Students might see her as a success story. A self-made S-rank who used corruption magic to gain power..."

  "It's not just that, but yes, it's part of the reason," Aurora confirmed. "But corruption magic was never anything close to what we encountered at the expedition. Whatever created those runes, it didn't feel like it could be human-made."

  I took a breath, then decided to just lay it all out. "Silvani told me that corruption mages are behind all of this. She wants to know about the expedition, and she's trying to get me to tell her what happened."

  Aurora went very still, her expression becoming thoughtful. Lina looked genuinely scared now.

  "This is bad..." Lina's voice was barely above a whisper. "If it's true, if corruption mages have actually found a way to make it work, this could become a crisis. A huge one."

  "So what, we go analyze the circle, tell Silvani what we find in exchange for what she knows, then what?" Erick asked pragmatically.

  "We're not—" Lina tried to protest, but Aurora cut her off.

  "Without seeing those runes directly, we can't know what the corruption mages were trying to achieve with that circle. Or worse, what they already achieved."

  "I made a promise to Anya," I said firmly. "I told her I'd get rid of corruption. It's better to start now than wait for things to get worse. And whatever that circle was, it has something to do with her brother. Maybe seeing it will help us figure out how to help him."

  The table went quiet. Both Lina and Aurora looked tense, and I knew they were thinking the same thing I was. What role did Anya's brother play in all this? Was he some kind of sacrifice? Food for the corruption? Or was it learning from him somehow, the way it had tried to learn from me?

  Each possibility was worse than the last.

  "Then we're going Saturday," Erick decided, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

  "Yeah," I agreed. Then I put on my most clueless expression. "But... I can't read runes by myself..."

  I looked between Lina and Aurora hopefully.

  "You'll need protection anyway," Aurora said, finding her excuse in that. "Someone who can actually fight if something goes wrong."

  Lina looked around the table, seeing she was already outnumbered. "Fine! But if we get expelled for this, I'm blaming all of you."

  Erick grinned. "Finally, some actual action. We inviting anyone else?"

  "Anya," I said, with a tone that made it clear this wasn't negotiable.

  Aurora tried to give me a look, probably about to argue, but seeing my expression she just sighed and moved on. "We should have more protection then. Since the Prince is unavailable, I recommend we bring Mary."

  "He's out?" I asked, surprised.

  "You haven't noticed we haven't seen him at all recently?" Lina looked at me with disbelief.

  "I just assumed I was getting lucky," I admitted.

  "He left a few days ago to report on the expedition to the emperor personally," Aurora explained.

  "Won't Mary just snitch to him though?" Erick questioned, leaning back in his chair.

  "No. To reveal such a secret without permission would be unbecoming of her position," Aurora said with absolute certainty. "Mary understands propriety. She won't betray a confidence unless she believes it's necessary for our safety."

  "Then it's decided," I said.

  We spent the rest of lunch discussing the details. What time to leave, what route to take, what supplies we'd need. Aurora insisted on proper preparation, while Erick kept suggesting we just "wing it." Lina took notes, because of course she did.

  By the time we finished eating, we had a plan.

  Saturday morning. We'd make our way back to that forest.

  And we'd discover what exactly had happened there, and what those corruption mages were trying to accomplish.

  I just hoped we'd be ready for whatever we found.