Chapter 1078: Too Early for Morning

The heavy door opened.

Lucavion stood on the other side.

For someone scheduled to undergo an abnormal mana examination before sunrise, he looked remarkably unconcerned.

His black hair had been arranged with approximately the amount of care Selenne had come to expect from him, which was to say enough that nobody could call it disheveled without technically lying, while several strands still fell wherever they pleased across his forehead. His Academy coat sat properly over his shoulders, though the upper clasp remained undone, and one hand had already found its usual place inside a pocket.

Then there was the smile.

Selenne noticed that first.

Or, rather, she noticed the difference.

He had smiled plenty during yesterday’s oral examination. Sometimes because something amused him, sometimes because he had apparently decided that confusing the examiner was preferable to admitting ignorance, and occasionally because smiling seemed to be his natural response whenever a sensible person would have reconsidered what they were about to say.

This one was wider.

Easier, somehow.

The faint heaviness she remembered around his eyes yesterday had disappeared, and even at this miserable hour, Lucavion looked as though the morning had personally delivered something entertaining to him.

’He is in a good mood.’

Selenne found that mildly suspicious.

Lucavion stepped across the threshold, and his black eyes moved through the chamber.

First Elir.

Then Marcus.

Tamara.

Finally Selenne.

His gaze returned briefly to the others, taking in the papers, Tower seals, observation equipment, and the collection of people who had somehow assembled before five in the morning for the privilege of watching him circulate mana.

His smile widened another fraction.

"Oh..."

Lucavion entered fully while the stone door began closing behind him.

"Quite a crowd has accumulated this early in the mor—"

He stopped.

Actually stopped.

His head tilted slightly as though the word itself had presented an unexpected philosophical difficulty.

Then, to Selenne’s growing disbelief, Lucavion lifted his index finger and rested its tip against his cheek.

The gesture might have looked vaguely endearing on someone else.

On a young woman deliberately playing at innocence, perhaps.

On Lucavion, with those pitch-black eyes and a face Selenne had already watched remain perfectly composed while describing injuries as a method of understanding mana circulation, it looked profoundly wrong.

He stared upward in exaggerated consideration.

"Mm..."

Selenne’s expression remained still.

’That does not suit his face.’

Lucavion seemed entirely unaware of her judgment.

"This cannot really be called morning, can it?"

His gaze wandered toward the narrow ventilation windows where the sky remained almost completely dark.

"I wonder what we would classify it as."

A pause.

"Late night?"

He shifted his finger slightly against his cheek.

"Premature morning?"

Elir’s mouth twitched.

Selenne saw it.

He immediately looked toward the formation.

Coward.

Lucavion continued thinking aloud.

"Perhaps there is an official Academy designation. You do seem to enjoy those."

Nobody answered.

Only then did he lower his hand.

His gaze moved across the chamber once again, and perhaps for the first time since entering, he seemed to register that every person waiting for him held enough institutional authority to make his complete absence of greeting rather conspicuous.

Professor Elir Varnen represented Rune oversight.

Marcus carried senior Academy authority within the examination structure.

Selenne herself was Magister Primus of the Magicians’ Block.

And Tamara Forthen stood there wearing the regulatory silver of the Magic Tower, with enough rank woven into her cuffs that most young mages would have corrected their posture before she ever introduced herself.

Lucavion looked at all of them.

Then smiled.

He made no attempt to correct anything.

Selenne almost sighed.

Yesterday, at least, he had called her Magister before beginning to cause problems.

Tamara was the first to respond.

Naturally.

"Student Lucavion."

Her voice crossed the chamber cleanly, quiet enough that she had no reason to raise it.

Lucavion turned toward her.

"Yes?"

The single word somehow made the situation worse.

Tamara’s eyes settled upon him with the same measured assessment she had used when entering the chamber, though a trace of displeasure had now entered beneath it.

"You appear to have mistaken the nature of this gathering."

Lucavion glanced around.

"Have I?"

"This is an official examination."

"That part I remember."

Tamara waited.

Lucavion waited with her.

Selenne could almost see the moment Tamara realized he genuinely intended to make her finish the point herself.

"You are standing before senior members of this Academy," Tamara said, "as well as an appointed representative of the Magic Tower."

"Ah."

Lucavion’s gaze briefly returned to the silver cuffs.

There was recognition there.

Perhaps more than there should have been.

Then he looked back at Tamara.

"I was wondering about those."

Her expression cooled.

Lucavion seemed encouraged.

"They looked a little too severe to be decorative."

Elir lowered his head farther.

Marcus’s jaw tightened.

Selenne simply watched.

Tamara folded her hands before her.

"Most students," she said, each word carefully chosen, "would consider introductions appropriate before commenting upon the attire of their examiners."

"Oh."

Lucavion blinked.

This time, his expression actually suggested realization.

For perhaps half a second.

Then he placed one hand lightly against his chest.

"My apologies."

Tamara waited.

Lucavion inclined his head.

"Lucavion."

Silence.

Selenne closed her eyes for one brief moment.

Of course.

When she opened them again, Tamara was staring at him.

Marcus looked actively offended.

Elir had become fascinated with a brass adjustment ring.

And Lucavion...

Lucavion was still smiling.

Wide enough that Selenne became increasingly certain he knew exactly what he was doing.

The silence lasted long enough for Elir to finally look away from the brass ring he had been pretending to inspect.

Marcus’s mouth had settled into a thin line. Tamara appeared considerably less interested in hiding her displeasure, while Selenne found herself wondering whether Lucavion had woken in a good mood or had simply decided that four senior academics gathered in one chamber presented too tempting an opportunity.

Judging from the smile, probably both.

Tamara folded her hands before her. "Is that the extent of your introduction?"

Lucavion seemed to consider it.

"Well..." His gaze passed over the room again, lingering briefly upon the observation table, the Tower seal beside Tamara, and the cluster of recording instruments arranged around the cultivation platform. "I suppose I should acknowledge the effort everyone has made. Gathering this many distinguished people before sunrise merely for me is rather flattering."

Marcus scoffed beneath his breath.

Elir rubbed the side of his nose.

Selenne kept her expression still.

Tamara did neither.

"This gathering exists because your previous examination produced results requiring independent verification," she said. "You would do well to treat that responsibility with the seriousness it deserves."

"Of course."

Lucavion inclined his head.

For approximately one second, Selenne thought he might actually stop.

Then his smile returned.

"After all, I am here as the entertainer of the—"

"That will be enough."

Tamara cut through him so cleanly that the rest of the sentence vanished.

Lucavion blinked.

The Tower mage rose from her seat.

The shift itself was unhurried, yet authority entered the movement with her. Tamara rested one hand upon the table, the silver regulatory marks around her cuffs catching the chamber light as she looked directly at Lucavion.

"You appear to misunderstand how much patience this examination requires from everyone present. I will tolerate questions. I will tolerate ignorance where instruction has failed to correct it. What I will not tolerate is deliberate disrespect toward the officials assigned to evaluate you."

Lucavion’s expression remained strangely pleasant.

Tamara continued.

"If you have decided that this is another stage upon which to perform, then perhaps we should conclude the examination before it begins and record your refusal to participate appropriately."

That wiped the faint amusement from Elir’s face.

Marcus, however, remained silent.

Selenne noticed.

Lucavion noticed as well.

His black eyes moved briefly toward Marcus before returning to Tamara.

Then he smiled.

"Are you sure about that?"

Tamara’s expression changed.

Only slightly.

"Excuse me?"

"Hm?"

Lucavion tilted his head, almost innocently.

"I asked whether you were sure."

"About ending the examination?"

"About wanting to."

His voice had softened, and something about that made the words more irritating rather than less.

Tamara straightened.

"Student Lucavion, I suggest you choose your next sentence carefully."

"Oh, I usually do."

He glanced toward Marcus again.

Marcus’s jaw tightened.

Lucavion caught it.

"There are plenty of ways I could make something like that troublesome for you, you know."

Elir’s attention sharpened.

Tamara stared at him.

"Is that a threat?"

"A warning sounds less dramatic."

"Lucavion."

Selenne’s voice entered before he could continue.

He looked toward her.

She could already see where he intended to take this, and judging by Marcus’s expression, so could he. Lucavion had accumulated enough irregularities across his examinations that a sudden disqualification over etiquette would invite questions. Recorded questions. Appeals. Reviews. Requests for the circumstances surrounding his previous trials.

Tamara might possess considerable Tower authority, but authority still required paperwork.

Lucavion apparently intended to remind her of that in the most aggravating manner available.

He gestured lightly toward Marcus.

"There is a reason Professor Marcus came here at this hour and has yet to seize upon such a convenient excuse."

Marcus’s eyes hardened.

"You presume a great deal."

"Do I?"

"That is enough," Selenne said.

Lucavion turned his head toward her.

She met his gaze.

"Stop being annoying."

The room went quiet.

Elir looked at Selenne.

Tamara looked at Selenne.

Even Marcus seemed momentarily distracted from his irritation.

Lucavion, meanwhile, simply stared at her.

Then his smile curved upward.

"What if I don’t?"

Selenne answered without changing expression.

"Then I will support the same judgment."

That finally slowed him.

She continued before he could reshape the question into something else.

"You have been given an examination under additional oversight because your previous results require clarification. That gives you the right to a fair process. It does not give you permission to waste everyone’s time because you enjoy watching people become irritated."

Lucavion’s eyes remained on hers.

"If Madam Forthen ends the examination because she dislikes your answers, I will object."

Tamara’s eyebrow twitched.

Selenne ignored it.

"If she ends it because you deliberately refuse to conduct yourself as a student undergoing an official assessment, I will sign the report beside her."

A beat passed.

Lucavion pursed his lips.

"Hm."

He looked around the chamber again.

Tamara.

Marcus.

Elir.

Selenne.

Then he sighed with astonishing theatrical sorrow.

"Four elderly people ganging up on an innocent young man at this hour..." He placed one hand against his chest. "How tragic this world has become."

Silence.

Then—

"Elderly?"

Elir said it first.

His face held genuine offense.

Marcus’s head turned sharply toward Lucavion.

Tamara’s pale eyes widened by perhaps half a degree, which was more visible emotion than she had shown since entering the chamber.

Selenne slowly narrowed her eyes.

Lucavion saw all four reactions develop at once.

And, with the instincts of a man who had spent years surviving situations of his own creation, immediately abandoned the joke.

His hand dropped from his chest.

His back straightened.

The airy smile remained for a heartbeat longer before settling into something smaller and considerably more appropriate. When he spoke again, even his voice had changed. The lazy amusement remained somewhere beneath it, because Lucavion seemed incapable of removing it entirely, but the performance surrounding it disappeared.

"Lucavion."

Tamara was still looking at him.

He inclined his head properly this time.

"Special-entry first-year student. I am here for the Mana Control Trial scheduled for five this morning, with secondary review concerning the anomalous result recorded during my affinity examination."

Elir blinked.

Selenne watched him.

Of course he knew the formal wording.

Lucavion continued, his gaze moving toward the cultivation platform.

"I understand that Professor Varnen is present to verify his earlier observation, while the remaining examiners are here under the Academy and Tower oversight provisions attached afterward."

He paused.

Then looked back toward Tamara.

"I will cooperate with the examination."

Tamara’s cheek twitched.

Once.

A tiny movement near the corner of her mouth, quickly suppressed.

Selenne found herself experiencing a very specific kind of satisfaction.

Lucavion had just demonstrated, in less than a minute, that every missing courtesy before this point had been intentional.

Tamara had understood the same thing.

That likely made it worse.

Elir cleared his throat.

"Well."

He stepped toward the central formation before another conversation could somehow begin.

"Since everyone has now been properly introduced... eventually... we should proceed."

Lucavion glanced at him.

"Eventually feels judgmental, Professor."

"It was."

"Oh."

Elir ignored the smile that followed and picked up one of the recording slates.

Tamara remained standing for another second before returning to her seat. She pulled one of the Tower documents toward herself and aligned it with unnecessary precision.

"Before we begin the examination," she said, her voice controlled once more, "we will confirm whether the affinity sphere fails to respond again."