Lith Verhen/History/Volume 3

## Chapters 88 - 168

### 2nd Trimester

Lith achieves the highest scores amongst his group for the 2nd trimester and continues his swordsmanship lessons mostly with Phloria, learning about her and her hobbies, world customs, etc. The 4th years have their first Dimensional Magic lesson taught by Professor Khavos Rudd, though many struggle to grasp the lessons, including Lith who has poor mana perception.

Lith ventures out into the forest surrounding the academy and encounters a Plant Puppeteer Abomination, saving Lyta the Dryad in the process and meeting her sister Ryssa. To gain Lith's trust, they offer to mend his damaged soul (due to his past life deaths) and conjure a vision in which he relives his three lives, showing his past to help him understand the future. The vision of the future brings him in contact with a young Byk named Nok and 6 mercenaries hired by Archmage Lukart to kill magical beasts and frame the students for it to sow discord between Headmaster Linjos and Scarlett. After a botched interrogation attempt with what he later learns is Higher Necromancy, Nok's mother Kalla gives Lith a lesson in Necromancy and brings him to her lair to repay him for saving Nok's life. She reveals locked dimensional boxes, which after Lith picks one up triggers in him a vision that depicts the White Griffon being attacked and his family killed. The recent events force Lith into a breakthrough to a light cyan core. He contacts Mirim Distar and is forced to reveal his enhanced physical prowess (thanks to Awakening) to his group in order for them to cover for him and pretend they fought together.

During a dimensional lesson, the class discovers that the Training Hall's protections have been sabotaged, causing the spatial fissures from dimensional spells to explode. Lith puts his life on the line to save himself and the others, and is badly injured. Quylla and the others manage to stabilize his condition, meeting Raaz and Elina in the process. Meanwhile, the explosion of Coirn Hatorne's Alchemic laboratory releases the plague in Kandria, prompting Queen Sylpha to request the second best diagnostician after Manohar, which happens to be Lith at Marth's recommendation, to go to Kandria and develop a cure.

### Kandria Plague

Along the way, Lith and his Queen's Corps escort led by Captain Velagros are ambushed by a unit of Talons sent by Lukart and Nalear. The squad is killed, but Lith manages to kill the Talons and make his way to Kandria with a believable excuse for his survival. He meets Captain Kilian Aluria and Colonel Varegrave as well as Queen Sylpha and King Meron via communication amulet. Lith is able to make a successful diagnosis of the plague, which is revealed to be 4 different parasitic worms, an upgrade of the poison used on Mirim Distar's daughter Brinja. The Royals declare a national state of emergency and appoint Lith a state secret, inviting experts from the Griffon Academies to mask his involvement. Lieutenant Vickas Banut and two other traitorous soldiers under the noble faction attempt to kidnap Lith and threaten him with Trion's life to force him into making a cure, since the nobles want to weaponize the plague. Lith interrogates and kills them, making a cover story that consequently undermines the noble factions' credibility and allows the Royals to further suppress them.

Together with Professor Marth, Lith helps with devising spells to neutralize 3 of the 4 parasites, leaving the mana parasite which has degraded the cores of many mages. He receives an award of 2000 gold coins from the Royals but declines a noble title, wanting to stay under the radar amidst the civil unrest and also stay unbound to the Kingdom. He sets up treatment sessions for Kandria's strongest mages, Nindra Luce and Garith Senti, but discovers that an unintended side effect of the mana core degradation could lead to the creation of true mages. Garith assaults him during a treatment session, and Lith swiftly executes him.

The remaining 3 Talons ambush Lith in a tent, and Lith fends them off in close combat due to the restriction on magic caused by the Small World Royal artifact. Solus assumes her Gauntlet form for the first time, but when she is cracked by a blade, Lith's rage bypasses the Small World and his mana becomes merged with the world's dark energies as well as the dark energies in his mind and soul, leading to his first world tribulation, and he kills the Talons. He later fully cures Nindra and reports to the Royals, stating that he intends to follow his brother's lead and join the military after graduating. The Royals suspect Lith of being a natural Awakened one, and speculate about Tyris' judgment.

Returning home, Lith kills Garth Renkin, the son of the richest merchant Gurid Renkin, for harassing and assaulting Tista, and meets Protector again, who reveals he met Scarlett, Awakened to a blue core with her help, learned to shapeshift, and moved in/began a relationship with Selia in his human form. Lith helps Protector learn the other elements before returning to the academy for private lessons, where he successfully casts a Warp Gate from Rudd and learns how to forge communication amulets from Professor Wanemyre.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 89: Dimensional Magic
2. ↑ Chapter 99: Red Lotus (2)
3. ↑ Chapter 105: Desperation
4. ↑ Chapter 112: Reborn
5. ↑ Chapter 114: Half Truth (2)
6. ↑ Chapter 120: Bombshell
7. ↑ Chapter 128: Contingencies
8. ↑ Chapter 130: Traitor
9. ↑ Chapter 138: Plague (2)
10. ↑ Chapter 144: Search for the Cure
11. ↑ Chapter 150: The Last Hurdle (2)
12. ↑ Chapter 155: Crisis (2)
13. ↑ Chapter 158: A New Power
14. ↑ Chapter 162: Hard Times
15. ↑ Chapter 165: Domestic Affairs (3)