The Girl Who Hacked The Magic System

In my last semester in the Academy, I became more outspoken when I saw anything that made my sense of justice beep. Of course, I wasn't as rash as I used to be when I first joined, but still, there were some inevitable confrontations with the Principal.

Not that I cared much about it anymore, as I was almost graduating. All I needed to do was to come to class once per week and to produce my paper.

It was a very simple and boring paper about the composition of composite elements. I basically demolished the accepted paradigm about elements, though I stopped short of presenting my alternative thesis.

I phrased it not as a demolishing, of course, but as mere questioning. And I presented such a solid pragmatic and theoric base that one couldn't simply dismiss it as foolishness.

It was worded in a way to avoid direct confrontation with the Church, of course. 'I'm only asking questions; I'm not affirming anything' is the all-powerful conspiracy theorist resource.

But it seems that I made at least one big enemy during my time at the Academy. She joined the academy one year before me, so she was quite jealous of me graduating before her.

I'm talking about Urraca, of course, the princess of Castro. She has disliked me since our very first meeting, a feeling that I thoroughly reciprocated.

As she was one year more advanced than me, we rarely met during my time in there. Except for this last semester, in which we're doing the final paper class together.

She was to graduate next semester, while I'm graduating now. She was so furious about it that she also joined the class, to at least graduate at the same time.

And she was my most staunch opponent in everything I did or said within the Academy. And of course I bested her in every public argument we had. Which only put more timber to the fire.

Until graduation night finally arrived.

After all the ceremony, just when I thought that I was finally able to leave all the Academy stuff behind, she came to talk to me.

"Don't go thinking that you'll have a great future just because you graduated early."

In front of me, the infuriating Princess Urraca.

"My future is mine to decide upon, and mine alone. Have a nice day."

"Whatever heresy you like to utter will not change anything in the world. And soon, you'll be calling me 'Your Majesty,' as I will be your reigning queen."

"I'm sorry, but I have no plans to come to Castro any time in the foreseeable future."

"Oh, but you don't need to. I'll marry your uncle, the crown prince. And then, I'll become queen and squash the heretic sprouts."

"Ohhh... it looks like someone has been reading too many romance novels. I'm sorry, but my uncle would never marry you."

"That's what you think... little sister. Or should I call you niece? But my father and the Pontifex are already taking care of it."

I use my illusion spells to maintain the facade while I'm raging inside.

:::

"It's true, Aurea. But you don't need to worry about that. I strategically accepted the betrothal to make them think that we're abiding by their rules. But I put a condition on it."

"A condition?"

I'm chatting with my uncle and both my grandparents in the palace while we eat some nice pastries.

"Yes. The marriage is only to happen when she's not underage anymore. I used our difference in ages to play that card."

"So you gained some time."

"Yes. Seven months."

"And what will you do when the time expires, uncle?"

It was my grandmother, queen Thieda, who answered.

"Well, you have that time to finish training your little army, Aurea. If we trigger the war before that date, and Castro joins on the Church's side, then the betrothal is as good as broken."

"I see... and while the betrothal is up, they're less likely to start the war themselves."

"Exactly. So don't let that girl get on your nerves. Focus on your job, because you've been making fantastic progress in it."

:::

And that's how I spent the last six months fully dedicated to my army.

It's funny to say that. 'My army' is a very weird sentence to utter, but it's true in the most literal of senses.

It's an army that only exists because of me. I'm its commander, and the soldiers are fiercely loyal to me personally. Most of them would gladly give their lives away for me.

And very soon, they will actually do it. Not all of them, but a lot of them.

Lovelace can heal the most absurd of injuries, but only as long as the person is still alive. After they're dead, there's nothing she can do. Or any of us.

There is a restlessness in both our bases now that the decisive war is lingering upon us. Both in the arena and the former vampire nest, people are growing uneasy.

To be honest, everyone has improved greatly. All three thousand of them, human and beastkin alike.

Though the one with the greatest jump is Ingela. She's very creative and intuitive, with a fairly different approach to creating arias than mine. Where I analyze and break down the arias into components to then assemble them again, she just goes with the flow and guts.

In some points I would easily admit that she is better than me. She has a level of affinity with the fire element that sometimes surprises even Lovelace herself.

The training sessions where she does mock battles against me or Lovelace are famous because they are the only moments where she goes all out. Which in the beginning tended to end up with her clothes burning out and falling into ashes.

We soon managed to get the craftsman of the realm to make fire-resistant robes for her, which she gladly took.

She says that her goal now is to manage to turn her body fully into flames.

Yeah, sometimes that girl scares me.

But what exemplifies her progress more is her handling of spatial magic. While I have a more utility-oriented handling of spatial magic, she fully incorporated it into her combat routine.

I have thought of using it to slash the fabric or space to cut someone or for defense, but I normally have to go through a whole process to see what and where to pull the strings. So it's often more effective to simply blast the monsters with lightning.

Ingela wields space as easily as a swordsmaster wields a sword, with the same grace and precision. There is a certain sphere around her in which, if you enter, you are as good as dead.

It isn't like I have been slacking off, okay? It's just that spatial magic is not much my thing for combat. For example, my portals can last far longer than hers, and I've improved a lot in the precision for fast travel using objects with low connection level to the target place.

As I said, it's just a matter of focus. While I think of spatial magic as something useful for daily mundane tasks, she thinks of it as a weapon.

On the other hand, my arsenal has improved a lot with gravitational and vacuum magic. Now I can combine gravity with vacuum to create devastating AoE spells that can destroy a wide area.

Like, completely destroy. The only time I tested it, in an open abandoned field, the effects were terrifying. I could obliterate a whole city with one of those.

The other element I have a big affinity with, radiance, I'm avoiding completely. Its effects look too similar to radiation poisoning for a person raised on Earth in the XXth century to be comfortable with.

I've also been tinkering with cosmic elements. It isn't anything useful in combat yet, nor outside of it, but it's a start. Lovelace has been helping me with the dark element, and I'm kinda vibe coding my way through with the light element.

I'm certain it will become useful someday.

Anyway, everyone has improved a lot. Even the melee fighters have managed to defeat knights with the adventuring system active, with pure technique and wits.

After all, even with the raw physical power the system gives, the movesets of the skills given by the system are too predictable. So it's just a matter of perfecting the timing and the appropriate responses to the enemy movements.

And it's very helpful that the system's skills have to be called out loud to work, and you can't easily switch it to another midway.

The flexibility of the systemless way of fighting is what allows us to have hopes for the coming war.

But what makes me have the most pride about this army of mine is the bonding people have been forming. Humans and beastkin, together. Like, really together.

I've seen a lot of friendships form, as well as some couples. It's been really nice to just sit quietly in the dining hall and watch everyone enjoying themselves together, without prejudices.

Except for a little something that brings me a little bit of pain. Which is to see how close Ingela and Yaci have become.