Lucien leaned back against the carriage window, eyes drifting away from the rushing clouds. With a thought, he pulled up the System panel in his mind.
The glowing semi-transparent screen hovered right in front of him, every loan and its exact progress laid out in clean, sharp lines.
He went through them one by one, quietly running the numbers.
Start with the big Year-Loans.
The Emerald Tablet Fragment was basically in the bag. Once SwiftSpeak dropped for real and flooded the market, that final chunk would lock in. Paying it off would cement his SS+ Alchemy talent for good. The only missing piece was how to finish the full Tablet and hit SSS rank—still zero clues on that front.
The brand-new Seed of Idun's Apple loan was a much longer game. Nothing he'd feel right away.
He'd have to wait for the Youth Apples to ripen and actually eat one before the real payoff kicked in—extra years on his life and a serious bump to his magical reserves.
Growing the trees was going to be a beast, though. Constant massive magic drain plus a shopping list that included damn near every known magical ingredient on the planet and a handful that were basically extinct. That was going to take years.
Lucien was still young, so the whole "live longer" angle wasn't exactly urgent.
What he was actually pumped about? The power boost after eating one. More magic meant he could finally push into the really wild, complicated stuff.
Who the hell turns down a bigger mana pool?
He kept scrolling.
Next, the Month-Loans.
The main ones right now were the advanced Earth and Fire Element Runes.
Earth was already paid off—nice little side win was cracking the upgraded Fountain of Beauty in the process. Solid boost to his alchemy game.
Fire still needed settling. Back at Hogwarts he'd have to crank the Valentine's Day energy through the roof this year. Perfect time to plant a new Fountain of Beauty on campus—the improved version. That should seriously help set the mood.
Then there was the Week-Loan that upgraded the Metamorphic Flesh Puppet. Looked tiny next to the big ones, but holy shit had it opened a brand-new door.
With the Modified version he could now safely test magical circuit transfiguration. It was like flipping on a whole new research path.
Transfiguration was still his strongest field. No way he wasn't going to keep grinding it to the absolute limit.
His mind kept turning.
Curing blood maledictions to pay off the Idun's Apple loan definitely meant going deep on Dark Magic and curses.
But was there another route? Something using the magic he already owned—Transfiguration, Alchemy—to come at it sideways?
Could partial circuit transfiguration, for example, reshape his own magical pathways to build in some kind of curse resistance?
The more he chewed on it, the more it felt worth chasing.
The loan didn't give a damn how he cured them—just that he did. So straight Dark Magic study was one road. Countering curses with transfiguration and alchemy? Totally valid second road.
And Lucien never said no to learning more.
…
Stars were thick overhead by the time full night settled in.
The Thestral-drawn carriage touched down with a soft jolt, wheels kissing familiar ground.
Lucien grabbed his suitcase and stepped out. The night wind hit his face, carrying that unmistakable Hogwarts scent.
Ryman beside him let out a long, happy breath. "Fuck, nothing beats your own school. Even the air tastes better here, right?"
Lucien nodded, eyes on the warm, familiar glow of the castle gates. A small smile crept across his face without him even trying.
Yeah, Beauxbatons had the flash—the palace wings, perfect gardens, fountains everywhere. It won on pure wow factor.
But the second you crossed the Hogwarts grounds, that easy, loose feeling settled into your bones.
It was home.