The afternoon sunlight filtered through the tall windows of the Alchemy Hall, painting long golden stripes across the stone floor.
Dust particles drifted lazily in the light, undisturbed except for the quiet movement of students settling into their seats.
Despite the calm atmosphere, my thoughts were still lingering on this morning's incident.
The corrupted beast that had appeared near the Academy had not been planned. It had simply… emerged. Too close to the Academy walls for comfort.
The rifts were no longer distant problems.
They were reaching us.
Mei Lin slid into the seat beside me with her usual quick energy, setting her notebook down and immediately flipping it open.
Professor Han stood at the front of the hall, calm as always, though there was a certain weight behind his words today.
"Recent incidents have demonstrated that infernal miasma can manifest abruptly, even near protected areas," he began. "Corrupted energy has begun interacting with both living creatures and mana-infused reagents in increasingly unpredictable ways."
A faint projection appeared above the lectern, showing diagrams of corrupted mana patterns.
"Today, the Alchemy Department will continue researching methods to stabilize magical compounds that have been exposed to infernal corruption.
Meanwhile, the Healing Department will investigate how infernal energy affects living mana in humans, animals, and other magical organisms."
He paused briefly, letting the room settle.
"Coordination between departments is vital. Compare your observations, document irregularities, and if anything unusual occurs, report it to the supervising professors immediately.
Even minor discoveries may become crucial later."
Mei Lin was already scribbling notes beside me.
"That reaction pattern is going to be tricky," she muttered quietly, tapping her quill against the page.
I smiled faintly.
That was Mei Lin in a nutshell. Equal parts brilliant and dramatic.
After the theoretical discussion ended, the students were divided into small work groups and directed toward the practical workstations spread throughout the laboratory hall.
Mei Lin and I stayed together.
Our station held a small collection of mana-infused reagents: powdered crystals, alchemical salts, and several vials containing faintly glowing liquids.
Mei Lin immediately began preparing a stabilization array.
Unlike me, she relied entirely on classical alchemy techniques. She carefully ground two pale blue crystals into powder, mixed them with a stabilizing reagent, and slowly infused the mixture with her own mana through a glass stirring rod.
The mixture shimmered faintly.
"According to Professor Han's notes," she murmured, "this compound should resist mild corruption if the mana flow remains steady."
The moment a trace of corrupted energy was introduced into the mixture, the liquid darkened slightly.
Mei Lin adjusted the mana flow immediately, guiding the reaction through the stabilizing array she had drawn onto the worktable.
The reaction slowed.
Not perfect yet, but stable.
"See?" she said, glancing at me with quiet satisfaction. "Traditional methods still work."
I nodded, impressed.
While she handled the reagent reactions, I focused on something slightly different.
Thin threads of Space Magic unfolded from my fingertips, barely visible even to trained eyes. Instead of interacting with the reagents directly, I subtly adjusted the space around them, isolating small fluctuations before they could spread to neighboring samples.
A small spark of corrupted energy flared in one vial.
Instead of bursting outward, it simply flickered and dissolved harmlessly inside the space I had folded around it.
I noted the reaction carefully in my notebook.
The next set of experiments involved living mana samples.
Several small magical plants had been placed in containment vessels, each lightly exposed to a controlled trace of infernal energy.
At first glance they looked normal.
But when I extended my awareness with Space Magic, the distortion became obvious.
Their mana currents were… uneven.
Infernal miasma did not simply poison a creature. It twisted the rhythm of its internal mana.
Very carefully, I extended my threads around one of the plants, creating a small stabilizing pocket of space.
I didn't force the mana back into place…
I only gave it enough room to settle naturally.
Slowly, the warped currents smoothed.
The plant's leaves relaxed slightly.
Interesting….This seems like a good direction.
Beside me, Mei Lin leaned over another sample.
"If this works," she said thoughtfully, "we might be able to create protective mixtures for field teams.
Something that prevents the miasma from spreading through the body."
"That would be useful," I said.
Very useful.
By the time the morning experiments ended, both of our notebooks were filled with notes and reaction diagrams.
During the midday break, Mei Lin and I carried our lunch outside to the courtyard.
The open air felt refreshing after hours inside the laboratory.
We settled beneath one of the Academy's old trees, where sunlight filtered through the leaves in soft patterns across the grass.
For a while we ate quietly.
Eventually, the conversation returned to the morning's emergency.
"It's unnerving how close it appeared," I said, taking a sip of water. "The rifts are widening. If the miasma keeps spreading like this… these incidents will probably become more frequent."
Mei Lin wrinkled her nose thoughtfully.
"That may be true," she said. "But the professors and the senior students are incredibly strong.
I also think the different academies and guilds will start exchanging more information.
If everyone works together, they should be able to develop… some kind of solution..."
Her voice trailed off.
Then she suddenly nudged my arm.
"But look over there."
She nodded subtly toward the far end of the training grounds.
From our distance we could see several figures practicing containment formations around a small controlled manifestation of corrupted energy.
Sheng Rui stood at the center of the formation, his light magic forming soft arcs around the unstable mana.
"I swear," Mei Lin whispered dramatically, "I cannot get over how careful he is."
My gaze drifted over the group.
Dawei Chen moved beside Sheng Rui with quiet precision, occasionally adjusting the formation lines with small movements of his sword.
Liang Yu's summoned creatures drifted around the outer edges, responding instantly whenever the corrupted energy pulsed.
And Yung Yu stood slightly apart, dark mana circling him like a restrained storm.
"The way Dawei and Liang keep hovering around him is kind of adorable," Mei Lin added under her breath.
I had to bite back a laugh.
Well…She wasn't wrong.
As we finished our lunch, my thoughts drifted toward tomorrow's training.
The Rare Magic Division had already been informed.
This time we would practice together, on how to fight and contain a corrupted beast ourselves. No help.
The creatures used for training would be carefully selected, only beasts whose corruption was still reversible.
If handled properly, they could be captured and purified afterward without permanent harm.
While practicing Alchemy, my task would be to develop ways to protect living mana from infernal influence:
protective reagents, stabilizing mixtures, maybe even purification compounds.
At the same time, I needed to find ways to restore corrupted samples back to their original state.
And when practicing with the Rare Magic class…
Well.
I would have to get a little more hands-on.
Space Magic wasn't exactly subtle in combat situations.
After the picnic, Mei Lin and I went our separate ways.
I headed straight back to my personal laboratory.
My mind was already buzzing with ideas.
Several of the techniques we had discussed earlier could potentially be improved if Space Magic was used not only as stabilization, but as containment.
Inside my lab, I began setting up a series of experiments.
Small crystals floated in midair while I folded thin layers of space around them, isolating each reaction from the others.
A drop of corrupted energy was introduced into the first sample.
The crystal trembled, but then stabilized.
Promising.
Next, I tested a small vial containing living mana residue.
Infernal influence distorted the flow almost immediately, but when I expanded the surrounding space just slightly, the mana currents regained their rhythm.
That meant space manipulation could potentially slow the spread of corruption long enough for healing magic or purification compounds to work.
Hours passed without me noticing.
By the time I finally stepped back from the worktable, my notebooks were filled with sketches, reaction notes, and several potential stabilization methods.
Mei Lin would absolutely want to see this.
And the Healing Department would probably find some of the results useful as well.
When I finally stepped outside, evening had already settled over the Academy.
Students were still training on the practice fields, their laughter and occasional shouts echoing through the air.
I paused for a moment, watching them.
Soon, encounters with corrupted creatures would become part of everyday training.
Even if the first exercises used reversible cases… it was still worrying.
The next morning arrived far too quickly.
When I reached the Rare Magic training grounds, the atmosphere was completely different from the quiet focus of the Alchemy labs.
The four Legendary Students were already there.
Yung Yu stood near the center of the field, dark mana moving around him in slow currents.
Liang Yu leaned against one of the stone pillars, several small summoned creatures drifting lazily nearby.
Dawei Chen was adjusting the grip of his sword.
And Sheng Rui…
Sheng Rui noticed me first.
A small smile crossed his face as I approached.
Professor Lin stood a short distance away, speaking with several senior instructors.
Behind them, a reinforced containment field had been constructed.
Inside it… something moved.
Corrupted mana pulsed faintly through the air.
Professor Lin turned toward us.
"Good," he said calmly.
"It seems the Rare Magic Class is finally assembled."
He gestured toward the containment barrier.
"Today, you will face your first corrupted beast….Alone"
A pause,
"Under supervision, of course."
My pulse quickened slightly.