Silent Chamber

(Prol POV)

One month ago.

"I think it's safe to assume by now that we're not being observed. Or at least, as safe as it'll ever be." Prol openly states in his soul.

[Most likely, Master. Did you have something in mind?]

"I don't really like the lack of information. Though practicing energy control is all well and good, perhaps we can gain some understanding of the soul itself." With a bit of effort on his part, he generates a workstation- a triple monitor desktop setup, floating on a desk before a comfortable chair. Taking a seat, he powers the system on. Since it's only a figment of his will, it works perfectly fine, but that should come as no surprise. He opens Rin's API, glancing through, and thinking to himself. "Mmm. The functions I want to add probably require a few minor updates. I won't touch the core code, though, not here."

There was an immediate issue with updating Rin- there really wasn't any sort of Application Program Interface (API) for life. In other words, there wasn't any code he could use to connect Rin to reality. However, theoretically, it was all his soul anyway, so whatever he wanted to work should work fine.

First was the issue of privacy, which stemmed from his lack of understanding of his own soul's structure. Naturally, he had to write functions to allow Rin to interact directly with his soul, analyze it, and perhaps even change it in the future. Overall, it wasn't too difficult to do, since it was just a matter of his will. However, he had to ensure Rin's database was up to the task of storing all the information, and add a bit more creativity to the analyze function as well.

"Mm. Programming without rules is nice," he nods to himself. His style was to test every change as he made it to produce bugs, so he had compiled the code and tested it a few times. Essentially, it was nearly impossible to make errors, since it was mostly based on whatever he willed to happen. He just had to understand something, and he could make it work. He could only dream of that translating to interacting with reality as well.

After a bit of analysis, he could roughly determine his soul was a mess. It had a strange partitioning scheme setup meaning it was separated in weird ways, and Rin was interlaced with him in a way she could never be removed. He was fine with that part, but he figured someone out there could connect with his soul, and he wasn't about to allow them easy access.

…

After a couple hours, he had gathered all the data he could, and with some creativity most could never hope for, written functions to encrypt his soul. Though he was a bit uncertain about the interactions between souls, as well as those between souls and the outside world, he set it up so that there were various ports that could interface with the outside. They were carefully monitored- well, he could just call it a firewall, in a sense. Though it was fairly high level, it essentially allowed him to determine if an interaction was safe before allowing it to actually access his soul. Naturally, Rin played a large part in that.

He assumed someone was capable of forcing their way past such a port, which might just be viewed as a gate to others- but if they did so, the soul would still be encrypted, and just look like a bunch of nonsense to others. Still, he was cautious of random interference with encrypted data, so he built a layered, redundant, parity-type system into his soul. Essentially, even if a third of it was destroyed, it was fine. He could regenerate that.

Still, his caution knew no bounds, so he had created the ability to instance his soul. Essentially, it was an illusion others could interact with, and the information would come back to him. However, if it was destroyed, he lost nothing. It was similar to what he used to test and run random viruses in his past life. Still, even if it was a rogue part of his soul, it cost a fair bit to create it if he couldn't get it back. He suspected his soul had a bit of growth from all the strain he had put on it by doing so many nonsensical things- but he had gone even further, allowing Rin to use instances to run simulations on what would happen if he did something to his soul.

…

"Mmm. This is still a bit inefficient. Perhaps if I just..."

…

(Lina POV)

Lina was unhappy to find dinner delivered to her room. Though she knew what time dinner was, she hadn't gone, and she definitely wasn't going to eat something provided by this family right before she was supposed to sleep. After an hour, the luxurious feast was taken away, and she took careful care to lock and barricade the door. A shudder goes down her tiny back at the thought, and she makes sure the windows are locked and jammed shut as well despite being on the second floor.

After her preparations are complete, she lays down, fully clothed, in her bed, curling up into herself. She couldn't help but long for someone familiar to be with her. To tell her she was going to be okay to keep watch. Barely calming her nerves, she closes her eyes, going into a light sleep for the night.

…

Her eyes snap open at the movement of the sunlight entering the room, and after a couple heavy breaths, she slowly gets out of her bed. After taking the barricade off the door, she opens it, and steps out from her room. He icy eyes look over the servant posting guard over her room, and she feels glad she was so cautious. "I'd like to go to Karse Academy now," she instructs, her icy tone causing the servant to shudder- before he dashes off with a "Right away!" to inform the coach.

Her face stays calm, but inside, she feels a bit of confusion. Was she that scary? No, that wasn't important. She didn't care if people hated her- she would rather they were afraid than willing to provoke her. It was better this way.

…

Without much hassle, she got into the coach to Karse Academy, and started mentally flipping through the information she had about the place. For one, it had two sections. One section was for warriors, and the others for magicians. Magicians were drastically more powerful than warriors, as long as a warrior couldn't get close. In a one on one fight, it was completely up in the air. However, in a team match, a single magician could change everything.

That being the case, excellent students from either section were highly respected. Magicians were incredibly important, but a skilled warrior also had a lot of renown. Below the sections, there were various departments, depending on specialization. The departments weren't particularly separated, but they specialized in different things. Similar to a regular college, one might take classes from several departments in order to get a proper education. Likewise, the best way to build one's prestige as a mage was to have useful abilities.

During the entrance exam, various elders and heads of departments would be there, looking for disciples. There were general classes, but it was an old tradition to take exceptional students as disciples. The goal being to raise a powerful next generation, as well as to pass down some of their personal techniques. Those that weren't accepted as disciples could still attend the Academy, and hope to show off their talents later in life. Many of the teachers were also very powerful, so there was much to gain. However, disciples had a much higher living standard from students.

From what she understood, Marth was accepted as a disciple of a swordsman, and had gotten to know an elder's daughter. Though she wasn't aware of all the details, she had a general idea. The elder took a liking to him somehow, or perhaps was promised wealth, and decided to forge friendly relations. She would assume wealth.

Students, unlike disciples, would have to pay fees for classes and living. Disciple's fees were considered scholarship. Likewise, some talented students got scholarships as well. In her case, the Lidan family offered to cover all of her school fees. In other words, they had no faith she would be accepted as a disciple a heavy insult, as any summoner was guaranteed scholarship. But, she couldn't find Prol, and the Lidans must know that. As long as she depended on the Lidans for money, it would be hard to decline their requests.

The whole thing was truly an elaborate trap she had no choice to jump into. Without strength, she couldn't contend with the world. To obtain strength, she had to give up her right to fight. At least, that was what they though. A powerful, beautiful wife was a status symbol they didn't want to give up. Likewise, she would enable them to legitimately take over Sestia. Despite that, she was in a desperate situation, so they could make her a mere concubine and get the same benefits. Such a thing truly made her heart cold. So cold, it burned.