Common wand

"Is this it? Is this truly it?" Vailyn glanced at the glowing wand just dozens of meters ahead of her. The wand's glowing might not have been as bright as the [Wand of Pride] but it still made Vailyn raise her guard and wait, wait for something to happen; wait for a voice to reach her mind and attempt to deceive her, but nothing happened. Vailyn slowly approached the glowing wand and grabbed it.

Vailyn sighed in relief, "This is a normal wand, well one that goes to the low-tier side but nonetheless not a wand that tries to make you a slave." She fiddled with the wand as she observed the wand that would accompany her for at least during her time in the academy, she didn't have enough money to buy another wand, Vailyn wouldn't really know what to do if she were to break one of the very few things that was both important for a mage and pretty much a free item from the academy.

Vailyn could see that the wand in her hands was perfect for her; it didn't have any special decorations or shape, and it might have been mistaken for a regular stick that you can find in the wilderness.

"Hm? What's happening?Aah! Noooo! I don't want to worship a stick! Atleast the other one was beautiful!" The wand irradiated more light as if it was offended by the comment, and for some reason the wand seemed to be glued to Vailyn's hand even when she flailed her arm.

The light became blinding for a few seconds, after which, for what seemed an eternity, Vailyn opened her eyes and a thought passed through her weary mind. "This was just the soulbinding process that the professor talked about." Vailyn remained silent for a moment before covering her face with a hand.

"Yes, nothing happened. I'm tired, hungry and want to bath. Let's just get this over and return to my room." Vailyn closed her eyes as a slight flush appeared on her face.

Suddenly.

"Aaah!" Vailyn screamed at the sudden sound behind her and threw the wand in her hand.

Three distinct sounds were heard: the first one being the wand hitting a wooden surface, the second one being the wand making contact with the floor, and the last one being the creaking of a wooden door.

"..." Vailyn silently picked up her wand and made her way in front of the door, waiting for it to fully open itself. She gazed again at the wand she just threw; Vailyn knew what was going to happen the moment she crossed this door; mockery and ridicule will be thrown at her; that little amount of expectation from several professors will be shattered. It was disheartening, but Vailyn had to remain strong. Unknown to her, the wand in her hand gleamed for a moment, as if it wanted to encourage her.

...

One after another, students exited the portal, with each one of them a well-crafted wand in their hands, most of them wearing a satisfied expression.

"Damn, I thought I would be able to get something to the higher end but didn't expect one that slightly leaned to the lower one, I should just change it and buy another one with better quality."

"You too? I heard from some of the seniors that the wands inside that space were selective but I didn't think that I, a mid-tier affinity towards the element of air, would get this mediocre of a wand."

"Those are just the excuses of losers, those who end up with a low-tier wand means that their current mana capacity and affinity towards their affinity are to the lower end, then you have to look at the wand itself where even if it is to the lower end as long as there is something that differentiate it from a dull and regular wand then that means that you were not that far from getting a mid-tier wand but you ended up matching with a low-tier wand."

"Really? Never heard of that."

"That is the most realistic theory the Association came up unlike the other where people believe in the fate of the first soulbinding with a wand from that space."

"What's so important about this? We can just replace these wands!"

"No, this is important because-"

"Look! What's that wand? Isn't that...too ordinary compared to the others? Sucks to be her."

"That's really pitiful. Wait, I recognize her, she's the one with Alicia, right? I heard that they are together."

"Really?"

"Those are just rumors!"

"Then what about them always being together?"

"That's just because she is the junior assigned to Alicia to guide and tutor her."

"Really hoped that I would have been the one assigned to Alicia."

Eyes moved towards the form of Vailyn, who was silently ignoring everyone around her. As her figure vanished from the eyes of the people, some of the students snickered for a while before talking about other topics with their group of friends while several professors shook their heads.

It was just a topic that in the future it would be used to garner some laughter.

There was, however, a group that continued talking about Vailyn and so about Alicia.

"I heard that her grades are so pitiful that Alicia had to tutor her every weekend."

"Isn't that just a way to get her attention? That's really a low move."

"Hey, " a menacing voice reached that particular group of students. "You morons do only know how to flap your mouths around, don't you?" Morgana glared at the students, who in return were stunned by the appearance of Morgana.

"Are you defending that weakling?" One of them answered back.

"I'm not, I'm here because you fuckers are smearing Alicia's reputation and making her uncomfortable. Do you think that Alicia would give someone attention because they seek it? You, " Morgana pointed at one student in the group. "You are the one who requested dozens of times Alicia's tutoring but you were each time refused by her, not only you already have a senior you could ask that for but you wanted especially Alicia to tutor you even though you cannot meet her in the eyes. Tch, pathetic."

The addressed student went red and looked down as the laughs from other students echoed.

But Morgana continued, "You, " Morgana shifted her focus to the next student. " I know you, how can I not since you are known by others as being clingly to your senior and giggling like duck only around your senior. Aren't you the one being shameless?"

Morgana wanted to continue, but Alicia stopped her. "Morgana, this is enough." Alicia then focused her attention on the group, who subconsciously flinched. " We apologize for our disturbance, we are taking our leave." Alicia politely said and walked in the direction of where Vailyn had gone.

Morgana slightly opened her mouth in shock by what had just happened and had even forgotten that she was going to say 'pathetic' to the group one last time. Morgana followed after Alicia but was unable to say anything as Alicia seemed like she didn't want to talk.

It was a rare sight seeing Alicia like this as she was usually amiable towards everyone, even to the annoying ones and unpleasant ones. Morgana wasn't the only one that was surprised, but every single student that was present was stunned by the stance that Alicia decided to take. Alicia's behavior announced to the entire academy that Vailyn was under her protection, and there was no way that such action from the daughter of the possessor of the [Wand of Wrath] didn't have weight.

...

It was just five minutes after Vailyn arrived in her room that a knock on her door was heard. At first Vailyn ignored it, but she reluctantly went to open the door after hearing the voice of her senior.

"Senior, I didn't know you were coming to see me today." Vailyn politely greeted Alicia before noticing Morgana. "Oh, nice to meet you, Ms. Blaire."

"Morgana, just call me Morgana without honorofics. I wouldn't personally visit someone who'll treat me like a noble." Morgana said with crossed arms just slightly behind Alicia as she was observing Vailyn.

"Okay then, I do want to know why senior came here. I really am exhausted and want to rest for the day."

"Didn't I tell you that you can just me informal with me?"

Vailyn shook her head. "I am already troubled by the others' jealousy and pointless hostility, if I were to start doing that people would just become more aggressive than they are." Vailyn flatly stated.

"And I told you that you are under my protection and these people wouldn't try anything to you as long as you-" Vailyn didn't give time to Alicia to continue her words and cut her off.

"Senior, the fact is that we have a year in difference and so our future schedules as you'll be busy since you are now a third-year student, in fact I think that you might be unable to visit me every weekend like you always do. So, there's no way that your protection will certainly work and instead it might even worsen the situation." Vailyn didn't meet Alicia's eyes but instead kept her head slightly lowered; otherwise she might have seen Alicia's eyes slightly darken and seen her expression slightly harden by the rejection.

Morgana wanted to intervene, to say something, but her tongue seemed to be stuck inside her mouth.

The atmosphere started to become tense, but then she heard Alicia softly sigh, "I understand, but I will be always available to hear your problems, okay?"

Vailyn only responded with a 'Hmm' before softly closing the door and locking it.

"Hey, aren't the two of you junior and senior that meet each other every weekend for an entire year? You said that she was the reserved type of girl but I only saw a fucking unemotional and cold one." It was when the two started to walk that Morgana opened her mouth.

"She is a good person at heart but she is really a reserved girl, I think that if we spend more time I can let her open more to me."

"Yeah, right, and where is that time suppesed to be? Alicia, we will likely be sent off to the outside world to gain more experience and the time you'll spend here will be really short, aren't there lots of students that will literally be overjoyed if you were to speak with them? Why not, you know, just give up on this junior and give other people a chance?"

"Fine," Morgana internally sighed as she knew that it would be difficult to change Alicia's mind. "Just don't let this make you obsess over her and think more about the consequences your actions might bring not only to her but also to yourself, okay?" Alicia likely already knew but Morgana wanted to remind her friend that her actions might have been already notified to not only her mother but also to several important figures, even if the matter of her actions seemed to be trivial.

"Yeah, thank you."

Morgana watched the back of the dispirited Alicia and muttered to herself. "It seems that the rumors aren't that far from the truth, just that the love from one side is one-sided, is also more shocking that a student wouldn't reciprocate such feelings." Morgana pondered, "Mmm, maybe I'm just misunderstanding something and Alicia just wants to be friends with her."

As Alicia walked outside, she could hear the cheerful and merry voices from afar, but there were other things that were on her mind. When she was with Morgana after talking with Vailyn, she kept her head down, mainly because her eyes weren't something that Morgana should see.

There was frustration and confusion, but anger was what prevailed. "Someone," Alicia growled with a low voice, "Someone attempted to harm her, someone attempted to take her mind." Alicia bit her lip. "Another student? That's unlikely to happen. Then, was it a wand?" Alicia couldn't find a definitive answer, and so her anger slowly placated as Alicia's thoughts wandered into finding an answer. "If only I was able to open up Vailyn to me, she would've already told me what happened."

As this occurred around Vailyn, shouts of elation could be heard throughout the academy.

"Are my eyes playing a joke on me? Isn't that the [Wand of Pride]?"

"Are you kidding me? Two years in a row?! Isn't this a historic moment?"

A cold and gelid pair of eyes swept towards the two. There was a hint of indifference in those eyes, as praise and attention to her from these people weren't worth her time.

The wand in her hand wriggled as if it wanted to escape from the student's grasp.

"It seems that you still have not submitted to me, let's see how much you can last." A cold voice was directly transmitted to the sentient wand's consciousness. "To be one of 'those' wands you seem to be really weak, but it seems that you were already weakened when I stumbled into you. Did you attempt to use that trick against another student before using it against me? If so I want to know who is the student that managed to escape from you."

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