Practice and PEVNA

Time manipulation was complicated.

For starters, time itself is volatile and incredibly delicate. The risk of two manipulators unknowingly tampering with each other's work is immense, capable of causing catastrophic failures no civilization could withstand.

Thankfully, Varian was an exception to these pesky rules. His celestial heritage endowed him with a fine-tuned intuition that was incapable of error. As long as he stuck to his instincts, he couldn't mess up. Of course, in the story, he did mess up constantly. He always tried to overthink things instead of trusting his gut—a terrible idea when dealing with time.

I knew better. I would stick to my—to Varian's—intuition.

Now, how much could I dilate time? It depended on what else I was doing. The more my mental faculties were occupied, the less dilation I could achieve. If I focused purely on the skill, I could turn a single objective second into decades of subjective time, but that would shatter my sanity.

So, I found a sweet spot. I settled on a ratio that gave me ten years of subjective training for every ten hours of objective time.

That amounted to ninety years of training packed into nine days. And I did it.

At times, I felt depressed, unwilling, and completely burned out, but [Divine Will] held my fraying psyche together. Over those nine days, I:

Remastered every one of my bodily functions, from wing retraction to individual feather control.Analyzed every piece of Varian's memory to prepare myself politically and socially.Trained in combat so extensively that by day five, I was winning every sparring request that came my way.

Most importantly, I realized that I had finally merged with Varian's body. Before, I'd felt like a parasite inhabiting a foreign shell. Now, my soul and Varian's form were harmonizing, becoming one.

On the ninth day—today—I only trained for a single hour. It still granted me a decade's worth of practice, but I had other plans. It was time to enroll in the continent's greatest academy.

I had already delayed my enrollment by ten days to avoid drawing attention. I hadn't heard from my parents yet, but I was sure that if I stalled any longer, they would show up personally.

"Morticia, is everything ready?" I asked, adjusting the collar of my fine noble's tunic. The academy provided its own uniform, but you could only get it once you were on the premises.

"Yes, Master," Morticia replied, a travel bag in her hand. As my personal maid, she was coming with me. She'd be a competent watchdog here, but she would be far more useful by my side at the academy.

"Then let's go," I said, and activated the ring to open a portal.

The teleportation altar I first arrived on lit up with swirling dimensional mana. A moment later, Morticia and I were gone.

——————

The Perennial Everest Veridian Natureheart Athenaeum had a library overflowing with books on its own origins, but the story can be summarized in a nutshell: it was born from an event called the Reckoning Revolution.

A long time ago, Elves—led by their strongest subspecies, the Arch Elves—ruled the world with an iron fist for several millennia. That is, until the minor factions like humans and dwarves united and revolted.

And succeeded.

The details are for another day, but the important bit is this: the first thing the freedom fighters did was burn down the World Tree. It was a god-like parasite that the Elves had monopolized for ages. With its destruction, however, the playing field was evened out, eventually leading to the Elves' defeat.

After the revolution, a seed from the original tree was found and planted. To prevent the Elves from seizing control and attempting to reconquer the world, the new World Tree was declared neutral ground. It was then unanimously decided that letting such a vital resource sit idle was incredibly wasteful.

So, in its roots and branches, a new, neutral organization was formed: the Perennial Everest Veridian Natureheart Athenaeum—or PEVNA, as any sane person called it.

In the modern era, everyone who could afford it came here to pursue knowledge. And now, I stood at its main gates, on foot, with only a single attendant by my side.

This is an excellent scene. The "cost-effective" flex is a fantastic character moment, perfectly showcasing his personality—prideful, but also clever and efficient. It's a great way to establish his power without a single punch being thrown.

I'm by no means an attention whore, but as the heir to two dukedoms, I had some pride. And that pride was taking a major hit as I stood before the biggest double doors I had ever seen, watching countless carriages and entire retinues march into PEVNA for nobles who were, in every sense of the word, my inferiors.

"Master, if you'd like, I can immediately prepare a marching parade for our entry," Morticia said, likely sensing my thoughts.

I shook my head. "That would be a waste of resources and make too big of a fuss. I have a more... cost-effective idea. Let's act modestly for now, especially since I'm enrolling late."

"I understand, Master," Morticia nodded diligently.

As I fumed, my hand moved on its own, landing gently on her head. Before I knew it, I was stroking her lovely blonde hair. It calmed me down.

I walked towards a smaller side entrance near the giant doors and approached a guard.

"You," I said, catching his eye. "I am Varian De Virelune. Bring me an escort."

The guard, clearly unprepared for such a request, looked at me with utter confusion. I suppose it's not every day someone demands a mere escort in a place crawling with the filthy rich. Eventually, he frowned. "Who are you? Don't you have your own escort?"

"You heard me. I am Varian De Virelune," I said impassively. "And I don't have my own escort."

"Hah," the guard scoffed.

Beside me, Morticia began to glare at him. He paid her no mind and asked with contempt, "Are you even a student here?"

"I am supposed to enroll today," I informed him.

"Oh, really?" he sneered. "Where did you come from, then?"

"From distant lands," I said with certainty.

"'From distant lands,' huh?" the guard repeated, a mocking smile on his face. "Did you walk all the way here?"

"No." I shook my head, a small smile touching my own lips. He'd taken the bait.

I flicked my fingers. "I came here through a portal." Beside me, a shimmering, circular portal manifested from thin air.

Standing right in front of the main entrance, my little display had drawn the attention of many aristocrats.

I think now is a good time for some socio-economic lore: In this world, there are the rich, who travel with hundreds of attendants, and then there are the powerful, who command their own portals.

"Is… is that a portal ring?" the guard choked out, his face paling.

Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd. Many of them had likely never seen a portal form without a massive, fixed gate, let alone one conjured by a lone individual standing on the cobblestones.

Before the guard could stammer out a reply, a woman's voice cut through the noise.

"Student Varian De Virelune," she said. "I am Vesta, the Chief Administrative Manager of PEVNA. Allow me to escort you."

She was a blonde who hadn't been near the entrance a moment ago. A space mage, no doubt, who had teleported here to de-escalate the situation.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Vesta," I said, my voice cold. "That is 'Your Highness' to you. I have not yet enrolled in PEVNA."

Her eyes widened slightly. She quickly gave a slight bow. "My apologies, Your Highness. By the Dean's will, please allow me to be your escort."

"Very well," I nodded.

She waved her hand, and the three of us vanished. After that, the bureaucracy suddenly became very efficient.