Lee Jihyo wasn't having a good day, or week, or month at that. Her team was in charge of managing hunter operations, so normally something like investigating the frog monster that had shown up on National’s campus had nothing to do with her. Times weren't normal, though. It was obvious that somebody had broken into the holding warehouse and tampered with the frog’s corpse, even under strict surveillance. So she’d been dragged in to try and locate hunters that might have been responsible, as someone who knew basically every active hunter in Korea. The search took up time in her already packed day, and she hadn't found a single candidate that made sense.

  So she’d decided to consult someone—someone she didn't really want to see. He smiled as he entered her office at the Bureau. Mages seemed to come in two types. The first was like Hyuna—temperamental, fierce, unwilling or unable to hide their feelings. The second…

  Lucian took a seat across from her. She pushed a cup of coffee she’d gotten from the café on the first floor to him. He nodded to her in thanks and brought it to his lips. It was mediocre at best, but his smile didn't waver.

  The second was like Lucian de Loren: the type who knew how to pretend to be normal. She’d believed his facade in the past. He had seemed in every way to be a kind, harmless academic. He didn't participate in gate raids ever. It wasn't uncommon for awakened people to prefer not to fight, so she had assumed he was one of them. But the longer she knew him, the less she believed his act.

  “The coffee’s bad, isn't it?” she asked.

  “Well, I don't think it’s too bad,” he replied.

  Like that. He was using a roundabout way of saying he actually didn't like it.

  “You asked for my advice on something?” he said. “I’m sorry, but I don't have a lot of time. I have an appointment later.”

  “That’s fine, I just wanted to review some things with you.”

  She pulled some files out of her desk drawer and spread them across the table. They contained images of the frog corpse with distinct, net-like burn marks on it.

  “We’re trying to track down who could be responsible for this damage,” she explained. “I’ve gone through all the fire-specialty hunters in the nation, but there’s no trace of anyone who can cast spells in this shape.”

  Lucian adjusted his glasses and leaned in close to inspect the images. Of course, he knew who was responsible for this. It was Fleur—he’d witnessed her do it. But he pretended not to recognize the marks, or even the frog monster.

  “I’ve never seen a lattice pattern like this before,” he said. “Are you sure it wasn't some kind of magic device? A net?”

  “We’re sure,” Jihyo replied. “Look.”

  She pushed one of the images closer to him. At the center of the burns was a single palm print, etched clearly into the frog’s flesh, where Fleur had put her hand.

  “It’s clearly a spell of some sort. And no monster has fingers like that.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Jihyo narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Explain.”

  “I’m just putting the suggestion out there,” he said, “a monster with a humanoid hand wouldn't be the weirdest thing that ever happened. And what if it’s something like a monster that can possess human bodies? Anything’s possible.”

  He wasn't telling them the truth, but it wouldn't be bad to nudge them in the right direction. Searching through human hunters would lead nowhere.

  “You asked for what I thought, so I’ll give you my opinion,” he said. “I think whoever did this isn't a human. Or at least, not all the way.”

  “Why?” Jihyo asked. “The most likely scenario is it’s just some hunter who’s hiding their skills. That’s not uncommon.”

  “It’s not a matter of likelihood. Think about the situation. This monster corpse looks like it’s in one of the Bureau warehouses. You’re housing it, right?”

  She nodded.

  “So it must be related to some kind of investigation.” Lucian pretended not to know that it was related to the midterm. The third year professors weren't supposed to have heard about it. “Since the ground’s also charred, someone must have tampered with the body when it was already in storage. They burnt it, but not nearly enough to actually destroy evidence. Why do you think they’d do that?”

  Jihyo sighed.

  “That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out,” she replied. “I can't wrap my head around it either. It’s like somebody dropped in just to fuck around, then left. Maybe they wanted to move it but they failed to.”

  Lucian flipped through the photos on the desk.

  “There are no drag marks on the ground,” he noted.

  “Exactly. So if they were there to move it, they didn't try very hard.”

  “And that’s why I’m suggesting they might not be human.”

  He looked up from the pictures and met Jihyo’s eyes, serious.

  “If their actions don't make sense to humans, then maybe they're not one of us,” he said. “I know it’s not a particularly helpful suggestion to you. But I can’t not say it. It seems like every year, something new comes out of the gates.”

  She had a hard time accepting that idea. It was far-fetched for sure, but more than that… if monsters that intelligent and stealthy were starting to come out of gates in secret, then she didn't want to imagine the chaos that the world was about to go through. Yet she couldn't discount him. Jihyo had watched the security footage from the time of the incident. On the outdoor cameras, for the entire duration, nobody had been seen going in and out. Beyond just the strange burn marks, whoever had been responsible had been capable of too many inexplicable things.

  “Then what about—”

  Ding. A noise came from Lucian’s wristwatch. A notification for an upcoming schedule had popped up. He sent Jihyo and apologetic smile.

  “Sorry, I’ve got to go,” he said.

  “No, that’s fine. Can I send you any follow up questions I have?”

  “Of course. Thanks for the coffee.”

  He got up. His next appointment was one he couldn't miss. As it was listed on his calendar:

  — Meeting w/Lim Suho

  Jihyo hadn't been the only one to ask for his advice.

  ⊕

  Suho had been apprehensive about getting in touch with Lucian, but he had reached out anyway. He seemed like an unpredictable character, but according to Kitae, none of the magic department students he knew had anything but praise for him as a teacher. He had to put his trust in that.

  Suho showed up on time. He had only wanted to pose some questions to him, but Lucian had insisted on reserving a training room. In case he needed to show a practical demonstration, he didn't want anything in his office to get messed up. Lucian came in at nearly the same time. He waved to Suho with a smile.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Hello,” he greeted, “good to see you again.”

  “You too, professor.”

  “How have you been?”

  “Well.”

  “Has Hwan been hard on you?”

  “I’m getting used to the work.”

  “That’s great.”

  Suho scanned the room. It was a bit off from the training rooms he usually reserved. This one was specialized for magic practice, so there wasn't any equipment—weapons and such—randomly scattered about. And it looked like the walls were made out of slightly different material.

  “You mentioned something about magic power in your email?” Lucian said.

  “Yes, um, I’m not very sensitive to it,” Suho responded, “or actually not at all. So I was wondering if there was some way to learn how to feel it.”

  “You can't feel it at all? That’s surprising.”

  “…Is it?”

  For a second, Lucian nearly saw a dog with drooping ears in Suho’s place. He held back a laugh.

  “It is for someone your age,” he answered. “Usually it takes time to develop an immunity to it.”

  “An immunity?” Suho looked confused. “Why would you want to be immune to it?”

  “That's—ah, right. We should start from the beginning. It’s a bit complicated.”

  He motioned towards Suho’s watch.

  “Pull up your status window. You don't have to show me if you don't want to.”

  He opened the hologram.

  Some of his stats had grown since the beginning of the year due to classes and training, but they were still roughly the same. He showed Lucian.

  “It’s as I thought,” he said. “Suho, your magic resistance stat is incredibly high.”

  “At 88?”

  It certainly was the highest of his stats, but it wasn't out of the ballpark.

  “Yes, that’s high, even for professional hunters,” Lucian explained. “That’s why you can’t sense magic power very well. Your natural resistance to it is probably in the top 10% of awakened already.”

  “…I’ve never knew it did that.”

  None of his classes had mentioned anything about magic resistance lowering his sensitivity to magic power. Lucian shrugged.

  “That’s because everyone wants high resistance stats,” he said. “It keeps you safe. The only people who want high magic sensitivity are trackers. They actually need to be able to tell who or what they're around.”

  Lucian was reminded of Fleur, who also seemed to be a tracker of some sort. He wiped his mind of her, though. More important matters were in front of him.

  “Is there any way for me to be able to sense magic power?” Suho asked.

  “Well…” Lucian thought on it. “You’d be able to sense magic that’s stronger than your resistance stat. But other than that, I don't think so.”

  Again, he looked like a dog in the rain. Lucian let out a chuckle this time. How could an owner and pet be so different? He knew Pit was really Suho’s dog—he’d investigated Pit thoroughly before reaching out to him. Yet somehow one was unruly and rude, and the other was polite and responsible.

  “Why do you want to be able to sense magic?” he asked. “It’s not a very useful skill. It’s much preferred to be resistant to it.”

  Suho hesitated, not sure how to put it without sounding like an idiot.

  “I just want to learn more about magic,” he finally replied. “I can’t use it, so I thought there’d be some other way to… at least connect to it.”

  He sighed.

  “I guess not.”

  “What are you talking about? You can use magic.”

  …?

  Suho looked at Lucian with a face full of confusion.

  “Pardon?”

  Lucian expression made it seem like it should've been obvious.

  “You can definitely use magic, Suho,” he said. “In fact, your magic resistance stat is proof of that. Do they not teach this in the non-magic classes? No, maybe they do, but if they didn't see your stats, then there was no way to know that it applied to you…”

  That last part he mumbled to himself, deep in thought. Lucian snapped out of it.

  “Look, Suho, your magic stat and magic resistance stat are basically the same thing, just stored in different places,” he explained.

  Suho vaguely remembered learning that. Lucian held his hands up. Above each pointer finger, a flame flickered to life, one blue and one red.

  “When two magic spells clash, the stronger one wins.” He put his fingers together, and the blue flame trumped the red one. “It’s the same property for magic resistance. When a magic spell hits your body, it loses if your resistance is higher than its output strength. So you can think of resistance as magic power that’s tied to your body.”

  He held up the flame above his finger.

  “While your regular magic stat is the amount of magic power you can command on the outside.”

  Suho understood that, but still didn't know how it applied to him.

  “Then can I use magic, just like that?” he asked.

  Lucian smiled dryly. He extinguished both flames.

  “No, Suho,” he replied. “You're imagining magic as big elemental spells like what Yuna does. Your favored element is more interesting than that.”

  “Favored element.” That rang a bell—Kitae had mentioned it during their magic crash course. Eventually, mages figure out which element works best for them. They weren't bound to it, but there almost always was one that they were most comfortable with. Like Yuna with ice and Hyuna with flames.

  “How do you know what my favored element is?” Suho asked. “I heard you have to go through a lot of testing to figure out what it is.”

  “Any instructor worth their salt could tell instantly with that stat spread.”

  Lucian took a step back and raised his hand.

  “Defend.”

  “What?”

  A shot of pure magic flew at his face. Suho put his hands up on reflex and blocked it. The impact left a stinging red mark on his wrist.

  “As I thought. 88 really is impressive.”

  “Professor, why are you attacking?”

  “Again. This one will hurt more.”

  Another magic bullet whizzed directly at him. He brought his arms up in a guard. It hit harder, nearly breaking skin. He was lucky that his wounds from the salamander had finally healed, otherwise they might've reopened.

  “Don't rely solely on your body,” Lucian said. “You told me you wanted to learn magic. So use magic.”

  “How?!”

  “You’re not helpless. Your magic stat isn't zero. Combine what’s outside with the power inside your body. It’s the same thing anyway.”

  He said it as if it was easy. Before he could think, another bullet flew at him.

  “Sorry, Suho, but for your type, this is the best way to activate it.”

  This one hit him even harder. Lucian was slowly raising the power of his magic. He tried to imagine it, getting a grasp on the magic power around him—something that he had never been able to sense before.

  “You're thinking too hard!” Lucian shouted, firing off another one. “Don't search for it. Magic is your dog. Make it give you exactly what you want from it. Commanding it is your right!”

  Suho flinched as another magic bullet deflected off his arms. What did he want from it. Fire? Ice? Wind? Right in this moment, considering his stats, considering his experience, considering exactly what he was feeling—

  There was one kind of magic in his memory that he wanted to imitate right now.

  Suddenly, Suho felt power creeping through his body. It was electrifying. It was different to when he’d activated Animal Instinct during the midterm. This time, it was like every single part of his body was alive.

  Is this why mages acted like that? Anybody could get drunk on this feeling.

  A magic bullet crashed into Suho’s arms, but didn't touch his skin. A layer of deep blue magic power covered them like a shield. He’d made a magic barrier.

  Lucian smiled and lowered his hand.

  “There it is,” he said. “You're a defense specialist, Suho. A natural.”

  The shield he’d made wasn't the most well-formed. It was cloudy on the edges, and it quickly dissipated once he moved. But the fact that it had actually deflected his bullet meant that the defensive quality of the magic was good.

  Suho looked like a bombshell had been dropped on him. He stared at his own hands. He’d reached out just wanting a question to be answered, but…

  “So what do you think?” Lucian asked. “Do you get it now? Your low magic sensitivity is not something to be sad about. It’s exactly what makes you strong.”

  “…Yeah.”

  It felt like the unexpected reality was finally starting to sink in.

  “Thank you, professor. I get it now.”

  ⊕

  Lucian stayed behind after Suho left, saying he would clean up. He didn't mean the room though.

  He looked around. Suho had stayed back a little longer to practice until he could pretty consistently start the magic, so Lucian had been firing off magic bullets for a while. But every time they ricocheted off of his shields, they ended up slamming into the walls.

  Deep gouges and holes decorated the usually pristine training room. The walls here were designed to absorb heavy impacts, up to mid B-rank. Usually that was more than enough to guard from a student’s attacks. But Lucian had had to crank up the power past their limit in order to draw out Suho’s potential.

  He touched one of the scratches that had been left. It was jagged, the impact violent. Yet Suho had blocked it with his unrefined defenses.

  “Just what are they feeding kids these days…?”

  He found himself smiling, anticipating the future.

  Fixing something like this would cost a pretty penny. But as promised—he’d clean it up.