Mind's eye

"For the last time! I am not selling anything!" Amy slammed the door and leaned against it and slid to the ground.

"You okay?"

Amy looked up to see Viola who is practicing.

"Yeah, it's just another one."

Viola then groaned with irritation. "I swear, this keeps happening to you all because of Leon stealing your notes. Why hasn't he stopped the rumors yet?"

Leon did nothing to dispel the Pusher rumors. It seems that he believes that he got her sick by making her consume a bad potion though he is also confused by the rumor. The row of kids that line up to see her are decreasing but it's not entirely stopped. She gets stopped in the hallway time to time just to get something from her.

Viola twirled around and lift her arm up with rhythm while she counts to herself.

"Am I doing this right?"

"Yeah," Amy replied.

She has been teaching Viola the purification dance. She is not as good as a dancer as Violet in the story but she is learning. Amy tried out the purification dance to see how far her power could go and is quite shocked to see how much her powers are amplified especially as she puts more feeling into it. That explains why Violet's purification dance is so powerful; she puts her passion into it.

Amy is not eager to use the dance so she decides to teach Viola so she would use it if her own power isn't enough.

She feels solace being in the Circle room, where she created the magic circle, sometimes alone and in deep thought. She then blinked rapidly until she can see a different sight in focus. There is Alina who is in a deciduous forest, foraging for food which she brings back to her rescued tribe mates. The past few years, she has been helping out her fellow barbarians even if they are from another tribe. Even though she is still a child, she is an intelligent one who knows how to use her cards right.

During this period, she can see things through the eyes of those she is linked to.

For the past couple of weeks, she has been researching more into the Blind Raven's ability. He is already considered innately gifted but one of the skills she envies not having is his natural sight. His high spatial awareness as well as ability to see through great distances are highly sought after. Rufus has the ability to see through the eyes of his Raven before killing him and acquiring it for himself.

She hope to find Alabaster quickly but after a week, she grew impatient and decided to take it upon herself to find him by using this method on Ramiro. She knows Alabaster hasn't left the academy nor is he near the creeping crystal because the whole school would've heard any news by now. 

But because she does not have the same ability as Rufus, she cannot acquire the ability by killing the creature. Instead, she will have to make a magical mental bond called the Mind's eye. It is a highly advanced technique which requires complete concentration, equal trust and awareness of the other.

The only people who are capable of this in the original story are Melissa and Leon as the pair used each others powers. Leon used Melissa's ability during his battle against the Cambion and she used his to go beyond the limits of what she couldn't heal. Some of Leon's healing abilities belonged to Melissa while hiding his full power from the public and is the only person to do so effortlessly.

Generally, it is done when two beings or more have an equal level of trust. The pair doesn't have to actually like each other but the amount of trust one puts on one another, the more access they have to their powers and skills. The drawback is the strain on using another person's abilities and the mental link. If it is forcibly broken, it will result in brain damage and it usually happens if someone dies during the link. Melissa nearly collapsed when Leon died but her healing ability kicked in and prevented the drawback including her own death. To have multiple links would increase that risk even more. The final drawback is that they share each other's pain. Melissa has commented that she felt Leon's pain but has been dealing with it for both their sakes.

This is one of Aron's acquired skills that he hid until the very end, not even using it for emergencies. This was because he believed himself to be incapable of having faith in others. This lack of confidence in others is due to his own strength rather than their weakness. He surprised Rufus by beating him with the acquired skills of multiple people as his trump card. It did put a massive strain on everyone but they recovered just fine.

She achieved the mind's eye with Alina before she enrolled into the academy and now with Ramiro. She has been practicing this for hours every day and continuously to do it while she is awake or see through the eyes of those she is linked with out of a whim.

She stopped to massage her head for a bit before severing the connection and groaned as she looked up at the glass ceiling.

She has to admit that she had no initial intention on learning this technique because it requires her to have a trustworthy partner and to reveal her activities. The last thing she ever wanted was for someone to spy on her. However, Alina is an outsider who wouldn't stay in Solin for long nor betray her so she was perfect to have a mental link with and Ramiro isn't human. 

She then looked at her lapis lazuli book where she saw her next designs before she saw a flash of a body.

*

Meanwhile, Leon is with his good friends, enjoying his newfound fame. The potion he created is now commercialized and even replaced the current rejuvenation potion stock. His mother as well as many nobles can see how much he has learned during his short time in the Magic Academy and now, people are no longer having doubts for Leon's intelligence.

He was just walking peacefully until he saw something unsightly. There is a group of Team Sun upperclassmen bullying someone from Team Comet.

"And do it by tonight!" one of them yelled but stopped upon being approached by Leon.

"Your highness!" they all bowed but didn't lift their heads.

"Do what by tonight?"

"Yes?"

"I said, what are you asking him to do by tonight?" Leon said with an easygoing look which surprised them.

"Your highness, I just wanted him to um..." It looks like all of them are struggling to think of an answer.

Now everyone was gathering around the halls to watch.

"What is my name?" He asks with a smile.

"Your name is Leon Rex." one of them says fearfully.

"What is his name?" he says motioning towards the bullied kid who is also fearfully confused.

They didn't answer for an embarrassingly long time so the bullied kid replied for him.

"Conner, Your Highness." he replied with his head down.

"Oh," he says with a smirk and winked at the kid in response, "You wouldn't answer the question I asked you so he has to answer his own name." Leon still looks quite charming but has a hint of contempt for the bullies. Despite being a younger kid compared to this upperclassman, he has grounds of becoming more intimidating.

"What is your name?" Leon asked one of them.

"Henry Rockwell," he replied.

Leon had an unreadable expression until Nathaniel whispered into his ear, leaving him smiling, "You're lying~" he says in a sing song tone. "Your real name is Marcus Latios." he repeated shocking its bearer. "The others are Lucas Virin and Avery Blud."

If they are fearful before, it has now transitioned to terrified.

"You're all from Solin, right?"

The three nodded.

"So is this guy also from Solin?"

They nodded.

"Then you guys should get along. We're all students in the same school after all. Let's begin, shall we? How about calling me Leon? Can you do that?" He asks cheerfully.

"We cannot! We'll get punished for being disrespectful to the royal family."

"Oh, you think it is disrespectful when you call me by my name but it's okay when you decide to treat one of our own people like your personal slave?" 

Everyone froze. His voice and expression turned cold in an instant.

"You know that bullying is a terrible thing right? It creates bad people and division." Leon whispered, "If you don't believe me," he continued, "You can look into our history books."

Then they all prostrate themselves in front of Leon. "Please forgive us, Your Highness! We won't do it again."

"Oh? But I didn't do anything. I'm just telling you to be careful. You would be careful, would you?"

"Yes, Your highness!"

"Now, what do you want done by tonight?"

"Homework,"

"And will you do your homework?"

"Yes!"

"Good! Now you are dismissed."

The upperclassmen ran off while Conner bowed with gratitude and left to his own devices. Leon and the others then continued ahead.

Melissa walked next to Leon with a straight face. She was initially nervous he might attack them but he kept his cool. "Good job for not resorting to violence or threats. Otherwise you would get everyone's attention. The last thing we need are rumors of a violent prince."

"This discrimination is unpleasant to watch." Leon sneered with disgust in their direction. "This is one of the reason I hate nobles."

"Changes start small. If you start by maintaining and improve your public image, things will begin to change for the better." Nathaniel said.

*

There was a scream from a distance. Rufus, Sabina and Theseus, who were nearby, ran towards the sound and saw a pile of dead rats that line up the entire stone walkway. All the students were shocked to see it.