Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension, #1)

by Andrew Rowe

There is no fencing term I’m aware of for drawing a pistol and shooting your opponent in the face, but that was what it felt like when I heard his final words.

I scoffed, which seemed to catch them both off guard. “Uh, no, not a chance. I didn’t run from any monsters.” Mostly true. I only fled from people. And beings of godlike power. Okay, and the cat-rabbit thing. So adorable.

“Well, this is all very exciting.” I tried to sound as unenthusiastic as possible. “But, as you’ve both made it clear you understand, I’m an exhausted coward who wants nothing but luxury, so I’m off to bathe and bed.”

I could afford precisely zero of those things.

“You almost died.” I blinked. I almost died? That took a few moments to process. “How? Wasn’t that just a simulation?” She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, and you still somehow managed to almost kill yourself. How typical.”

Professor Vellum wasn’t quite as friendly with her morning greeting. From her grimace when I walked into the office, I knew I was in for a lecture. “Ah, it’s the prodigy of idiots.”

No amount of reassurance could completely neutralize an irrational fear.

“Shopkeeper told me that it’s cursed so that anyone who wields it dies. Probably just a ridiculous legend.” Sera stared at the sword, then looked back at me. “...you’ve been using a cursed sword this whole time?”