Advanced Education Academy, Herptian Church, Kim City, Kim Island, Kim Dukedom, Ancorna Empire

Ever since Ravenna had delegated control of education to the Herptian Church, one of the grandest transformations in Kim City's history had begun. The old abandoned Eastern Trade Exchange Hall, once a bustling center for merchants and silk caravans, had been reborn. Expanded with new wings and reinforced with concrete and steel, it now stood as a towering emblem of the city's intellectual awakening: the Advanced Education Academy of Kim City.

The main facade was Romanesque in structure: high vaulted arches, smooth pale stone reinforced by steel ribs, and elegant rose windows of colored glass depicting the twelve domains of the gods. Yet unlike the solemn austerity of Solious temples, the Herptian influence shimmered everywhere, vine-like carvings of lilies and jasmines spiraled across the walls, and marble reliefs depicted divine figures studying, embracing, or teaching with serene ecstasy.

Inside, corridors opened into large lecture atriums and laboratories. Long glass skylights let in shafts of desert sunlight, filtered through curtains that shifted hue to the rhythm of the hour. Every corridor carried the hum of discovery, the laughter of young adults discussing theories, the scratch of chalk on new slates, and the fragrance of ink.

Since Ravenna's reforms, Young Adults who finished the basic curriculum were no longer merely "citizens." Those who excelled could earn recognition as Disciples of the Goddess Herptian, The New Noble class Ravenna had invented by bending the Empire's legal definitions. It was a masterstroke of bureaucracy and defiance: through this single loophole, she had opened the path of higher learning to commoners once barred by birth.

Now, nearly a year after the reform's inception, the Academy held nearly a hundred advanced students across different departments. They studied both theory and practice, though even the teachers admitted they were still unraveling the "advanced wisdom manuals" Ravenna had given them, texts filled with impossible formulas, mechanical sketches, and social systems far beyond the current age.

In the largest lecture hall, Before class began, two students occupied a corner table.

"What do you think, Kaelen?" asked, a young woman with hair the color of honeyed amber and a voice that dripped mischief. She sat on the edge of the table, long legs folded over a chair, her Academy uniform, a short pleated skirt and a white silk shirt worn with deliberate defiance. A few buttons hung open, teasing faint lines between her breasts. "I think I'm going to be the perfect Indulgence Artisan, don't you?"

Kaelen, tall and sharp-featured with dark curls falling into his eyes, glanced at her with amused patience. "I mean, you're beautiful, Lyra. And since you're majoring in Indulgence Artistry, I suppose that makes sense."

"Oh come on, you're supposed to say yes!" Lyra laughed, sliding off the table and straddling his lap in one smooth motion. Her scent was sweet and spiced with perfume, her smile playful as she leaned close. "I'm flirting with you, Kaelen. You're not even trying."

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He wrapped an arm around her waist, smirking. "If that's flirting, then I must be Emperor Andrew himself."

Lyra tilted her head, lips curling into a sultry grin. "Then, Your Majesty… you deserve a kiss."

Their lips met: hungry, unhurried, their tongues moving with the practiced rhythm of two young disciples of Herptian. Lyra's soft moans echoed lightly in the golden air as sunlight poured across them. For a moment, Kaelen thought the view, her flushed skin bathed in the morning light, her eyes half-lidded with bliss was the most perfect thing he had ever seen.

Then, a voice came from the front of the hall, smooth and serene. "It's good to indulge when desire calls… but remember, lustful indulgence should never outweigh the indulgence of wisdom."

Both students froze and turned. Standing by the podium was Junior Priest Finn, their instructor, robed in the flowing white and crimson vestments of Herptian clergy.

"Your Reverence Finn!" Lyra and Kaelen exclaimed in unison, half-embarrassed and half-unrepentant.

Finn smiled gently. "I see you're enthusiastic this morning. You may continue your indulgence later, perhaps in the main church's ritual chambers or the Indulgence Artistry dormitories. For now…" he clapped his hands, the sound ringing through the hall, "…we study human perception and art."

Lyra laughed softly, smoothing her skirt as she sat beside Kaelen. "You look handsome as always, Your Reverence Finn~" she teased.

"That's far too basic of a flirt, Lyra," Finn replied with a knowing smile. "But I'll give you points for effort."

As he began the lecture, his voice echoing beneath the arched ceiling, Kaelen found himself distracted, his mind lingering on the image of sunlight caressing Lyra's face, the warmth of her skin against his palms.

I wish there was a way to make that moment last forever, Kaelen thought, the image of Lyra bathed in sunlight burned vividly behind his eyes. The lecture ended, but he didn't move. His pen lay forgotten beside his notebook, his gaze distant, unfocused, still chasing the echo of that perfect instant.

Lyra's voice drifted to him as she gathered her books. "I'll get going, I have Theology class next," she said with a lazy smile, her hair catching the light as she stood. To Kaelen, her words sounded far away, muffled beneath the hum of his own thoughts.

He absently flipped through his textbook, his fingers tracing meaningless lines across the pages, until they stopped. A small sketch caught his eye: a darkened chamber, a single pinhole of light projecting an inverted image onto a wall.

Camera obscura.

His eyes widened as he began to read. The passage described it as an optical phenomenon used by artists to recreate what they saw with perfect accuracy, a beam of light carrying an image through an aperture to cast a reflection on the opposite surface. Painters had once used it to trace portraits, immortalizing fleeting moments in paint and shadow.

Kaelen's pulse quickened. His mind raced: light, glass, and reflection… if light could carry an image, maybe it could preserve one too.

"Wait.. Lyra!" he called suddenly, snapping out of his daze.

The young woman turned at the doorway, one hand resting on the frame, her expression curious and amused. "What is it now, Kaelen? Planning another indulgence already?" she teased.

He grinned, breathless with excitement. "Do you happen to know anyone in the Crafts Department who specializes in glasswork?"

Lyra raised a brow, tilting her head playfully. "Glasswork? What for?"

Kaelen stood from his seat, his eyes gleaming with the kind of energy that always came before discovery. "I think… I might have found a way to capture something that disappears the moment it's seen."

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