Adellia

Adellia Miller is the elder daughter of Imperial Guardian Theodore Miller and Sylvia, Master of the Blue Tower. From her mother she inherited waist-length silver hair and the same lake-blue eyes, but her features take after her father, and she stands a hand taller than her younger brother Verus. She usually ties her hair back in a strict ponytail, which lends her an air of composure and grown-up restraint rather than childish innocence. In a household where Verus has two mothers — Sylvia and Veronica — Adellia grows up surrounded by the love of three parents, and carries herself maturely toward her little brother, though she never misses a chance to needle him.

As a mage she is an unqualified talent, heir to the Blue Tower's ice tradition. By seventeen Adellia has reached the 5th Circle, and her rise reminds her elders of Sylvia in her youth; it is most likely her admiration for her great father that drives her to improve day after day. She wields a staff inherited from her mother and commands the Blue school's signature techniques: ice arrows and spears, ice-pillar traps, ice statue decoys, and even a 'Blizzard' she recreated and refined for herself. She fights coldly and calculatingly, reading the duel several moves ahead and anticipating her opponent's intentions.

The climax of her youth is the Student Tournament final, where she faces her own brother Verus. It is a direct echo of her parents' duel: long ago Theodore and Sylvia clashed on the same arena. Adellia keeps her distance from the start, denying Verus his close-quarters advantage, weathers his magic bullet with an ice decoy, and finally catches her brother in a pre-laid ice trap, becoming the victor of the 'sibling clash' for the Blue Tower. After the bout both siblings vie for their father's praise.

Grown up, Adellia chooses not the path of a pure battle-mage but magical engineering: returning to the family estate, she sees the barriers, alarm devices and tools that weaken monsters and protect the villagers, and resolves to devote herself to applied magic. She prepares for the highest-qualification exam, buries herself under fearsome stacks of books, and ends up under Paragranum — the alchemical grimoire and director of the Magical Engineering Institute — who, on learning the reason for her choice, comes away somewhat impressed.

Adellia is a born genius of ice magic, following in her mother's footsteps. By seventeen she is a 5th-Circle mage, an outstanding result for her age. Her arsenal includes ice arrows that strike in a straight line with concentrated power in each shot, ice spears, ice pillars that erupt beneath an enemy's feet, and ice statue decoys she swaps herself for, making an opponent strike at nothing.

In battle she is cold and calculating: she keeps her distance to deny a close-range foe his trump card, holds part of her mana in reserve, and predicts her enemy's route, laying traps several moves ahead. She can not merely recreate another's magic (a blizzard, for instance) but refine it to suit her own capacity, weaving the spell without a single error. Her staff she inherited from Sylvia.

Adellia matured early — for over ten years she was a model, disciplined student, and her composure stands in sharp contrast to her more carefree younger brother Verus. With him she plays the elder sibling: she teases and needles him, yet genuinely roots for him. With her father Theodore, however, she is childishly tender — she closes her eyes like a contented cat when he strokes her hair, and secretly craves his approval above any prize.

Grown up, she gives up a career as a pure battle-mage in favor of magical engineering. The catalyst is her return to the family estate: seeing how magical tools, barriers and alarm devices protect the villagers from monsters, she decides she wants to make exactly that kind of useful magic. Under the grimoire Paragranum she prepares for the highest qualification and delves into engineering.