Being the subject of Donato's piercing gaze, Simon’s heart immediately skipped a beat. Still, he remained rather calm on the surface.

‘What the heck?! No wonder… This world is actually quite formidable!’ He couldn’t help but think.

As it turns out, people in this world weren’t exactly oblivious to magic…

As for how he himself learned about magic? He had long since come up with an explanation. The question had simply come too suddenly, startling him.

Simon sighed resignedly, revealing a ‘helpless’ expression. “This is my dearest secret, but it seems that I am forced to divulge it.”

He continued, “In truth, I was homeless for most of my life... But roughly half a year ago, my fortunes changed. A mysterious man found me and claimed that I had potential, so he imparted upon me his knowledge of magic.”

Donato frowned. This explanation was quite measly, after all.

“Do you perhaps know his name or background?” he asked.

Simon slowly shook his head. “From what I know, he is relatively unknown. I tried to research his background, but couldn’t find anything. Even when I asked him myself, he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

The story that he came up with was not particularly stunning, but it was a story nonetheless. But at the very least, it would be hard to prove him wrong.

“Fair enough.” Donato begrudgingly nodded, having already moved past this subject. It would truly be hard to disprove him, and in any case, it did not matter too much; there were indeed reclusive mages or people who knew of magic that still existed.

“Now that you know of the past, I’ll talk of the present.” he continued with a nod.

“The Veracity team could be said to be composed of two departments. The Occult Department, and The Technological Department. The names are pretty self explanatory, so I won’t bother explaining further.”

“Our Research school is jointly under both departments, and graduates will be able to enter either, depending on their capabilities. Recruits whom we have discerned to have magical talent are part of the Divinity program.”

“However, even within the Divinity program, there are differences in status. For instance, you are at least slightly better than most members of the Divinity program. As a result of this, you have directly gained D tier authority in the organization.”

“D tier does indeed sound negligible, but in truth, I only have E- tier authority myself. Within the school, regular members have F tier authority, talented ones have F+ tier authority, and monstrous talents have D- authority.”

“From this, you can see how much the team values you. If you prove to be even more useful, you stand a good chance at getting promoted. On the other hand, if you prove to be less useful than our estimations, you may even get demoted.” He finished, whilst smiling at Simon.

“Makes sense! Thank you for taking the time to explain.” Simon nodded graciously.

After all, he could now finally make much more sense of this world!

‘So these research teams are actually this impressive eh? Not ideal, but not the end of the world. At most, I will have to carry out my plans sooner.’

“Haha, it’s really nothing.” Donato waved his hand amiably. “Now, I can’t explain every little thing to you, so I’ve already arranged for a member of the School to show you around. He will explain the learning procedures as well as what you need to know as a student. He’s already at the bottom of the elevator, now go meet him, I’ll see you around!” the headmaster said benevolently.

Simon thanked him once again, before leaving the office and heading down.

-----

As Simon left the main building with Ludovicus, a fellow scholar of the Veracity School, he couldn’t help but look back at the magnificent establishment.

By now, he had already been introduced to the main features of the compound, which included piles of top of the line equipment, rooms dedicated to virtual reality, incredibly advanced labs, their own particle collider, and other facilities of that nature.

Living near such a place would obviously be greatly beneficial to him. In fact, he even had the means to, since he was now an official member of the research school.

However, he had long since decided that if he were to move to the city, Kenny would have to be brought along with him. After all, if he just ditched Kenny and moved on, he would be unable to bear the guilt of his actions.

Before he left, he had the foresight to ask Kenny if he would be willing to enter the city. But alas, Kenny refused to do so unless his entire family and company could be relocated as well.

This made sense, but doing so… would not be easy!

With his current status, Simon was able to bring over a household to the city but… bringing over an entire company? It was definitely impossible. After all, land in the city was worth its weight in gold. How could an essentially unaffiliated talent take a large chunk of it for their own?

Still, after inquiring with the Headmaster, he had learned that it was actually possible, but... only after proving himself by gaining D+ tier authority, coupled with pledging himself to the Veracity Team, would he be able to do so.

He was confident in being able to achieve D+ tier authority, but pledging himself to the team was a different story altogether...

After all, pledging oneself means that one will defend and support the organization to the utmost of one’s abilities, even in the face of destruction. It was akin to binding oneself with the organization.

But of course, doing so was not without its own benefits, as one would also gain extensive support and rewards from the organization in doing so.

Such a decision was not one to be taken lightly - naturally, Simon did not wish to rush his decision. As a result, he had already decided upon participating in the virtual courses without living in the city.

But since he wasn’t going to live in the city, he received an alleged ‘small’ allowance of cash - 100,000 F-Creds a month.

“That’s pretty much the entire compound for you. Not bad huh?” Ludovicus said with a smile as they walked through the vast courtyard that bordered the compound.

Ludovicus was a well built man in his early thirties, with a jubilant and bright personality. He had joined the Veracity school three months prior and was considerably talented himself.

Simon laughed. “Of course! I’d be lying if I said otherwise.”

Ludovicus gave him a rather positive impression; he was good natured and efficient. Moreover, Simon sensed that Ludovicus had an attunement for magic - namely, in nature magic. Thus, in his opinion, he was a man worth befriending.

“So is there anything else you want to know?” Ludovicus asked affably.

At this question, Simon thought back to his original plan for Island Ascension Online.

Originally, he had wanted to purchase a gaming compound for his eventual guild not far from where he lived. However, seeing the state of Veracity city, he knew that this was the ideal location for a gaming compound! After all, the city had some of the best infrastructure out there, and the environment was ideal for a permanent residence.

Moreover, with the introduction of mana, new rare materials were popping up by the day. Fungus, bacteria, vegetation, and all living beings for that matter, would evolve with the rise of ambient mana, and would likewise generate special materials born through magic. Areas with the right conditions could even produce rare ores as well!

Thus, large and important cities like the Veracity City would prove to be invaluable, as in the future, they stood the best chance at surviving the changes to the planet’s environment and would become hubs for the rare materials trade.

“Actually, I would like your help for something. I am looking for a gaming compound, ideally high end ones. Would you mind showing me around?“ Simon asked.

“No problem! I’m most done with my work for today anyways, come with me. I know all the good spots.” Ludovicus said with a smile.

Despite him having only been in the city for three months, Ludovicus too, was interested in gaming compounds; his interest was partially because of curiosity, and partially due to his need to eye out potential gaming powers in the city. Naturally, due to these reasons, he had long since done his research and was familiar with the various potential gaming compounds in the city.

“Great, I’ll trouble you then!” Simon said with a gracious nod as they walked.

...

Not soon after leaving the compound, the two began departing from the courtyard surrounding it. But suddenly, as they neared the edge of the compound, Ludovicus’s fists clenched.

‘Eh? What's going on?’ Simon thought suspiciously. Seeing Ludovicus’s discomfort, he knew something was wrong.

A handsome looking man with an imposing aura suddenly strode towards them, revealing a mocking smile.

“Hey Ludovicus! Long time no see, it seems that you have found yet another fellow to hide behind, how impressive!” he exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of the surrounding passersby.

Ludovicus grit his teeth at the man’s words, saying, “I’m simply showing him around by orders of the headmaster. Is there really a need to be this vengeful?“

The man promptly scoffed and ignored Ludovicus, instead turning to look at Simon. And at this moment, his gaze grew cold and sharp.

“You’re new here so I’ll let you off for now. However, you’d best not get involved with matters involving myself and the fellow next to you.” he warned Simon ominously.

‘Hm? So they have some form of enmity towards each other? Interesting…’ he thought contemplatively.

“Haha, so that’s the case!” Simon suddenly burst out in laughter, having understood the situation. “Don’t worry, I understand.”

Seeing this, the man nodded, satisfied.

But suddenly Simon beckoned towards Ludovicus and began to walk away, completely disregarding the arrogant man. “Let’s get going then. You’ve ordered a car ride by now, yeah?”