I woke up to the sound of chirping birds and the sensation of heat gathering across my body. The memories of last night returned to me in a drowsy daze. My body wanted to go back to sleep but I fought against its urges.

I sat up and meditated, memorising the conversation.

Afterwards I checked my belongings. There was new text in my texting book. I had been messaging dad to let my family know that I was okay. I sent him another message letting him know that I’d woken up.

A few minutes later I walked out of the door with two birds on my shoulders.

Agni and Gold talked to each other as we made our way towards the bathroom. I had seen a guest toothbrush neatly packaged inside, and some toothpaste.

To my relief they were both still there, and I asked the birds to leave so that I could freshen up. Gold flapped his wings in circles, which I’d learnt was the equivalent of him rolling his eyes.

“Not all of us get to bathe in a stone basin in front of everyone.” I chided him. “You and Agni should go play.”

He took my words to heart and followed the phoenix into the corridor. They left the door open behind them, and as I moved to close it, I got a look at the door to Alexis’ study.

There was a gash in it that I hadn’t seen last night.

It was small, no bigger than my index finger, and the wood had singed around it. I closed the door and yawned.

I needed to wake up fully.

The light of the dawn had permeated through my room and when I returned the yellow of the morning shone into my eyes.

How was it doing that?

The entire district was surrounded by the wall, so I shouldn't be able to see the early morning sunlight. I moved towards the window and confirmed my suspicions.

The sun was shining through the wall. The entire structure had become transparent and the view that passed through it was breathtaking. The district ended at the edges of the city, and beyond it there were suburbs centered around a series of lakes.

Koshima city was bigger than the other places I had visited. When you looked outside my home in Yêlat there was only farmland. Here, there was a structure similar to Earth’s. The main city served as the business hub for different companies and stores.

There were people from all walks of life here. I could see the early risers walking and running towards the city for work. The sun glimmered through the wall like a wave, and I saw Gold and Agni flying around the flower bed below.

I don’t know how they’d gotten out of the mansion.

I couldn’t hear Amanda or her father upstairs. They were probably still asleep. I sat down away from the bed and fell into meditation.

Now that classes had finally begun in full swing, I could focus on fixing the problems I’d had.

I needed to act, and train.

Inside my mind buildings grew from the ground and spired into the sky. It was Earth. I took my usual stroll through the city streets, and I focused on moving the stone around me.

Giant spears emerged and I threw them into the sky. I had copied this motion a thousand times in my mind.

I was trying to learn the associated skill.

I would be visiting the Zodiac compound soon, and their library, so that I could gain access to the prerequisites needed for more earth element skills. Until then I could only try and unlock the earthen spear skill, I had seen during the first night.

I wasn’t sure if the pass Zodiac had given me included metal element skills but judging from their lack of metal magicians I didn’t hold high hopes for their collection.

The sound of footsteps outside my door interrupted my meditation. Someone knocked and I opened my eyes.

“Hello there, would you like some breakfast?” A man’s voice spoke from behind the door.

It was Amanda’s father.

I remembered what I’d heard yesterday from her. The idea I’d built of the man was intimidating, but in the one instance I’d seen him, he had been kind to me. There was a difference between what was shown in public and what was done in private.

“That would be wonderful.” I called out.

A stray thought crossed my mind and I wondered how he knew I was awake, then I realised my legs were tinged with heat. He must have sensed the mana moving.

Could he monitor the entire house this way?

If it was his spell I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew what it was doing at all times.

I rose and made my way into the corridor and down the stairs. I followed my mana sense to find Amanda’s father.

Amanda had taken me straight upstairs yesterday, but now I could see what was on the ground floor.

The answer was a lot more rooms.

A kitchen, a dining room, and what looked to be an assortment of garden rooms. They were placed sporadically across the ground floor. Dirt and plants were put neatly into the rooms and there was space to walk and sit near them.

Each of these rooms looked similar to the cultivation room in Zodiac, but they didn’t hold mana inside them. They were mostly for decoration, and not for any practical purpose.

The rest of the house followed the same minimalist design as the upstairs floor.

There was a nice aroma filling the air and I walked towards it. There was a table nearby and I saw that cutlery had already been placed there for me. I sat down and looked towards the kitchen.

Amanda’s father was cooking.

There was a chef standing next to him cooking a different meal. Amanda’s father turned to me and he had a grin on his face.

“I’ve made some eggs.” He raised the pan in his hand.

“Thank you.” That wasn’t what I’d expected.

The man in front of me was the head of a noble household.

Why was he cooking for me personally?

A plate was carried towards me by a hand cast out of flames. I took it with a smile and placed it on the table in front of me.

I wasn’t sure if it was polite or impolite to start eating. Amanda wasn’t downstairs, and her father was still cooking.

A minute later his shadow crossed over me as he made his way to the table and sat down.

It wasn’t a large table like the one at my grandma's house. It was quaint and could seat about five people. It was also at odds with the large dining table I had seen in the nearby dining room.

“You don’t have to read too much into the cooking.” Amanda’s father spoke. “I know people like to get political, but the truth is I’m just happy that my daughter finally has a friend.”

"There's actually something I wanted to ask you." I leaned forward. “What are the fire-touched?”

He confirmed that he meant the mana that belonged to the fire element. I could see it all around me, swirling through the air and gathering at my feet.

"Can you see them?" He stared at me.

I didn’t tell him.

Reluctance stemmed in my heart and I put on my poker face. It was impolite not to answer the host’s questions, but in this world skill information was offered by the owner, not asked for.

It was a basic tenet that had been built into me since I’d been younger.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss my skills.” I gave him the kindest grin I could.

He paused, and then smiled. “Of course, how rude of me.”

I could sense the breakfast growing awkward.

“You know, I find your sleeping arrangements interesting. I have similar arrangements using earth.”

His eyes lit up at my words and we delved into a conversation about sleeping in our elements. The eggs were quickly finished, but we kept talking.

Soon the sound of flapping wings entered our ears as Gold joined us. Agni wasn’t with him. He dropped onto my shoulder and Amanda’s father stared at him.

That brought on new questions. He’d assumed it was a bloodline, but when I explained that Gold was my friend Amanda’s dad became friendlier and livelier.

The idea of becoming friends with animals appealed to him.

A few minutes, later there was a chime in the air and the chef that had been cooking behind us raised his hand. A plate full of food flew through the air and made its way upstairs.

Amanda wasn’t going to be eating with us.

Her father didn’t comment on it, instead he asked Gold a few questions. He wanted to see how intelligent the puffer was.

Gold played dumb for a few of the questions.

I had explained lying a few times to Gold throughout the year, but I was glad to see he understood the importance of hiding his intelligence. My growth could be explained in one way or another if it was discovered. Intelligent animals could lead to awkward questions that I wasn't prepared to answer yet.

Gerial hadn't mentioned his Mark making animals more intelligent, and he had met Gold.

This was the first time someone had gotten into an extended conversation with him that wasn’t me, or Agni.

Despite Gold’s deception, Amanda’s father seemed to grow more animated as he realised that Gold was closer in nature to a normal bird.

He turned to me. “You absolutely have to tell me the story of how you two met.”

I opened my mouth to respond but a flurry of footsteps interrupted us. Amanda was rushing down the stairs.

She nodded at him. Then she looked at me. “We’re going to be late.”

I looked out a nearby window and saw how far the sun had risen. I hadn’t realised how much time had passed. I looked at Amanda’s father for permission to leave the table, and he nodded at me with a smile.

“Do come again sometime. We have so much left to talk about.” Then he looked at Gold. “It was lovely to meet you too. You are welcome any time.”

Gold squawked in response.

Amanda was already by the door putting on her shoes and socks. We were quickly out of the house and into the streets of the noble district.

I took out my texting regent and let my dad know that I was on my way to school. He replied instantly, wishing me good luck from him and my mum.

The district flurried with activity. There were people leaving for their jobs and students that I vaguely recognised heading towards the academy.

Amanda’s hair lit up with gentle red flames as we made our way through the area. I hadn’t gotten a full grasp of how her hair represented her emotions, but she didn’t look angry.

“Andross?” A voice called out to me.

We paused and I turned towards the voice. A stocky girl in the Koshima academy uniform waved at me.

“Unice.” I waved back. “Good morning.”

“Good morning to you both.” Unice walked over to us.

I waited for her to catch up and the three of us walked towards the academy.

“Do you have metal magic studies today?” Unice’s eyes glimmered.

“Double math, double science and double C-class. They hit us with the math first.” I heard Amanda groan beside me. “I’ve got a metal magic class tomorrow and that’s it for the week.”

Unice nodded sympathetically. We chatted and she asked to see the silver bar that the academy had provided for us. Ouros had told her all about our classes.

I weaved the silver through the air and grinned with joy as I felt my companion’s connection to me. It was a strange link; I’d even call it magical. Like a limb that was also a friend and had a mind of its own.

It was a feeling I would have never experienced on Earth.

Amanda was quiet, feeding Agni and Gold the occasional treat. I’d been concerned, until I realised, she was shy. I didn’t push her to talk with us, but I did keep her in the conversation. If she wanted to join in, then I wouldn’t make it uncomfortable for her.

“How are you going with your attunement?” I paused. “Unless that’s too personal, then you don’t have to answer.”

“Not too personal at all.” Unice nudged my shoulder with a grin on her face. “I’ve been killing it lately. You might be looking at the newest member of your metal magic studies class soon enough.”

“That’s great.” I smiled.

Her joy was infectious.

“That stuff you guys learned about proficiency in certain materials really helped clear up some of my issues.” Unice pointed at the hovering silver. “Instead of trying to attune metal in general, I had some different types provided to me to see if I could feel a connection to any of them. To me it’s all about knowing what I’m looking for.”

“That… Is really smart.” I thought it over.

Knowledge on optimising metal attunement had been almost impossible to find information on for me. I was lucky to have Indra as a teacher.

Even if I had known this new information, it probably wouldn’t have been possible for me to gather too many different types of materials. Then again, silver coins weren’t that uncommon.

I hadn’t checked to see if they were actually made of silver or not. I didn’t have any on me.

“Have you found your specialisation?” I put the silver I was manipulating back into my pocket.

Her family was a household of earth magicians, and I was curious about what information she had that I didn't. I knew the best way for me to learn was to get to know the people better than me.

The academy was almost in sight. Figuratively, because the actual building was still invisible to people looking from afar.

“I think I have. I’m still trying to make a connection. I can't manipulate metal yet, and my attunement hasn't occurred but...” Unice’s voice fluttered with glee. “I don’t think I’ve found just one material that I’m proficient in. I think I have three.”

I stared at her. Three different proficiencies. I didn’t even know that was possible, Tago hadn’t mentioned it.

“Yeah. That’s exactly the reaction I had."

She grinned.

“Ouros is going to freak.”