“AAAAARGH!” Sylvester screamed in pain. Veins pulsing visibly pumping with blood can be seen on his flush red forehead. His loud shrieks echoed and bounced between the mirrored walls of the chamber.

Despite the intensity of the pain he was experiencing there was only one clear thought in his mind, and it was that faint memory of his encounter with the masked man with an inverted smile. This single thought was however mired in a cloud of confusion and disbelief.

“Why? What is going on? Why does the acade-” Sylvester’s thoughts were stopped as the pain intensified to an almost unbearable degree. He rocked back and forth on the cushioned floor, almost tearing his hair out then all of a sudden it all stopped.

A sense of serene clarity dawned on Sylvster like crystal clear water rising from a fountain. Suddenly information or rather instructions merged and meshed into his psyche like they were old memories he was merely remembering. Actions he never tried or did before became clear in his head.

“Ugh..” He groaned as he got back up on his feet, his legs still wobbly like jello. Fortunately, his recovery seems swift, for it only took a few short seconds before he got his wits up about. Still, his mind still raced with questions upon questions. His thoughts then flashed to his mother and father.

“I guess I know the reason why they were so tight lipped.” Thinking back as to why they refused to answer his inquiries with a more adamant attitude.

“There’s probably something much bigger at play here and for some reason I got dragged into it.” His train of thought continued when suddenly the headmaster’s voice graced his mind once again.

“It seems you have all recovered from that rather unique experience.” The Headmaster began speaking, his tone a little serious obviously struggling with his choice of words.

“This is an unfortunate side effect of this learning method called the Knowledge sign. A rather convenient method invented by a rather shrewd and frightful man.”The headmaster explained.

“But before we continue, I would like for you to try and recall the symbol shown to you.” The headmaster’s voice instructed.

“The symbol huh?” Sylvester closed his eyes and tried to picture it in his mind, yet despite his best efforts nothing came up.

“Huh, that’s strange.” Sylvester tried again but no image came to mind, not even a blur.

“Now then.” The Headmaster’s voice continued. “Find the spell you learned again and look at the symbol.”

Sylvester thought of the spell “Dark strings” and sure enough the spell’s details once again appeared in front of him. Repeating all the steps he has done before, he selected the spell again and waited for the symbol to appear but this time bracing for another round of pain.

Yet he saw nothing.

“Is something wrong with this thing? Where is it?” He thought as he tried again but to no avail.

“Good, it seems there are no abnormalities on your end.” The headmaster now sounded relieved.

“Now let me explain what just happened in a little more detail.” The voice continued. “This is our special method of passing knowledge about spells. All you need to do in order to learn and use a new spell is to see the symbol corresponding to it, once.” The headmaster chuckled a little.

“I see now, so that’s why-” Sylvester’s thoughts were then immediately interrupted by the headmaster’s voice.

“Please, try out the spells you just procured. Don’t worry, the chambers are rather sturdy, plus I know for a fact none of you are able to obtain any obscenely destructive spells.” He jeered.

“Isn’t this a little too convenient?” Sylvester asked aloud as he prepared to try and use his new spell. Almost immediately, everything about “Dark strings” felt familiar to Sylvester. The range, the effects, even the mana control needed to successfully use the spell.

“Okay, let’s give this a shot.” Sylvester said as he threw his cap away. “Dark strings!” Sylvester exclaimed.

Invisible strings then shot out of Sylvester’s hand and latched on to the cap. The cap was still in its falling motion and the strings don’t seem to have an effect on it while the cap itself was pulling the strings along with absolutely no resistance.

As the cap was about to fall to the floor Sylvester finally made another move.

“Activate!” He exclaimed and the once invisible strings materialized, appearing like nylon. Sylvester tugged on them and pulled his cap towards him and ultimately back on top of his head.

Sylvester then continued testing Dark strings and made a string and attached it to his left and right index finger. He tried to wrap it around his right index finger and sure enough, they acted as Sylvester expected yet he doesn’t feel the strings’ touch on his skin.

“I see, it does exactly what I remember in my head.” Sylvester remarked. “I can make a lot of uses for this.” He continued, a smile forming on his face. The headmaster’s voice once again echoed catching his attention.

“Unfortunately, one thing is lost in translation when recording these spells into Knowledge sings.” The headmaster explained. “And that one thing is its individuality.”

“You see, my dear Apprentices, this method only stores spells in its basic form. It will not teach you its extreme limits or its more obtuse uses. It is tantamount to a child who recently learned to read and write. You don’t expect that child to sit down and write a novel? O course not” He explained. “But-!”

“But therein lies an opportunity for you. For you to make that spell your own, to mold into what you wish and use it however you please!” The headmaster declared.

“Hmm I see now.” Sylvester agreed. To him this means that the spell is more of a blank slate than just a tool.

“This goes in conjunction with our curriculums will certainly help you become what mage you envision yourself to be. To be the idea that sits there at the back of your head, begging to be made into a reality .” The headmaster added.

“Now with these tools and options in your hands. I wish you all the best in your own respective journeys wherever they may lead.” He then finished his speech.

“But headmaster what about Dark magic? I’m sure some of you are asking this in your minds.” Leonardo then suddenly brought up a rather interesting topic.

Sylvester suddenly tensed up and was even more eager to hear what Leonardo had to say.

“We do have dark magic spells here but they are a bit more tricky so they aren’t available in the pool. Don’t misunderstand, dark magic isn’t forbidden per se, but in order to learn any dark magic spell you need to pass a few tests.” Leonardo explained.

“Certain tests?” Sylvester thoughts as he rubbed his head, his thoughts once again flying back to that fateful encounter that still haunts him in his sleep.

“Now, everyone let’s get a move on. I’m sure you don’t want to spend all day holed up inside a spooky room now do you?” Leonardo joked.

“Alright then time to get out of here.” Sylvester said as he expected another magic door to appear before him and lead him outside. When he heard the Headmaster’s voice once again.

“Mr. Clearsight. It would be best if you could come to my office immediately. Oh and Don’t worry, this conversation is now private and isn’t being relayed to your acquaintances.” The voice said, this time in an ominous and serious tone.

“Okay. It seems you know that I have questions I wanted to ask as well. Headmaster Da Vinci.” Sylvester replied.

“When you’re all serious like that you remind me of your father haha!” The voice replied as a simple wooden door with a metal door knob materialized in front of Sylvester. “I guess it’s good that you know the right time for jokes and antics.”

“Now come in.” The voice commanded.

Sylvester walked towards the door and opened it, taking him to a messy room with a wooden desk on the far end with stacks of papers littered about. A lone chair sat in front of said desk seemingly inviting Sylvester to sit down.

Sitting behind the desk however was a young looking man with colorful hair. The man gave a warm smile at Sylvester as he entered the office. Sylvester then felt he should be the first one to extend his greetings.

“Good day to you Headmaster.” Sylvester started.

“Please, call me Professor Da Vinci when we are in private like this-oh and do have a seat young man.” The headmaster replied.

A heavy atmosphere hung around the room as Sylvester walked towards the empty chair and sat down.

“I would offer you a cup of tea or even coffee, but I doubt this is the time for that.” The Headmaster jokes.

Sylvester then sat straight and looked Leonardo in the eye.

“Okay then, can you please tell me who the masked man was?” He bluntly asked, not even giving any elaborate details. Sylvester surmised that his parents must have already reported it all to him anyway so there was no need for an extra explanation.

The headmaster let out a deep sigh before he replied.

“Sadly, despite our power and resources, we don’t know who or what that masked man was.” Leonardo said with disappointment.

“While it’s true that what he used is similar to Knowledge sign, all those who are capable of transcribing spells into symbols are all within the academy. Sorry to say, but that man has no connections to this institution. As for his motive however.” Leonardo then paused for a bit.

“Unfortunately, we too do not know why he bestowed upon you such a powerful dark spell. It is a spell that isn’t even in our archives. It is completely alien.” He continued.

“I see.” Sylvester then looked up to the ceiling. “Thank you for your time Professor Da Vinci. That’s all I wanted to ask.” Sylvester then got up and smiled.

“Huh? That’s it? Not gonna ask more?” Leonardo asked curiously.

“I’d like to but I don’t think you would have the answers, and besides-” Sylvester then flashed a devious grin. “I don’t think I’m qualified to know at the moment right?” He finished.

The corners of Leonardo’s lips then peaked upward forming an equally devious smile.

“Smart choice young man.” He replied.

“Now hurry along, you probably have some other stuff you wanna do right? Oh oh, and before you leave, you can choose which subjects you would want to take directly on the ID. As for how, just ask your companions outside.” Leonardo said, smiling at Sylvester.

“I see, thank you for your time Professor Da Vinci.” Sylvester then bowed his head and made his exit.

When Sylvester’s figure was finally gone from his office, Leonardo’s warm smile drooped down into a serious glare as he once again let out a deep sigh.

“What a troublesome batch this turned out to be.” Leonardo said as he picked out four folders. The same ones picked out the last time.

“All of a sudden, I have four problem children here with me.” He let out a light chuckle as he glanced over the profiles of Sylvester, Rossa, Artian, and Estelle.