The teacher walks into the classroom with a small stack of papers in his hand and all the chatter dies down. “Good evening, class. Now that all of you, except for our new student, have participated in various courses, you will now pick which direction you wish to go into. As you all know, there are four main classes of mages. Underneath that, there are six subclasses. All of you will be divided into a main and a subclass. Whichever route you decide to take, even if it doesn’t fit with your affinity, which I truly hope it does, I wish you all the best of luck.” He turns around, and with a spell, words appear on the board behind him. “Please head to the teacher’s office when it is your turn.”

With that, he leaves the room. On the board, the names of the students are listed next to numbers, and the first one listed walks out of the classroom.

“Have you decided on your type of magician?” I say, turning to Jennis.

He leans back in his chair and replies, “Obviously not. I can be one of three subclasses, or I can try all three of them.” He suddenly sits up straight and turns to stare at me. “How about I be a class to back you up? What kind of magician do you need to have your back?”

Stunned, I burst out laughing. “Do you even know what you’re saying right now? You should decide on your own route.”

“Yes, but I believe you will become the next Natasha Broffenberg, if not better. Thus, if I’m your best aid, then I will be the next Price Manilla, right?” Price Manilla, the guy who chased Teacher Broffenberg until he eventually stuck to a sibling/attendant relationship with her. Does this guy know what he is even saying right now?

I take a moment to think. “If that’s truly the case, then a 1-4 or 3-4 mage? Mana is always needed, adaptability is imperative in any situation, and it’s good to be at the head of any mission, to prevent having to go against a superior’s orders.”

He cocks his head, an enlightened expression on his face. “Then I will be a Tier Mage, subclass Specialist Adaptor. What are you going to be?”

“I’m gonna be an all-rounder, of course. Jack of all trades, master of all.”

“Ha! You say that like it’s possible.” I look up to the source of the voice: a girl with yellow-blonde hair braided into a crown on her head. “Let me tell you right now, nobody has ever done that before, save for Mage Natasha Broffenberg.”

I turn away from her and turn back to Jennis. “Did I do something? I don’t remember offending anyone here, except for maybe that president of your fanclub.”

He merely mimics my expression, responding with, “I have no idea. Maybe it’s your self-assured attitude.” At this moment, a boy walks back into class and Jennis glances at the board. “It’s my turn. I’ll see you after my registration,” he says, and then bounds off.

“Hey, don’t act like you didn’t see us.” The girl takes a cup of water from another girl and splashes it toward my face.

Before it hits, I say, . After freezing in space, the water slowly gathers into a ball. The girls stare with mouths open. I smile.

The girl who threw the water sputters, “You… you… you aren’t allowed to use magic against others. It’s against the school rules!”

“It’s not against the school rules to use magic on objects.” I move the water above the girl’s head and release the spell. Immediately, it falls onto her head and she shrieks.

“You won’t get away with this!” she wails, and then turns and runs away, the group of girls following behind her. Teenagers.

Another group of girls walks up, a much smaller group than before. “How many have you offended now?” the leader of that group says. “First at your birthday banquet, now the two groups here.”

I glance over her. She’s beautiful enough to be a model, with her silky tan hair tied into a ponytail. Her looks are similar to Geniva’s, but slightly older and more mature. “Lovina Petranovich?” I say.

“I’m honored you know of me, Lady Allandis.” She smiles.

Smiling back, I stand up and say, “Please, drop the title. We are in school and you are my senior. Besides that, you are just as beautiful as Geniva claimed.”

Lovina laughs lightly. “My sister is still young. I hope she hasn’t offended you. It’s a shame I couldn’t make your banquet. Classes here are quite hard to miss.”

“If I had known that you attended here, I would have sought you out immediately. It is a shame we couldn’t meet sooner.”

“Indeed. I heard you would attend, and I dropped by to see you surrounded by a bunch of girls. There truly is a reason my sister spoke highly of you.”

“I don’t mean to offend others, but I can’t help if others offend me. Besides, with all the witnesses, it was clearly me on the losing side.”

“About that, I would like to invite you to join my friend circle. It would be hard for others to approach.” She extends a hand.

If I join her friend group, it would be easier to move around this school without worrying about being ambushed randomly. I shake her hand. “It would be my honor. Please, call me Nova.”

“Then, call us all by first name as well. We are all friends, what’s the use of titles in front of friends?”

I smile widely. With this, I’m much further away from my previous life and the original plot of the story. “Exactly my point, Lovina.”

“You aren’t a normal ten-year-old.” I try to relax my expression under her sharp gaze. “I wouldn’t expect to find such a person in all of my years.”

“Your family is sharp-witted. I guess you are an Adaptor Mage.”

“You guess correctly. After classes, feel free to join us. We will be in the school plaza.”

“I will be there.” Dealing with her is like a breath of fresh air in the middle of wintertime. Her group leaves, but I can feel panic well up in my heart. What if I do something wrong and I’m expelled from her group? I just made friends with her, but if something happens and I can’t change public opinion, will the end result of the novel happen regardless?

Besides that, why is Jennis taking so long?