(Jason, 16)

When I enter the lecture hall for first-year S-Class students, I find Jacob and Lina both talking semi-casually with members of the opposite sex who seem quite comfortable with them. Shouldn't Jacob be across the river?

Instead of greeting my cousins, I go to take my seat, only to be called by Jacob.

"Jason, come here," he says, so I walk over. "I would like to introduce you to my betrothed. Tasha del Meti."

If my memory serves me well, then betrothals can occur as early as birth among nobility and royalty, though it is custom to formally announce it at the coming-of-age ceremony, even if everyone knows about it. The formal engagement occurs after either academy or university, depending on which one is the furthest they attend. That, or it's the marriage that does?

As for Tasha, I believe the Meti are a southern noble family. A duchy that produces most of Varil's cotton. The uniforms we're wearing were likely woven from their harvests.

She isn't the interesting one, though. No, the interesting one is the foreigner. He's even more of one than I am – I can pass for Varilan if I learn their accent, since I bear the same blond hair and blue eyes as their folk and my accent is already pretty similar. This boy has black hair and green eyes, which means he's likely from one of the kingdoms in the northern mountains.

In addition to that, his magical power is lower green and bordering on middle green, which is rare for someone our age, based on my recent research. Lina is on the lower end of upper yellow, and would likely spend another couple of years just to touch lower green if she doesn't go through my training. He either has natural power, or he's been using magic since he was young.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Tasha gives me a light curtsy. "I trust that you'll treat me with the same familiarity as you do Jacob, should we be friends."

"That shouldn't be too hard," I look at Jacob. "Going to be late on your first day?"

"I will make it," he smiles, then dips his head to Tasha. "Enjoy your classes."

He leaves, and I look at the other unfamiliar face speaking with my cousins.

"I am Niko sul'Mar," he introduces himself with a heavy accent. 'Sul' means 'son of', while Mar is one of the northern kingdoms, the one that borders the Unwild Lands, which is where I grew up, and Varil. Is he a prince, then? "I am betrothed to Lina."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I say in Marran.

"You know Marran?" He asks in his native tongue.

"Do you know who my parents are?" I ask, and he nods. "They taught me several languages growing up, including all of the ones native to the lands bordering the Unwild Lands."

"Your accent is quite good," he says. "Unlike mine. I only began learning Varilan Common a couple of years ago."

"I had excellent teachers," I hold out my hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you," he takes my hand and shakes it.

"It is quite unusual for foreign royalty to study here," I say. "Were you allowed to so as to be closer to your betrothed?"

"No," his face reddens as he looks down. "Mar is a small kingdom, and I am the third prince. My marriage is purely political, and was arranged right before I turned thirteen. My betrothal was finalized and announced on my coming-of-age day. As we live in the mountains, some resources are scarce, and that results in a lot of fighting in the kingdoms and lands up there. Marrying one of us into Varil, a much larger nation, made it easy for my parents to deter other nations from attempting to take our land. I had never met Princess Lina until now.

"To my parents," he continues. "I was worthless until the marriage. The tutors focused on my elder brothers, since they were the heir and the backup. I was just… the third son. No one really wished for me to be around, so I decided that since I would live my future here in Varil anyway, I should start by obtaining a Varilan education. My parents 'agreed', which meant they just wanted to get rid of me."

"I don't understand," I say. "Why would your parents want to get rid of you just because you are the third son?"

"One," he mutters. "I'm the third son. Useless in small nations. Inheritances can only be divided so much, and only so much less when royalty. Two, I prefer magic after weapons. I never managed to grasp to basics of swordplay. When I was little, I even figured out how to cast on my own just by reading. Delving into magical studies allowed me to escape."

So he was seen as an aberration or something, then. Papa Michael did mention that the kingdoms in the northern mountain do put an emphasis on warriors over magicians for some whack reason.

Him diving into magical training since he was little would explain his strong magical power. What was it like, to not have loving people around him as he grew up?

"I didn't expect to meet my betrothed here," he snorts, looking at Lina. "She's more beautiful than the portraits they sent me showed her to be. She is also not like the princesses I have met before. The others had this, I suppose attitude, that she seems to lack. I have only known her since arriving in this class, however."

"I don't exactly feel comfortable being discussed by two people speaking in a foreign language right in front of me," Lina says. "I know Marran, but not well enough to understand everything, especially when you are speaking as fast as natives."

"He said you were beautiful," I tell her, causing her to blush just a little. "And that he hadn't expected to see you here."

"In Mar," Niko speaks in his accented Varilan. "Royalty is tutored separately from others, not at the same academies and universities as others. Seeing royalty learn among commoners and nobles is strange to me."

I suppose that only extends to native royalty, since he chose to attend a Varilan university.

"According to Papa," Lina tells him. "The tradition began a few generations of kings ago, when my great-great grandpapa, King Edward Varil II, realized that while he knew of troubles of the commoners, he didn't know the troubles of the commoners. He had been raised among royalty and nobility, and knew their ways and cultures, but that commoners had ones all their own, and that it affected them. He also realized that nobles were the same, and often held little sympathy for the issues of those beneath them. So he founded the Royal Universities to allow them to mingle. Initially, they only allowed in any commoner backed by nobility, which still limited it, as it often caused the students to be those already in noble customs, and they were treated as the staff and servants and guards they were.

"My great-grandpapa, King Thomas Varil III, implemented the current system, where anyone, no matter their status, could enter the Royal Universities as long as they met the requirements, and that all universities could set their own merit standards, but never status. This allowed any commoners or peasant to better their education while allowing nobility to mingle among commoners, which, in theory, helps them to relate to commoners better and not treat them as mightily. It doesn't always work, as there are exceptions to everything, but Varil has become a better kingdom for it. Our research into magic and magical technology has advanced greatly."

"Yes," Niko looks at the crystals lighting the lecture hall. "I have never read of such a thing as these light crystals in the books. Mar is quite behind, it seems."

"Those are a recent invention," I inform him. "Created by a mysterious magician in the last decade. The only company allowed to produce the magical technology behind their source of power is Sageson Magical Technologies. Class is beginning, we should take our seats."

The three of us take our seats while Lina's guards stand behind her. Niko sits between us, and I notice as the professor, wearing the black, white, and grey professor's garb, gives us our introduction to the course that Niko seems to keep looking at Lina. Does she have something on her face?

Due to us being the S-Class students, we will not rotate through lecture halls and training rooms, but rather, the professors will move to us. Instead, we will change classrooms only when it is for something such as actual training in magic rather than simply basics.

Unlike the other classes, where the students are mostly separated by their specialties, there are too few of us for that. As a result, we will all be taught the same things, but it will cover everyone's specialties. Most students in here specialize in the basic elements or force magics, so that is what our course will mainly focus on for now.

Since we are S-Class, there is an added thing as well. Normally, first-years are sent to hunt trolls and minor corrupted beasts only once each term, as a test and joint training exercise with the Royal Knight University. Since we're S-Class, we will do that at least once every two months, with the possibility with once every month. This is something that is usually kept to the upper grades.

From an outside perspective that might seem strange, especially if a student wants to be an enchanter. The thing is, while they do cover enchanting here, there is a Royal Enchantment University as well. The Royal Magic University focuses mostly on magical defense and offense. Practical experience is a must for us, and after graduation, most students of this university will be working with graduates from the Royal Knight University, which is why joint training exercises are performed as students.

It teaches cohesion and teamwork between the two styles before it becomes a career. In addition, it also tends to be in a controlled environment, even if we do go out hunting in the wild. This allows students to undergo the stress of a real battle and adapt to it before they graduate, thus allowing them to handle it better when it's a career and a mistake might cost a life.

By the time classes end for the day, I think most of my classmates were trying to stay awake. I was performing transmutation under my desk, manipulating a piece of clay into various things, sometimes two separate materials at once. At the same time, I was reshaping it with earth magic.

Now that lessons are over, I send the clay into my spatial storage, then stand and look at Niko.

"I created," I inform him. "A training group for advanced magical training. It has strict requirements to join, but if you want to give it a try, applications are in Lecture Hall 17 starting ten minutes from now and lasting for thirty minutes. We currently have nine members."

Six of them left after my statement yesterday. I made it clear that I would not tolerate any screwing around, any attitude, any disobedience for it. That might seem out of character for me, and even my papas and mamas would think that, but I have my reasons for being strict.

"I am not sure if I should," he informs me.

"All students are required to join a study, research, or training group," I tell him. "Within the first week of university's start."

"I am aware," he nods. "However, I do not believe I would manage to keep up in an advanced training group. I am mostly self-taught."

"Give it a try," I tell him. "As long as you pass the requirements, follow the rules, listen to me, and don't give attitude during it, you'll be able to train better than what the classes here will teach you."

"I am still not sure," he says.

"Her Highness is a member," one of Lina's guards informs him.

"I might give it a try," he nods.

Why did telling him that Lina was a member change his mind?

"Excellent," I smile. "Would you like to walk with us down there?"

"That would be fine," he nods.

I lead him to the room our group uses, Lina and her guards following. When we enter, there are already three students there, all of whom want to give it a try.

By the time applications close for the day, we have one new member who stays after I give the same stern statement: Niko. He has a basic grasp of all four elements and misunderstood that part of the test and generated all four, one after another. I didn't say anything to him because that meant he spent eight minutes of nearly constant-casting while focusing on keeping the spells active. The only 'rest' was the time he chanted for the next element. For special magic, he used a spatial storage.

Is that some sort of standard or something? Enhancement is the easier one, yet many who apply know a spatial storage spell.

With the session beginning, the royals' guards leave the room – after some protesting – to watch the doors from the hall. I look at the other nine members in turn.

"Each of you," I say. "Have joined my training group. Keep in mind the warning I give to all who join. The first part of the session involves magical power training and magical control training. Everyone in here has demonstrated they know how to exert it between their hands. Do so until I say otherwise."

"Why?" Niko asks. "I do not mean to seem as if arguing, I am just wondering the purpose behind it."

"Doing it," Jacob says. "Will help increase the strength of our magic, our control over it, and our amount of mana. It's an incremental thing, which means it slowly builds up over time, but the difference is significant in the long term according to Jason."

"Indeed," I say. "I expect that, if you do this every session under my supervision, then by the end of term, every middle orange in here will be lower yellow at minimum, possibly middle yellow."

"Doing this can really increase us that much?" One of the members, a boy named Xavier, asks.

"No," I answer. "Doing it under my supervision and guidance can, because I can help you optimize it. Now begin, everyone."

The nine of them begin to exert their magic between their hands, and I remind them to contain the 'overflow', so that it doesn't radiate out as much. It isn't an easy thing for them to do, and I don't expect them to succeed right away, but it's always good to start working on it. As they sustain it, I guide them in increasing or decreasing how much they are using to adjust to what they can actually control. Doing too little doesn't benefit as much as doing just a little less than what they can control at most, and doing too much can be dangerous.

As they run for as long as they each can, I contemplate what we should do first. Martial arts or enhancement? Deciding that enhancement should wait until everyone is upper orange and has an acceptable level of control, I pick martial arts. We will alternate between physical training and magical training every day.

And they are definitely not going to be using those ridiculous incantations.

(Alex, 16)

"Are you sure you don't want me to come along?" Jason asks as I pass by him on my way to the door.

He seems concerned about me doing this, but I'd rather not have him tag along. Not only would he overshadow me if he stepped in, but I don't feel comfortable having him see me potentially screw up. I tried all week to find a job, but failed, so I decided after classes and the training group yesterday to sign up for hunter's work. Now that it's Felday, the first day of our weekend, I'm setting off to do a hunt or two for some money.

The pay won't be that good at first, but as I build up skill and such, I'll start making more money. I'll need to complete 500 D-Rank jobs before I advance to C-Rank and can take on C-Rank jobs. Most of the jobs involve hunting beasts outside of Varil City.

Since I have actual combat experience, even if it's against people, I feel that I can probably handle the weaker beasts. That doesn't mean I won't embarrass myself, especially if Jason is watching.

"I'll be fine, thank you," I tell him. "Aren't you researching something?"

"Just looking up stuff about reincarnation," he looks at the book he was reading, and I find myself stiffening. "I was going through the university's library yesterday when I found some texts regarding it, and thought to look at them."

"Oh," I relax a little. "Anything interesting?"

"No," he answers. "It's been three thousand years since the last known record of a reincarnation. All that's known is what's managed to survive, and that may have been altered with time. All of the texts I found – which were originally written in different times – do agree on two things. The first is that reincarnated people always came from other worlds, and the second is that they often had an affinity for every type of magic naturally, rather than needing to build up an affinity for them, even if it was the weakest level of affinity, lesser affinity."

"So there's a possibility that you're a reincarnated person?" I tease, since everyone knows about his beyond-high affinity for every type of magic.

"That possibility exists," he nods. "Though it seems to be a common thread where reincarnated souls also have memories of their past life. The texts aren't in agreement on if they simply have memories, or if they possess the knowledge and skills of their past lives."

"What's the difference?" I ask.

"Memories," he explains. "Are simply the events you remember. Do you remember the reasoning you had when you did every action you made? No, because that's not stored in your memories. What is stored there remains only the events themselves. The memory of a scent or taste, of what you saw or heard or felt with your body. Not your actual thoughts. There is a theory that the soul and consciousness are two separate things, and that the consciousness is where knowledge and personality is stored. If this theory holds true, then reincarnating a soul without the consciousness means that knowledge and personality doesn't transfer into the new life.

"As a result," he continues. "This means that any knowledge they have from their past life comes from interpreting their memories. You know basic math. Do you remember learning it?"

"Yes," I nod. "I only learned how to do math a few years ago. I can remember the priest's lessons clearly."

"So you remember seeing or hearing it," he says. "I do not. I know I learned that two plus two equals four, but I do not remember the event. I possess the knowledge, but the memory is forgotten. In the case of a reincarnated soul, something like that would mean they would need to relearn it unless they later remembered the memory of learning it."

That actually explains a lot, now.

"Where did this theory come from?" I ask.

"Me," he answers, and I take a few moments to process that. "I developed it based on information presented to me through these ancient texts. Tell me, in what land are inventions like the mana battery and pipes?"

"Here," I answer, then think. "Only… not here? They've been improved several times in the decade since their invention."

"Exactly," he says.

"You think," I say. "That the person who invented them was reincarnated? And that the reason he developed them was because of his memories of a world where they exist? The mysterious patent holder recreated his old world's technology, but because he didn't contain the knowledge of how they worked, he went off of the memories of it. That's why they've improved several times."

"Exactly," he smiles.

"And that's why you came up with that theory," I say. "They probably worked on magical technology in their old world and are going off what they remember of that and figuring out the gaps in their knowledge."

So my world wasn't the only one with advanced technology, then, and this other one had magic, too. The developer of this magical technology must have been an enchanter in their old world, too. They use the memories of what they worked on to recreate it here. What else will they figure out soon?

"Anyway," Jason says. "That's a theory I have on it, and I know you want to try and earn some money. Do you want me to open a gate to the guild?"

"There are some quests I don't need to accept," I tell him. "And can simply head out and fight. Thanks, though."

"I can open a gate to the fields," he tells me. "I made it a point to travel to each gate out of the city in case I needed to travel rapidly. My gate spell only works in places I have been to."

"Where all do you have gates to?" I ask as I remember that after sessions, he headed off to do something while I looked for a job.

"Every university in the city," he answers. "The palace, here, various buildings of importance, every gate inside of and leading out of the city, the various markets, and Sageson Bank. The latter is because that's where my money is stored."

"Your money?" I ask, then remember that he's probably filthy rich because of his parents.

Just another gap between us. Yet again, I wonder why he is pretending to care about me, and that only makes me want to decline his assistance yet again. Maybe he wants to watch out for me in case I get in over my head just so he can laugh later?

"Yes," he nods. "While growing up, my papas and mamas taught me a lot. Much of that required me creating items. Papa Harold, who often went out to sell and buy goods, would then sell those items I made. I earned a portion of what he made off of my creations. As I lived off the land with my family, I had little need of money. Most of it was put into Sageson Bank, which was the reason it exists. A safe, secure place to store their son's earnings. Sage's Son. Sageson. They later developed Sageson Magical Technologies to help hide the identity of the creator of their inventions, and used the name of the bank since it already existed. Which field? I can open a gate there.""

"West Gate," I answer. "Thank you."

He opens a gate, and I step through it. The gate remains open for several moments, then he steps through as well. He was barefoot when I left, and now he's wearing boots. He really does want to watch me for any mistakes.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I mutter.

"What?" He asks. "I'm so sorry, Alex, I didn't mean that I don't think you'll manage on your own. I only offered because I know the unexpected can happen, and the unexpected is why I decided to leave. I can go somewhere else, I just wanted to avoid Jacob, who showed up as we were talking. He's probably about to knock on the door."

Prince Jacob showed up?

"Why did you want to avoid His Highness?" I ask.

"He keeps making weird comments," Jason answers. "And it makes me uncomfortable."

Oh, to be as oblivious as you. I suppose that's one benefit to you growing up by yourself – you're oblivious to certain social things. Like what the prince is really saying and insinuating.

"I'll go visit Niko," he tells me. "Jacob mentioned while we were in the library yesterday that Niko seems a little depressed that he doesn't know many people and have many friends."

Jason opens another gate and steps through, and the gate disappears. I sigh, then look out across the fields. The hunt involves killing four edil boars. The size of a person, they possess tough hides and a tendency to attack travelers by charging at them. While most travelers are either warriors or have guards, it still takes time out of their trips, which can last for several days before they reach an inn or another town. The city wants to decrease the work put in at the start and risk to the carriages and wagons by keeping the numbers of the edil boars down.

For every four edil boars I kill, I'll earn twenty varru. I need to bring their tusks as proof of the kill. The corpses are generally left where they are. Scavenger beasts will pick them clean within a week, and their meat isn't that tasty.

As I walk along that path, hoping to attract an edil boar, I activate a scanning spell and spread it out. I can maintain one steadily at twenty yards in diameter. It's a special-type magic, and one most street lords probably know. At least, most street lords in Varilar. I'm not sure about around here.

Even though sixty feet might not seem that much of a distance, there are piles of rocks and a few trees here and there, which means that my vision isn't completely clear. The scanning spell will help me be aware of any hidden threats.

Hopefully, I can kill three or four sets of boars before the day ends. Most of my hunts will be on Felday and Sunday, and I'm not letting Jason give me pity and let me stay for free. I'm paying him at least something. He might complain to his noble and royal friends about that, but at least it's better than being a charity case.