Styrtan village. Inside Ru's house.....

"I already contacted Rika! She would be arriving in a few minutes." Ru said, turning to Volus. "You should also contact your teammates."

"I haven't placed any imprints on their soul so I do not know where they are." Volus replied.

"Uhmm... No not that... You can actually contact people using your watch if you know their number but it is only possible near cities or if you are near each other."

"Oh! That's possible?" Cyziel added, munching on some fruit in his hand. "We usually only use magic to communicate."

"But I think that won't work. Their language are not yet added and the speech magic of this world doesn't work with the technology." Vera added.

"Oh! You are right!" Ru sighed, looking at Cyziel. "Volus is fine since he has other people to be questioned but you two would probably soon be interviewed regarding your language and culture."

A few minutes later...

*Creak* The door of the house suddenly opened. There was no knocking and someone immediately entered Ru's house.

"Ru! Everyone! You are alive!" Rika immediately ran towards Ru and hugged her.

Ru hugged her back. "Yes! We are quite lucky!"

"You were all missing for 3 days! Did you know how scared I am!" Rika cried, resting her head on Ru's shoulder.

Ru caressed Rika's head. "We are sorry! There are a lot of things that happened! What happened after we left?"

"The soldiers agreed to come with us. The instructors were also hidden in the military camp and showed themselves when they heard what happened. But when we arrived, the entrance to the cave was destroyed so it took quite a few hours to remove the blockage. It was quite dangerous because the cave might collapse."

"Yes. Sadly someone destroyed it. I am not sure if it was also those bandits who did it." Ru let got of Rika and sat back down.

"Ah! Yes. When we arrived, there was one dead bandit and there was one unconscious bandit inside a rock. Did you guys do that?" Rika sat down beside Ru.

"It was really nothing special. They are not that strong." Cyziel smiled.

"Ha? I heard the soldiers said that the one you caught and killed were officers of the Vile Brigands. They should at least have a rank of 5 or higher in magic or combat arts!"

"It was really nothing. You should have seen what we have seen." Vera sighed, looking at Cyziel. "You should be more scared of him."

"I agree." Ortix said and Volus nodded.

Cyziel pointed at the two. "Hey! Hey! You two do not have the right to judge me!"

The group narrated to Rika about the things that they saw inside the cave. The reanimated corpses and the twisted creature of the wild. The mysterious labyrinth and the trials that they encountered. Cyziel being a native of this world and how the 3 escaped Daraksta. Finally, they told her about the world beyond the southern forest. They warned her not to tell about it to anyone else.

Rika was quietly listening but her fists could be seen quivering.

"You are telling me that you got almost killed for like 3 or more times?" Rika lashed out, she was angry that they continued forward even after encountering the dangers. She looked at Cyziel. "So you already know about that creature! You also know that it was dangerous! Why did you chose to fight it?!"

Ru touched Rika's shaking left hand. "Rika... It's alright. We got back safely... Didn't we?"

Cyziel shook his head. "No.. She is right.. I apologize... I got confident after our initial battle."

"Then I apologize too since I am the leader. I was so curious of what was hidden in that place that I allowed our group to continue." Vera bowed her head.

"Okay that's enough! We should be talking about what should we do next!" Jorak interjected.

"Let's go to the institute first and report our situation. Draka and Lucia already contacted their groupmates and might already be there." Vera uttered.

An hour after. Inside Styrtan Institute...

The group went and looked for Instructor Garland and Instructor Nathan. They convened inside Garland's class room.

"What happened back there? How did you guys got out?" Garland asked inquisitively.

"We found another exit in the opposite side of the cave." Vera answered emotionless, not wanting to divulge any other information.

"Don't bullshit us! Some soldiers went further in but they still aren't back till now." Nathan interjected, knowing that it was not as simple as what she told. "And why are you only back now?"

"We got lost. The soldiers might also have been lost."

"They are trained soldiers! Do you think that you would do bett-" Garland stopped, something came out from his mind. "How did you guys beat those 2 brigands? The one you killed has a magic ranking of 6 and combat arts level of 5. The one you captured was even stronger with a ranking of 7 for both."

"We overwhelmed them with numbers." Vera said.

"Even with numbers, I find it hard to believe you are able to incapacitate them." Garland strongly said, trying to pressure the group.

Nathan pondered then looked at Volus and Ortix. "I think I know the answer for that. It was you two wasn't it?" He then turned to Garland while pointing at the two. "You see, these two are the best students that I had for years. I already understand why Sara gave them to me. She intends to teach them too."

"You mean they are already close to our strength?" Garland asked.

"Probably so and they could soon potentially surpass us. Everything that Kenzo thought them, they were able to learn it in a day or a week." Nathan turned to Ortix. "Isn't that right my troublesome pupil?"

Ortix peeked at Cyziel and saw him nodding fast. "Ah yes yes! The bandits underestimated us and so we took that opportunity to deal them a fatal blow. Right Vol?"

Volus nodded. "Yes. Additionally, they didn't come together so we are able to finish off the first one before the 2nd one appeared."

"I see.. I see... But why are your two groups together?" Garland asked.

Cyziel stepped forward, smiling at the two instructors. "You could say that the three of us are friends and once we saw each other in the forest, we combined our group to help each other. " He then turned to Vera. "Did you guys brought the flowers?"

Cyziel wanted to finish the conversation because the longer it got then more information might be revealed by them.

"Ah yes! Rika go give the flowers to Garland." Vera answered.

Rika opened the bag that Jorak was carrying. She took out a black glass container with a shape and size of a shoe box. She tapped on the box and it became transparent. Inside it were the different flowers that they collected.

At the same time, Ortix brought up the cage he was holding in front of Nathan. The Plurtle was inside it. Nathan only looked at it for a bit before focusing on the flowers inside the container that Rika showed.

Garland started to inspect the flowers. "That's....the flower of destiny and you have a lot of them! I didn't expect that you would actually be able to find one! Where did you get them?"

"We found a patch of them growing somewhere after we got out of the cave." Cyziel said, scratching his nose.

Garland looked at him seriously. "Alright! I'll accept that for now but after the prohibitions in going inside the forest you would show me that place."

"Sir Garland! What happened to the other group in the cave?" Ru inquired.

Garland shook his head. "It was unfortunate that one of them died and it was too late to help him."

"Wait one? Shouldn't there be three of them dead?" Cyziel asked inquisitively, he was pretty sure that their are 3 dead people.

"Hmph! There is a lot that we don't know yet of this world's magic! There is a resident priestess here from the capital who could use holy magic and heal people." Nathan shrugged. "Unfortunately, I don't know the specifics. She just said that some energy kept their soul from perishing so she was able to heal the two."

Lucia! It must be her! She might have unconsciously injected divine energy and combined it with her healing magic. But that priestess... resurrecting the dead? I might have underestimated the current state of magic now. Maybe people in the capital are actually capable. Cyziel thought.

"That's great! The other two actually lived!" Ru exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"I think that's everything for now." Garland suddenly looked at Cyziel. "Oh! By the way, I forgot to tell you. I enrolled you in 4 additional subjects... Survival, Magic, Combat Arts, and Technology.. Just ask your groupmates where your classes are." Garland turned to Nathan. "Nathan do you have anything more to ask of them?"

"Hmm... I want to personally talk with my students... I'll bring them away first." Nathan turned his focus to Volus and Ortix. "You two follow me."

Instructor Nathan, together with Volus and Ortix left the room.

"By the way... Where are Draka's group? If you guys ever see them... Tell them to meet me too. I would also like to talk to them. Okay. You may all go! Your magic classes should be currently ongoing. " Garland signaled for the group to leave as he sat back down on his sit on the front left corner of the room. He started to ponder about something he remembered.

The group then left Garland's class room for their magic class.

Garland was actually thinking about the surviving bandit. He remembered the bandit's reaction when it got conscious. The guy was so scared that it immediately surrendered and allowed the soldiers to take him away. Moreover, he was encased by a coffin made of rock. Wouldn't that mean that the one who defeated the bandit was actually that proficient in magic? He thought of the two students with Nathan. It was scary to think that the two are already as strong as him. Why didn't Sara gave them to him? Did she just gave him the weakest of the bunch?

The group arrived inside a large indoor area. It was similar to the area where Cyziel and his friends took their exam but it was located in the opposite side of the campus. Additionally, there were quite a few private rooms in the right edge of the room.

A lot of people could be seen arriving and gathering inside this place. There also seemed to be multiple stages being setup for some sort of event.

"Here we are!" Ru pointed at a woman sitting on a corner. "That is Ms. Larka! She is currently our teacher in magic."

Vera looked at Cyziel. "Hmph! I don't think you need magic classes! I would like to inform you that this class is only just a basic and intermediate magic class. She could only teach you up to rank 5 magic spells."

Cyziel smiled at Vera, shaking his head. "No, don't say that! I really want to learn information about any new magic that I do not know."

"I'll bet Instructor Larka would really be surprised about you!" Rika giggled.

"More likely, Cyziel would make a lot of enemies like Vera!" Jorak laughed.

Vera grinned, thinking about the time she was defeated. "As if they are worthy of causing him trouble!"

"Alright! I am just here to learn. I have no plans of causing trouble to anyone!" Cyziel said, continuing to walk towards Instructor Larka.

Instructor Larka was one of the few Coryn who excelled in magic instead of combat arts. The reason for this was she had a sickly body as a kid which was not great for someone in her race which are proud of their bodies. This led her to study magic in order to strengthen herself but her continued study turned into her interest in magic. Even after she got cured, she didn't immediately switched to combat arts. She still pursued her study in magic which now enabled her to reach a magic rank of 7.

"Good afternoon Ms. Larka!" The group, with the exception of Cyziel, greeted.

"You are all finally here Vera! Your group too! I heard you were missing." Larka raised her left eyebrow as she observed the group before focusing on Vera. "Anyways, since today is another exam for checking everyone's progress. I am hoping that you would surprise me again!"

Vera jerked. "Ah.. Yes instructor!" She then momentarily looked at Cyziel before turning back to Larka. "Instructor.. This guy is Cyziel.. He should be--"

"Ah yes yes! Garland enrolled him to me by the end of last week although-" Larka looked at Cyziel. "He should have immediately assigned you to me. He probably also forgot to tell you last week so that is why you never come to my class."

Cyziel smiled, nodding his head. "Nice to meet you instructor."

Larka nodded back. "Okay... Everyone else aside from Cyziel, Go prepare for the level 3 exam. Vera prepare for the level 4 exam." She then pointed at Cyziel. "As for you! I will give you some basic tests. You should already know basic information about magic from Martha! Follow me!"

Cyziel and Instructor Larka went to one of the private rooms.

The room was actually quite small. There was a table in the middle and on top of the table were different types of equipment.

"Do you know how we test the capability of each student in magic?" Larka asked.

"You give them list of spells to cast?" Cyziel inquisitively answered.

Larka chuckled. "Well.. That is also correct but that is just one of the required exams to get your magic rank. For more specific tests, there are the tests of affinity, resistance, capacity, quality, comprehension."

Larka further gave Cyziel basic information regarding magic and the fundamental exams.

Magicus or the magic organ. It was something that humans started to develop after living in Venturia. Those that already knew magic like those from Lucris already had a Magicus but it was not as developed as today. It is located in the right side of the breastbone. Just beside the heart. Its shape is just like an eyeball and it is partly immaterial and cannot easily be destroyed. When a person dies, it shatters automatically.

Affinity is the most important aspect for enabling people to learn magic. The magicus should have an affinity to at least one source of energy and one source of worldly essence in order to cast magic. This one was something that was already discussed to him by his friends and instructor Martha. Energy is one of the three(Aether, Nether, Divine) since Void energy is usually used by itself. Worldly essence was either an elemental essence(Fire, Water, etc..) or some medium(weapons, body, mind, soul) but the combination with the latter is considered combat arts.

Resistance is also tied with the Affinity. More likely, those that have an affinity with an energy or element are also more resistant to it. There are also the concept of opposites like Light and Dark which would also increase your resistance with the opposite element.

Capacity is the amount of energy and essence that your magicus could store. A high capacity is needed when casting higher level spells unless you have external sources of energy that you could use. Without high capacity, it would also be hard to cast multiple magic continuously.

Quality is the amount of energy that you could condense given a limited space. A fireball as small as a marble with a high quality could be as strong as a fireball the size of a human head.

Finally, Comprehension is the ability of someone to understand the complexities of the form and foundations needed to create a spell. This is needed for silent magic and casting with magic symbols.

"Alright! For the first test... I will give you the affinity exam. Every human should at least be sensitive to Aether so don't worry you would not get a 0 here. The highest though is 10. Just press your hand on that tab!" Larka pointed to a medium sized tablet on top of the table.

As Cyziel placed his hand on top of the tablet, a holographic screen appeared with an initial score of 0.

"You would need to inject Aether energy inside the tablet but the catch is you only have a minute. The more you could inject then the higher your score is. Alright start!"

Cyziel saw his pinky ring shone for a moment as he tried to insert Aether into the tablet but he has no plans of removing it since this is not a dangerous situation. Still, it only took 5 seconds for the holographic screen to immediately show 10.

Larka jerked, seemingly thinking that there was something wrong with her equipment. "What? It immediately went to 10? Is there something wrong? Take out your hand! Let me try it!"

Cyziel did as he was told and the score reverted to 0. Larka placed her hand in the tablet and injected Aether energy. It took her 44 seconds until the score reached 10.

"No way! ...... It is actually working perfectly!" Larka shouted, turning to Cyziel. "You! Repeat the test!"

Cyziel did the same and there was no difference with his initial test. The score went to 10 in just 5 seconds.

"This is.. You even surpassed Vera, Morgan and Elvin." Larka shakily pointed at another equipment. "Okay... Next... Test! That orb! Fill it with the highest quality of Aether energy you could do. It has 10 colors from black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, white, gold. With gold being the highest score! Go try it now!"

Cyziel moved a little to the left and pressed his left hand on a small crystal orb. He actually didn't do anything different with the first exam. The quality of Cyziel's normal usage of Aether energy was already pretty high. It didn't also take long until it glowed gold. The orb was shining brightly that it was also filling the room with its golden light.

Larka was trying to focus on the Orb but its light forced her to block its light with her left hand. "Go...ld. This is the first time I saw someone get a Gold! Cyziel that's enough! Take out your hand and press the button beside it."

As Cyziel pressed the button, the energy inside the orb was drained out and the light also disappeared.

Larka unconsciously pushed Cyziel away as she placed her own hand in the orb. After a minute, the orb was glowing green. She didn't stop putting her energy inside the orb but even after a few minutes, the orb was only half green and half blue. It didn't change perfectly to blue.

"I really can't!" Larka turned to Cyziel and placed her two hands on his shoulder! "You are a genius! Don't tell anyone about your results! I will make sure that the other teachers get surprised in the interclass competitions!" Larka started laughing. "Okay... Let's move on to the next exam"

*knock knock* "Ms. Larka everyone is already ready for the exam." A student outside spoke behind the door.

"Leave us! I am still busy testing the new student!" Larka shouted.

"But mam... The other teachers are already waiting.."

"Ughh!!! Alright! Cyziel follow me... You will watch the exams with me." Larka sighed.

Larka and Cyziel postponed his exam to watch the interclass magic exam.