I’ve had a lot to think about what I was going to do with my life. I still didn’t know, but I know that I wanted to do whatever I want, and that requires strength.

Dressed in my uniform, I exited my room to greet Scarlet. She was still cold as ever with the same level of stoicism as a nut. I couldn’t tell if she was rotten or simply was on the inside.

On this particular day, she had her hair done in a bun and wore a casual-formal attire.

Without a word, she moved on past me. I followed suit.

Neither of us started any chit-chat, but that was fine. I rather preferred it this way. She must have felt the same.

She led me into a room before grabbing my wrist.

There were white engravings on every sector of the room, from ceiling to walls, to the floor. Before I could admire the beautiful art, it emitted a bright flare that soon enveloped both of us.

When my vision came to, we were in a different room entirely. Yet this room had the exact same white engravings.

She pulled my wrist again, not allowing me the leisure to examine anything.

The place we arrived at held a completely different atmosphere from what I was used to—probably because I hadn’t seen the light of day in a whole week. Every waking moment was time for me to train myself in some manner, so it was a refreshing break from that routine.

“Go down there and turn right,” she motioned to me and left without caring if I understood what she said. It looked like she had bigger priorities and I was not one of them.

As followed, I went down the corridor while looking around carefully. The place was very antiquated and reminiscent of a cathedral. It was a lot brighter than a cathedral though. The building’s bricks were of a white variant and the many windows that led to the outside aligned perfectly with the sun’s rays. Even without artificial lighting, the place was brighter than Disney World. The plentiful mana in the air only added to the liveliness.

I eventually found the place I was supposed to go to after wandering a bit. In all honesty, I didn’t know for sure if this was the place, but since other people dressed in the same uniform as me were congregating here, I figured I was in the right place.

Some of them looked way older based on their height alone. It wasn’t a joke, because those tall people towered above everyone else in the crowd, making it easy to identify them. In fact, the closer I got, the more I realized my position. I was the smallest out of everyone there.

A lot of the students were good-looking and tidy. Their collective appearance was something straight out of a comic book. Some had green hair, others had purple. The look was too natural to attribute it to mere dye.

No one was excessively ugly either. It was a strange thing to say, but I meant it. In any given crowd, there should be some variance in looks or else the average appearance would be too skewed towards one side of the beauty spectrum. Everyone here could be pulled from child model magazines, and that was making me, a fuck-off attitude kind of guy, self-conscious of my own body image.

“Say, what’s your name?” A random guy came up to me.

I wasn’t too sure what to say so I stated bluntly, “Daniel.”

He let out a chuckle. “What’s your family name?”

I had no recollection of my family name since my status only showed “Daniel.”

“Scarlet.” I made something up. I was sure the person in question wouldn’t mind.

“Scarlet? Hmm.” He looked at me weirdly before nodding.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m…”

My focus zoomed out from my conversation with Side Character #1 as I saw someone who looked awfully familiar.

A pair of green and blue eyes. Blonde flowing hair to match.

“Oh, that’s…” The fellow continued to ramble so I let him be.

I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that I’ve seen that person before. I don’t recall ever meeting anyone with heterochromia, and with the exception of Sam, her hair could be considered a golden shade second to none.

She noticed my gaze and acknowledged me for a second, before moving on.

I normally wasn’t like this, but I was certain that I’ve seen here somewhere, yet I couldn’t remember when. My memory does not usually fail me.

As much as I wanted to tell myself, “If you don’t remember, it’s probably not important,” I knew for sure that was not the case. And the only reason I would have such a reaction was either if she had a high standing in society or I’ve seen her in an odd place.

The best way I could describe this déjà vu was seeing the picture of some obscure American president. I could tell immediately that the person was a government worker, but I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the name.

“Ah, the orientation is about to start, let’s hang out if we happen to be in the same classes!” The cheerful guy left with the crowd as the door bellowed open.

‘I’ll figure it out eventually.’

I shoved my thoughts to the back of my mind while following the herd like a normal person.

The place was basically a miniature opera house with a lectern at the forefront of the stage. There were chairs on both sides of the lectern.

The staff were noticeable by their different uniform and size as adults. They directed everyone to their respective rows and I had no qualms with their instructions.

“Hello…”

“Hi…”

“How do you do…”

My ears hurt from the chaos with everyone greeting each other. I guess it was some sort of etiquette to greet the person you sat next to.

I sat at the end of a row and no one else seemed to be assigned next to me yet so I was relieved of the trouble—

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Same,” I greeted back. After I turned to see who it was, I quietly turned back and resumed my lazed expression with my chin propped against my hand.

The same girl I had been looking at before sat beside me. Whether by coincidence or some predetermined fate, I figured it didn’t matter.

[Mana Channeling (Common) has reached level 2 of proficiency.]

[Received: 100 Merit Points.]

‘Finally.’

While I looked dead inside, I was actually focusing on the internal affairs of my body.

There was a 50-50 chance of school being either entertaining or boring; and while I say 50-50, I’d wager there exists a greater disparity between boredom and entertainment. From my experience, it didn’t matter if it was some Magic School like Hogwarts since the fundamental nature of schooling was one of tediousness in place of discovery. And the reason for such expenses was for the slightest prospects of success. But what is success? I didn’t know the answer to that, but I did know that there are other paths to success other than dedicating your life to academia.

I’ve strayed far in my point, but simply put, fuck school. If I could practice controlling mana in my body, then I’d rather do that than sit in class and listen to lectures. If I get good enough, maybe I’ll be able to do both at the same time.

“Welcome, newcomers and returning students. We here at Grimphon University are excited to…”

‘University?’

I looked up at the stage and the one speaking behind the lectern happened to be someone I met a little over a week ago.

“You can all call me Headmaster Scarlet or simply Headmaster if you wish…”

She spoke with the fakest smile I had ever seen. And I say this because I would have never known without prior knowledge of how she normally was. Her cold poker face was masked excellently with no gap in between. That trait of hers that made her unreadable was working wonders here. The smile sprinkled on top made no one question its authenticity. She looked truly happy at the fact that school was starting.

I call bullshit obviously, but even I doubted myself. She was the one kind of person I would never be able to understand. Maybe she was glad that she had more students at her school. Or maybe she was grimacing inside at the vast amounts of paperwork and things she had to manage. Perhaps she was thinking of something unrelated. I couldn’t say.

The people sitting behind her looked like the stereotypical wizard, adorned in a majestic fabric that acted as a public bathrobe. They didn’t have hats though—oh, except that old guy with the white beard. He even had with him a giant walking stick. He was surely the oddball amongst his peers.

At some point, the speech had moved on to introduce every teacher on the stage.

“...and this is the esteemed Professor Eigenvalue.”

“It is nice to see you all gathered here. As you have all heard, I am Professor Eigenvalue. I have been around here for a long time so if there are any questions, you are welcome to ask me anytime. I usually teach Formations, but this year, I will be initiating the first-ever Combat Magic class. I look forward to meeting you all personally.”

‘Combat?’

I looked at the old man once again in an effort to identify his traits. I couldn’t make out many physical features though, since the robe hid everything from the neck down. The hand holding the staff seemed pretty old and possibly callused. His hand has definitely been conditioned well from holding that hard stick.

“Alright then, underneath your seat, there should be a device stuck to your seat. Take a second to find it,” said Scarlet.

Now that I thought about it, her voice was pretty loud. There wasn’t a microphone or anything so I guess it’s some sort of magic.

Seeing everyone else bend down, I thought about how everyone looked so vulnerable giving their backs to me before proceeding to do the same.

When I found the tangible substance, I pulled and it came off just like that. It wasn’t tape or glue which was kind of confusing but I guess it has something to do with magic. At this point, everything is magic, isn’t it? Deus ex machinas and plot holes are going to be reasoned off as magic too, aren’t they? What a genius idea? Isn’t this just science under a different name?

“I’ll explain it briefly, but this device tells you the time so you are expected to be on time for every class. Wrapped around the device is your schedule. For returning students, instead of a device, you were given a form to choose electives. Make sure to hand them in by the end of this week and to note that classes will begin next week. As for freshmen, your first classes begin shortly. Everyone else is dismissed. Have a nice day.” She looked around in the audience seemingly searching for someone.

While the ones who were supposed to leave left, I looked at the special “device” in my hands and decided on a better name—a watch. That’s right. To a cultured man such as I, I recognized it for what it truly was in an instant.

Scarlet started again, “I’m sure you have all taken a look at your schedules. Go gather around the respective instructor of your first class. They will show you around. Professor Bick is at the entrance, Professor… Professor Eigenvalue is at the backdoor…”

I opened the neatly folded sheet of paper and took a cursory glance over it.

Printed on the first box was Combat Magic along with the name, Eigenvalue.