The next day, I met Rolf and Alis in the city library for an introduction to magic. They were surprised with how little I knew about magic. Well, surprised wasn't the right word.

"How?" Rolf asked, his eyes wide. He even gaped at me for a moment. I wasn't even sure what he was doing here since it was Alis who was supposed to be helping me. "Doesn't basic education in Naedoven cover any magic?"

I hadn't thought of what their reaction would be when I told them I didn't know more than a spell to light a candle. Almost everyone knew that spell, so I thought it was the baseline for everyone. Father hadn't wanted me to learn more than that because nobility had servants to do what magic could do instead.

"Don't be rude," Alis said. "Naedoven doesn't value magic as much as Broweathen does, so their basic education on magic may not be that substantial. Or perhaps it was so early on that not a lot of it stuck. That's okay, Gerard. Nothing wrong with needing to start from the beginning. Actually, it's better since that means you don't have any bad habits."

"Yeah, it's just been so long," I said, going along with her explanation, "and my recent studies have been focusing on history and economics and other mostly boring, painful topics. I think I might've learned a few other spells, but I honestly can't remember them."

Sure, I'd picked up a few spells in my lives. In my first life, I'd only learned the spell to light a candle. Complacent indeed. After spending half my life on death row, I'd been content to let everyone do everything for me.

That was the kind of life I dreamed about in solitary. Comfortable bed. Warm, consistent meals. Nice clothes. Being born a noble, not only did I get all that, I got to do it in luxury without a care in the world. Or so I'd thought.

In hindsight, this was probably the reason I'd decided to get revenge in my second life. I vaguely remembered thinking that if I could get rid of them all, not only would I live, but I'd live in luxury still. I'd been wrong, but I had no regrets. Killing them all had been great for my mental health.

In my third life as a soldier, I thought it'd be just good enough to escape the manor. If I wasn't there, how could they accuse me of scheming? I'd learned a hygiene spell since bathing wasn't a regular thing on the battlefield. Also learned how to make a basic healing potion for small wounds and a sword-sharpening spell since no one wanted to be caught with a dull blade in battle.

From my fourth life as a guard, we'd mostly focused on training our Stats. I'd never had higher Strength than in that life. Just like as an assassin in my fourth life, I'd had high Perception and Cunning compared to others. Royal guards learn a special spell to be able to locate their royal charges, but nothing else. Royal assassins learn some concealing and tracking spells that seemed like a cheat. Took some of the fun out of the hunt.

In my fifth life here, I'd convinced Father to let me go to school in the north, where they cared for magic even less than Naedoven. I hadn't learned anything about magic there, but I'd learned a few things about potions. They had some of the best potion makers in the north.

I did still know the hygiene spell and how to sharpen blades. The locating, concealing, and tracking spells were a lot more difficult, and I hadn't even been that good at them back when I used them, so whether I could do them now was debatable. I was probably still a decent potion maker, though. Alis and Rolf didn't need to know any of this.

"We can't blame you for not remembering," Alis said. She gave me an encouraging smile and gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Let's start with the basics, which is Energy. Do you mind sharing your Stats with us?"

"My Stats?" I made them up on the spot. Something that'd be somewhat reasonable for a normal 17-year-old nobleman's forgotten third son or a merchant's third child with nothing to inherit. The only Stat I gave that was real was my Energy stat, which had never increased past where it was now.

Alis smiled. "You've got a lot of potential. Your Stats are decently high for your age. But potential is wasted without practice and experience, which is what Caemor is all about. Your Energy is 11 though?"

"Yeah."

"That tells me you haven't really been using any Energy at all, since that generally increases the more you use it. Energy is required for any spellwork. Also alchemy and some potion making, but that's not why we're here. So Energy is measured in therms, and the conversion is about 10 degrees to 1 therm. How much do you know about Energy and Souls?"

I wanted to groan, but this was what I'd signed up for. I gestured her to continue since I didn't want to admit I knew next to nothing, only what I'd heard or learned in passing. I'd never felt more stupid for not learning all of this than right now.

"Okay, so Energy of 11 means you can produce 11 therms of Energy, which is a little more than your average body temperature. Each Soul is able to store a certain amount therms that grows naturally with time and practice. When in the womb, a souled form as a fetus leeches therms from their parent, and when born, has anywhere from 9-10 therms."

Rolf added, "With practice absorbing therms from the external world or generating therms with a formed body, a Soul is believed to have no upper limit for how many therms they can store. Without any practice, you end up stuck around 10 or 11. So...how much do you know about Souls?" He grinned.

I really did not like his face.

"Right," Rolf said with a cringe. "So your Soul is where your Energy is stored, so the higher your Soul is, the more Energy it's able to store. You're probably...F-Class, Stage 1? That's the lowest. Most people only really make it to F-Class, Stage 3, which is just under E-Class, Stage 1. Each Class has a Stage, and the highest Class is SSS. That would be like...the dean of Caemor. Or the head mage of a tower. Most graduate Caemor around D-Class. That's where I am."

"He's D-Class, Stage 1," Alis clarified. "I'm D-Class, Stage 3. You can't just stop practicing after you graduate, and as long as you keep at it, you can get pretty strong. Though to be as strong as someone like the dean or a head mage, you have to do more than just practice."

"What's the point of these Soul Classes, though?" I asked. What I really wanted to ask was what was the point of the System, but given their reaction to what little I knew about magic, that was a question I didn't want to ask.

"Everything is the point?" Rolf said. "Like... our Soul is our ultimate Stat. The higher your Soul goes, the higher your other Stats go, especially your Energy Stat. It's so important that our Systems adapt to our Souls and guide us to reach higher Classes."

I'd heard something like that before. That there were basically two systems. A World System that decided when and where dungeons opened and what was hiding in them. The history books also said the World System was a network of all Soul Systems that kept balance and order between all things.

In reality, this world was no different than my original world except for having magic and all different types of beings from humans to elves to dwarves and orcs to magical beasts like dragons and monsters like demons and wraiths from the Other Side--what they also called in this world the Plane of Demeot. Or what we called hell in my world.

They didn't know that their world wasn't any more balanced or ordered than other worlds, though, so they really thought their precious World System mattered.

"Don't worry," Alis said suddenly. "I'll teach you everything you need to know. I have a feeling you'll be a real natural once we get started. The System and your Soul can wait, so let's just focus on Energy for today. Once you've got a grasp of the concept of it, we can work on increasing your Stat to something more like 15 therms by having you practice some of the lower spells."

"Alright," I agreed.

[Notice]

Congratulations! You have completed your first Quest [Begin Learning Magic]. You have been rewarded a Class change to [Mage]. Would you like to accept?

I immediately regretted paying attention to the System again. I was positive I hadn't accepted any Quest, so what the hell was this? Part of me thought the System had decided to spite me after so many restarts, but forcing me to play its game was going a step too far.

I declined.