A tinge of heat pressed against Leon’s chest. It was extremely pleasant, almost soft, making him wish he didn’t have to wake up. Its weight laid atop him, giving him comfort and removing his ability to move. The warm sensation moved up slowly. Leon didn’t know how much time had passed in his half-woken state.

Refusing to open his eyes, more time passed. The pleasant heat had made its way to Leon’s face. The created pressure seemingly weighed down on his head as well. Scrunching his face, questioned the sensation. Leon reached for it.

It was the sun.

Shielding his eyes, he pushed himself up. Sitting just outside of the ray of light, Leon rubbed his eyes and stretched. Across the room, A figure sat in the frame of the window which leaked the sun’s powerful gaze. A parchment lay within her hand as her eyes darted across it, analyzing its contents.

“Good morning,” Leon yawned.

Glancing over at him, she wore a simple smile. “Good morning to you too.”

Strolling over to her, he rested himself against a table near the window. Eyeing her, Leon couldn’t spot a single hint of sleep deprivation. In all honesty, she appeared to possess more energy than the groggy Leon by a landslide.

“I assume you passed out somewhere?” Leon asked somewhat meekly but it was hardly noticeable.

On one hand, he was genuinely interested in her morning vigor that contrasted his own. On the other hand, Leon… kinda… sorta… maybe… wanted to confirm that it was just the heat of the sun on him in the bed. He’d gotten over the initial awkwardness he generated over the topic but couldn’t help but sate his curious and inexperienced mind.

Releasing the bottom of the parchment, it swept itself up as it rolled into a sealed scroll. With a swift toss toward her chest, the scroll vanished. The necklace glowed in response. Leon didn’t want to admit it, but he figured his pocket versus dimensional storage comment got to her.

“Indeed. I think I passed out at the table,” she indicated with her eyes behind Leon.

The table had much more material on it than he’d remembered from last night. Crumpled parchment littered the table, bringing contrast to the other tables. That alone said a lot since they all were covered in chaos. From the visible parchment that Leon could see, there were many inkblots and scribbles but many of them had one thing in common. They all had what looked like circular designs with what looked like hieroglyphs. They resembled the same mana-infused circles that Sir William had used the day before.

“I’m not entirely sure though. Things get hazy when you work until you lose consciousness,” She added.

It was a mildly concerning thing. It couldn’t possibly be healthy for her to work that long but he didn’t feel the right to tell her otherwise. Appearance-wise, she seemed content and healthy enough with the routine. She wasn’t forced to work that long either, based on their earlier conversations.

Once more, Leon was faced with a predicament. His eyes naturally scrutinized the person before him and once more, he found no flaws. His self-esteem took hold of him, giving him useless thoughts of whether he deserved to be near this person. With a fresh mind from sleep, these thoughts filled his head.

Kassandra looked like an angel, with her blonde hair, blemishless face, and white robes. Albeit, angel’s probably didn’t dress like a mix between a mage and a scientist.

He was reminded of common recurring thoughts he had, similar to the one he had at the restaurant a few days before. Leon found it hard to not compare himself to others. He was never happy where he was in life and his distaste toward his appearance didn’t add much to help it.

‘Did I always hate how I look? I didn’t care much as a kid. I guess… I guess I just envy perfect people. Why couldn’t I have been tall at least?’ Leon internalized his frustration. Most of it was confusion because, honestly, he didn’t know why it bothered him so much. He knew it shouldn’t matter but a part of him always seemed to care about it.

‘I guess I got caught up in the moment. This multiverse thing fixed my face a bit and other things. Must have thought I was suddenly hot shit,’ he snickered. Leon felt good for a while when he came to this world, but it didn’t feel right anymore. He felt an obligation to put himself down a peg. Was it healthy? Probably not, but that’s just how he worked. ‘My face is still plain… and I’m still short.’

Somehow satisfied with his self-deprivation, Leon went from chatting to discussing with Kassandra. “Do you know where I’m supposed to go today?”

Leon had gone quiet for a while before he asked, making Kassandra wonder about the young man’s thoughts. His annoyance at something was prevalent on his face, unbeknownst to him, and she was tempted to lighten the mood. Luckily, his expression changed soon enough, retracting her worries a bit.

“Well, you were supposed to attend the institute for mages…” Kassandra said, with a widening smirk. “Buttttt, I put in a word with Sir William and have been given permission… to take you as my apprentice!”

Leon was taken aback by her enthusiasm. “Wait, what? Why?”

Not quite the reaction she was expecting but she tried hard to not show it.

“I guess I grew fond of you. Not to mention that we have your ‘side effects’ to look into.”

The compliment was nice, but it still left Leon confused. He stared at Kassandra with his still somewhat shocked and puzzled expression. Remembering to close his mouth, he stared at the ground for a moment in thought before turning back up toward her.

“So, what does it entail? Will I still be taking all those classes we were talking about?”

Clapping her hands in delight, she shuffled over to the desk and grabbed a wound-up parchment. Rotating her head to face him, she began undoing the knot bounding the scroll.

“You’ll still be attending classes, just not all of them. I’ll teach you all about mana and its uses as well as language lessons. There is a class about the history of our world and geography but it's up to you to attend that. I have plenty of books here to help you with that.”

With the knot undone, she unraveled it as she made her way back to him. Scanning the document with her eyes, she stopped in front of Leon.

“I’m no good with fighting so you’ll have to attend those. Besides that, there isn’t much else. Ah,” she realized, catching a particular line on the parchment. “You have been assigned Sir Garett as your combat instructor. You may have seen him at the evaluation. I think you’ll find him adequate.”

Leon reached for the parchment only to be met with a retracting hand. Kassandra eyed him for a moment. That’s when he remembered that he still hadn’t learned their language. Knowing the thoughts of the slightly embarrassed young man before her, she elaborated.

“I forgot to mention that the first week will be spent learning our language. We speak Leqan here and according to our results at your evaluation, you all possess the ability [Adept Tongue]. Quite the useful skill.”

‘A week? That surely isn’t enough time to learn an entire language,’ Leon thought. Either this skill was extremely amazing, or it was only good enough to teach them the necessary basics in a week. Leon wasn’t complaining but it still baffled him. ‘I guess we are fighting a demon lord… we don’t exactly have the luxury of time.’ To which Leon summoned the quest screen.

Quest: A great peril befalls the world of Thalan. With the resurrection of the demon lord on the horizon, the Wroven Kingdom has implored you for assistance against the potential disaster. The demon lord was sealed away many eons ago. With his seal weakened, scholars predict his return is inevitable. Help bring this world into another era of prosperity, without fear of a looming danger overhead.

Objective: End the overlying conflict residing within this world.

*Rewards will be determined upon completion.*

There wasn’t a clear indicator of when the demon lord was meant to return so he assumed that the kingdom of Wroven was playing it safe. ‘Wait a minute…how many other kingdoms are there? Are they working together against it? Did the other kingdoms summon people as well?’ The thought of his little sister being in this world scared but also calmed him. ‘That means I can find her.’

With that thought, he was very certain that at least Julia and Drake were in this world. It was mostly a gut feeling with the little newfound information, but it was enough to motivate him.

Deciding to accept this time frame, he pondered on anything else that he needed to know. Glancing around the study, he struggled to think of anything… until he spotted the mattress.

“Do I get a place to sleep?” Leon questioned.

Kassandra nearly facepalmed at her forgetfulness. “Ah, yes. You’ll share a dormitory at the mage’s institute.”

With great strides, she walked to the door of the study. Turning to the dumbfounded Leon, she shouted. “What are you waiting for? The others have probably already settled in. I’ll guide you to the dormitory.”

Leon let out a lengthy breath, recognizing the long day ahead of him.