Leon slipped the ring onto his index finger. Extending his arm, Leon admired the ring. Within his view beside his newly ringed finger was a triumphant-looking Kassandra.

“That’s your first lesson! Some objects are imbued with magical properties, this one allows for the facilitation of structural mana manipulation. It takes in some mana and conforms to the mana’s will in a sense. I’ll explain more about it later.”

Kassandra was very pleased with her mentorship. Leon hadn’t fully understood but the fact that he transformed the object was more than enough.

For further clarification, he zoned in on the ring once more but this time with the intention to identify it.

Basic Engraving: Magic imbued engraving

Useful as always, Leon mentally swiped the screen notification away. He did note that he knew more about the engraving than his skill did. According to Kassandra, its magic was specific to mana manipulation and it was hers.

Turning toward the window, Kassandra spotted the position of the sun. Leon’s eyes followed her gaze.

“It seems I’m running behind schedule,” Kassandra let out.

She stood up and headed to the door. Placing her hand on the knob, she rotated her upper torso to face Leon. “Make sure to come to my study tomorrow,” before turning back to the door and exiting.

Acknowledging the forgotten language books, he turned back to the window with new questions and revelations sinking in. First off, he was surprised that she could tell the time from the sun’s position. ‘That… or she just made an excuse to leave like Nick.’ Snickering at the recent event.

Then the big question hit him like a semi-truck. ‘How the hell do I get back to the castle?’ He wasn’t entirely clueless. Leon had remembered the general direction and it was kind of hard to miss a giant castle. It was more of the concept that he’d have to walk through the streets of a foreign land alone while knowing none of the language.

‘Not big on social interactions? Try walking through a street full of vendors trying to sell you things in Leqan.’ Leon found his thought funny but knew he wouldn’t feel the same tomorrow. Kassandra had taught him some basic words like yes and no but nothing concrete enough to maneuver a conversation on his own.

Then there was the problem of the engraving. ‘Kassandra said that it would allow me access to the castle but like… how? Am I just supposed to show off the ring to some guards?’ His motivation was faltering with every passing thought. The thought of approaching strangers and being like ‘hey, check out this ring. Oh, cool. I can enter now? Let’s go,’ didn’t sit well with him. It reminded him of going to his friend’s house for the first time. He knocked on the door and his friend’s mother answered. She was very nice but there was one problem… she didn’t speak English. Leon struggled to explain that he was there to see his friend.

A knock at the door was heard. Standing up, Leon approached the door. Opening it slightly, he peeked out and was greeted by Nick.

“Hey,” Nick said.

“Oh, hey,” Leon replied.

Nick stared at him through the slightly agape door. “I noticed that Miss Kassandra left, so I thought it was a good time to talk with you.”

Leon just looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, she just left.”

Nick continued to stare at him.

“…So, can I come in?”

Flustered, Leon opened the door quickly. “Yeah, yeah. Sure, come in.” He was still clearly stressing over the impending social anxiety attack he would have tomorrow.

The two sat, Nick taking the chair and sitting on it backwards while Leon assumed Kassandra’s previous seat on his bed.

The two spoke for a while as the sun set. Nick had apparently been guided to the dormitory with everyone else only a few hours before he arrived. They weren’t told much besides the fact that they’d have language lessons coming up for the next week. Their group had been shown where the lecture hall was that they’d be attending. The class was in the morning. Attendance wasn’t mandatory but highly recommended. ‘And for good reason,’ Leon thought.

Nick told him about the other classes he’d have to attend, seemingly enjoying it. “Never thought I’d attend school again,” he bellowed.

Most of the information wasn’t interesting to Leon. He did find out that they both had Sir Garett as a combat instructor. Leon didn’t do much to return the favor though. He didn’t talk much about what happened. Nick was just told that they scanned him with magic and then kept him overnight to guarantee there weren’t any unforeseen side effects.

“Oh, yeah. I guess I’m also Kassandra’s apprentice.”

Nick’s eyes widened. He didn’t really understand what that entailed but it seemed like a big deal. His lack of further inquiry only being restricted due to his mild fear of the woman.

Nick left Leon’s room that night not having learned very much.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Leon voiced out as the man left. He decided to attend the morning language lesson. It beat walking to the castle completely clueless.

Lying in bed, Leon held his hand above his head. The room was darkening by the minute. The moon being his saving grace as it kept the room alit slightly. ‘God bless clean windows,’ reflecting back on the barracks’ sad state.

Leon fiddled with his ring, transforming it into various objects. As Kassandra said, the volume and mass of the desired object mattered. He had imaged a necklace and received one… that didn’t fit. It was too small; however, it did work as a bracelet.

Time flew by as he experimented with the engraving. Fatigue began to overtake him. It was unusual. It wasn’t like any fatigue he’d ever felt before. If anything, it felt like his body was tensing up slowly.

‘What’s happening to me?’ He thought, receiving an almost prophetic screen in return.

Status

Name: Leon Knight

Race: Lesser Human (0)

Class: Support (0)

Profession: ---

Vitality: 70/70

Mana: 38/110

Stamina: 50/50

Stats

Strength: 4

Agility: 8 (1)

Endurance: 5

Constitution: 7 (1)

Perception: 8

Intelligence: 11 (2)

Wisdom: 7 (2)

Charisma: 1

Skills

[Adept Tongue (Rare)] [Mend (Inferior)] [Disarray (Inferior)] [Identify (Inferior)]

‘Oh, my mana is low.’ Leon thought, recalling how Kassandra had mentioned mana usage. The feeling of lacking mana was uncomfortable. It wasn’t hindering him at this point, but he imagined that it would as it got closer to zero.

‘Kassandra said that mana was just as important as blood basically… No blood means no living, so… no mana also means no living.’ Priding himself on the small mental triumph.

With this, Leon drifted off to sleep.

The following morning, he opened his status window once more to see that all of his mana was there again. Leon got out of bed and grabbed the now earring engraving on his desk.

Returning the engraving to a ring, he placed it on his index finger and took note of how it had used three points of mana. He stood in the room and watched his mana slowly refill numerically on the screen. It seemed that it refilled every three hundred or so seconds. Yes, he did count every second. As to whether or not he accurately counted every second was up for debate.

Opening the door, Leon noticed a small package knotted to the doorknob. Untying it, he looked inside and found yet another engraving. This one was very generic with a sword and a staff crossing, forming an x shape.

A few of the other doors had these packages on them as well. It wasn’t hard for Leon to realize that it was likely for the academy. With his prior experience, Leon morphed this one into a ring as well. He placed this one on his ring finger alongside the other one on his index.

Leon passed by many others as he made his way out of the dormitory. Leon found Nick waiting in the lower common area. The two spoke and began to head off toward their lesson in Leqan.

“Where’s your insignia?” Nick asked.

They were walking through the grass plain between the class area and the dormitories. The practice arenas were empty with the exception of a few people taking some practice swings at straw dummies.

“Here,” Leon waved his hand containing two rings.

Nick was confused as to why his wasn’t a sort of pin. He had his sigil attached to his shirt like a name tag, similar to many others.

Leon explained how he had done it the best he could. This meant that he just told Nick to feel the mana. To imitate the feeling they got when they received their classes in the starry path-finding space.

Nick tried to do it as they walked but failed over and over again. Leon got a big head as he watched the man struggle. It was a small victory, making him feel that he struck back at his lacking stats.

Eventually, they entered a lecture hall. It was slowly filling up as the many otherworlders found seats. An older man stood at the front, in front of a blackboard. Scratch that, he wasn’t old but more… decrepit. ‘He looks like he’s on his last breath.’

The man was old with many wrinkles and a hunched back. A cane assisted in propping him. The very definition of a great-great-great-grandfather. The coming lessons were to be joyous ones, it seemed.