There seems to be a fair amount of hate in the world. It doesn’t matter which world – Earth, Epretos, and the other continents. You know, so far, the only thing I have heard being properly praised is the madness of the Vanedenis. Think about that for a second, huh? The only thing you can find with any remotely positive connotation when talking about foreigners is how the Vanedenis were very good at killing people. The funny thing is that most Elves hate the Vanedenis for this or that reason, but those in the know still somehow respect what they accomplished. I’m not about to go full Hippie on you, but can’t we find something else? Like, what’s the best place to get food around this stupid planet? Is there anything worthy of being mentioned? No?

But then, when you think about it, you realize something. This world doesn’t have airplanes. This world does not have multiculturalism. Carilia, a big-ass continent on the other side of the world, is the leader in that. And even over there, most communities are gated and prefer to stay on their own. Races that mix with each other or that tolerate each other extensively are an exception, not a rule.

So, when someone called me a ‘worm’ because I randomly bumped into them on the road, I wonder how you go about solving that. It is interesting because I never really had a ‘racial problem’ in my life. Never been to Africa or Asia, so I have mostly been the white person among white people. Now, when they look at your ears and certain facial features, you get called names.

Worm.

Most people don’t like reporting that term on paper because it’s charged. How very American of them. But see, I don’t care about the guy who called me that because that person will most likely change. On Earth, I’m of the opinion that the only way to get racism out of people is to let them die. The world inevitably becomes more and more progressive until we don’t really care about color or stuff like that anymore. We can simply keep killing each other over natural resources and intercontinental disputes; how it should be after we have eliminated the silly racism.

Anyway, that was just a random thought. I wonder how it works here. No globalization, no broad knowledge of the other parts of the world... When someone dies on Earth, their children will live in a wildly different world to what their parents were used to. My parents came to the US relatively late compared to the big waves post-WWI and WWII. And before coming to the US, they had never really interacted with a black person and barely any Asians. Were they racist? Probably. Less outspoken about it compared to many others, though. But still, they are gone, and the new generations have grown up among many other races.

“Joey!” I look at Marcellus coming toward me as I’m getting into my house after shopping a bit at the market.

“Yo, wassup,” I nod.

“The others have arrived,” he says with a hard stare.

“So what? I was out buying ingredients to make us lunch. The pantry doesn’t magically restock itself, especially considering the people who visit this house are essentially starved marauders.”

“Whatever; you said we should all get together to study! We have the Primitive Enchantments paper for the History of Magic class!”

“Yay,” I deadpan, sighing to myself. Yesterday, Liogi suggested I should help Amelia by staying close to her. I guess that showing more regard for studying would be a good first step towards not having her fail.

“Anyway, is the old man here yet?”

“What old man?”

I frown and enter the house, looking at the clock on the wall.

“Hey, Joey!” Alba and Amelia wave at me.

I nod at them and look at a half-asleep Anneus on the other couch, with his shirt full of crumbs from the cheesecake I made last night. Meh, what a group. Amelia and Alba are chatting spiritedly about something when I take a better look at the clock and realize my invited guest is actually a bit late.

“That lazy bum is lat--”

“Joey Luciani,” I hear a deep voice from behind me, “my time used to be worth beyond simple gold. Disciples would come from all over Kome to listen to me. And we still have matters to discuss, you and me. You have been abusing your free time.”

Oh, shoot.

Does he know--

“I know that you have been postponing the work from the book. But let us talk about that in private. I promised you an hour of my time and an hour of my time I shall gift to your friends.”

Everyone looks at the old man who appeared out of nowhere. Lord Juler’s soul currently resides inside a special construct, and he can’t really do magic. I mean, now he can do some stuff thanks to Valarith, but the entity of it is pretty small. I can probably do as much magic as him, quantity-wise. Quality-wise, instead... well.

“Who is--” I see Marcellus coming back from the entrance, and Lord Juler immediately cuts him off.

“Silence, child,” Lord Juler claps his hands in what he once described to me as a [Thunderclap], one of the most annoying skills a [Mage] can learn.

Anneus falls from the couch as the soundwave hits him, and is awakened with a shot of pure adrenaline. Well, that’s Lord Juler for you, the old bag.

“I will not tolerate any waste of my precious time. Joey Luciani asked me to instruct you all on primitive Enchantments, and I shall do so. One-third of the time I will dedicate to explaining; the last two-thirds I’ll gather your questions, answer them, and ensure your understanding has matured.”

I put my pinkie in my ear and pull it out.

No blood.

Well, that’s good.

“Lord Juler, I think they all got the message. You don’t need to power up your voice for this, right, guys?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” Marcellus immediately nods.

Alba is looking at the man with fear and astonishment but still manages to squeeze out a nod. Same for Amelia, but with pure curiosity in place of fear. She doesn’t really understand the bad blood between the Ahalis and the Vanedenis, I think. Not that Lord Juler would take issue with one bastard Ahali, would he? Well, I should have thought about that.

Anneus is still waking up but pulls himself onto the bed with his shaky legs and opens his mouth several times before closing it again. He’s probably tempted by a snide remark, but he can feel his [Dangersense] going off at the sole thought of interrupting Lord Juler.

“All is well, Joey Luciani,” Lord Juler sighs and sweeps his eyes around the place, settling on standing in front of the two couches.

Should have called the others as well, damn.

Well, whatever.

“Primitive enchantments, as your texts suggest, are simply the first version of enchantments. Unlike many seem to think, we don’t know how many shapes magic can take. To this day, we might be ignoring and forgetting some important steps while learning how to deal with Mana. The example that should leave all of you ashamed is the lack of [Mana Sense] or, as in Joey Luciani’s case, [Advanced Mana Sense]. And if he had trained properly, instead of wasting his time in idle sloth, he would have probably reached a superior version of the skill already. Not a colored one, necessarily, but one strong enough to have weight in it.”

Did this turn out to be a dissing session?

“Alas, Sziezays’s original head – oh, you children don’t know who Sziezays is, I fear. Sziezays, before I took his life, was the greatest spellcaster of his era after me.”

Is the old bag smirking? Still roasting the Hydra after half a millennium?

“He developed a bodily skill for his eyes--eye, I should say. Pay attention to my words because they haven’t been pronounced in a long time. Sziezays had a skill called [Eyes: The Eye of Sziezays]. It was what we call a Unique skill. You might never see one in your class, least have one named after you. But he developed a technique so strong and altered his body to such a level that the all-encompassing reality helped him achieve the impossible. His left eye was able to pierce even the soul-shroud that makes it impossible to [Dispel]--wait. Do you know what a soul-shroud is?”

This is going to be a long lesson.

...

After several back and forths, wrestling with the dissonance between the knowledge of my study group and his, Lord Juler finally got to explaining what primitive Enchantments were.

“Some call the Enchantment ‘Cantamen,’ and it’s sadly a habit still alive among my people as well. That comes from the belief that the Canti gave origin to magic and, therefore, to enchantments. It’s wrong. One of the first Canti, if mythology is to be believed, might have created the first Enchantments, however. My scholarly disposition pushes me to believe it is a very real possibility.”

Here we go; lost again.