A part of me wanted to continue straight away, to try pushing Sandy into Rune Magic, simply to see if it would work. If it did, and I managed to get another EXP infusion similar to the one I had received when Kevin learned the skill, I might make level eighteen, though I doubted it. Teaching was profitable in terms of EXP but not to that extent. Or maybe it was teaching magic that was profitable, possibly as a result of that nifty blessing I had received. From what I knew, Hecate was in favour of teaching magic to the people, to put them on the path of figuring stuff out themselves instead of relying on the divine to guide them. With that as a caveat, it would make sense that she would support the teaching of magic, making it worth the teacher’s while, though I wasn’t sure why the blessing was a Moon-blessing. Maybe just Her personal flavour. Or I was speculating wildly off-base and the EXP I was getting came from somewhere else, I really had no idea.

And it didn’t really matter if I was rewarded for the teaching I was doing, good, I would give the people here some more guidance, in order to repay the perceived debt to Mrs Wu, without falling off the power curve.

But before I could try teaching Sandy further, I realised that the room had filled up and people were focused on Mrs Wu who seemingly had gathered everyone. When I looked over to her, she gestured for me to join her. In turn, I grabbed Kevin, intent on demonstrating just what magic could do, even without a lot of experience. Hopefully, it would give people the idea to better themselves, to thrive instead of just trying to survive but I wasn’t certain.

Before Mrs Wu had a chance to begin and explain to the crowd why she had called them all together, I stepped up next to her, quietly telling her that I already had my first success. Her eyes widened at that, a mix of surprise and a few other emotions I couldn’t quite identify before it was all hidden away under her usual, genial smile.

After giving me a nod, she turned to the crowd and began, telling them about me, that I used to be her student before the change and that I was now offering to teach the people here some magic. There were a few rather sceptical looks in the crowd, it did sound a little out there, even during an apocalypse, but then, I could simply demonstrate.

Stepping up, I remained silent for a moment, quickly drawing a runic formation into the air before me. From the formation, a chunk of Ice rose, never touching my hand, as it started to soar around the room carried by my magic.

“Now, as you can see, magic is real. If you have doubts about it or don’t trust your eyes, that’s on you. What I will demonstrate and explain has nothing to do with gods, devils or whatever else you want to imagine, merely with an individual’s will and innate talent. In this new world of ours, Changed by the Astral River and the system that came with it, it is a reality and a path to power. Not the only path, but it might be the least intuitive, the one that requires the largest mental leap to start on it,” I began, bulldozing over a few voices, simply continuing to speak in a calm and measured voice.

“Some of you will wonder where my knowledge comes from, given that the Change has been unexpected for everyone. That includes me, I did not know it was coming, though in hindsight, it was somewhat obvious. A year ago a certain video game was released,” at that, a few more voices became loud, clearly confused about the apparent non-sequiteur, but I simply continued on.

“It was called Road to Purgatory and, for the time, it was a complete revolution. Fully immersive, technology that felt as if it was right out of science fiction. But it worked so people simply accepted that they had underestimated what was being cooked up in research facilities around the globe and ran with it. Played the game, and enjoyed the World of Mundus the game allowed you to explore. Now, with hindsight on our side, it becomes obvious that ‘Pantheon Entertainment’ was a rather apt name, just like ‘Road to Purgatory’ was very apt. At the end of the ‘Road to Purgatory’ came what we see now. A Purgatory of blue flames, just like the game’s logo showed to all who could see. But nobody, to my knowledge, made the connection, simply treating it as just a name. The system we have now is either linked to the game or to a cosmos-spanning system and the moment the connection was made to earth, Terra as they call it, we got what I call the Change. Thanks to that game-that-was-not-a-game, I have information you don’t have and can teach those who are interested magic. And now, we go back to the original topic, Magic,” I finished that part of my introduction, trying to give them the information they needed to understand without telling them what I had been up to on Mundus. I felt that telling them I had committed genocide wasn’t quite the image I wanted to portray.

“For those who wonder what magic can do, the answer is quite simple. Everything,” I paused for a moment, letting the idea sink in before giving the crowd a grin and continuing on.

“Well, everything but with a few caveats. You need to be able to imagine your goal. That much should be obvious, if you don’t know what you want, there’s little that can be done. Next, you need the power, the Astral Power to be precise, to accomplish whatever it is you desire. However, most tasks would take far too much power to accomplish, unless you increase the efficiency. For that, you need the appropriate skills, which increase the efficiency you use magic with, while also giving you additional tools to increase that effect. And lastly, the most difficult thing to gain, is Affinity. Affinity comes in different flavours, but to put it simply, it is a measure of how suited you are for some type of magic. I have no idea how the system defines the term or how it is measured but magical, runic or elemental affinity traits are how the system describes said affinity. If you have a magical affinity for, let’s say as an example, Water Magic, you will have an easier time learning and using said magic. That’s not to say that you can’t learn magic without the affinity but it will require more effort on your part and the part of any teacher you might have, thus, my teaching will focus on those with those traits. It is simply a question of prioritising resources to those who will gain the greatest benefit, while the survival of this community is still in question,” I finished my explanation, amazed at just how disciplined the people here were. None of them had interrupted and after a bit of conversation at the beginning, I had been the only one speaking.

“Now, as a demonstration,” I looked to Kevin, who appeared to be incredibly nervous, “Kevin here has been taught magic for about half an hour, with a similar amount spent in self-study. Anyone who has ever learned a complex skill will understand that he has barely scratched the surface and yet, I believe you all will be sufficiently amazed by his accomplishment.”

Gently pulling him to the centre of the stage, I quietly told him to simply conjure some water. At the same time, I pulled the Ice I had conjured before next to me, forming another basin.

Compared to his earlier casting, the rune leaked less Astral Power but otherwise, it was just the same. Water appeared and dropped down, landing in the basin before it could splash across the ground.

“Water,” I grinned, noticing quite a few surprised looks and wide eyes in the crowd, “It will remain in this world for about a day, at least if my prior experience with Ice translates over. During that time, it can be used just like the water from bottles, to drink, wash yourself or launder clothes. For now, he can only conjure relatively small amounts, but if he keeps at it if he gains some levels and increases his skill? Then he will be able to conjure torrents of water, washing away thirst and sanitation issues,” I paused again, letting the gathered people take the idea in. They all looked at Kevin with a strange mixture of awe and respect, while he was rapidly turning green at the attention.

“To finish things up, because I’m sure everyone has better things to do than listen to me ramble on. For those of you who have one of the aforementioned affinity traits, I offer you lessons, either in small groups or one-on-one. If you are interested, we can schedule a session and explore what you might be able to do. For those who lack the affinity, you can attempt to get in touch with your magic on your own, or you can seek to train in martial arts. As I mentioned, there are multiple paths to power, with magic being just one of them. Maybe the Martial Path, something Mrs Wu can train you in, would be a better fit for you. But know this, with the Change, our old social norms will quickly crumble and this new world of ours is not as nice and comfortable as the Western World we have been living in was,” with that, I finished up my part and gave another nod to the audience, before moving away from my previous position, trying to retreat a little.

Soon, it would be time to get back out there and hunt some more.