The last strings holding together Sylvester’s current world view snapped. He knows this shouldn’t be the case because of the things he had seen and encountered while growing up.

Yet the reveal of parallel worlds different from his own, and the fact that these worlds are closer than he thought, far eclipses things like fighting an ancient lich that has awakened after centuries of slumber.

The fact of the matter is, even if you have faith that something is real, once you are given evidence of its existence you just can’t help but suffer a minor mental breakdown from the shock.

To Sylvester it felt like swimming in an olympic swimming pool then suddenly getting thrown in the middle of the ocean during a storm. With skies so dark that the light only came from the lightning and winds strong enough to churn water like a blender.

Sure there was still water, he was still swimming, but everything got larger and admittedly enough, more frightening.

Like the chaotic and violent explosion of the big bang, his imagination was swirling chaotically, his mind lost within itself, until he was snapped back into reality by the voice of the headmaster.

“Everyone, don’t get so hung up on this rather tiny tidbit of info.” He said in a cheerful manner, trying to raise their spirits.

“What the hell do you mean by TINY? You can’t just drop something like that and expect us to “get over” it!” Sylvester complained inwardly as the headmaster continued his talk.

“Within these walls you will learn many more secrets and “truths” that will effectively destroy whatever view you previously held. What you have right now is a golden opportunity to further your knowledge and understanding of the world you live in and beyond!” The headmaster declared, his voice a clear light that led Sylvester out of the dark.

These words seem to have resonated with Sylvester.

“Multiple worlds means a much bigger stage, more magic, more things to learn! Why am I suddenly getting cold feet over this? This is exactly what I want as a magician!” He thought to himself as he regained his excitement.

“The headmaster is right, the more I learn the more I can improve my own brand of magic, bringing me closer to my dream of creating the ultimate magic trick!” Looking around it seems that his fellow neophytes have come to the same realization.

“But-!” The headmaster suddenly continued.

“I expect one thing from all you in return.” Speaking with a more commanding tone far different from the one he used earlier, the students all felt a chill run up their spines.

“I expect all of you to not lose yourself in this infinite ocean of knowledge and its limitless depths. To uphold our sworn duty as mages of the modern era.”

A serious mood now swept across the scene.

Sylvester and everyone currently present, while neophytes to Inanis Orbis, are not complete amateurs in any regard. All of them have been trained in the art of magic from a young age, and from then on they have an understanding of the responsibility they all carry. The burden of magic.

Good or evil, magic stands on neither of these sides. It is merely a tool holding infinite potential for both.

What it is used for is completely on the hands of whoever wields it. Man is no different. No man is born good or evil, it is the choices they make that define what side they stand on. At least, this is what they believe to be true.

Within Sylvester recited the oath that has been taught to him the moment he learned his first spell.

“Choose to do good. Choose to save. Choose the right thing to do.” An oath that sounds more like a plea that it is an oath.

“Now then. How about I tell you young ones a little bit more about how we do things here?” The headmaster, flashing that cheerful smile again after realizing that he realized the mood was kind of souring.

“First let me explain the monetary system used inside the premises, I’m sure you are wondering why you were given food free during your trip to the strategically placed food market.”. Upon hearing these words, some of the students glanced upon their respective snacks.

“If you recall you were all given a blank card that was transformed into an ID card when you got past that little surprise test no?” He continued.

“ Please, I would like all of you to check out your IDs now.”

Sylvester took the card he stored in his pocket and checked it out. There was a new category that appeared below the other information displayed on his ID.

“Credits: 1000?” He blurted out looking a little perplexed “Is that supposed to be a big amount or not?”

The headmaster then continued his explanation.

“As you can see your current balance is now displayed onto your ID card.”

“I see.” Sylvestr replied in his head

“It refreshes every Sunday 12: AM”

“I see.”

“And there is no other way to replenish credits aside from that.”

“I se- OH NO!”

It took a few seconds before the collective consciousness of the student body processed the new information. Naturally most of them panicked at the implied purpose of this system.

Everyone gathered here came from different walks of life. The ones born into lavish wealth see this as a complete travesty, forcing them to let go of their lavish lifestyles and live a life of frugality in the name of magic.

The rest don’t seem to care much since they have been through worse. In fact, this may even be a luxury.

Sylvester, while not born into luxury, loved food. Eating exotic and new delicacies is what he would consider as his only vice, and sometimes he does not care for the price as long as he gets something delicious to eat.

This was bad news for him. Very bad news.

“DAMN IT, AND I WAS PLANNING TO HAVE A FEAST LATER TOO!” He started shouting in his head.

The food market had a lot of exotic foods displayed that Sylvester wanted to save for later during the night and chose to buy the most “normal” one he could find as a sort of introductory snack. He very much regrets this decision now.

“Now we move on to the academic side of things.” And with those words Sylvester snapped back into his attentive self. Forget about the trivial stuff like food and whatever, this is the meat of the matter right now.

“Let’s talk about the ranks first. We have four ranks to categorize everyone in this academy, including me. Apprentice, Adept, Master, finally Grand Master.” The headmaster then conjures a pyramid to represent the ranks, the one at the bottom being apprentice and at the top Grand master.

“As you would also expect there are restricted areas in the academy only accessible to higher ranking mages, best example would be our great library and the mage’s archives.” He continued as he conjured images from inside the library.

“There’s also another aspect of the academy that is also affected by your rank, but I’m getting ahead of myself now.” He then stopped himself from spoiling it any further.

“Now onto, the boring stuff like lectures and whatever. Here in Inanis Orbis, we believe that one should strive to take control of their own destiny and make their own path. Therefore, all of you have control over what lectures you want to take, although some more advanced lectures have prerequisites.”

“We have an incredible range of subjects and disciplines within these walls so I am sure every single one of you can mold yourself into the mage you want to be!” The headmaster declared as he showed projection of several people doing different activities, from casting to alchemy and even what looked like kung-fu and swordsmanship.

“But here comes the best part!” Snapping his fingers, the projections then faded into particles gradually disappearing completely.

“Lectures here aren’t meant to teach you individual spells or whatnot, those are separated into something else entirely. You see we have revolutionized the way we teach our spells in this academy!”

Suddenly, the crowd’s excitement reached its peak. Silence once again befell the coliseum but not because of some new information that brought about confusion and doubt, but because of untol anticipation.

“We have a way for every single one of you to learn spells in a very efficient manner!” The crowd was now in an uproar of speciation and skepticism.

“Efficient huh?” Sylvester thoughts then returned to the past, particularly his childhood. It took him 5 months of non stop practice to even learn how to cast a fireball.

While his pacing certainly has over the years improved depending on the spell, it still took a considerable amount of time and effort to add something new to his repertoire.

“BUT! There is a small catch to it, and it is better for you to experience it yourself tomorrow.” The headmaster continued his explanation.

“Tomorrow?” The crowd altogether gasped.

“Yes, tomorrow we have prepared some activities that will replicate what it is exactly you need to do in order to earn the right to learn spells, since explaining everything here to you would be boring. It is better for you young bloods to experience it yourselves.” He added.

“Now before I send you back to whatever it was you were doing back then, I would just want to add one more thing. While sometimes conflict is unavoidable and isn’t completely looked down upon among us mages, if you want to go and pick a fight with each other, there is a formal process for it. Failure to comply will result in llight punishment.”

Sylvester’s mind instantly went to those two people. Stereotypical rich girl and Stereotypical average guy who were butting heads earlier. He felt sorry for those two, while also thinking it was a bit unfair if they will be punished for some rule they didn’t even know existed.

“I guess the headmaster wanted some first hand examples.” Sylvester simply thought to himself as his prayers and wishes reach out to those two poor souls.

“Now be sure to read the student’s handbook once you get to your dorms. A copy of it is already waiting for you along with your belongings that were sent there in advance. Your uniforms will also be delivered at a later date.” He paused, then immediately continued as if he forgot something.

“Oh boy I almost forgot. Your ID’s have more functions for you to try out!” The headmaster paused.

“Once I send you back, give it two flicks and see what I mean. Read the manual to see more of its uses!” He stopped and then smiled a gentle smile.

“Once again, I welcome you all to Inanis Orbis Academy! I wish you all the best, see you all around!”

With a snap of a finger the students were all back where they were before getting teleported into the coliseum. Sylvester immediately looked for the two students that were fighting, but now they were gone from sight.

“Oh well.” He shrugged and went his merry way.