“Magic is an extremely potent force with limits only to one’s imagination and aspiration. Magic is believed to be found in all creations of Gods, it lies within everyone but only a few could draw out its potential. It’s fuel and sustenance, known as Mana, it can be found everywhere, which we subconsciously or consciously absorb into our body. And I’m sure most of you had already known this but every individual has the their own capacity, their own limit to how much Magic they can inhabit in their body and how much Mana they can absorb at a single moment.”

Robert raised an eyebrow at the professor’s introduction to Magic. He had read many books on Magic but none of them spoke of the sustenance essence known as Mana. But it can’t be helped, the books he read before were all memoirs and notes of self-proclaims masters and experts. He had lived in a town with no affiliations to any major power, getting books written by profound scholars was a blue moon occurrence. However, that didn’t mean his understanding of Magic was superficial or wrong. He experimented those statements from the texts by himself. He knew which was right and which was wrong, and which needed more research.

“Mana, huh.”

It was the morning after he visited The Ivory Tavern. He went back to the old bookstore just before the dawn broke to get himself clean and changed for school. He made himself a light meal and spent the remaining time reading until it was just the right time to move.

Times like these made Robert appreciate his redundancy towards sleeping.

Despite the turmoil brewing in certain parts of the city, the academy was as usual, students remained none the wiser to truth. Strained efforts were put in into making sure it stayed this way. It was better to have ignorant masses than terrified masses.

Flowing along the dreary mood, Robert long found himself sitting in a class among students of his age. It felt weird considering his excursions in the last three days. They weren’t something normal to children of his age. In his heart, he knew it was just a matter of them before his sentiment cloistered him in his own understanding from the rest.

It was the first class and it was the subject of the fundamentals of Magic. There were around fifty students in the whole class but Samara wasn’t one of them as Robert looked around. Valena was but she sat alone in the corner like she did at the welcoming ceremony. She occasionally glimpsed at Robert only to turn away when he returned a glimpse of his own.

“How cute.”

The classroom had rising platforms of seats spreading before the podium of the lecturer right below all. This design gave all of the students an equal view of the lectures but it also served to gave the lecturer a clear view of their students.

So to say, whatever the students did, it was up to the lecturers themselves to decide to expose them or let them be. Robert heard most of the lecturers leaned on the latter choice.

Robert sighed as he struggle to give even a quarter of his heart to the contents of the lecture.

He already knew everything the professor had to teach except for a few bits. He didn’t just learn them. He put them into practice, actual practice where his life hung on a thin thread. So listening to such a person who would most likely squealed at the sight of blood, preaching about the understanding of Magic was nothing short of posturing and insincerity.

Without minding the few absent gazes including Robert, the languish-looking professor continued, “Magic is often mistaken as to be one and the same as Mana. This misconception spreads to Aura too. These three belong under the same subject but they in itself are three very different elements.”

But it wasn’t as if Robert learned nothing of it but it was just matter of how much credibility went into the professor’s words. He didn’t know about Mana before but now that he heard of it, he was able to piece the puzzles together himself and figure out how Mana fit into the composite of Magic.

When he gave a sidelong glance at the other students, he could tell they were doing their best, at blinking that was. Their eyes spelled confusion but the professor was too fond of his own voice to mind those perplexed gazes.

“If we see Magic as fire, then Mana is the oil and air that sustain it. Aura is the smoke fire produced as it burns. And make no mistake, we do not use Mana, we use Magic. We can’t directly interfere with the Mana found in the air around us. We only make use of it. Our body absorbs Mana and our soul, our essence turns these Mana into Magic. Knowing the structures of Magic is the first of many step into the realm of Masters. Even the most talented Magic-user started of as an Elite at most. You want to be better? You have to know what makes you better and how it does so.”

Robert held down a yawn and an eye roll that threatened to expose his opinions of this class. The explanations were redundant in the long run as everyone would everyone derive to their own understanding. Robert already had. He believed practical learning was more effective than sitting through a lecture to admire how a conceited man flaunted his knowledge.

Robert never needed to sleep but the contents of the lecture was putting him into one. He wanted to leave the class but for the sake of his front, he could do no such thing.

“Someone had a lot of fun last night,” said Creed who sat just beside him. As always, he wore an an affable yet ostensible smile on his face. “You weren’t back until some time between midnight and morning.”

Leaning on his hand feebly, Robert responded, “my sluggishness had nothing to do with last night. I’m sure she¹They are in public, so they are using merely pronouns to refer others. In this case, Robert is referring to Lilian Soraes. already told you of my unique constitution.”

“Then what? This class?”

Robert nodded faintly.

“I take you for a scholar, Ross. I thought you would be more thrilled with learning.”

“Not when I already know all of the contents first hand. Plus, it will be more efficient if I read it from a book approved by many scholars instead of an opinion of a matter from a single professor who probably cares more about looking for a rise in his fame than actually imparting his knowledge on students.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Creed shrugged. “Say, who did you go with last night?”

Robert narrowed his eyes. “Do I have to tell you?”

“You’re not interested in the lectures and you have someone you can speak to beside you. Why not?”

Robert sighed through his nose. “Ilynn Rumond.”

“Her?” Creed was nonplus. “Oh wow, so you fancy older women too. You’re motley man, Ross.”

“I do not fancy them. I just fancy her.”

“From what a certain woman told me about your… prowess, I’m sure Missus Rumond had some heat of good loving last night.”

Lynn’s ravaged state came to Robert’s mind. “I gave her more than that.”

Creed chuckled. Robert simply didn’t cease to bewilder him. “And I’m sure you met my great grandson last night,” he whispered.

Robert slipped from his hand and almost kissed the desk. “Your what?” Robert knew the Dragon Knight was related to Creed but he didn’t know how.

“You heard me.”

“I heard you alright. I’m working on believing it. That was really unexpected. You were really underrating your age when you told me you were older than the two combined.”

“Is that so? I didn’t realize.”

“He was looking for you.”

“I know. He had some idea of my trade but not to the whole extent. I reckon he’s looking for me to buy certain information off me.”

“Regarding a certain bunch of old articles?”

Creed nodded. “He’s looking for me without any attempts at hiding that fact. That says a lot about him and his “friends’” degree of commitments to the issue.”

“That’s… really unnerving.”

“You survived the Dark Zone. You survived Limbo. And you plucked the paramount flower of the highest garden²As in he deflowered Iora.. I’m sure it will be nothing to you.”

Robert sighed again. “Yeah… I’m fucked.”

---

It was recess.

Everyone had gone to the dining hall for lunch except for a few students. Robert was one of them.

He sat alone on one of the dozens of benches scattered throughout the academy’s garden behind the main building. In his hand was a piece of sandwich he made for himself, rye bread with lettuce, ham, and egg. It was simple but he considered himself fortunate. Simplicity does not denounce one’s enjoyment, he believed.

“Wow, really?” he muttered as he looked to the sky. There was a bird swooping down towards him. It was the plump bird from yesterday. It had left his side somewhere around dusk but he didn’t expect it to come back for him.

The plump bird, which Robert named Henry, landed on his left shoulder. It chirped merrily as if its greeting him for afternoon. It soothed all of his worries.

“Hungry?” Robert asked but Henry shook its head. His fingers were already stroking its soft abundance feathers before he knew it himself.

Along with his new companion, Robert enjoyed the peace offered by the garden condensed with Magic— no, Mana, while listening to the song his companion was singing along with the fluttering of the butterflies and buzzing of the bees. They were also one or two squirrels laid in hiding as they only gazed from afar.

Deep down, Robert wished the two would come before and let him stroke their fur. He bet it would feel heavenly.

Robert sighed in contentment. “This is perfect.” He never was one for crowds or gatherings but neither was he intolerant towards it. He just preferred the peace and quiet.

Although, that would soon come to an end.

Robert ate up the remaining portion of his sandwich quickly and got himself off the bench. He patted his coat and shirt of the crumbs and prepared himself for his date.

Having sensed the approaching upheaval, Henry flew off but gave a few worrying glance back at its new-found owner.

“Stop looking so complacent, you creep,” said Samara as she appeared from the arch entrance of the garden. “Just because I’m here, doesn’t mean I trust you.”

“That never crossed my mind,” Robert replied. He recalled the events of last night and her proclamations. Even in the midst of giving Lynn a good loving, Robert spared no negligence in his scrutiny. He was well aware of who left the tavern and who stayed. Samara left the Tavern just an hour after midnight. Robert guessed Samara thought he would be done before midnight but she went home when she realized Robert wasn’t like the other customers who would be done under an hour.

“So, get on with it. I haven’t got all day, you whore of a man,” she derided him.

“I guess I am one,” Robert thought to himself. “Well, since you are being candid, I allow you to hit me until you’re satisfied.”

Samara drew back with her face contorted into disgust and shivers went down her spine. “What the fuck?”

“You said get on with it. So come on, hit me.” He gestured for her to strike him in his face. “As you have said, you don’t have much time and I agreed. We do not have much time. So, hit me.”

“You said you were going to help me.”

“Beating up a person you absolutely despise, that in itself is quite remedial. I’m sure you have a lot pent up. You don’t seem like someone who fools around, so I’m sure you have a lot in store.”

“You’re mad.”

“So you will be too, if you don’t let out all those vexation building in you. So hit me already. Or do you prefer the other option, which involves me pounding your bare arse and you begging for mercy.”

As soon as he said those words, Samara flew into a rage.

Robert swiftly dodged her fist and countered with a light back-slap to her elbow. Carried off with her momentum, she went spinning but she held herself to the ground and stopped. She plunged at him again but her fists were batter away with ease.

“H-how—”

“You could have kill someone with that, you fat pig.”

She roared. She threw her fists without any attempt to gauge her own advantage and her target’s intent.

Robert easily parried them all away with tranquil movements of his arms and landed a light jab at her right shoulder with just two of his fingers.

It was quick and shallow but she felt like her shoulder was pierce with a lance. The pain faded immediately after as if it had been only her imagination.

“Out of breath?” Robert taunted her further.

Samara snarled and lunged. Robert twisted out of the way and drill his knuckle to the back of her neck. It was just another light jab, even coupled with her heavy frame, it wasn’t enough to knock her down.

“What are you playing at?” Samara asked.

“Assisting your relieve?” Robert tilted his head.

Samara went low. She swung but turned her fist upwards when she closed their distance.

Robert took only a step back and the uppercut grazed only the air in front of him. She wasn’t finish. She moved while hanging low. She send a few punches at his abdomen but she missed with the first two and cracked her fist on the third punch against his knee. She gritted her teeth against the numbing pain but she did not relent. She shoved his knees away and aimed for his face.

Robert remained calm. He read her every intent through her eyes and the slightest bit of change in the fluctuation of her meat and muscles. Her fists connected with the presence of hollow. She pulled away but pounced back right after.

“What?” she blurted out when her straight fell into Robert’s obvious grasp. However, it wasn’t as simple as it looked. He did not stopped her swing with his own strength. The grasp strayed her aim and he used her own momentum to pull her in close.

She was strong but her speed was questionable.

Robert struck her left shoulder without waiting for her thoughts to gather.

There was it again, the stinging pain but it faded off like a bad dream upon awakening. The brief moments of pain left an inexpressible feeling welling up within her. She felt stronger but she also knew it was transient.

However, before her new-found strength dissipated, she threw her fist with all of her might.

Robert did not move aside nor did he try to block. On the contrary, he bare his neck for her fist to strike.

Samara widened her eyes.

She could kill him with this punch, such thought streaked into her mind.

She swerved her punch, in turn leaving herself vulnerable to his counter.

Instead of a jab or a slap, he flicked at her throat.

It took the air away from her but it didn’t take all. It was the same for her shoulders. An instantaneous pain which disappear only a second after like a phantom, leaving her feeling empowered.

She hadn’t use any Magic but Aura was spilling through her skin.

Staggering away from Robert, Samara sharpened her gaze him. “W-what… what have you done to me??” she asked, her eyes went gaping at her own body.

“You’re welcome.”

“Answer me!” she shouted. The intensity of her aura rose with her voice.

“I helped you, like I said I would. I heal your condition.”

“Assuming that you aren’t just fucking with me, how did you even do it?”

Robert stared blankly with his lips curled into his mouth. He made a few gestures of deep thinking before he finally spoke, “do you know what channels are?”

“I don’t. What does it have to do with anything?”

“They are basically unseen holes found in a person’s spiritual body, their soul vessel as some would call it that way. You can liken these channels to chimneys. They are there to expel any excessive Magic in casting a spell.”

“I still don’t hear the importance of it.”

“You chimneys are closed.”

Samara shrunk back.

“Well, maybe not close. It’s more like you don’t have them. I’m not a very good teacher but… here goes. Every time you tried to cast a spell, the excessive Magic is left with no where to go, and with nowhere to go, it went to the only node available. That is the node where you are casting the spell. The excessive Magic interferes with the casting of your spell. Resulting in you fumbling the cast and the spell fails to manifest.”

Unbeknownst to Samara herself, her fist loosened from Robert’s explanation. Her fury has settled along with her confusion.

“What I did to you is that I forcibly make a few holes.”

“You what?!” she burst out suddenly.

“Don’t worry, it’s safe,” Robert assured. “Maybe.”

“Maybe!? Have you not done this to anyone else?”

“Well, the only person I have done it to other than you, is myself.”

“Y-yourself…”

“I didn’t stutter.”

Samara was speechless, stunned even. She knew full well the underlying meaning in his words. She saw him as a despicable person… but on what grounds was he a despicable person? He was watching her unrelentingly but boys eyed the girls they fancy all the time. It wasn’t rude, rather, it was a praise for the girls’ charm for being able to attract gazes.

Her aggression towards Robert was a result of her own insecurities. He did not stalked her like she wanted to believe they met at her morning job. That place was famous for fighters who wished to train their body while enjoying the offerings of nature.

He appeared in the tavern she worked in at night, there was also nothing wrong with it. Men and boys frequented brothels all the time as long as their pouches allowed them. He most likely came to this tavern because it was cheaper than the ones in the red light district. She specifically concentrated her anger on him but not the other customers.

He hadn’t wrong her, she realized. His few words of jibe were only natural after being wrongly mocked and questioned of his intentions.

Yet, Robert helped her, an indisputable fact. Maybe he had hidden intentions but it didn’t deny the fact that he helped her.

Still, Samara couldn’t find herself to be trusting of him. Once again, this was also natural. She knew nothing about him. She knew none of his intentions in helping her.

But, he helped her. She accepted that.

“I would advise you to tone down your relief.”

Samara blinked. “What do you mean?”

“This… treatment is only temporarily. The channels that I made on you will close up if it’s not maintained.”

“Y-you mean… you have to do this to me repeatedly?”

“At the very least, once a day, yes.”

“Forever?”

Robert was quiet for a short moment. “Not forever. Eventually, the channels will stay open when your spiritual body recognizes those holes as the norms. I can’t be sure as the duration of the treatment might differ from person to person.”

“What about you? How long have you done it until it stayed permanent?”

“Two months.”

“Two months…” she repeated his words in murmurs.

“It took me two months but I was harder on myself and I did it three times a day.”

Samara gasped.

Robert frowned at himself. “Now that I think about it, everything sounded significantly worse once you put it into words.”

“You mean it might take more than six months?”

“Maybe less. Unlike you, I don’t have a have very strong Magic. You might just have an easier time than I had.”

“I have strong Magic…?”

“Yes,” Robert stepped closer to Samara. “For a novice, you have Magic stronger than anyone I have met in my fifteen years since I was born into this world.”

“A-and y-you… said something about…” Samara struggle to speak from her excitement.

“I would like for you take your time but…” Robert nudged his head to the side as if he picked up a thought from thin air. “We really don’t have much time.”

“You said my… body’s condition was due to my… condition?”

“If you’re asking if you’re fat because of your absence of channels, then yes. Like I have told you, you are practically bloated.”

“F-finally…” Samara muttered softly to herself. She would be lying if she said this news didn’t thrill her. It did more than thrill her. It changed her or it would change her. She always knew something was wrong with her own body but she had long gave up on that thought. She never had much to eat but she was still more abundant than her peers. Their mockeries and insults led her to believe that she was eating too much without her own realization. Soon, she started skipping meals but it didn’t help with reducing her weight.

Eventually, she stopped caring. She stopping giving a damn to all their slurs. She fooled herself into being content of her own shape.

But now she had answers. Tears began trickling down her cheeks.

“Hate to drag you out of your laments but we ran out of time,” said Robert as he cracked his knuckles and twisted his neck. His voice turned grave. “They’re here.”

Samara was baffle by the doleful mood Robert had reshape into an air that spoke dire. She noticed his gaze focused at the arch entrance of the garden.

Seconds later, a group of five students strode through. All of them wore the same smug expression which were vain, apathetic, and garnished with self-admiring smiles.

Samara gasped and her blood frozen. She recognized them, or at least the one in the middle, he had cause quite a scene during the Placement Test.

“Asten Talron…” she gasped.