Delta woke up surprisingly refreshed, considering the events that transpired the previous night. Looking at the time on his CT resting on the counter, he saw the digital screen display “9:37 am”. 

 

His bed was soaked with what seemed to be cold water and there were 15 missed calls from his roommates on his phone. 

 

“How did I get here? Did somebody help me?”

 

He tried to recall what had happened the previous day, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t think of anything. He remembered seeing Athena, and a black figure holding a scythe. Trying to remember anything beyond that gave him a headache.

 

“I’ll have to try and interrogate her later or something.”

 

Delta pulled on his clothes and shoes before heading to the bathroom to freshen up a little. There was no time to have a shower since it was already so late. Delta had already missed registration and assembly which had ended at 9:30, and looking at his calendar, the next lesson he needed to be at was geography, which had started 2 minutes ago. Having missed breakfast, Delta grabbed an energy bar he bought for emergencies and quickly ate it, feeling somewhat sated.

 

After splashing his face with cold water, Delta grabbed his CT, keys and Crystal Card before sprinting down towards the form room where they were going to be taught. He had only been there twice, but he had already memorised the twists and turns he had to take to arrive there. 

 

“Sorry I’m late,” he said as he entered, closing the door carefully behind him. 

 

Angus turned around from the board, facing him before dropping the pointer he was holding. 

 

“W-when did you rank up?”

 

“Last night. Why?”

 

“How were you so quick… I only told you how to accumulate mana yesterday.”

 

He ran over to Delta, appearing in front of him before Delta could even flinch. He placed a hand on Delta’s shoulders and shut his eyes, scanning his mana pathways for any signs of instability or damage.

 

He sighed in relief when he saw there was no damage to Delta’s body, before saying, “Don’t rush yourself. You might think it’s a good idea now, but if you don’t give your body enough time to catch up to your magic, you’ll be unable to move forwards later on, or worse, you might destroy your mana pathways.”

 

Delta nodded, struggling to hold in the laugh in his head.

 

‘I know all this stuff, old man…’ he thought. 

 

“Take a seat.”

 

Delta walked over to his seat by the windows again, winking at Diana as he did so. 

 

“What I miss?” he asked. 

 

“Not much. We were just starting... unless you didn’t know this planet is called Terra.”

 

“Of course. Yeah. The obvious stuff.”

 

In reality, it had only just occurred to Delta that he knew practically nothing about the world outside the Academy, let alone the specific politics of the world. This lesson was going to be a real eye-opener for him. 

 

“Okay,” Angus said, pointing towards the map on the screen, “this, as you should all recognise, is the planet we live on, Terra. More specifically, however, this is the continent we live on, the Continent of Lucerna. If you have been paying attention to recent news, you’ll also know that there is another continent on the other side of the Great Divide, or the Ocean of the Abyss as you might know it. Whilst it hasn’t been officially named, it is generally referred to as the Continent of Caligo by the Temple of Ra in the capital.”

 

Delta scribbled everything he heard into a notebook he stole from Diana, making sure he noted down all of the important names for him to memorise later. 

 

He put a circle around the Great Divide and the Temple of Ra, leaving a note to read up on them later on in the library. 

 

“This continent is made up of 6 major kingdoms, and each one is generally populated by a different intelligent species, however, travellers are common. There is, of course, the Kingdom of Altis, made up of mostly human forces, however, there will be other races too. The capital of the Halon Empire is the city of Illustris.”

 

‘So the Human Kingdom is called the Kingdom of Altis, and the capital is Illustris. That must be where the tournament is being held then…’

 

“Then, we have the Elven Kingdom of Alfheim, the capital being Arcadia. Elven society is very different from ours. There are two types, High-Elves and Elves. The Elves are the ones you are most familiar with. They have generally longer ears, longer lifespans, and generally look rather effeminate compared to humans. They generally prefer plant and life-based magic, and you’ll often see elves proficient in poison and healing magic. High-Elves look slightly different, with males appearing more masculine and females appearing more feminine than regular Elves. They use a completely different type of magic from the rest of us. Whilst it is generally quite secret, public knowledge is that they contract the spirits of the forest and command them to do their bidding. It is publicly unknown what the cost for this magic is, and I’d probably be arrested by the Elven Embassy if I told you any more.”

 

Looking around, Delta could already see many of his classmates struggling to keep up, whilst a few slower students have given up already. Whilst knowledge of the different kingdoms was easily available to those who looked for it, many commoner families didn’t bother teaching their children about the other kingdoms as they would most likely never go there anyway. 

 

Students at the academies had to learn about the neighbouring kingdoms, however, as they would often travel to other kingdoms for training, missions or just to see the world. The Magic Academy of Illustris was one of the greatest, after all, so students attending were required to be the best of the best, with even the weakest, least significant students rising in the world. 

 

“Moving on, the next Kingdom is the Dwarven Kingdom, Kalgron. Kalgron is a kingdom unlike any other in history, being entirely underground, other than a few towns and small cities around the entrances. The dwarves of Kalgron are natural craftsmen, being masters of Earth and Fire magic and known for their incredible metallurgy. The capital, Milrum, is home to some of the greatest craftsmen alive, and if you are lucky enough to go there, you’ll find an incredible number of rare ores, magic weapons and other incredible artifacts for sale, or more typically trade.”

 

Delta scribbled down more notes onto the slowly cramming notepad. 

 

‘I’ve got to go and see this Milrum place… I’ve got the money now, and there’ll probably be something that could help me there…’

 

“Next is the Beastman Kingdom, Bycrest. The Beastmen primarily consist of 5 tribes: the Werewolves, Aglets, Kurma, Naga and Satyr, or Wolves, Dogs, Tortoise, Snakes and Horse respectively. Each tribe has its own Tribal Leader, and the country’s affairs are controlled by the combined conference of these 5. Whilst there is no collective preference for the Beastmen as a whole, each tribe has its own techniques to benefit their special appearances and abilities. For example, the Naga tribe are famous for their poisons, whilst the Kurma tribe are known for their defensive Earth and Water magic.” 

 

Delta made individual notes on which species was proficient in which art, making a mental note to go and visit each species when he could so that he could learn their techniques. 

 

“The next 2 kingdoms are slightly different from the ones you are familiar with. First is the Celestial Kingdom, Avia. The Kingdom of Avia is made up of Fairies and Harpies, with the first having more insect-like wings, whilst the latter has feathery bird wings. The Celestial Kingdom is known for their incredible mastery of wind magic, and are often users of ranged weapons too.”

 

“Our final kingdom is one of my personal favourites. The Underwater Kingdom of Atlantis and its capital Pearl City. It’s home to some of the greatest hotels and holiday locations in the world, and some of the seafood delicacies there are to die for. There are 2 main types of residents in Atlantis, along with outside visitors like us humans. They’re the Merfolk and the Selkies, and they are quite similar to humans in looks, minus the fact that they are amphibious and are naturally attuned to Water Magic.”

 

A student raised her hand, pushing up her glasses as she said, “Are we the only ones who use attributes? You keep referring to each race as proficient in different magics, but I don’t think you’ve explained it.”

 

The rest of the class started nodding in agreement, and Angus looked slightly embarrassed. 

 

“Every type of magic has Elemental Attributes, however depending on the type, it manifests differently. For Mana, your element is manifested as the attribute of your spells and is the most effective and efficient element of spells you can use. For Arcana, your attribute is the element of magic you are best at manipulating, making it easier to control and create artifacts that require that element of magic. For Vis users, each element of magic affects the nature of the manipulated Vis magic, so healing with the light element would include reconstructing and repairing cells, whilst healing with the dark element would be based on destroying any damaged or problematic cells.”

 

Delta made a careful note of all of these, as he would need them for later training. 

 

“Pact magic uses each element as a basis for when choosing a beast to tame and partner with, so a fire attribute Pact user would prefer to tame a Lava Salamander, and would avoid something like a Frost Crow. Ki and Aura users similarly use attributes, with their inner and outer force taking on the attributes of their affinity. So Vergum, an Aura user, would burn you if he condensed his Aura, and can form a sword made of Aura with flame properties.”

 

[Congratulations on finding out more information about your new world]

[Intelligence + 1]

 

‘Well, that was easy…’

 

Hearing that Vergum might demonstrate his power, a resounding wave of awe erupted from this, and seeing the interest of the students, Angus said, “If you’re lucky, I might be able to get him to give you a demonstration. You’ll have to behave well though.”

 

The students seemed to visibly sit up more, acting on their best behaviour with the reward in their eyes.

 

Delta locked eyes with Angus, an amused expression written on his face.

 

‘I’m such a good teacher… I should ask for a raise…’ Angus thought.

 

For the remaining half hour of the lesson, Angus gave the class some worksheets to see how much of what he had said they had committed to memory, and surprisingly, the class seemed to have done quite well.

 

Not surprisingly, Delta finished within 5 minutes, shocking Angus even further. 

 

‘I know he Ranked Up... but isn’t that too powerful…’

 

Seeing Angus’ reaction, Delta realised that it wasn’t normal for fighters to max out all of their stats before ranking up, so if he continued to do so, he’d be more powerful than everyone at his level, and possibly some above his level. 

 

‘This is going to be fun…’

 

The bell rang signalling the end of the lesson, so Angus said, “Homework will be to memorise all of the names I gave you today. You must know the different races and their customs if you wish to travel around the world.”

 

Loud groans filled the room as the students felt their freedom taken away from them.

 

“But if you all learn everything, I’ll organise an event for the end of the week so you can all see the abilities of the teachers, including the Dragon of the West, Vergum.”

 

Cheers erupted in the room, and many students could be seen testing each other of the facts, some even threatening the less intelligent pupils with numerous childish threats. 

 

Delta chuckled to himself as he left, ignoring the clamouring sounds around him as Diana rushed over to walk beside him. 

 

“Delta, could you stay for a minute? I’d like a word with you.” Angus called out to him as he was leaving.