After a long night, morning came knocking on the door. (It’s a figure of speech!) Our room got lit up by the sunlight that passed through the window and the glassdoor of the balcony. After having a delightful bath, I came out of the bathroom and saw Aya who just woke up. She was not an early riser, huh. Ha-ha, it’s okay. On the other hand, I am an early riser. Well...maybe not. And that was an unnecessary thing to mention, I guess.

Upon seeing me, Aya’s face which was drowning with sleepiness, gave off a cute smile and greeted-

“Good morning, Hisashi.”

“Aah, good morning!”

This is what I needed in the morning. After a nice cool bath, a tremendously cute smile was everything I needed. It was a smile cute enough to make me seethe with cute aggression and hug and squish her in my arms. But of course, I can’t do it reality wise. Lol. She would totally freak out.

Anyways, about last night, I was still uneasy. Because what I heard gave me a deep and tremendously strong feeling that something was definitely wrong. What did they mean by ‘do you think it’s them’? Who are ‘them’? And what relation do they have with the sudden power cut last night? Yare yare, as usual, I’m starting to over-scrutinize things.

Right at that time, we heard the door knock. It was still early in the morning, so who could it be? Someone from this academy perhaps? Not sure, and no idea either.
Wait, aah. Don’t tell me it’s Julian. I mean, that guy surely is annoying, and seeing his face first thing in the morning is the last thing I’d want. I don’t mean it in a bad way, though. Anyways, it can’t be him at this early hour. Right?

I went up to the front door and opened it. Indeed, it was Julian, waiting outside our room. What else did I expect? As soon as the door opened, he yelled out at the top of his lungs-

“Good mor~ning!”

His voice was so loud that my eardrums vibrated violently as if they exploded and I would be deaf for the rest of my life. I am anyway weak to loud sounds, and on top of that, Julian’s playful scream that reached even Aya as she concealed her ears with her hands while sitting on the bed.

“Sir! You are being too loud don't you think so? It’s still early morning!” 

Aya exclaimed in annoyance, getting up from the bed and walking up to us two, me and Julian.

“Oh, sorry hehe. Anyways, did you both have a good night's sleep? Or mayhaps, a pleasurable night?”

Aah, here we go again. Typical Julian with his typical teasing nature, as he gave a mischievous look at both of us. This is why I said that he’s one of the most annoying guys I’ve ever met in my life. Not in a bad way as I’ve mentioned, but just a friendly annoyance...If you know what I mean. 

Both me and Aya started blushing quite intensely, our faces turning bright red like tomatoes, and I spoke up-

“Stop it sir! You’re gonna give our readers the wrong idea!”

“Hehehehe. By the way, once you two get ready, meet me, I’ll be waiting right outside your door. Because after you’re done with breakfast, we have to go somewhere else before your classes.”

“Okay…”

We both, Aya and I, replied at the same time.

After Aya got ready, we three had breakfast in the cafeteria. Three because apparently, Julian also had his breakfast meal with us, together. I guess he also lives in the academy...perhaps? In some sort of separate teacher’s lodge. Whatever, I have absolutely no idea about it.

We were walking towards the academy among many other students, students of this world. The atmosphere there was just like any high school on Earth. The pitter-patter of footsteps and the babbling voices of the students as they talk with each other, made the surroundings lively. 

On top of that, it seemed there were even few students who were seeking admiration or something, by trying to boast off their magic powers, like using wind to make fruits fall from the trees of the academy, using fire to create rings shaped bright red flames that blasted out and went raging towards the sky, creating beautiful firework, and such things. 

Of course, there were even these weird floating lights, the so-called magic circles that were formed over their palms, being white and red in colour respectively. And, even though it was daytime, the flames were bright enough to make the view as stunning as if it was a firework show at around midnight. Some students were amazed by this fire show, including us, because it’s really rare to see such things. Specifically the ring shaped flames. 

The students who were doing this saw Julian sir, and as a usual response to when a troublesome student is caught by a teacher causing a ruckus, recoiled away from the place and vacated from our sight.

“*Sigh* These kids…”

Julian sighed at the nuisance he just encountered, and Aya and I couldn’t help but give troubled smiles at each other, giving out faint laughs.

Anyways, I still can’t seem to forget about yesterday and ease myself. I don’t know why, but I am still worried. Probably because of my cautious nature when it comes to imminent danger, I couldn’t help but think the same thing over and over again. My slightly-tensed look was on my face since I woke up, but thankfully, no one, neither Aya, noticed. I can’t make them worry because of me, and I had to build up a fake happy expression.

“Um.. Sir. About the Principal ma'am mentioning something about augmentation if I remember clearly…”

“Yup. That’s where we’re heading! Augmentation is a spell which will awaken the powers that are already inside you, the powers you got at the time you were born.”

“Oh…”

Fumu. I see.

“Every person has a certain hidden power within them which are called ‘Unique Skills’. They don’t know how to use them because of their inability to use magic powers. Augmentation is a spell that enables a person to use elemental magic power, hence, automatically making them able to use their Unique Skills.”

Wow, again all sorts of complex thingys. But surprisingly, these were not that hard to grasp, compared to those highly intricating things said by the principal ma’am.

“You will get detailed information regarding various types of spells of different elemental magic, even the augmentation spell.”

“Okay sir…”

Passing by the classrooms and going through a long hallway, we appeared in front of a wide dark-coloured furnished wooden door that looked tough and was relatively away from the classes where students were. ‘New Students’ was written on top of it. So is this the place where they would do this ‘augmentation’ spell or something? 

A large creaking sound was produced as Julian opened the door to go in. The room, which seemed like it was well-made, had a lounge area at the near corner of the entrance, many bookshelves and prop designs, and a desk where a man was sitting, reading a book using...magic. He was apparently using magic to turn the pages as he was sipping his cup of...tea probably? 

I don’t know if tea is available here though. But my favourite tea is Indian chai. The tea from Assam, a state in the northeastern part of India, is very good because of its robust, malty flavor and strong, savory aroma. It is also popular worldwide!

Ahem, anyways, the man who was relatively shorter than giraffe-like Julian, had short, blonde hair with a long cowlick. He had fairly light skin with emerald eyes.

Seeing Julian, the man gave a beaming smile and spoke out-

“Julian! My dude! How you're doing?”

“Helloo Kralus! I have two new students, otherworlders who have enrolled in our academy. Time for augmentation spell!”

“Hm…Alright!”

This guy, ‘Kralus’, looked at us, scanned briefly and then gave a broad smile, a smile which looked like that of pure goodwill without the slightest of any evil intention.

“Hello you two! I am Kralus. Kralus Galianzo.”

“H-hello! My name is Hisashi Kurogane. Nice to meet you!”

“And I am Aya Tsukuyomi. Nice to meet you…”

“Hm...Kurogane...?”

It is slowly becoming a usual thing now and I don’t know why. I mean, almost all the people I’ve met till now in this world seem to recognise my name or something, even though this is my very first time getting to know about magic and about a bizarre world called ‘Brieztopia’. And I finally got the name of this word right! Lol.

Kralus shook his head slightly, as if snapping out of a thought that he was stuck at, and greeted us back-

“Nice to meet you two too! So, you two are otherworlders…” 

“Hey, Kralus...would you please augment them, or they are going to be late for their classes.”

Now that I heard it, I realized that it was true. I had completely forgotten about it! Not that I have lost the track though. I knew we had about five more minutes, if I am right, until the classes started. 

“Okay okay, good grief. What's the rush man.”

“Duh, I literally said they'll be late for their classes, are you nuts?”

*Sigh*

Kralus, while sighing, got up from his desk and came near us, Aya and I. Probably to perform this spell? 

“Whom should I augment first? Hm…”

I could feel Julian getting angry or annoyed by the second, and I was right. Once I took a glance at his face, an irritated expression was slowly building up and was getting intense.

“Gosh. Kralus! Do you even remember what I told you?”

“I do not.”

“They have classes! And don’t pretend you forgot!”

Fumu. This duo is quite hilarious. And Julian was correct though, as Kralus had a sort of mischievous smile, indicating that he was just messing around.

“Hm...Boy, you’re up!”

Said Kralus as he stepped towards me, placing his hand on top of my head. So I will be going first, huh. Okay then. I closed my eyes, replying-

“Okay.”

-and he spoke some weird words, the same kind of words I heard from Julian back then when we were on Earth, and mentioned by the principal ma’am as ‘incantations’.

“Imperium. Profer. Augere. Augment!”

The area surrounding his hand and my head started emanating a dark purplish glow. While I was under the process of this spell, I peeked and took a glance at Kralus' facial expression, which was a very cheerful one, now suddenly changed into a shocked and surprised expression, pausing for a brief moment, not showing the slightest of movements. A frown with a terrified look on his pale face appeared, and the sight of fear was clearly visible in his eyes.

What...was happening? What did he find in me that made him so terrified that he froze up in his place? I truly had no frickin’ idea, until I heard a strange, female voice in my head-

[Reestablishing the stationing process…..Success. Notice: Mana suppressor effect demolition successful. Young master can now communicate using your thoughts. Initiating reclamation of lost sage powers…..]

Young master...huh.

I had a troubled expression built up after hearing the voice referring to me as a ‘young master’, because it was kind of weird to be called by such a name...Anyways, the female voice was...emotionless and low-pitched, but very mature at the same time. It was as if a middle aged lady was acting like an android. But what was this voice? Was it really coming from my mind, or am I hearing things?  

"Sir...I...I am hearing a voice in my mind, a female voice to be specific…”

Kralus, who had a dazed look of concern, snapped out of his bewilderment and-

“Mmhm. I knew it...What you have since your birth, is the unique skill ‘Great Sage’, an extremely rare skill which was thought to be lost in the age of divinity...It is a conceptual intelligence without any emotion, but only serves to the one it resides within. It will be really, really beneficial for you in becoming an insanely strong...sorcerer (if you have good control). Don’t worry, you will understand more about this skill. In fact, you will get to know about it yourself. In any case, your highest affinity is with fire based magic.”

“O-okay…”

Insanely strong sorcerer? I’m in! And I am not sure if he truly meant that I would understand this skill by myself, or if it is his laziness, because his facial expression seemed kinda fishy. Or kinda suspicious. It was an expression that had both joy and fright embedded. Yare yare. Anyways, I can sort of understand what he meant by highest affinity with fire magic, that is, fire is the magic I can use best, I guess. But I have no idea about this ‘age of divinity’ or something that he mentioned. I will let it remain a mystery, because I am anyway overwhelmed by all the information I have been collecting in my brain. 

Anyways, I took a glance at Julian’s face also, and he seemed awfully shocked or surprised. Is this ‘great sage’ thingy really that big of a deal?

“G-g-great sage...The conceptual intelligence only heard in books! Never knew it was actually real…!”

So it IS a big deal.

Well, this great sage thingy now began speaking again-

[Reclamation of lost magic powers partly successful. Active skills obtained:

Reckoning: Appraisal and analyzation of enemy attacks and other objects through visual means.

Magic Fusion: Fusing magic spells to make unique and stronger spells. NOTE: Does not require incantations to be spelled.

Mana Cultivation: Swallow dead monsters or beings to increase young master’s mana quantity.

Item summoning: Summon any item registered in the list of item summons. These items can be weapons, potions and any other things.

Passive skills obtained:

Mana Flow Amplification: Amplifying young master’s mana power to increase strength of magic spells.

Physical stats amplification: Amplifying young master’s physical power levels and damage dealt, by ten-folds.]

Wow, what are these things...skills probably…’Reckoning’, ‘magic fusion’, ‘mana culti-’ something…’cultivation’ probably, ‘item summoning’ and then ‘mana flow’ and ‘physical’ amplify (Got it almost correct in my first try, ha-ha! Lol). 

I was really curious about this female voice, though. I mean, was it really coming from my head, or am I hearing things? I tried closing my eyes and focusing on the female voice of the great sage, and was shocked, more like amazed, after what I saw-

A big circle with orange border lines, inside which three triangular-like cyan glowing shapes rotated slowly. The two small ones rotating clockwise and the big one anti-clockwise, and behind them floated peculiarly coloured gas...and different white light sort of patterns travelling all over my concealed vision like shooting stars. I believe this is the great sage…Damn, what a sight it was...

But anyway there was something I could not understand…What were these ‘Active’ and ‘Passive’ skills? Great sage did mention that I could communicate using my thoughts...So why don’t I give it a try?

Great sage, What do you mean by Active and Passive skills?

[ANSWER: Active skills are skills that need to be triggered, and Passive skills are skills that are always running until or unless young master dies...]

Wow, I was slowly getting the hang of it! So Kralus did mean it, that I would be able to understand on my own. Now I feel kinda bad for suspecting him of laziness. Anyways, that was a little harsh way to put it, though… ‘until or unless the young master dies’. Lol. 

Great sage kept on continuing- 

[...Mana means the unit of magical power. Amount of magic power present inside the young master’s body is mana. Active skills consume more mana than the passive ones, therefore active skills have a limited number of uses. This holds true only if the young master has a limited amount of mana, or if mana recovery rate is low.]

Mana recovery rate?

[Mana recovery rate: The rate at which mana is restored inside the young master’s body.]

Fumu, I see. So I will be having a limited number of uses when it comes to active skills. How do I know what is my mana recovery rate, or what is my total mana capacity?

Great sage, what is my mana capacity?

[ANSWER: Calculating mana in young master’s body....Success. REPORT: Currently the young master has low mana. It will barely be enough to cast even low mana-consuming magic spells. But calculating mana recovery rate, passive skills will not hamper the body.]

Well, that was to be expected, that I would have low mana, but it’s good to know that at least passive skills would not disrupt my body at my current amount and the rate of recovery.

Anyway...what would happen if my mana depletes completely?

Great sage, what would happen if my mana finished completely?

[ANSWER: If mana decreases beyond a certain limit, the young master’s body would be severely injured, blood vessels would explode and within a few minutes it would lead to death.]

Holy, what did she just say? If mana depletes beyond a certain limit, I would literally die?? Hold on. How am I supposed to know if I am nearing that ‘certain limit’?

Great sage, how would I get to know if I am nearing the limit?

[ANSWER: Great sage will issue warnings about it.]

...And? Nothing else? That was a very short sentence though, lol, but anyways, I got my point cleared. So great sage would be alerting me, that helps a lot. Or else I would definitely not want to die in such a trivial way, or you can say, in an irresponsible way.

Also, about this ‘Item summoning’, it would be really useful to register my wooden katana in the list! As whenever something happens and we need to defend ourselves, I would be able to summon my katana to aid in our protection!... Which I believe would be unnecessary because how can wood defend against magic powers?

It had been quite a long time since Julian and Kralus were very much immersed in their talks. Did Julian forget that we have class?

“Hmm, we know only one person who had this skill...The legendary swordsman Krainer Zonmodin, who led us mortal beings to victory in the war during the age of divinity, a few thousand years ago…”

“But even this information we got was from books, right Krab?”

“Good grief. When will you stop calling me that!”

There they go again, fighting like kids. It was Julian this time to start again, yare yare. Now he brought up a mischievous smile and added-

“Our little krabby’s getting angry~ hehehe.”

“Oh, for the love of god, STOP!”

They kept continuing their fight on and on while Aya and I stood there with a troubled expression. And yea, Julian TRULY did forgot that we had class. He got into teasing Kralus so much that he forgot what’s important at the moment. Lol.

Kralus released a sigh while Julian’s face still depicted teasing intent, and then added- 

“By the way, along with your superhuman abilities and great sage skill, you have acquired another unique skill! Flight, the ability to negate gravity and fly in the sky!”

I unknowingly built up a look of amazement in my eyes. The unique skill ‘Great Sage’, it sounded pretty cool, but cooler was the flight skill to me, as it would make travelling faster and easier. Not only that, it would be fun! Because c'mon, who wouldn't love soaring the skies?

This seems too good to be true...

For real. I couldn't believe the powers I just acquired. So this is the speciality of a fantasy world, huh. I was slowly starting to grasp and think of it as another world also, and my teenage excitement was kicking in. Of course, who would not be excited to suddenly be able to use magic powers, like flying in the sky and stuff...!

Anyways, I don’t know how to fly, I mean, how to use this flight skill of mine. Surely, there must be some sort of a way.

“So, sir, how can I use my flight skill?”