Author note: I will be doing some info-dumping in this chapter. Just wanna let you guys know, I am by no means a scientist. I do love science in all its forms, so I google random stuff here and there. I will do the same for some of the info here but I will leave it vague enough to allow the MC in the future to "magic" his way through science and POWA!!! 'nuff said. enjoy!

'Sir, you have been asleep for 5 hours.'. Adam opens his eyes and looks around the room for a bit. Remembering what happened yesterday gives him complicated feelings. While he did not expect to stay under the radar indefinitely, he wanted to present himself to this society on his terms. Fortunately, his host didn't seem to be antagonistic as far as he can tell. It would be stupid for him to trust her, but he does trust human nature to a degree. Enough benefits will turn anyone into an ally, or a temporary one at the very least.

He gets up and looks around the provided room. He spots the owl on a perch not far away from his bed, looking at him. He nods at it then walks to the bathroom. The room was fully furnished, enough to be considered a bachelor apartment. A kitchenette that contained the basics. An oven/stove, a sink, and what he could guess is a fridge. Everything functioned on runes, while it was something he was eager to learn and replicate, he can't seem to activate them. Waving the owl over, he enters the bathroom and waits for it to turn the faucet on. His body didn't need to be cleaned, with the nanomachines present, but he still enjoyed the feeling of water on his face. Stepping out of the bathroom, he heads over to a desk over which was a crystal clear floating orb. The owl sees him and flies to his shoulder. Adam ignores it and sits at the desk. He looks at the owl and tilts his head toward the orb. Yesterday, he asked the owl for books and it directed him to this orb. He assumed this was either a connection to a database or it was a database itself.

'Zero get ready for interfacing.'
'Ready sir.'. The owl hoots and Adam feels a sort of tingling in the back of his mind, focusing on it, he receives information. 'Zero, take over the connection and tell me what can be learned.' 'Yes sir, according to the information repository, you have grade 3 access. It means you can access anything a grade 3 magus can. This includes everything from history, culture to magi training.'
'Can you download everything? Will it incapacitate me in any way?'
'Yes sir, while we do have the memory capacity, your brain will get overheated, there will be minor damage, you will need to rest to allow the nanomachines to perform the repairs.'
Adam gets up and lays down on the bed 'Cut off my consciousness and proceed with the download', 'Yes sir.'
He loses consciousness while Zero downloads everything. While this is happening the owl is curiously looking at Adam then flies towards the door which opens as it approaches. It leaves the room and finds its meditating master.

Fay sensing her familiar approaching stop meditating. She looks at the owl perched near her and asks it "Is anything wrong with our guest?"
The owl hoots once and Fay asks back "He fell unconscious as soon as he laid down? right after waking up? curious....Ok, go back and wait for him to wake up. When he does, bring him to me.". The owl hoots and flies back to the room while Fay gathers her thoughts 'I could tell he was a regular human after meeting him. What kind of regular human can make themselves fall unconscious on command? Should I use my domain to investigate his body? No, I'll ask him and if he lies I'll do it.'

About a day later Adam jolts back into consciousness. 'Zero, did you get everything?' 'Yes sir.'. Adam orders Zero 'Good, I want you to provide me with the history, culture, and map of the world.' Yes sir.'. As Adam closes his eyes, his assistant proceeds to "download" the information into the conscious part of his memory.

A few minutes later he opens his eyes 'Well, this certainly is outside my expectations. This whole world is run by an oligarchy, called The Council of Magi. The world itself seems to have a certain level of sapience or consciousness. Is that how Fay was able to find me? It is also constantly expanding which proves that Aurora, the world, is alive to a certain extent. Only "living" beings/organisms evolve. The shape of this world is not spherical like my old planet. It resembles a plate with raised borders, encapsulated by something the natives simply call The Barrier. A thick barrier made of mana that acts as a protective membrane and a filter to the chaotic mana from space. It is also constantly on the move, which proves its sapience to a degree. Or maybe it is an instinct? Either way, it seeks to devour or assimilate other worlds to expand itself. The reason is either unknown or I don't have the clearance for the information. The magi themselves search for different worlds to invade and help the world assimilate. Similarly, what they gain in exchange is not present in the information. They sometimes get invaded as well but it rarely amounts to anything. It seems they are on the higher end of the scale in terms of power. This type of mentality, is it a universal trend? To invade and plunder? The world is more than big enough to sustain itself, is the universe influencing the world, who in turn does the same to its populace, or is it the inverse? The presence of mana gives the concept of power in numbers a certain heft. Does the collective human consciousness influence the workings of this world? The naming of their power doesn't make sense either. There are 4 ways to empower yourself. Elemental magi, which are the majority. They get their aptitude tested and start on their path. While it is possible to raise your affinity down the line, it is recommended to begin your path with your highest affinity. While having more affinities is better, it only shows dividends down the line, it does not matter in the beginning. The second path is psychics, not everyone is capable of becoming one. They focus on exploring the power of their own consciousness or Will. They may become elemental magi as well but they will have to put in the time which may be detrimental in the long run. I'm guessing Grand Magus Fay is a psychic. The third path is the bloodline magi. Their goal is to infuse their heart with the bloodline of a magical beast, the higher the grade or rank the better. Once they reach the limit of that grade (through using mana to refine the blood), they must develop the path themselves through different opportunities. While not easy, it is not exceedingly difficult either. The last path is body practitioners or what they call knights. It is a derogatory term, meaning they can only serve their betters. Unable to precisely control mana to create a core, they instead use it to refine their bodies to strengthen themselves. What bothers me is the terms used, the way they use mana, they should be called sorcerers instead of magi. Most spells are only used as crutches to understand the elements rather than being actual spells. And the knights, to me seems to be a preferable path. The power they gain remains theirs. Unless a magus at a higher rank produces their own mana, they would become handicapped in specific environments. I have to see what happens at higher ranks. At least affluent magi families make sure their children refine their bodies a few ranks before embarking on their chosen path.' As he finishes contemplating the information he just received, he hears the owl fluttering near him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Does Lady Fay wish to see me?" he asks. The owl hoots for confirmation. Adam gets up, grabs his bag, and takes a Nutri-capsule out. Not caring about the owl, since it has probably seen him do it in the forest, he brings the capsule to his heart. Under his right pectoral, where his ribs are, a small slit opens and a metallic tendril takes a hold of the capsule and slinks back in his body. The owl tilts its head curiously then proceeds to fly toward the door with Adam in tow. Making sure his bag is strapped properly, he follows the owl.

A few minutes later, he once again finds himself sitting in front of the Magus. "Good morning Lady Fay." he greets. She smiles back "Good morning Adam, were the accommodations to your liking?"
"They were good, thank you."
"Great, if you don't mind, I would like to start our conversation. Before we begin, would you like refreshments? Something to snack on maybe?" She offers him with a tilt of her head.
"I'm fine, thank you. You can ask your questions. And if you don't mind I have queries of my own" He responds.
"Of course, we, Magi, follow the Law of equivalent exchange. Once I am done, ask away. Keep in mind that some information may not be suitable for me to give."
"Naturally." He agrees with a nod
"So, I remember you mentioning that your world was lacking in, mysticism, as you called it. How then were you able to reach our world? From what I know, traveling the myriad worlds without mana should be impossible, or rather you need to be lucky to get in contact with a world. Chances are you'll end up in the void of space. And that's if you're fortunate."
Adam ponders for a moment, to gather his words. "In my world, we follow the Laws of Physics and the four fundamental forces. Using those as a basis, we researched and created means to comprehend the world, universe, and everything it encapsulates. Of course, we haven't gotten that far, but we had enough to understand the effect of gravity on the space surrounding it. Using technological means, we can delve into a black hole remotely, whilst making sure time does not stop. Of course, the resources used to create those means were not produced on our planet, and the technology itself was not perfected. We still do not know what's on the other side nor can we approach them ourselves. I basically risked myself and the planet along with it." He decided not to mention Odin, as he is not sure if Fay can be trusted, since it is only their first official meeting.
Fay arches her eyebrow "I must say, Adam, that is quite brave and foolish. You are lucky to be alive. We have seen black holes, and only the most proficient dare approach them. Those who dare enter them, and do so safely, number on one hand. And what of the Gods you mentioned? I remember hearing you mention the Age of Gods? Surely, they must have tried preventing the end of your universe?"
Adam shocked by the revelation of people being able to travel black holes using their own power, took a few seconds to compose himself.
"I am not aware, while I was able to get into contact with only one, it was a short conversation, and the subject was not breached. They may have their own plans, something I, a mortal, am unaware of." He tried to avoid lying directly, speaking in half-truths. He still remembers yesterday after all.
Fay seemed surprised at his revelation "You were in contact with one? That's surprising. Our world has encountered Gods before. They didn't seem like the type to speak with a regular human. They were quite arrogant if I remember well. Explain to me how you're people lived. I can assume there was no immediate danger to your civilization if there was no mana. Am I wrong?"
He thinks for a bit "You would be correct, there were no dangers, to my knowledge. Was there something out in the universe? I was unaware. But on our planet, we were at the apex. Our society was composed of multiple countries, with a few reigning supreme. In the past, countries were ruled by a thearchy or theocracy. People who were chosen by their respective Gods to run the country in their stead. As the Gods slowly left our society, the common masses rebelled. The change took a while but it ended with a few countries ruling through democracy. With either one head or a ruling group, decided by the masses. Although it sounds fair, ruling by votes, the race for weapons and money created a world where you were either wealthy enough to disregard the law or smart enough to be above it. Scientists were revered, after the loss of the mystic and occult. Before, the Gods made sure everybody was clothed and fed. Now science does that and more."
Fay raised her eyebrows "If everybody was fed and clothed, why did they rebel?"
"Mainly two reasons, one, the Gods were slowly disappearing from our sights, causing disease and starvation. The second is because people at the bottom wanted more. You could say it is greed, but I prefer to think of it as ambition. People wanted more, hence they took it. When I left, the world was ruled by the former theocracies. The Greek empire, The Nordic Empire, The Egyptian empire, The Chinese empire, The Indian empire, The Island-Nation of Japan, The Mesopotamian empire, and The Mayan empire. While there were other smaller countries, they were all vassals to the ones mentioned above."
"They did not disband after the rebellion? why?" She asked with more curiosity than genuine interest.
"Because the system was already in place, they simply changed the rulers. No need to rebuild when you can just use what's there."
"Why did they keep calling themselves empires if there were no imperial line to follow?"
"The masses were and are still in fear of the Gods, even if they disappeared. There were proven to exist after all, with great power on top. It's a 'better do it and apologize than ask' situation, granted they couldn't ask, but the point remains."
She played with what looked like a rosary, minus the cross while thinking out loud. "Interesting......I'm not too surprised by your world using technology. We have encountered those types before. They typically range anywhere from the low-end to the high-end spectrum of power. Yours seems to be in the middle, just above the low-end. We tried using this concept in Aurora, but we figured it was not worth the hassle just to make the common masses more comfortable. We make sure they are healthy, entertained, and educated to a degree. The rest we can accomplish with our inscriptions with ease if we understand the concepts. A technological world is typically that way because they don't have access to mana, instead, the mana occupies nature, in a way making specialized resources to use in their contraptions. Of course, they don't call it mana but every world has its own naming convention, Qi, Chakra, Lifeforce, Ki, etc. The difference is the way mana acts in those worlds, or more accurately, where it tilts. Either toward the mental, physical, or a balance of both. Some people still argue over which is superior. I personally believe, for a civilization, an extreme is better than a balance, the speed of advancement is faster. While that creates a weakness of some sort, if you are strong then only the strong can hurt you. A higher existence, no matter the weakness, will not be outdone by the weak. I digress, the point I was making is, there are no genuinely weak worlds, only young worlds. The older, the more time a civilization has to perfect its usage of mana, directly or indirectly. Mana has a way of wanting to be used that pushes civilizations. It is not sapient of course, you could simply call it a reaction to a living organism."

While Adam is processing what he has just heard, Fay was pouring herself some wine. From a bottle that Adam did not notice appearing.
Once he gathered himself, he was prepared to ask her a question that was lingering on his mind for a while. Before he could open his mouth, Fay cut him off "Thank you, Adam, this conversation, while not useful, was interesting. We can continue this another day if you wish to."
"Of course Lady Fay, it was very informative, thank you." He kept the question in his mind, for a later date.

While walking back, he asked Zero 'Zero did you record the conversation?'. 'Yes sir'. Satisfied, he enters the room and sits on the bed. He readies himself to read through the important information he gathered from the repository yesterday.

Author note: Eeeeey Guess who's back. Back again. Lazy's back. Tell a friend. Anyways not as much science as I was expecting. To be completely honest, while I do have a general idea of where this story is heading and its ending as well, everything in between? I'm winging it. Like totally winging it. I did expose the world setting. This will be the foundation for the sequel, where the MC, once he's strong-ish, will be heading to different animes/movies/etc. The following infodumps should not be as big. The Mc has all the info he needs to reach his current goal: not squishy. We will only add details to what we know. Then again, I'm winging it so who knows.
Leave reviews, comments, or wtv you peeps do.
Lazy, Out.