This is the second time I had a dream since I reincarnated. I dreamt about a big waterfall that worked in reverse, pulling water towards it. The waterfall was in the middle of a dark place and I could only see the water and the ground it touched. Was this supposed to have any meaning or ?

Yesterday Jaden woke me up but today I woke up by myself mainly because the room was empty. Magic exhaustion is a part of my daily life so I shouldn’t oversleep just because I passed out. I should at least see what time it is before making assumptions. It is 7:50, and there it is, I overslept. Thank god I was too lazy to change my clothes and I decided to sleep in my uniform.

I got up and I tried to open the door, as I thought it was locked so I jumped out of the window and started running towards the school building. Jaden and I are usually the first to arrive so there’s no point in looking for him. I entered the classroom right after the teacher so I was safe. I plan on skipping almost all my classes during my time here but I don’t want to begin today. I’m surprised that the teacher actually let me enter after him, he really might be a good person.

The math class was as boring as I thought, simple addition and subtraction, things that most of the people here have trouble understanding. It’s difficult for me to understand how it’s possible for the kids to learn math without a blackboard, I guess it’s up to the individual to learn.

At the end of the class Jaden came to talk to me.

“What happened to you last night?”

“I used too much magic during my training and I was too tired to wake up and I ended up skipping breakfast too.”

“Mir tried to wake you up for an entire hour before giving up. I don’t know what happened but Mir got tired of hitting you and you acted like we weren’t even there. Oh well, since you didn’t have any time to eat I will share some of my food with you.”

“Thanks man, I owe you one.”

Was I really asleep or comatosed?

I thought that my day would get better, but it didn’t. During History class I started feeling nauseous. It got better during Alchemy class where the teacher gave us a sample of a healing potion so we know the difference between the fake one and the real one. Funny enough the healing potion tasted like coffee and the people seem to like the taste, I on the other hand can’t stand the taste of coffee.

Now it’s lunch break and I am eating some of Jaden’s lunch and it’s horrible. I thought Ellen’s chicken’s steak was somebody everybody could cook but this is like burnt meat. The leftovers from breakfast were better than this.

“How can you even eat this?”

“What’s your problem?” It looks like Jaden didn’t understand my question.

“You pay for this, right?”

“Yeah and it’s good, I don’t know what you want.”

“How is this good, did you even eat chicken steak at home?”

“Yes, we have a chef who cooks food for us and his food it’s as good as this.”

“Either you people don’t know how to cook or my mother is a better cook than most people.”

“It’s my meal you are eating so stop complaining.”

“Fine, can a man just have an opinion?”

After that Jaden didn’t talk to me for the rest of the lunch break. It’s not like I was wrong, I was just being an asshole and I had a good reason too.

I thought I was fine then at the end of PE class my head started to hurt and my vision was blurred. Due to my special condition I am excused from Magic Practice classes but I wanted to spend the time learning about magic but something is wrong with me and I fear it might be connected to what happened last night.

In case of diseases, injuries or curses my body will tell me what’s wrong due to dark transfer and exidium but nothing was wrong with my body, even the things I see blurred are normal when I use total recall. What the fuck? So now I have an illness that’s not an illness and its effects are unknown, just what I needed.

“Where are you going?” After class Jaden saw me heading to the dorm.

“I feel like shit so I’m going to lie down for a while and maybe sleep a little.”

By the time I got to my room I was already having trouble staying awake. I got on my bed and immediately fell asleep.

I woke up in my inner world, still feeling sick. Somehow I feel that something is different than before. For some reason I feel nervous like something is about to happen and I am unable to move my body. After a few moments I felt a magic surge going through me, turning my veins black and giving me the feeling that I was burning. Can’t say I wasn’t accustomed to pain but this was different; it was like the pain was induced by the brain. Gradually I was getting better, the pain was gone but I was still experiencing some after effects like dizziness and shaking.

After the after effects were gone and my body returned to normal I saw what was wrong; the magic flow was out of control. An underwater tornado was disturbing the magic flow in my inner world fucking it up in the real world too.

My inner world was in the middle of an unnatural natural phenomenon and I couldn’t escape. A smart guy would probably try to stop the phenomenon without getting too close to its center; I tried to get close to see what was causing this.

The closer I was to the center the harder it was for me to move, something was pushing me away. Somehow I was able to get close to the center before being blown away but I was unable to determine the cause of the tornado. The most frustrating part was that the bigger the tornado got the harder it was for me to stay awake; Magic 101 when your magic runs out of control, you die. Ellen told me to be careful when using magic or something like this might happen.

I had one idea left, to stop the tornado by controlling the whole magic pool at the same time.

I walked towards the middle of the lake and when I felt the force pushing me away I stopped and dove underwater. Swimming inside a tornado might have not been a good idea; I was spinning around trying to get to its eye and stop it.

Once I reached the eye the pain stopped and I could think clearly again. I gathered as much magic as I could near me and then I released it creating a shock wave that dispersed the tornado and pushed me away.

I woke up in my room and I saw Jaden sleeping. If the watch still works; it seems it was past 23 o’clock.

After a few moments the door opened and Mir came inside holding a towel in her hand.

“Are you still feeling sick?”

“A little.”

“I would like to talk to you, come with me.”

Mir opened the window and jumped, presumably going to the rooftop. I followed her.

“Why did you bring me here, do you want to tell me something Jaden shouldn’t hear?”

“It’s about what happened to you today; that was magic poisoning.”

“That would explain a lot of things, but doesn’t magic poisoning appear when you overdose on magic potions or using magic on an empty magic pool?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what happened but I recognize a case of magic poisoning when I see one.”

“Okay, I get it. Let me put myself together first.”

If Mir knows I was sick then Maria knew as well and when I meet her I’m going to have a talk with her.

“I forgot to ask, did you take care of me while I was asleep?”

“Why do you think I did?”

“You were carrying a towel and Jaden seemed fine so I thought you took care of me; was I wrong?”

“No. When you were asleep you started sweating so I took care of you.”

“Thank you.” I smiled while I was thanking her; after all she did take care of me.

“Can I ask you another question?”

“Sure.”

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“That bracelet of yours, what is it?”

 “It’s something my father gave me; it’s supposed to help me train.”

“The writing on it look like the ones on magic seals, you should take it off.”

“Wait a second.”

The first time I scanned it there was no mention of a seal. Just to be safe, I’m going to scan it again. Oh, the bracelet is also a seal to keep my magic from going out of control; and since this was made using light magic I bet Ellen did this in an attempt to protect me from incidents like the one a few minutes ago.

“The bracelet was supposed to prevent incidents like this so I think it backfired on me.”

“When you get magic poisoned you die in about an hour if you don’t get treated the moment you feel sick. This time you were lucky.”

“I guess; I don’t know what to do.”

“Right now you need to get going; Lady Maria is the only person here who can tell you more.”

“I guess. Mir, thank you for nursing me.”

My body was almost recovered, I was feeling a little weak but this is the only remaining after effect left and I actually got to experience a real near death experience. For some reason I think that Maria knew something was supposed to happen and didn’t tell me.

Even though it wasn’t midnight Maria was waiting for me.

“Hello Alex, you seem to be doing fine.”

She looked rather surprised to see me.

“What with that face, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“You looked like you weren’t feeling well and I thought that you would skip today’s lesson.”

“You knew this would happen?”

“Well I-“

Somehow I knew she was going to lie and I lost my temper. I lunged at her and I was one step away from chocking her.

“YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN?”

“Shut up and listen!”

Maria used body enchantment and brushed me aside with no difficulty.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen today. Magic poisoning spreads fast so it should have affected you yesterday.”

“My body is a little different; still you should have told me.”

“Magic poisoning is common for dark magic practitioners. I experienced it three times before I got used to dark magic and I was one of the lucky ones.”

“Fine, let’s say I believe you; now what?”

“Now we continue from where we left off.”

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“Try to gather your magic on your feet and shoes.”

So I have to go back to my inner world again. The god told me that I should be able to master dark magic but nothing works the way it’s supposed to and I even ended up in a near-death state.

I tried the same method again; this time the magic was obeying my commands and I was able to gather some magic around my feet without starting another chain reaction. The first step is done, now I had to switch from normal meditation to battle meditation so I can see what happens on the other side and finally see how much time I can use it.

I was able to exit my inner world and still keep my magic in check. There are some differences between the two techniques; now I feel a slight difference in power but my overall power is going to increase if I manage to master the technique.

“Is it supposed to take this much magic to maintain?”

For some reason my magic was draining faster than in my empowerment state even though I wasn’t doing anything.

“I don’t know what I expected.”

“Why are you being a bitch again?”

“I’m just starting to think you punching a hole in that wall was just luck.”

“Why you do this?”

“When standing still Shadow Step doesn’t drain your magic. Right now you are unable to even activate it properly.”

“I just went through a near-death experience, cut me some slack.”

“Most people go through it four or five times before activating the technique; but when they do it becomes something natural.”

“That’s because my mother said I am special.”

“I could think of a better word but as a teacher I can’t say it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I just found out that word would suit me too. You used Shadow Step as a side effect of external empowerment, that’s why your magic is being drained.”

“I’m sorry; I don’t understand anything besides human language.”

Maria started to massage her temples; I might have exaggerated a little.

“What I’m trying to say is that you are using two techniques at the same time and that drains your magic.”

“So I activated Shadow Step?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now that I know I can activate it I will just have to find a way to use it so it won’t drain my magic.”

“You keep saying that but how much does it really drain?”

I started walking in circles around Maria. I know she was expecting an explanation; but this was is easier understand how Shadow Step affects me.

I tried imitating Maria’s walking style but it wasn’t perfect, it looks like I have to practice a little more. After 100 steps I lost my balance and Maria caught me before I hit the ground. I guess that’s my limit for now.

“100 steps, good enough for a beginner?”

“You still have enough strength to smile like an idiot so I would say it’s enough for now.”

When I regained my balance Maria gave me a health potion.

“Where did you hide this? No offense; but those clothes look really tight.”

“The same place your entire luggage went to, a storage zone created using dark magic. Unlike you I can only store one small item like a potion or a dagger.”

“Are you talking about The Null?”

“Yes; in your case you can call it your inner world since the two intersect.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Those who use it can see the difference between it and storage items.”

“I know that magic poisoning can be easily treated with a health potion; if so why didn’t you give me one yesterday?”

“Remember your Alchemy class?”

“Yeah, the teacher gave us a sample from a health potion so we know the difference between…OOOH; you gave the teacher the potions and told her to hold a special class.”

“Something along those lines; in any case go and get some rest, I have a feeling you will need it.”