POV: Sammuel

Waking up, I find myself on a bed, in a mostly empty room, with just a desk and a chair standing on the wall adjacent to the bed. The desk has a couple things on it, mainly my wand, mana sensor, and glasses, however there's also my coat, which is covered in dried blood, as well as some papers. To be quite blunt, I'm surprised I survived, my injuries should have absolutely killed me. It appears that this world does use magic in some way to treat wounds, how this is done however, I'm not sure.

Sitting up, I can get a better look at the room, it's probably in a hospital, though it looks nothing like a hospital room in my world. It's pretty much empty aside from the desk and chair, though there is a window right next to my bed. There isn't any proper door, just a curtain separating this room from the hall outside. I don't know how I got here, but I assume someone carried me here. Getting up, I head over to pick up my stuff, but as I do so, a man walks into the room. He looks to be somewhere around 50 years old, with a short beard and a long white coat.

"Ah, so you're awake then, please lay back down, you haven't fully recovered"

The man, who is likely a doctor, guides me gently back to the bed. There's no reason to cause an issue, so I just do what he wants. Sitting back on the bed, I look up to the doctor, who is now looking over the papers on the desk. After a few seconds he looks back at me with a slightly puzzled expression.

"Okay, so I have a few questions I need to ask you before we let you leave, is that okay with you?"

I'm not sure why the hospital can't just let me go, but I'm sure there's some reason. Regardless, it's not worth causing an issue over, so I'll just go with it.

"Sure"

"Perfect, so to start with, what's your name?"

"Sammuel"

"Family name?"

"None"

"Occupation?"

"Magic architect"

"Really? That's interesting"

Through all of this, the doctor has been writing on one of the papers, presumably a profile on who I am. But when he finishes writing, he walks over to the desk and sets down the papers before turning back to me.

"Alright, and the final question I need you to answer, is what these devices here are, they look like magic tools, but none of them appear to use mana"

Ah, that's right, my mana gear wouldn't make any sense to them, even if they knew what they were meant to do, they wouldn't know how to properly operate them. I can see why that would cause them to hold me up here and ask such seemingly pointless questions. I'm not sure how to answer though, I could try to explain what they do, but if my followers are listening, even more people might start following me. I could also lie about what they do, but that could cause issues if they keep following me and realize that I'm obviously lying. The best option is probably the first, since lying could just lead to more problems. Though, going too in depth would likely raise even more questions, as well as more suspicions about me, so I'll just give very basic answers.

"The wand controls mana, the glasses visualize mana, and the last thing senses mana, that's about all I can tell you, so can I go now?"

The doctor looks unsatisfied, though that's not surprising due to the lackluster answers I gave him, but there isn't really much he can do since I did answer his questions.

"Yeah sure, come take your things, you're free to go"

Getting up, I collect my things and start heading for the door.

"Oh, you should know, the person who took you here might want to see that you're okay, you really should stay here for a little longer, at least until they get here"

Right, someone had to have brought me here, though I don't know why why they would bother coming back, they have nothing to gain from it, unless they plan on asking for payment, in which case I'll probably not want to be here for that. Regardless, I see no reason to stay, and I have way too much that needs to get done today, what with my reading lessons, practicing my control of mana, heading to the Request Hall to see if they found someone to be my partner so I can be fully certified, and overcoming the new problem of me being pathetically incompetent in combat.

However, just as I'm about to pull the cloth aside to leave, a woman, roughly half a meter taller than me, barges through the doorway, nearly knocking me over. She looks about twenty-thirty years old, and she's massive, easily twice as wide as I am, and much taller. She is extremely muscular, to an almost inhuman level. But what's most surprising about her isn't her appearance, she is radiating an unbelievable amount of mana. My mana sensor immediately detected a massive increase in the mana level of the surrounding air, so I put the glasses on to see exactly how much mana is surrounding her, and it's truly incredible. Mana appears to flow through her body, centering in an area right next to her heart. It seems to mostly come into her body through her lungs when she inhales, then travels to the collection of mana, where it is purified, similar to how my wand collects mana.

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Unlike the others in this world who attract large amounts of mana, the mana she brings into her body seems purposeful, like she's actively absorbing it, rather than unconsciously attracting it. On top of that, it doesn't just float around her, it collects near her heart, and mostly stays there, with very little of it leaking out into the air. The mana she absorbs moves through her smoothly, traveling from the cluster by her heart, to every part of her body, before circling back to the cluster, activity that I've not seen yet with mana. I assume this movement is deliberate, allowing her to quickly use mana to enhance her physical capabilities.

While I would love to study her mana further, I still have much to do, and I doubt she will be the last person I see with this kind of control over mana. I just don't have enough time to be wasting on something that could be extremely common in this world, when the chances of her being unique are so slim.

With that in mind I make my way towards the doorway once again, hoping to get started on my long list of tasks that need to get done, not the least of which being the prevention of situations like this happening again. Though I should probably go get some food first, I never actually got the chance to eat anything. But just as I'm about to leave, the woman turns to me.

"Oh, you're awake, I'm glad you survived, to be honest I really wasn't sure if you would. Should you be walking around? Is it really okay for you to be up so soon? Shouldn't you rest a bit to recover?"

What? Why does she care if I'm okay? I assume she's the one who brought me here, but I really don't understand why she would bother coming here just to see if I'm alive. She doesn't seem to be interested in payment, but I can't imagine what else she could hope to gain by checking up on me. Regardless, she seems to think I'm still hurt, so I should probably just tell her I'm fine.

"No, I'm just fine"

"Oh that's great, I was really worried you might not make it, but it seems like you're doing alright. Well, that's all I came here for, I really should get going, I need to be somewhere soon, Hope you continue to do well, and avoid situations like that"

And with that, just as quickly as she showed up, she left. I still can't imagine what drove her to come check on someone she doesn't even know, and probably just helped out because she was in the area. She didn't get anything, she didn't ask for anything, what did she want from coming here? I suppose that's just one more thing I don't understand about the people of this world.

Moving on, I should head off to get food, then I suppose I'll check up on the Request Hall before getting my second reading lesson, then work on a way to protect myself, and finally head back to the hotel to practice, and hopefully solve my protection issue. It's a solid plan that leaves no room for wasted time, so I should start immediately.

____________________________________________

POV: None

Thirty minutes after Sammuel left the hospital room, a man wearing all black, and a mask concealing his face enters the room.

"Did you get any relevant information on him?"

"Not much, he didn't seem too keen on telling me much. And why couldn't you just be here when I was questioning him? You use light magic don't you? It should be easy for you to make yourself invisible.

The doctor hands the other man a profile containing everything they know about Sammuel, and the man looks over it quickly before responding.

"No, despite him being an Infirma, he seems to be able to see through our invisibility, it's simply not worth the risk"

"Really? That's interesting, perhaps those artifacts of his let him interact with mana when he really shouldn't be able to?"

"That's the most likely answer. A mysterious artificer suddenly appears in a surge of mana, wielding tools that can manipulate mana, yet somehow don't appear to be powered by it, effectively turning an Infirma into a mage, and almost immediately attempts to become certified in the Request Hall, all without being able to even read. On top of that, he has no surname, and seemingly no knowledge of the are he's in, despite it being impossible that he just appeared in the middle of town on accident. We'll have to look more into this, thanks for your help"

"It's no trouble at all, I'm always happy to help when it comes to keeping the people I care about safe"

"And this most certainly did sir, this man is potentially dangerous, we simply can't let something like this go unmonitored"

After that final remark, the man in black left the room, heading back to wherever his superiors are to inform them of what he's learned, despite how little information he actually got.

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POV: Sammuel

Unfortunately, the money I had on hand was taken in the scuffle, so I was unable to get some food, so instead I head over to the Request Hall to see if they found a partner for me. Entering the building, it's just the same as it was that past few times I came here. Heading over to the front desk, I see that the woman with far too much mana around her is here as well, this must be where she needed to be. When I get to the front desk, I ask if they found me a partner.

"Hello, I wanted to check if the hall had found a partner for me yet"

"What's your name?"

"Sammuel, no surname"

Hearing my name, the clerk flips through some papers, probably looking for a file on me.

"Uhhh, yeah, she should be here right now actually..."

Really? That's certainly helpful, I don't need to wait any longer.

After confirming the name, the clerk picks up an object that appears to enhance the volume of sounds, acting as a megaphone of sorts.

"Excuse me, can I get a Ms. Ortiz up at the front please?"

After that, the very woman who brought me to the hospital comes up to the desk. Is she the partner they found? That is an incredible coincidence, and also incredibly useful, since now I don't need to go looking for another person with abilities like hers.

When Ms. Ortiz gets to the desk, she sees me, but chooses to ignore me, and instead ask what she was called for.

"Yeah, is there something I'm needed for?"

"Yes, Ms. Ortiz, the person who we assigned as your partner is right here, he is a very talented artificer who passed the Magic Architect test with flying colors, I'm sure he's exactly the kind of teammate someone like you is looking for"

"Really? That's a pretty crazy coincidence huh? Well, nice to formally meet you, my name is Adela Ortiz, I guess I'll be your new partner then"

"Yeah, my name is Sammuel"

"Well then, I look forward to working with you"