For a moment, I felt a significant burden lift from my shoulders.

When the original Nova dreamed of his arrival at the city of magic, he’d always imagined the sun being high and his mood being high, too. From the day he received that acceptance letter, all his time was consumed by preparations to join the Sapphire Academy.

And now that I had entered the Academy grounds, I felt the same exhilaration as the one who had dreamed it before me. Even though that boy had died, his feelings remained within me.

Maybe that was one of the reasons I almost looked forward to entering the Academy.

Bah, who was I kidding? Even without those feelings, I could never miss a chance to study about mana…

Still, I let those feelings permeate him as I examined the Academy properly.

The massive campus sat on a hill above the rest of Corehaven, but the walls had easily obstructed the view.

After entering inside, it opened to a wide cobblestone road ending at an imposing building of white stone with golden rooftops, looking incredible in the fading sunlight.

I realized it had been almost one day since I had died. If the time was the same… For all I know, thousands of years could've passed.

"Hey, kid!" The shout snapped me from my reverie.

Jules, the other guard, stood beside me, an eyebrow raised in mild amusement at my awestruck pause.

Turning on my heel, I faced the man, a sheepish smile playing on my lips. "Sorry, I was just..."

"Caught up in the view? Happens to the best of 'em," Jules said, his voice surprisingly warm compared to the sharpness I had initially encountered.

Maybe my appreciation tickled his fancy.

"Now, let's get on with the mana check. Are you familiar with sending your mana signature?"

I shuffled my feet, the cobblestones suddenly becoming more prominent beneath them. "No, I... I'm not," I admitted.

"Don't worry about it. It's quite common for novice mages. But the semester hasn't started yet, so most of our equipment is still packed away in the office. Come on, then."

He gestured for me to follow him to a bland stone building. It was so ordinary that I didn't even notice it at first, as I was awed by the main building.

I also caught his mention of the semester timing, noting it at the back of his mind. Hopefully, they would at least have accommodation for me.

The walk was not long as Jules led me into a small office after only passing two doors.

Inside, I saw a few simple wooden chairs around a wooden table with a few sealed scrolls on top of it. There was also a shelf at the side of the office with some instruments on them.

"Give me a moment to set things up," Jules said, moving to one of the covered objects at the top and beginning to unpack.

While Jules was busy with the instrument, I decided to check on his Lvl.

Using Identify created a slight headache this time, maybe due to high Lvl, but soon, the small floating box appeared above Jules's head.

[ Human Lvl ?? ]

My first human to have an unidentified Lvl. I was waiting to check the limit of my Identify skills, as it was impossible for a Lvl 0 me to identify everything. How much higher is his Lvls that I couldn't identify it?

Now that I have a point of observation, my desire to increase either my skill or Lvl has increased. That reminded me about the game mechanics that make you more addictive.

But I turned away from those thoughts as I had no desire to challenge the Heavens. Better to spend my second life cozying up; I had already done my hero duty.

After a moment, Jules had uncovered a sleek, crystal-based apparatus, its surfaces gleaming in the dim light. "This is a mana resonator. It will help us gauge your mana signature. Don't worry, it's completely harmless. Just don't block if you feel a suction force."

My first actual contact with this mana…

As my fingertips made contact with the cool crystal surface of the mana resonator, I felt the suction force Jules mentioned against my skin.

It was as if something was being drawn out, a subtle flow emanating from within me and into the device.

The process concluded almost as soon as it began, leaving no time for nerves or second thoughts—not the monumental first contact with magic I might have envisioned. Oh well… there is always another time.

Jules observed the resonator with a professional eye, then gave me a nod, signaling the end of the procedure.

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With a swift motion that seemed almost reflexive, he traced his fingers along the edge of the paper, murmuring a string of words too soft for me to catch.

Is he spellcasting?

I watched closely, trying to decipher the purpose behind Jules' actions. "What are you doing?"

Jules didn't look up. "Just a standard procedure," he said, his focus unwavering from the letter. "Checking for authenticity."

As he uttered, Jules' hand paused, and his brow furrowed deeply, a clear sign that something was amiss. Then, almost as if startled, his eyes snapped open wide in surprise.

Did my signature fail? Is my mana different?

"Uh, everything okay with that letter?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady, but inside, I was panicking.

My experience with magic was limited, to say the least, but I knew enough to recognize that surprises in this context were rarely good.

Jules looked at me, then back at the letter. "No, no, it's fine," he finally said, though the tone of his voice suggested there was more to the story. "Just... not what I was expecting. Your signature matched, don't worry."

But in my heightened state, I easily noticed the twitch, a tiny one, at the corner of his mouth. That twitch might as well have been a giant neon sign flashing the words: SOMETHING IS WRONG.

And now, here I was, not even half an hour had passed since leaving the troublesome girl, and my acceptance letter already causing unexpected reactions from a guard who clearly knew his stuff. Great. Just great.

Why was my day turning out this bad? It felt like walking around with a target on my back, inviting trouble at every corner to find me.

Did they realize that I was not the original Nova? Being an individual from a different world, the last thing I needed was for my unusual entrance into this world to raise red flags.

My heart skipped a beat at the thought of being discovered, of someone peeling back the layers of my arrival and finding the truth at the core. Would they start doing experiments on me?

Snap.

The sound jolted me back to reality as I noticed the hand in front of my face.

"Hey, kid. Are you alright there? I told you everything's good." Jules' voice, laced with a hint of concern, broke through my panic-induced trance.

"Yeah, sorry, just... I'm finally attending the academy, so I was daydreaming…" I replied, trying to mask the whirlwind of fears with a sheepish grin.

My attempt to appear unfazed felt feeble even to my own ears, but it was the best I could muster under the circumstances.

"Yeah, I can understand your feelings." Jules's face gained that faraway look as he reminisced about some past.

"Anyway, why don't you head to the Registrar's counter? It's right inside the main building, to the right. You can't miss it," Jules suggested, his tone shifting back to the more official demeanor he started with.

"The Registrar's office got it," I echoed, my mind still racing with the implications of Jules' reaction to my letter but grateful for a clear direction.

"Good. Take the letter. They'll sort you out with your schedule, dorm assignment, all that."

Nodding, I took a moment to organize my thoughts. "Thanks, Jules. I'll head there now," I said, mustering as much confidence as I could project.

Walking towards an uncertain fate, what was once a clear goal in my laid-back life, now felt like a pipe dream.

I gave myself a slight slap, hoping to jolt my senses back to reality. The sharp sting served as a crude but effective reset, snapping my focus back to the task at hand.

"Jules didn't even come with me, so it can't be something big," I reasoned with myself, trying to navigate through the fog of my own speculations.

The thought that Jules might have used a message spell or something of the sort to alert others about me crossed my mind, but I quashed those treacherous thoughts.

I still had the acceptance letter in my hand, and I was on my way to the Registrar. What bad could possibly happen in a school, after all?

I only relaxed a little when I entered the cool and light interior of the building, the thick stone walls keeping out the last of the day's heat, but it was extra cool than the guards' office.

Just inside, the door opened into a large antechamber. The most prominent feature where the five flags hanging from the ceiling at the opposite wall.

The middle one is done in golden, attracting all the attention.

Removing my gaze from the gaudy decoration, I focused on my main task. There were a number of counters on the right side of the room, but most were closed.

I approached the only open desk. A girl with a warm, caramel complexion sat behind the counter with a book on her lap.

“Um, Hello?”

The girl looked up at me. “Yes?”

“I'm here to register. I was accepted for the upcoming year to begin my studies.”

The girl closed her book. “Well, well. Aren’t you keen? Classes for first years don’t start for at least another month and a half.”

Damn, I'm a whole month earlier than others. Just how excited the previous body occupant was for entering the Academy.

"Thought I should get here early in case anything went wrong. Is that a problem?" I replied, trying to keep my tone casual.

She adjusted the book on the table, "Depends on you. Might I see your acceptance letter?"

“Here it is.” I relaxed and handed the letter to her, who examined it closely.

“Aaaaah, recruited from Emberwaste Province. That is far," she noted. "Anyway, back to the business at hand. I see you were accepted based on aptitude. That is good, but you have to register here."

"Uh, yes," I was unsure what to say about that.

"Well, then you might be in a pickle. As far as I know, most of the staff are on leave, and the supervisor didn't return after lunch. So the registration will have to be taken tomorrow."

"So what should I do? Is there a guesthouse where I can stay then?" It was a small problem, and maybe the whole Mana signature business would be forgotten by tomorrow.

"You don't have a place to stay?" the girl asked, a note of surprise in her voice.

"No, I came as fast as I could."

She sized me up with a glance that seemed to take in the entirety of my financial situation at a glance. "Well, there are two guesthouses here. One is for the wealthy, which I don't think will be in your budget,"

There was no point in refuting her words; my funds were limited, and I was all about practicality over luxury anyway.

And being poor was nothing new to me, so I gave only a tiny shrug. "Yeah, something affordable would be better."

She passed back the letter, and as she continued, "Then you should check the Dandelion Guesthouse. Just show them the letter, and they…"

But before the letter could leave her hand entirely, I noticed a hand snatching it away. I turned quickly toward the thief.

A handsome man with a golden armband on one arm, signaling perhaps that he was someone higher up the ladder, was reading my letter.