Chapter 14: The White Room / A Magical World

Evan and Rin stepped into a room, and apart from the section they were in, which was boxed off by yellow lines, there seemed to stretch an infinite plane of flat, white ground in every direction, all around them.

The door they had entered from disappeared behind them.

“Dad, why are we here? What is this room? I’ve never seen It before.” Rin asked, astounded.

“It’s called the white room. It’s very important, but I'll teach you all about it later, ok?" Evan asked.

Rin nodded.

"Good. White room. Connect to The Magic Tower.” Evan said.

The room whirred in response, booting up.

[Connecting to Reality: Magic Tower] Replied the room.

Everything rumbled, and the infinitely blank, flat, white world started to change.

Suddenly, it boxed Rin in with invisible walls that blocked her from going out into the shifting, blank world.

“What is-? Dad? What's going on? What is this place?” Rin asked, staring at the changing geography and watching as the world was stained with color, in awe.

“Something you're going to love when you learn how to use it,” Evan said, smiling at her reaction.

Rin was too focused to hear what her father had said.

The outside world finished changing, and the room they were in went dark.

A door appeared at the other end of the room, slowly opening. They were now in some sort of lab.

“Let’s go! We might even get to see your cousin, Akane.” Evan said, grasping Rin by the hand and leading her out of the room.

“Wait, why are we here? Aren’t we opening my mana valves?” Rin asked, confused.

“Rin. Feel the ambient mana here.” Evan said, pausing.

Rin stopped for a second as well and closed her eyes, taking in her new surroundings.

The pressure from the sheer volume of mana in the air shocked her. She felt a little bit dizzy from it.

“It’s… there’s so much! I can barely store this much! It barely took a few seconds for my mana to completely refill!!! Oh, but that made me a little dizzy.” Rin exclaimed, her eyes opening with a faint red gleam in her right eye, and a dim purple gleam in her left eye, which faded after a second as her mana settled. As the gleam faded, so did her dizziness.

“Seconds? Ah. Right. I forgot your mana capacity was absolutely monstrous. Well, that's a good thing, I guess. Let’s go out into the city for a while, then come back and train. Opening your mana valves will take several days. I already started the process, and the rest won’t be easy.” Evan said.

“Wait, you did? When?!” Rin asked, confused.

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“When I grabbed your hand, I started opening your valves with my mana. You're going to have to learn how to detect mana better.” Evan said.

“I didn’t feel anything at all! And I thought I had gotten pretty good at detecting mana. How did you do that without me noticing?” Rin pouted.

“I usually take your hand when we go out, and I distracted your attention by asking you to feel the ambient mana so you wouldn't notice mine. I guess it's not exactly that you're lacking in training with mana detection. It's better to say you lack understanding in how to see through deception.” Evan said.

“It’s to make sure neither of us gets lost. Of course I wouldn't think it was strange for you to grab my hand. Thinking about it, though....You're way too protective, dad…..” Rin said, frowning.

“Ah! Do you not like it? Actually, you’re old enough to start doing stuff on your own, aren't you? Sorry, Rin." Evan said, slumping his shoulders.

Rin sighed.

"Anyways, welcome to the main dimension of the world of magic!” Evan said as they walked outside of the lab, and into a crowded street.

Rin stopped for a second.

“Wait, so that stupid other dimension magic rock thing comes from here?” Rin asked, looking around.

“Huh? Oh… I guess so. It isn’t anything special here. It’s disposable. But the mages in our world don’t have anything to learn from, they have the general distrust of the public, no power to really speak of, and can’t get here on their own. Or for the most part, at all. So even a disposable magic stone from such a magically rich dimension like this would seem like something from god himself in ours.” Evan said.

“So I don’t have to worry about the rock?” Rin asked.

“Um. I would still worry about it. Again, our world is poor with mana. The stone is pretty powerful there. A normal mage would be able to take over the world with it. I'd like you to continue protecting it.” Evan said.

“Actually, Dad? You guys are the strongest things in existence, right? You, mom, and aunt Akari.” Rin asked.

“Mhmm. Yup. That’s right. Mother is number one, I’m number two, Akari is number three.” Evan said proudly.

“I don’t remember anything being anywhere close to as powerful as you. Let alone mom.” Rin said.

“You forgot that your mother has greater authority over me,” Evan said.

“Oh, that’s true. But why do I have to guard the stone, if you guys are here?” Rin wondered.

“Rin. You’ve been defending the stone to gain practical combat experience, right? I remember you asking me for some barrier tech. But how exactly are you defending it? How do you know anything about your enemies?” Evan asked.

“Oh. I can detect mana or magic incredibly easily when I focus. I can find people who conceal it too. I looked around and chose some that seemed good, using your patches, and made a group. That reminds me. Does the magic world govern our dimension? Wouldn't they be opposed to someone making another group of mages?” Rin asked.

“Not directly… The only reason they care is because I’m there. So if you want to make a group of mages, go for it. As long as mom approves. Actually, right now they're probably watching that dimension because of Akari, rather than me. Also, look, the town! Let’s go.” Evan said excitedly.

“Why are you even more excited than I am? This place looks like it's level of civilization is the same as the worlds you see in manga, when the main character goes to another world.” Rin said.

“It’s fun! Also, the civilization here is pretty much barely at that stage. They rely on magic, not science. Let’s go get some food. Anyway, Rin, this group of yours. How strong are they?” Evan asked.

“Errr. Top tier mages, according to our world's standards.” Rin said.

“So, they're weak. A pity…." Evan said, sighing.

"How about this place, Rin?” Evan asked, standing near the entrance of a restaurant.

“Sounds good to me. I thought you would pick a desserts shop.” Rin said, surprised.

“Sweets are delicious... We need food to convert it into energy, and then into mana, though.” Evan said.

“Oh hey, look. What’s this meat? I don’t recognize the animal.” Rin asked, pointing to a sign.

“Hm? Wait, you can read this? It’s in the ancient magical language.” Evan asked.

“Yeah. I learned how to read, write, speak, and understand it when I was translating. Languages are pretty easy once you get the hang of it.” Rin said proudly.

“Oho. Impressive indeed. You’ve really worked hard. You’ve studied well, our cute little Rin. I'm sure that if Mom were here, she would agree.” Evan said, praising her as they walked into the restaurant.

Rin smiled.