Trying to make K&A autonomous was hell, really. But it did push us to progress. We weren’t just progressing in business, but in our personal lives as well.

“Got a stomach ache?” I asked Melissa when she and August came over to visit. “You’re constantly rubbin’ your belly. Toilet’s right over there,” I pointed.

August laughed so uncontrollably he spat his cookie out. Melissa on the other hand wasn’t happy about what I said. I mean sure, I could be a bit brazen. But, so what? We all poop, man.

“Dude,” August held his stomach too, but from the laughter, “I should probably tell ya. We’re expectin’.”

I waited a while for him to finish. “Expectin’ what? To poop?”

“Hydra’s ass help your soul, boy.”

Now I was a bit confused. Usually when Donna said something like that, it meant I missed a social cue that I probably shouldn’t have. Okay, let’s rewind. What the hell’s she expecting then? Becau–oh. Ohh…

“Wait, you dirty, dirty bastards. You’ve been getting’ busy, huh buddy? And you,” I circled her like a detective accusing a criminal. “You’re a knight who serves the light, but you got frisky that night, didn’t you? You dirty people.”

“Does that mean you never had sex?” August asked. Of course, he knew the answer to that. We’re best friends. I had to run with my persona anyway.

I put my hand to my mouth in surprise, “Se-sex?” I gasped, “How could I? No! That’s icky!”

“Says the person with two women…” Melissa smiled coyly.

I made two champagne glasses and spiked the intoxicating liquid, “Hey, congratulations, really. I’d give you a drink Melissa, but you know…”

I sat atop my house’s roof in the evening, hell of a view. “Could you believe it?” I asked Donna who leaned on my shoulder.

“Well, you and Anjali are engaged, so I guess both of you are going forward. Anyway, get up. It’s been forever since you trained.”

That’s what I juggled. K&A Creations, my household, my loves, and my magic. Cycling through them everyday until nearly a year went. August and I were eighteen now.

Anjali and I postponed the wedding to give Melissa enough time. Healthy delivery by the way. August made a little blacksmith named Tara; quite a noisemaker. We had the honour of her presence whilst Anjali walked down the aisle, arm in arm with my father.

Elder couldn’t make it, and as much as the man might’ve hated me, I’m sure he’d at least wanted to be part of her wedding. So, the first place we went after we exchanged vows was to prison. Hell of a honeymoon. To my surprise, the guy didn’t hold any grudges against me, or the late Dawn for that matter. He was truly happy for his daughter.

Yeah, I know, I just dropped some heavy information on you, but it’s okay. Besides, this story is about the adventures I had with the people around me. And since it’s about adventures, then I’m sure you’re dying to know why I ended up in a school full of young beautiful elven women three months later.

Well, it all started when Elder stopped Anjali and I from leaving. He wanted a word with me in private and told me of yet another world-traversing item much like the Diadem of Lunacy. Why? Don’t know.

So, I tracked down his mystery item, what he called Urn of Life. Interesting name by the way. I found it in one of the countries he used to frequent, one of the countries we allied with to take care of the threat that was Ulanos.

The place wasn’t big on mages at all. Their top mages were probably people that equalled rank three Veterans in the Order of Mages. That would explain why no one else found it. The thing was in the midst of a volcano. If I didn’t have Voidwalk, I’d drown myself in liquid fire. And the only reason I knew it was there – since Elder’s direction pointed to the mountain alone – was because Life Perception picked up an actual lifeform in the very centre of the volcano.

Amazing, I held the pitch-black urn, and within it, were ashes? I didn’t know what it was exactly, but it lit dimly like embers. I shrugged it off as the heat surrounding it, then fuelled my mana into it.

The next thing I knew, I was in a large auditorium place. It looked like a theatre really. All the students sat facing the instructor, and she looked at me with the same curious eyes. Someone in the front row talked, unfortunately I couldn’t understand the language.

The most striking feature they had, was that almost all of them were giants. Not big and muscular, but quite tall. Seven feet? I wondered, looking the instructor up and down.

A few overly curious ones encroached me, so I activated Timedial and Magnet. To them, I must’ve looked weird with a violet translucent bubble around me. I must’ve looked weird moving strangely fast due to me being in Timedial. You’d think they’d be scared off, but they weren’t. Instead, they approached faster, speaking their incomprehensible language. All my Avatar buffs activated.

A couple of them picked up wands and staffs, so I decided to ramp up my defences some more. I activated Thunder God and crackles of lightning swirled slowly around my body. I’ll explain what that was later on. Only when I used that spell, did they use a gesture commonly known – putting their hands up in surrender. They backed off a little. Maybe they smelled the danger? After things looked to calm down, I released Timedial, feeling the slight jerk as my body readjusted to the correct time dilation. Only then, did I suddenly understand what they were saying.

“How could someone appear out of thin air?”

“What’s with his ears?”

“He hasn’t grown much, has he? A shame…”

What in blazes. Why do I understand them? I don’t even know what language it is but I know what they’re saying.

I stepped back again, wondering just where the hell I went to.

“Can you, understand what I’m saying?” I asked.

Their faces went aghast. Not sure why. If I could understand them, then it should be no surprise that they could understand me.

One of them nodded at me, so I continued. “Is there a map here?”

“Of?”

“T-this entire world?”

The instructor stared worriedly at me, or perhaps a bit shaken. Through the stare down, I had the hunch that they weren’t actually dangerous, but simply curious.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“First, tell us, what are you?”

What? “Don’t you mean, ‘who’?”

“No. I meant ‘what’. Our speech recognition hadn’t immediately affected you. We know you’re no elf,” she said, muttering, “don’t think so,” under her breath.

Looking up at this unbearably gorgeous woman, I was shaken out of my mind when her words registered to me. “Did you say elf?” It wasn’t like I didn’t see it before, but some of them had some damn long ears, and all of them had some level of pointed ears.

She nodded, hesitantly.

“Relax, I’m not some enemy. I’m just Eric, a human mage.”

The students’ murmurs bounced around. How could all of them be that gorgeous?

“I know right? Even I feel like doing something with one of them. Or two… Or a few…” Donna stayed in my mind, probably wanting to limit their shock factor.

Even more talk and giggles back and forth happened. The entire class basically gathered around like I was some spectacle. I guess I was though, because they hadn’t a clue what a human was.

“Anyway,” my attention returned to location, “about that map.”

“I’m in the middle of a lesson and we’ll be finished in just a few minutes. Would you mind?”

“No, not at all.”

“I can feel your eyes thirsting.”

I’ve never seen a room full of perfect cleavage like this before. It’s hard to look in their eyes, okay? Sorry, Anjali.

“It’s too late, you cheater.”

Everyone settled down in their seats after I took mine. Simply gliding over to an empty spot in the back made them look on in awe. I wasn’t sure what was happening here, but I guessed I’d be a student for a few minutes.

The instructor began speaking jargon I’d never heard in my life, even with whatever language magic working. Donna and I gave each other mental stares of confusion. “I mean, she’s talking about magic, right? Hard to say.”

Eh, can’t be that important if a literal lifeform they’ve never seen before could sit in on a class. We can probably just ignore it. Instead of the lecture, I admired the fancy design and craftsmanship of just about everything in the place. The benches, rows of tables, even the damn walls. It was so minimalistic yet cohesive and blended perfectly with each other. Fancy.

Soon, the lesson ended. The instructor and her beautifully gigantic boobs led me towards the head office. Surprisingly, a teleportation pad just like the one in the Order of Mages was what we used. It seemed this institution was full of such faux-enchanted items. Going through the hall way, I could see a big community outside. “Everything you see, Eric, is the property of the school.”

“Huh?!” I turned around in disbelief to look at her face. “You kiddin’, right?”

“No. I’m quite serious. Everything you can see from this building belongs to the Rizt family. Anyway, it’s best you meet someone more, authorised.” We stopped in front of a darkened glass. I was about to enter, but the instructor stopped me.

“I don’t know about you, or how this world will react to knowing something called a ‘human’ exists. But there’s something I feel like you should know before you enter. The students saw, so maybe keeping it a secret is impossible, but I’ve noticed you can cast spells without the use of a mana conductor. There is no one and nothing in this world that is capable of that. Revealing that might land you in front of researchers, and I don’t know if you’d even live to talk about it.”

“You sure seem to care.”

“I felt no ill-will from you. Sensory magic.” She turned her head to the office to gesture me inside.

The main desk was vacant, so I began ogling at the designs of the room. It reminded me a bit of Hyzek, but instead of bright colours, elves seemed to prefer the darker palettes.

A woman eventually approached me. “I’ve noticed Rilas brought you here,” her deadpan eyes jumped between my ears and my actual eyes, “I can see why.”

She basically told me where I was, with a bit more detail. The Rizt family apparently worked hard to make this institute what it was. She strutted about me, then took the hairpin from her hair and flung it my direction. Magnet ensured it hit the back of my chair, and Divergence had her folded in the corner of her own office’s wall. A shriek escaped her. I didn’t intend to kill her, of course not. Not in uncharted territory, but I was also making sure she couldn’t and wouldn’t attack me again. Arc Lightning kept her nice and still after she fell disgracefully to the ground.

Geez, even injured, that chest looks good.

“You’re a horrible person, Eric. But, you’re not wrong…”

It looked like showing off cleavage was something of a norm here, and it would probably be weird to them if I made a big deal out of it. Should I just leave this place and return home now?

“Yeah, you should. But you’re not going to, huh?”

Nope.

My Arc Lightning stopped and I sauntered toward this office lady. “So, you a Rizt?”

“The matriarch. I hope you’re ready to face judgment.” The minute she said that, I felt a presence at my side.

It was a man. The first male I’d seen. His eyes were dark, ominous. He didn’t even glance at the injured mother of the family on the floor. Instead, he walked calmly, wordlessly, towards me. “I’ll be frank. Assaulting my wife is going to put you in a mana-extraction cell. You can avoid that fate, if you complete a simple task of mine.”

I stared on at him, just as he did me. Then, I laughed. I laughed and laughed. I went to, what I could only assume was his desk and grabbed the liquor in the drawer. He seemed the type. I poured a little into a conjured glass and had a sip, whilst I sat comfortably on his desk.

“That’s a stretch. But okay, I got ya back.” Donna reassured me after she read my thoughts. I was about to go into persuasion mode. Mind Break would do fine, but I wanted to test how much I learned from Anjali’s observational and negotiation skills.

“Do you find something funny?” he asked calmly.

I looked into my glass, suddenly turning serious, then up to the man again, without budging my head. “It’s rude to extort your desires out of people. And unwise to attempt it on those you cannot control.”

How obvious it was to me. What husband would neglect his injured wife to blackmail her attacker? You’d either help her by escaping with her, or quickly eliminating the threat. But he did nothing of the sort. They both planned this from the moment they realised the instructor brought me. And that meant they already knew, somehow, that I could cast without using whatever in Hydra’s ass a ‘mana-conductor’ was.

I busted his plan, and explained that very thing to him.

“Mr Rizt, I suggest you tend to your wife. A damaged spine can last a lifetime.” An expression very hard to see presented itself. I could tell he didn’t expect her to be damaged as much as she was. If their medical prowess was anything like Methelia’s, she’d have lifelong issues. Of course, I could fix her right up, but that wasn’t my problem.

Whatever, let’s go discover this place! I walked out, and the minute I opened the door, the instructor fell in. Eavesdropping, huh?

“What’s the deal with this place?” Donna asked me. I shrugged mentally at her question.

I still don’t have a goddamn map! “Am I getting that map or what?”

“Arrest him!” The Rizt dude yelled at the kind instructor. She was a bit timid, so I felt a bit sorry for her. But ultimately, I underestimated no one.

She looked me in the eyes, her body not wanting to move. For all she knew, I could kill her with some unknown spell. “Just play along, let’s see.” To ensure they didn’t confiscate my ticket out of this place, I summoned Hydra and gave her the Urn of Life for safekeeping.

“I’m complying,” I told her. “Can I know the name of the arresting officer?”

“Steyza Rilas,” she bounded my arms with some sort of magical rope, “sorry about this.”

She walked me out of the building, and the class that saw me attracted an even bigger crowd. I guess the rumour wouldn’t be contained within the school’s premises.

I was placed in a cell with a transparent glass and some breathing holes. Steyza was less than pleased about doing it, and I had no idea why. “Hey, before you go, you know what a mana-extraction cell is?”

She averted her eyes away from me and rubbed her elbow. “This is the extraction cell. I’m, sorry.”

“Guess it siphons mana from you. Wanna break out?”

Nah, not yet. Let’s see how it works first. A spell to steal mana would be insane. If I could learn that…

Eventually, night fell and I dropped asleep. The next morning, the cell’s magic walls were disabled. I woke up eventually, hungry as hell. The guard’s face was hilarious. I couldn’t help but cackle at it.

He immediately placed the spell back in place so the transparent walls encapsulated me again, then he ran off. I dispelled the magic bindings off, and made myself some breakfast. After having said breakfast, it was time to get the hell out of here. I didn’t learn a thing.

So, I cast Voidwalk and entered the hallway. Taking my time and strolling away, I observed the place. Hell, the cells here would be great living space for people in Gassity.

Just as I was about to open the door, it swung open on me instead. Luckily, with Avatar of Lightning, I reacted quickly enough to block the door with my forearm. Avatar of Earth and my durability enchantments nulled the pain. “Steyza? What are you doing here?” I asked her, assuming she only carried me here on request of the headmaster and would have nothing else to do with me.

“Eric? What are you doing here?” she questioned, pointing to our exact location. “You escaped?! How?! Wait, why are you even alive?!” She held her head in a bit of stress, “Are you–I’m so confused…”