Hanako led Ken through a hallway swarming with other students going in and out of their respective classes. Going up a couple of flights of stairs, they finally reached their classroom.

The classroom was huge and very open, with a pitched floor so that all the student desks were placed higher than the front. In front was a single desk for the professor. Behind the desk, was a giant whiteboard. Spread around the ceiling of the classroom, many crystals were engraved into its walls.

"Woah, it's just like the lecture rooms I saw in books" Ken marveled as he looked around.

"Yeah, m-most classes are set up like this," Hanako replied.

“Now for what I came here for.”

Skipping towards one of the many student desks, Ken gasped, as his eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. “It's sooooooo shiny! I can almost see my own reflection. Did they use some sort of cleaning spell, or were they waxed by hand!? The quality of this table is amazing. Just one of these would probably cost a fortune!”

Tracing his finger down a faint slit ran down the dark blue desk. Ken continued to say, “I'm guessing it opens up to reveal the Forgers Desk.”

“That is correct… but we can't o-open it until class starts,” said Hanako.

Out of the few people who had come to class early, Katherine Locket was one of them. A member of Dorm 44. She sat by herself, with her nose in a book. Spotting her, Ken called out.

“Yo, Katherine!” She looked up to see Ken and Hanako but didn't respond. Ignoring them, she returned to her book.

“Let's go sit next to her.” Ken proposed

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

The two walked upstairs, up to the 6th row. Ken took the seat on Katherine’s right, while Hanako took the left.

“Since we come from the same dorm, let's be friends,” Ken suggested.

“Y-yeah… Let's get along…”

“...” Katherine continued to read her book.

“She's a tough nut,” Ken uttered

“Ummm… w-what book are you reading?” Hanako asked, trying to get a response out of Katherine.

“Age of Mana.”

“Good job Hanako, you got her to speak.”

“Th-Thank you.”

“Age of Mana, written by Zien Elfrayda. My sister gifted me that book a few weeks ago, but I never got the chance to read it.”

“...” Katherine simply flipped to the next page.

“Can I ask what the book is about?”

“... It's a detailed timeline explaining the evolution of mana, from the 3rd era up to the early years of this era.”

“That's interesting. Care to summarize what you've read so far?”

Katherine looked up from her book. Looking at her two dorm colleagues, she let out a deep sigh. “As time passes, the average mana intake increases, and in turn so does a mage's Magic Power. If we were to take the average mage today and place them in the 3rd era, they would be seen as a God. But if you were to take a gifted mage from the third era and place them in the current era, they would barely be classified as average.”

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“That means, several hundred years from now, what we consider to be powerful, will probably be child play for the common mage. That thought is amusing.” Ken chuckled.

“Are there… a-any exceptions?” Hanako asked.

“Transcending Magic. It's rare, but a mage can become so powerful that their magic would not be affected by the rules of mana.” Katherine answered.

“.... I don't quite g-get it,” Hanako responded

“Meaning if someone in the third era was to achieve Transcending Magic, then they can ignore the limitation of time, and further their magic without having to wait for time to catch up.” Ken further explained.

“Oh… that makes sense. Ummm… is there anyone t-today… with that kind of m-magic?” Hanako asked.

“The only ones known to be true are the Parjña Order and Remes God of Magic, along with his Five Mantras." Katherine answered.

“C-class… hasn't started yet, a-and I'm already learning so m-much. Thank You.”

Katherine hid her face in her book. So her two associates wouldn't see her smile at Hanako’s confession of learning something new.

“You’re Welcome…”

“Looks like talking about books is the only way to get you out of your shell.” Ken chuckled.

“Oh… K-Ken shouldn't we clap for h-her?.”

“Right!”

The duo started clapping, praising Katherine for coming out of her book shell and speaking so much. This annoyed Katherine, so she retreated to reading her book.

Soon all the desks had been filled with the rest of their classmates, and class was ready to start.

From the entrance of the classroom, an owl with dark orange feathers flew in and landed in front of the professor's desk. Everyone's attention quickly turned to the bird.

The owl exploded into orange smoke and from it, a female dwarf appeared. Her dark orange hair flattered around in the cloud before resting on her back. She had a tanned skin tone, making her warm blue eyes stand out.

"Welcome, students! I am Drardina Enra. The Forge Enchantment teacher for this year. You can just refer to me as Professor Enra." She introduced herself, as she fixed up the sleeves of her long orange mage robe with maple leaf patterns.

Enra reached into her cloak and pulled out a wand. She pointed her wand at the big whiteboard behind her and started to write in the air. Whatever she wrote appeared on the board. On the board, Enra wrote. 'Forge Enchantment'

"Now before we start class, I'd like all of you to scan the barcode displayed on the board for attendance," A large barcode appeared on the board.

Everyone pulled out their student cell and proceeded to do as Enra instructed. Everyone's phone lit up green and a tick appeared.

"Cool," Ken mumbled.

"Alright! Now we can start class." Enra said with a gleeful smile. "Since this is our very first class of the year, we won't be doing anything too complicated. Can anyone tell me what Forge Enchantment is?"

One of the students raised her hand, and as soon as the teacher gave her eye contact, she answered the question.

"Forge Enchantment is giving permanent stat boost and unique attributes to an item."

"Good! And how does one use Forge Enchantment?"

"Unlike World Enchantment, Forge Enchantment can't be used during battle. One can only use Forge Enchantment, via a Forger's Table.” Another student answered.

"Excellent! Since today is our first class, I want to see where everyone is with their Forge skills. So if you all reach under your desk, you should feel a button. click it."

Everyone did as Enra instructed, and everyone's table opened, revealing a Forge Enchantment Table. The table had a large magic circle drawn into it. Placed in the middle of the magic circle was a pair of white gloves.

On the sides of the Forge table, multiple small shelves were raised out of it, the shelves were packed with small crystals and other items that can be used as a synthesizer.

"For Today's class, I want you all to enchant the white glove, with any enchantment in your arsenal. You won't be graded on this, so don't stress yourself out too much, but that doesn't mean you should give it your best.'' Enra explained.

"This is an individual task. So everyone will be working on their own, and no research is to be done. You have 1 hour. You may begin."

With that, everyone got started. Ken looked at all the materials stored on the small shelves. There were dragon scales, magic crystals, different types of minerals and plants, and more.

“These are some pretty rare and unique materials. I've only seen most of these in books. I wonder what enchantments I should forge….”

Ken looked over at his two roommates, who had started on their assignment. Looking around everyone else had also started.

“This is worrying. I don't know what enchantments to use.”