Time passes as I slowly form a new routine. I go to school during the day and if Cassandra and I are free we would meet for our lessons. Because of this, some rumors begin to spread around the school that we are secretly dating. She doesn't make a comment about the rumors so I decided to also keep quiet. During lunch, I mostly pepper Drew with questions I have about the Laen and he does his best to answer, even though he is beginning to get exasperated by my never-ending questions. After school, I immediately head to the Metorium for my lessons with Master Hogan or Master Hugo. In two weeks we cover around half of the textbook he had given me. At first, I had only been attracted by only a few things in the textbook, but as we study more noers, I begin to appreciate their uses. For example the purification noer.

The purification helped make sure the Eani we absorb to create our Uua is pure, or at least purer than it normally would have been. It didn't seem too important until I realized the importance of pure Uua. It had happened when I asked Drew what 'potential' looked like through second sight. He had told me that 'potential' didn't have a look, it was just a word people used to describe how powerful you could be later on and that potential is based on two factors. The purity of one's Uua and the size of one's core. The purity of Uua can be determined by color. All Uua is usually blue, the lighter the blue, the purer your Uua is. The size on the other hand is determined by a person's aura. I had asked him to tell me the color of my Uua and he told me it was almost white.

He then explained how purity affected the use of magic. Simply put, someone could perform a spell with a large amount of magic. Someone with a purer Uua than the other person could perform the same spell and make it as strong as or even stronger than the previous person's spell with far less Uua used. Because of this, the noer that could purify your Uua basically makes one more powerful, especially since its effects are permanent, making it so that as your purity increases, all Eani absorbed would create Uua of the same purity.

Master Hogan had instructed me to circulate my Uua every day through that noer. He had also told me to practice everything I learned until I could use the noers as flawlessly as I could use my limbs.

Apart from that, I finally mastered circulating my Uua while doing other things. It didn't take me long to figure out the extra effects that Drew had told me about. It improved my physical abilities. Apart from strength, it also increases my speed, stamina, and somehow makes me tougher. As I am I believe I could jump from the roof of a one-story building and walk away with little to no injuries. I also experimented with cutting myself with a knife while circulating my Uua and discovered that circulating made my skin harder than it normally is, and more like leather than skin. Lastly, it enables me to heal from small wounds like a knife cut quickly. The injury had disappeared within a day.

When I mastered circulating the Uua, Master Shawn finally changed the content of his lessons and began teaching me martial arts, or "The Arts" as he fondly calls it.

After my lessons, I go back home and do whatever school work I had to do before going for dinner. After dinner, I practice whatever I learned during my lesson with the Teachers. By twelve am I finally go to bed before waking up by five. I had expected my late hours to affect me at first, but till now I haven't experienced any adverse effects.

During the weekend I go for my lessons in the Metorium before meeting up with Cassandra for more lessons then I start all over on Monday. The lessons with Cassandra are my favorite parts of the week, after the magic lessons. We are slowly getting closer to each other, but as exciting as it is, some part of me is also scared. What if we get really close, only for me to get friend-zoned. In such a scenario I think I'll have preferred not getting to know her at all.

On a Friday during lunch, Cassandra unexpectedly came to my table.

"Hey," she says as she grabs some fries from my tray before eating them.

"Hey," I protest, "that's mine."

"Sorry," she says wrinkling her nose. She doesn't look too sorry though.

"Hey, Cassie, what did you get on your test?" Drew asks. Mr. Ryan had given them the test results in class.

Her expression falls at that moment and I suddenly sense that something is wrong. She didn't fail, did she?

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"I didn't do too well…" She begins. Oh crap. I think as my heartbeat begins to accelerate. She failed. Will she blame me? Crap, this is all my fault. I should have spent more time teaching her instead of wasting time talking.

She continues. "…I got eighty-seven." She turns to look at me and laughs. "You should see the look on your face. You look like you were caught doing something bad."

Drew laughs along with her. He says, "He's probably thinking, 'Oh crap, I made her fail'."

"Not funny," I say trying to put on a serious expression and failing. I was just relieved that she hadn't failed.

"What did you get?" she turns and asks Drew.

He begins to rub his chin as he smiles smugly. "As a genius, I of course got ninety-six."

"Wow," Cassandra says surprised.

"Cheater," I mumble.

"How did he cheat?" she asks me.

"He's got near-photographic memory. All he needs to do is read everything once, try to understand a bit, and boom! Instant A."

I am speaking the truth about Drew's memory. He had told me the day I had asked him something about school. For some reason, I found it easy to remember and understand whatever was taught in school. At first, I had thought it was my excitement from becoming a Laen that made me so eager to learn, but after it kept on for more than a week I became suspicious and asked Drew what was going on. According to him, it is a normal thing. Apart from improving the body, magic also improved the mind resulting in what I had noticed. The stronger and more adept I become at using my magic, the more pronounced the effects would be. For him, those effects include near-photographic memory and an increased ability to understand things. I had the same boost, but it is just not as much as Drew's own.

"I thought photographic memory isn't real. I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere."

"You know nothing," I say.

She is silent for a moment, before seeming to dismiss her previous thoughts. She then asks."I was wondering, could we keep having the lessons? They really helped and I'm trying to get an A during the exams."

"Sure." I agree. I had been a bit sad that our lessons would come to an end since they were the only time I could really hang out with Cassandra. Now that there is an opportunity to continue, there's no way I wouldn't agree.

"Thanks. I owe you one."

After that, she leaves and heads back to her table.

Time passes, until one day during assembly, I hear the principal mention that our exams would begin the following week. At that moment I become alert as a sense of dread takes over me. Ever since I became a Laen I barely spent time reading or doing any sort of school work. Apart from my lessons with Cassandra and the assignments and projects given to us, I have not made any effort to read my books, in short, I am not prepared for the examinations.

During lunch Drew notices my nervousness and asks. "What's wrong? You look terrified."

"I'm in deep shit." I bemoan.

"What happened?" He asks.

"I'm not ready for the exams. I've not had the time to study ever since I joined you guys."

He begins to laugh. "Man, I even thought something bad had happened. Listen, your problem is easy to solve so don't worry, trust me, the exam's going to be a breeze."

"How? Even if I start reading now I still won't be able to read enough. I mean today's Wednesday and the exams are starting on Monday. There's not enough time."

"You're forgetting something."

"What?"

"The Lands of Time."

"Oh. Wait… that might actually work!" I say excitedly. Because of the way time flows in the Lands of Time, an hour in the real world equates to close to three days there. So if I could just spend an hour each day in the Lands of Time, by Sunday I would have spent more than a week reading there. And that's if I spend only an hour.

Drew nods. "Of course, it will. The problem you're facing now is a common one at first, balancing our Laen activities and school work can become really hard so we have no choice but to use the Lands of Time for studying. Actually, most Laens our age are more than ready for the SATs, ACT, GRE, or whatever exams we will need to write later on. We've read everything we need to know to pass these exams and even beyond a long time ago. And there's no chance of us forgetting because of our enhanced memories."

"Wait, seriously? Why go that far?"

He shrugs. "It makes things easier in the long run, like now for instance. You're worried about the exams but I'm not, despite the fact that I've not read either. Also, a lot of advanced Laen knowledge needs you to understand a lot of scientific concepts to fully utilize their power."

I sigh as I think of all the reading I'm going to have to do in the future. Drew laughs at my expression and says. "Don't worry, if you use three hours every day to read in the Lands of Time, you should be ready for the SATs in like three weeks. That's just this week, next week when you'll have no choice but to read because of the exams, and the week after."

Suddenly I am motivated, if I can be ready for the SATs in three weeks, that would mean I have nothing to fear for a long time to come. "Can show me how to get there later today?"

He nods. "Sure, now relax, exams aren't that big of a deal."

I nod relieved. That day after school, after finishing my magic lessons, I meet up with Drew and head to the Lands of Time. There are no modern constructs there, so I spend the day there reading, my back against a tree. Once night falls we leave and wait a few minutes before going back. We repeat this one more time before I finally head back. At home Emily nags to know why I am home so late, I tell her I was reading with Drew because of the upcoming exams and that I will keep on doing that until the exams are over. She accepts my explanation and lets me be.

I quickly adapt to my new schedule, heading to the Lands of Time for an hour each day to read after I am done with my magic lessons. Time passes and when the exams finally begin, I begin to feel stifled, like I have no time for myself. The exams pass quickly, but while everyone in the school relaxes I don't, instead, doing my best to find more opportunities to read in the Lands of Time. Time passes and our results are made available online. Cassandra calls me to tell me she got an A in pre-calculus. I express my surprise and congratulate her. She asks about my score and I told her I haven't checked yet, which is true. I didn't bother because I already know I passed. After all the weeks I had spent in the Lands of Time studying there is no way I could fail.

For close to a week after summer began, I spend most of my time reading in the Lands of Time and training in the Metorium. Finally, on a particular Thursday, after more than three weeks spent reading in the Lands of Time, I finally finish reading. I drop my textbook to the ground and take a deep breath of the clean, refreshing air. Finally, I think. I'm done.