After meeting with the empress, the five were lead by Ra to the library. However, all of them had pale faces for there was a person following behind them, Antonella, who was mumbling while looking down. Some of the things they heard were ‘how much should I teach in a day, 3 or 4 books worth of material' and other stuff like ‘what punishment should I do, have them clean the Roc mud pits or hand feeding the Lizaans.
Upon hearing the punishments that Antonella would give, even though the five did not know what a Roc mud pit was or what a Lizaan was, they were able to tell with Ra's reaction, that it was nothing good for his face lost all color and he staggered.
They stayed in the library for around three hours listening to Antonella's lecture. It was about how magic can alter and change the concepts of the world.
"In this world, no one is born a magician, however, they are born with mana within their bodies. For one to become a magician, they must take the mana present within their bodies and bring it together and form it into a what is a known as a ‘mana core' in the area underneath the heart. Those whose cores are developing are called beginners. Those who have developed a ‘mana core' are now able to use elementary level magic and these people are called apprentices and their mana cores are the size of a thumb and black in color, which represents it is full of impurities. These magic apprentices are now also able to sense the mana that is present within the atmosphere and utilize it to use magic. For one to grow as a magician, they must take in the mana from the atmosphere and use it to make their mana core grow in size. They must also use this mana to purify their mana cores." (Antonella)
"As one progresses down the path of a magician, their mana core grows in size and its color becomes lighter and lighter. After one's mana core has a radius of 1 inch they become know as mages. After a ‘Mage' is a ‘Magi' and their mana core has a radius of 1.5 inches. The size of a mana core represents the stage they are at, while the color represents the purity of the mana in their body and how strong their spells will be." (Antonella)
"Each stage has three levels. For example, there are low magi, magi, and high magi." (Antonella)
"The purity of a mana core goes from the most impure, jet black representing a low apprentice, coal representing an apprentice, and light black representing high apprentice. For a mage, it is blood red, red, and red-orange. For magi, it is orange, light orange, and yellow-orange." (Antonella)
(A.N. I know there's not much difference in color but I couldn't think of anything better, even after searching in google. Just know the color gets littler and one progresses down the path of magic.)
"After one reaches the magi level, their mana core stops growing in size, however, its density increases. The density and size only represent how much magic one can use. After the Magi level is a ‘Grand' magician and after ‘Grand' magician is an ‘Arc' Magician.
A ‘grand' magician's mana core is yellow, pale yellow, and then an off white. Also, when one reaches the ‘Grand' level, 3 transparent colored halos appear behind their back. For when one reaches the ‘Arc' level, along with the halos, 3 pairs of colored transparent wings form. These halos and wings are gifts to the magician from the world for their accomplishment in the ways of magic." (Antonella)
Upon hearing her lecture, Marc raised his hand and asked.
"A few questions. First, you said that the wings and halos have color, what does the color represent? Second, can one hide their wings and halos or are they always visible? Third, what if one does not want to be a magician? Lastly, why does the world bestow wings and halos as gifts?" (Marc)
"Good questions. I'll answer the second and third ones first." (Antonella)
"First, yes, a magician can make the wings and halos disappear, they just have to will it. Now then the other question. Magic is divided into three categories that are represented by the colors black, white, and gray. Black magic is magic that can control fire, water, air, etc., mainly, it is magic that causes destruction. White magic is magic that is used for healing, purifying, buffs, etc., magic that can be considered as support, however, white magic does have magic that can be used for attacking and black magic also has magic that can support, just not as much as the other. Lastly, gray magic is a bit special. It can be considered the strongest for it is magic that uses the laws of the universe. The magics that fall under gray are space, time, life magic, etc., magics such as those. The wings and halos that appear are usually black, white, or gray and represent which path the magician takes." (Antonella)
"The wings and halos also can limit that amount of magic useable or boost magic, this, however, depends on the possessor of the halo and wings." (Antonella)
"As for the other two questions, let's answer the one about what if one does not want to be a magician first." (Antonella)
"If one does not wish to become a magician, they can become a warrior instead. However, the path of a warrior is different than that of a magician. A warrior must first form a mana core and become a magic apprentice. However, they mainly take in the mana from the atmosphere and fuse it into their muscle, bones, skins, basically their whole body. The higher mana their body absorbs the stronger their body. Also, like a magician, the denser and purer their core the higher level of attainment." (Antonella)
"The level for warrior are apprentice warrior, warrior, champions. After champion, they will earn the title of ‘Grand' and ‘Arc' and be bestowed the wings and halos from the world." (Antonella)
"A warrior is still capable of using magic and increasing the size of their core if they wish just like how a magician can use weapons. One difference is that a warrior's core is much, much denser that a magician's. The purity if their core also represents their attainment in the path of a warrior." (Antonella)
"Now for why the world bestows the halos and wings." (Antonella)
After saying that, Antonella's face became serious.
"First, you all have been informed that one can become a god?" (Antonella)
To her question and serious tone, the other could only nod.
"This knowledge is not known to the public. The only people who know of this knowledge are those who have an extremely high status or are special such as his holiness, the empress, those who reached a certain level of power, or people like you, who were summoned from a different world. I will warn you now, that you all can not tell this to anyone else who is not qualified to learn about it."
Hearing her serious tone the others could only nod in agreement. Seeing this, she nodded in return and continued.
"Good, I will hold you to that. But remember, if you do tell anyone who is not qualified, the punishments will be severe." (Antonella)
After seeing that they heard what she said, she continued.
"When one reaches the ‘grand' stage, the universe bestows them some knowledge about godhood, however, the halo's represent they have stopped aging and their life span becomes virtually infinite." (Antonella)
After she said that she made a face as if she had just remembered something.
"I forgot to say, as one advances in level, their lifespan grow and they age slower. An apprentice can live around 100-200 years, a mage or warrior can live 300-1000 years. The span of a magi or champion is 1500-10000. When one becomes a 'Grand', they basically stop aging and become immortal." (Antonella)
"Now then, when one becomes an ‘arc', they get knowledge on how to become a god and the wings represent that they are qualified to become gods. Plus, they also give the ability for one to fly easier and the wings appearance can change so they look more to a person's liking. " (Antonella)
After answering the questions, the sun started to set and it was becoming night time so Antonella decided to end the lecture for today.
Ra, who was there for the whole lecture looked dispirited for he already knew all of this and since he was forced to be here he was not able to do his job.
After Antonella finished, Ra took the five to their rooms to rest and sleep for the night because the have to do this again tomorrow.
After they reached their rooms and were about to enter, Ra stopped them and spoke.
"What is it, we're tired *yawn*, can you please make it quick" (Elizabeth)
"Yes, I will. I would just like to apologize for my harsh tone this morning against you all." (Ra)
Saying that Ra bowed. Seeing this the others became a bit flustered and Marc was the one to speak up.
"No, don't be. What you said was true and we were being rude. The empress and the pope are of higher status to us and we were not being respectful towards them." (Marc)
"Still, even so, the tone I had used was harsh. I even scared Miss Lee, for that, I apologize." (Ra)
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Hearing what he said, Lee spoke up.
"Umm, it's alright, what you said was the truth and even though I got scared, I'm am not mad so please raise your head." (Lee)
Hearing that she accepted his apology, Ra stopped bowing and straightened his back.
"I thank you for forgiving me, now then, I will leave and let you all rest. There will be a servant to bring breakfast in the morning." (Ra)
After saying that, Ra turned around and left. After he left, the others said goodnight to each other and entered their rooms.
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Currently, within one of the rooms of the imperial palace is a man. He is currently standing on a balcony looking at the moon. The man has black hair and eyes. From the look on his face, one can realize that he seems to be contemplating over something.
Then as if he suddenly decided his eyes reveal a resolute look and then his silhouette disappears from the balcony.
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In a bedroom within the palace stands a woman in a purple negligee. The negligee reveals her perfect snow white shoulders and is cut off slightly above the thighs. That woman is empress Lillian. She is currently within her bedchamber staring at a large portrait that is hung in front of her bed. The portrait is of a young man and woman. The man has black hair and eyes. One can not see his face for it is covered with a mask, the young man is the hero. The woman next to him has long silver hair and heterochromic eyes, right being violet and left being red, that woman is empress Lillian when she was just 16.
"I miss you! Miss you so much! I know you wanted to return to your world! I know you had family there, but didn't you consider me your family! I want you to come back! So....so much." (Lillian)
As she says that tears start to roll down her cheeks while her face is making an extremely sad and lonely expression. However, that expression disappears all of a sudden and then she quickly turn towards the balcony window of her room. When she see's the silhouette of a man standing there, a sword of pure mana forms within her hands.
"Who are you and how did you get in here!!?" (Lillian)
What the empress didn't understand was that upon seeing the silhouette of the man, her heart started to beat faster for a reason other than fear.
When the man doesn't reply, seemingly in a daze while staring at her, she was about to attack, but then she froze.
"Hmm, seems like you mastered how to converge and mold purely mana. You improved greatly, huh, Lily." (Man)
Hearing what the man said, it wasn't what was said, but the sound of the voice that made her freeze and her already fast beating heart beat even faster. The voice was familiar to her, too familiar. She had thought about the owner of the voice every single day after he had left this world to return to his. She had always imagined him staying with them, staying with her, living together with them, with her.
While she was frozen the man continued.
"Hohh, but I must say, for you to point your sword at me, what, do you not love me anymore." (Man)
The last thing the man said was with great amounts of sadness and regret in his voice.
After saying that the man stepped out of the shadows and his face was revealed in the moonlight that shown through the windows. Upon seeing his face, the empress felt like a massive explosion happened in her head and her already fast heartbeat felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. She could only mumble out one thing, that one thing was the thing she longed for the most, and it was his name.
"Kaiser!" (Lillian)
[No, this has to be a dream!] (Lillian)
However, what was said and done next made her realize it was not.
"Yea, it's me, and if you still don't believe, here..." (Kaiser)
After he said that he released a bit of his mana in Lillian's direction. A person's mana can be considered like a fingerprint. Each persons, no matter whose, is unique. If a ‘grand' was to do a mana search in an area, every person below the ‘grand' level would be detected by them if they either did not have a high-level item to hide their mana or if they were not skilled enough hide it from a 'grand' level expert.
However, Kaiser did not intend to hide it, he himself sent some towards Lillian so that she would recognize that it was truly him.
The moment the mana neared her and she sensed it, she truly realized what she was experiencing was not a dream. At that moment the mana sword within her hand shattered and immense amounts of tears started to roll down her cheeks.
"It, it'z *sob* relly iz *sob* youuuu." (Lillian)
Seeing tears roll down her cheeks, Kaiser ran neared her and wiped them off. He then, possibly to calm her down, embraced her tightly. Next, he picked her up and led her to the bed where they sat down and stayed in each other's embrace. After an unknown amount of time Kaiser broke the silence.
"I am sorry. Sorry for leaving you, all of you." (Kaiser)
After a pause, he continued.
"Do you hate me." (Kaiser)
Hearing this, Lillian denied in a frantic tone while shaking her head that was on his chest.
"No, no, how can I ever hate you! I know, know how much you cherish your family yet I asked you to leave them and stay with me selfishly. I hope you can forgive me!" (Lillian)
"My precious Lillian, how can I ever hate you." (Kaiser)
After saying that, Kaiser put his hand on Lillian's chin and lifted her face up from his chest. He then moved his face towards her and leaned in for a kiss which she accepted without any hesitation. After parting.
"I still love you. I missed you all this time. Are you willing to become mine again." (Kaiser)
When he asked her to become his again, the tone of his voice was filled with fear as if he believed she would reject him.
"Become yours again." (Lillian)
When she said that, she put great emphasis on the again. When he heard the way she said this, he became petrified and started to think of the worst, her saying no. However, what she said next made him realize that she did it on purpose.
"When did I ever stop being yours." (Lillian)
After saying that with a purr she leaned in and kiss him. This time, they did not separate for a long time, seemingly savoring the warmth and softness of each other's lips. When they separated, it was with great reluctance.
After that, they both laid down on the bed and just stayed in each other's embrace. After a while, Lillian spoke up.
"Did you meet your family?" (Lillian)
When she asked this, she was meet with an unexpected response.
Seemingly contemplating on what he should tell her he did not speak. After a few moments, he spoke up.
"Lily, I want you to listen to what I am about to say, understand." (Kaiser)
When he said that there was a change in the tone in his voice and noticing this she nodded her head in seriousness.
When she heard what he said she was shocked and felt both fear and relief for him at the same time.
"That doesn't matter. I'm glad that I was able to see you again." (Lillian)
Upon saying that she once again kissed him. They then stayed in each other's embrace for a long time until Kaiser spoke up again when he noticed the sky was once again gaining color.
"I'm sorry but I have to go." (Kaiser)
After saying that the two separated with great reluctance, especially Lillian, who even after listening to what he said, did not wish to part.
When he got out of the bed and started to walk towards the balcony, Lillian followed behind him.
He then turned around and once more kissed her and said.
"Please for now, just wait. I promise, soon enough we can once again be together." (Kaiser)
Upon hearing him and remembering what he said while she was in his embrace a while ago she nodded her little head.
"I'll wait for that time with extreme eager." (Lillian)
After she said that, she waved her hand goodbye and his figure that was on her room's balcony, disappeared.
She then turned towards her door and started walk towards it with a resolute look on her face, not the sad or tired look she had before. How could she be sad or tired when the man she loved needs something from her.
She was about to do what he requested of her. but halfway to the door, she stopped, she then turned around and walked towards her closet to change out of her negligee, after all, an empress cannot be seen in a negligee by her subjects.