There are many things I’ve been through.

I’ve survived reborn Sages.

Subjugation forces.

Evil child kidnapping mages.

Dungeons created by Sages long ago.

And even my first day of class, a prospect that I had thought was the scariest thing of my life, couldn’t compare to what I was facing now.

My first day- not just of my once-a-week lecture- but a full-on class for advanced magic.

Well, ‘advanced’ is a somewhat… subjective term.

It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. Seriously, what could go wrong?

I spun in my chair, counting down the minutes until class began and students would be arriving.

Going to be okay.

I glanced down at my class sheet, taking it in. Fifteen names, fifteen students who would be expecting me to teach them the intricacies of magic.

Yeah, when I barely qualify as more than an apprentice myself.

Not like I was going to be telling the student, nor my boss, that in the past, there were people who would see me as nothing but a beginner myself.

Going to be okay.

Over half of the names on my list were minor nobles or elites from what I had gathered, so I wasn’t afraid of much of any complications in that department.

Or I wouldn’t, had it not been for the name at the top of the list.

Arete ‘Mona’ Narmer. Given her interest in the class, I’d expected to see her name on the list, but there was still something unnerving about the thought that the crown princess would be in my class. The girl herself wasn’t the problem, but rather, the eyes it was bound to attract.

Going to be okay.

Halfway through the current swivel of my chair, I noticed a figure approaching my classroom door. Stopping myself, I presented an outward appearance of professionalism, smiling well-mannered as the first student entered.

Of course.

As if proving a point, the very first person to enter my class was, of course, the crown princess.

“Good morning, Are- Mona.” I corrected myself, remembering what the girl had said about her preferred name.

“Good morning, professor Koor.”

I watched as the girl sat near the front of the room, folding her hands neatly one over the other.

Well… now what?

My hands began to fidget, unsure what to do or say, but I was saved as another kid walked in, waving more vigorously than I anticipated.

“Good morning, professor Koor.”

“Good morning Ms. Aizenbern.” I smiled at the girl, one of the first students I’d interacted with as a newly hired teacher. “How have the classes been?”

“Tough.” The girl sighed. “My pragmatics class had us going over a bunch of stuff about how to interact with dignitaries from other countries, and honestly, I kept confusing the practices.”

“Hmm, well, that does sound complicated.” I agreed.

Rias glanced to the side as if just noticing the crown princess was sitting front and center. Her energy vanished instantly, shrinking in on herself as she realized she wasn’t alone in the room.

“M-my bad.” Rias gave a bow before the crown princess, making everyone in the room feel awkward.

“None of that.” I sighed after seeing the display. “In here, you’re all equals, contemporaries. I don’t want to see you deferring that way to one another. Am I understood?”

The girls nodded as if they had just been caught red-handed committing mischief. I couldn’t help but smile at the scene, hidden behind a quick wipe at my face as if I were scratching my upper lip.

Huh, I’m actually in need of a shave.

Trying to not distract myself with random thoughts, I focused my attention back on the class as another kid walked in, a tall, muscular-looking boy who should have been off rescuing a princess from a tower, his flowing golden locks making my eye twitch.

Dear gods, you could not look more like a hero out of a storybook.

Except, he was walking into my classroom, of all places. I was already aware of who he was; his familial background contrasted with his appearance as some would-be hero.

“Elios.” I gave the kid, the oldest son of a minor noble clan boarding the central region’s northern border, a nod.

“Professor.” The kid, his voice low enough that I would have expected it from a father of four, replied.

His family, the Ecurps, had earned a name, a relatively minor name, but a name nonetheless for owning one of the larger lumber yards in the north.

As large as it was, lumber was a rather lackluster industry, the profitability a razor-thin margin. When mages existed who could raise stone structures or shape the earth, the necessity of lumber for building tanked.

Which is one long way of saying that even owning the largest lumber yard in the north, his family standing is barely better than a small-time noble.

Which also explained why he was here, taking my advanced magic class. Sometimes advancing and protecting the interests of one’s family involved taking risks after all.

Several more kids began to walk in, and shortly my room was filled.

Or as filled as it could be with only fifteen students.

“Good morning, class,” I said after ensuring I wasn’t about to face any random interruptions. “Today marks the first advanced magic class. Unlike the fundamental magic principles I teach in the basic lecture class, here we will be going over much more nuanced and theoretical fields, expanding what is known and discovering what is mistakenly known.”

“Uhh, professor?” Elios raised his hand, eyebrows raised in confusion. “What does that mean?”

“It’s a really flowery way of saying that we’ll be going over a bunch of stuff that crusty old guys will tell you are wrong without knowing that they’re the ones who are wrong.”

“Right, got it.” The young man nodded.

“There are many things I wish to cover for this class semester, but as with all things, a journey of a million leagues starts with one step. So, what we will be covering today are affinities.”

“Uh, Professor?” A girl raised her hand, Vanessa Easfein, the daughter of a wealthy southern merchant.

“Yes?”

“We’ve covered affinities in your basic lecture. Why go over it again?”

“Because in the lecture, it was just that, a lecture. A few students did a demonstration, but that was largely the extent I intended to cover. The intent isn’t to talk today. No, the intent will be for you to uncover your affinities firsthand.”

That got a more excited murmur, and while I knew some in the class had already uncovered their affinities at some point in the past, a good half were still wholly untouched by mana.

“But, let me say, we won’t be doing this in the fashion you saw during the first lecture. Rather than assist you each individually, I’ll take a step back.”

“Then how are we supposed to discover our affinities?”

“These bad boys.” I reached under my desk, pulling out what looked like small, sealed pots.

“What are those?”

“These are called ‘Standing Stones’ and-” I nodded down at the strange pots, for a moment remembering when I had been their age, my former master explaining them to me. “-all you have to do is inject your mana into the stones, which will denominate your affinity.”

“That easy?” It was Rias who spoke up, dubious of my statement.

“In fact, no.” I chuckled. “Normally, it would require injecting plenty of mana before you could see the results, but after tinkering with these bad boys-” I briefly pat one of the sealed pots. “I’ve made them respond more easily to mana.”

“How?” Mona spoke up, eyes shining.

“We have lots of students who feel the freedom to shout out questions.” I tapped a finger on my desk, keeping my face firm for as long as I could as I watched several students wither. “Which is good. It shows enthusiasm.”

Seeing that I had been teasing them and wasn’t perturbed, those withering under my gaze relaxed, relief in their eyes.

“As for how I did it, trade secret.” I winked at the kids, playing it off as an attempt at being mysterious.

The truth of how I’d done it was actually fairly mundane. Typically Standing Stones were imbued with pure mana, which, when filled with the mana of an aspiring mage, would react after a specific volume had been injected. By draining the Standing Stones of pure mana and replacing it with Sage Mana-

Which, I might add, was something I only achieved after I had taken several days of draining myself dry.

-the Standing Stone had become far more responsive to mana of the more common variety.

“I only have these five Standing Stones, so you must take turns. Part of the reason I’m having you do this isn’t simply to fill the time with busy work. It’s one of the very first skills any aspiring mage must learn, the ability to manipulate their mana and the mana around them, in the first place.

Hell, I’d once been given a similar test. Instead of filling a Standing Stone, which was impossible for me as I had, at the time, little more mana than a pebble you could find on the side of a road, I was meant to obscure my mana within myself, manipulating it so that I could strike down a flying tome.

Rather than learning how to manipulate what pathetic amounts of mana I did have, I’d instead invented a semi-magical technique that had become the foundation of flow that I now utilized as a pillar of my current skills and abilities.

“If we already know our affinity, do we still have to do this?”

“Yes,” I answered instantly. “Often, mages have more than one affinity, and these Standing Stones can uncover them. That reason aside, I still want you all to have direct hands-on practice at manipulating mana yourselves. Therefore, you will get into teams of three and take turns on a Standing Stone.”

Wasting no time, I quickly sorted out the teams. There was no real reason for the teams, arranged in an order which I figured might prove beneficial in helping the students learn to associate with those who looked unlikely to be part of each other’s circles. Satisfied with the result of my ordering, I sat back and watched as several of the kids had a go at the Standing Stones. First up was none other than Elios, who pressed his palms on either side of his stone pot. Eyes closed firmly, I saw his brow scrunch up as he sifted through his internal realm, searching for the spark known as mana.

Good luck, kid.

I smiled briefly, recalling what it had been like trying to discover magic myself as a youth. Unlike the kids here, it had been effectively an impossibility. My body, unique in its creation and composition, could not naturally contain mana. As a teenager, I’d had little more mana than a common weed you could find on the side of a country road.

These kids, though, had no such struggles or handicaps. They would not need to go the elaborate route of traversing the magical footsteps of long-dead Sages just to be capable of simple magic. For them, it would be simply discovering the mana within themselves and learning how to foster it through their mana core. From there, the rest was history.

My smile slackened. Briefly, a shadow of jealousy clenched my heart in its green talons.

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If only.

If I’d had any such privilege, not to be talented but to simply be normal, I would have never gone down the route I had. I would’ve never been the vessel for a failed Sage reincarnation. I could’ve lived a simpler, happier life.

Enough.

I shook my head, casting the thoughts aside. Thoughts of what could have been would amount to exercises in futility. As much as that could have been the case, it could have also meant that I would have died at a young age for whatever reason. The Sage Above All may have still reincarnated in my village. Without the ‘intrigue’ my status as a failed reincarnation had granted me with the Sage Above All, she may have never saved my mother. Hell, I may have been killed in the process.

‘What ifs’ were always a delicate subject to court. I could think about what if for a thousand years and devise a thousand different paths for any singular action, any deviation from the path I’d traversed.

Be present, Rook.

I reminded myself of Scyla’s advice, paying attention to the now.

And specifically, the laughter from several students as Elios, his face beat red, puffed a lock of golden hair out of his face.

“Elios?” I raised an eyebrow at him, somehow missing what had happened.

“Sorry, Professor.” The boy bowed his head sheepishly. “One moment, I was concentrating as much as I could, then the next, I was suddenly flung backward.”

“Mana rebound,” I answered instantly. “Improper routing of mana can have a consequence much like being shocked by electricity, muscles spasming in reaction. Hence why you suddenly found yourself flung backward as if thrown off balance, your body reacted to the mana rebound.”

“Oh, apologies, Sir.” The boy nodded sheepishly again, but I snorted once in amusement.

“What for? Lesson number… well, whatever number it is. The world of magic, of mana, is not nearly as refined and scholarly as you may all believe. Sometimes you wind up knocked on your ass because you failed to estimate how a reaction would play out. Don’t be embarrassed. That’s the soul of learning, after all. Try, try again, and learn from each and every mistake and micro-mistake. Knowledge is a path not of one hundred well-notated steps but of a thousand hastily scribbled errors.”

I won’t deny it. I mentally patted myself on the back, the little spiel sounding rather profound and professor-like if you asked me.

“Uhm, thanks, professor.” The boy seemed to not fully understand what I said, but I whirled my finger around for a second.

“With that said, rotate to the next member of your group.”

Switching my attention from Elios’s group, I focused on the princess’s group instead. With almost casual ease, the girl pressed her hands upon the Standing Stone, suffusing it with sufficient amounts of mana only a heartbeat later. The stone structure whistled, and from the top of what looked like a sealed lid, several colored vapors escaped, curling peculiarly through the air.

“Impressive,” I noted. “Four affinities. Rentar, Scorz, Frezess, and Kinzar. I’ve only met one person with all five primal affinities, so you’re a bit of a rare specimen.”

The girl, for a split second, made to grab at a skirt she was not wearing, meaning to curtsy, before promptly remembering she wore no such dress. She half smiled, stepping away from the stone as the mana suffused within it finished pouring out as inert vapor.

The third group was perhaps the most interesting to look at. Made up of Rias, a boy named Leo Grucias, and a rather large boy who looked as if he were a bouncer rather than a noble, Coi Laos.

What was interesting about them was that the ordinarily soft-spoken Rias was currently dragging Leo by his collar as Coi looked between them with a worried expression.

“Pardon the intrusion,” I said with a grossly warm smile, my eyes disagreeing with the smile. “But, may I remind you two that this is a magic class, not a murder class?”

“Sorry, Sir.” Coi bowed frantically, tugging at the two. “Guys, break it up. Please.”

Part of me wants to see this play out.

Finally tired of the violence, Rias released Leo, who brushed himself off as if nothing had happened, lightly flushed.

“Would you two care to explain what…that was about?”

The two glared at each other before facing away, arms crossed.

“Sorry.” Coi, once again, was the one to speak up. “They were bickering about who goes first, and uh… well, they already have a bit of a blood feud.”

I heard several snickers from other students, but I ignored them. “Blood feud. At what, fifteen?”

“Sixteen,” Rias said defiantly, once more at odds with what I’d come to know her as.

“Fifteen and a half,” Leo said just as defiantly.

“Rightttt.” I dragged the word out, still perplexed. “Is this some sort of noble family thing I’m far too removed to understand?”

Neither said anything, once more leaving Coi to pick up the pieces.

“Er, no, Sir. It has more to do with the fact that they’re betrothed and rather against being around one another.”

That one surprised me, a low whistle escaping from me.

Nobles and higher-up kids. Sometimes you forget that such things are, well, a thing with them, even the ‘less important’ ones. Or rather, it may be even more critical for those lesser families to help stabilize and secure their standings.

Meanwhile, when I was fifteen, I was crushing on a girl and could barely speak to her.

And now I can’t even remember her face. Funny how life plays out.

“Right, well, let’s try to keep our political, or in this case, interfamilial, squabbling to a minimum, can we?”

I heard a distinct humph from the two, but they otherwise remained silent as Coi finally stepped forward.

“I’ll... I’ll just go first.”

When the kid pressed his palms to the Standing Stone, rather than normal colored vapors, what looked like a smoke bunny suddenly leaped out from the stone, prancing through the air before vanishing, with several kids gasping and pointing.

“Oh? Coi, may I ask, does your family have a history of magic?”

“Uhh, they never really talk about it.” The kid looked down at his feet as if afraid I were about to yell at him.

I think I’m starting to paint a picture of his home life.

“You have Kin magic flowing through your veins. In this case, the conjuration variety. Quite intriguing. Which makes this a perfect time for a quick lecture.”

I raise a hand, drawing their attention. “How many types of Kin magic are there?”

“Uhh, infinite?” Elios was the first to speak up.

“Correct, but if your family were to either be unaware of their own bloodline talents or perhaps were purposely obscuring the fact that they were privy to such magical talents, how do you believe you would be able to discover such things?”

I looked around, waiting for an answer, but none of the kids seemed aware.

“Affinity tests such as abrasion wouldn’t work in such cases, and self-discovery can be difficult depending on how abstract the Kin magic is. Instead, Standing Stones prove useful. Though infinite in the potential ways it manifests, Kin magic can be grouped into six general categories. Conjuration, Illusion, Physical Manifestation, Spatial, Armament, and Abstract. Conjuration is the ability to summon things, sometimes familiars, other times mana spirits, which is just mana given a directive to follow and appearing in the form of… well, anything. Illusion is anything considered transitory, literal mirages or whispered messages that can waylay a person’s very mind.”

Both of which my family excelled in, might I add.

“Physical Manifestation would be the closest relative to Wild Magic. Rather than throwing fireballs, a person may throw around forces that do not exist within the realm of Wild Magic. It’s a difficult one to explain without directly showing you an example. Still, sadly I do not have Kin magic of such variety. And no, before anyone asks, that doesn’t imply I have kin magic either.”

I took a moment to breathe, ensuring the students were still with me.

“Spatial is anything that messes with, well, space. The ability to interact with objects from afar or even travel through space in ways considered teleportation. Powerful, but anything that affects something as fundamental as reality’s fabric is extremely taxing. Now, where Physical Manifestation is similar to Wild Magic, Armament is similar to Inner magic, Kin magic that affects the physical body in ways that could be considered literal armament. Steel Skin transformation, for example, is one I’ve heard of before. Powerful, but one must remember the traits accompanying such changes, electricity and frigidity would be near fatal if one were in such a state. And lastly, Abstract. Suppose the name doesn’t already give it away. In that case, they are forms of Kin magic which even the five other categories of Kin magic fail to fully encompass.”

“So, the bunny…?” Rias raised the question that I’d been waiting for.

“Yes, the bunny is the signal of the conjuration category of Kin magic.”

I was proud the kids seemed to have kept pace, nodding as if everything made perfect sense.

“Now, with that impromptu lecture handled, back to your Standing Stones.”

By the time class finished, nearly every student had turned up some level of result, with only three students failing to turn up anything, Elios, a young girl named Hest, and another boy of similar age to Hest, perhaps twelve or thirteen, whose name was either Erse or Xerse, I still wasn’t sure if the X in it was pronounced or not. I felt bad for Elios, who, as the oldest in the class, was apparently struggling the most, something I could relate to. Still, the boy was filled with vigor and determination.

And physical resilience, given how many times he’d suffered mana rebound only to stand straight back up and try again.

Watching the students file out of my class, I kept an eye on one student in particular, a student who was hanging back, convenient given I had wanted to have a word with her anyway.

“Ms. Mona, a moment, if you will?” I called as the girl was on her way toward the door, last in the room.

“Yes?”

“I will be straight with you. You have very obvious practice with magic, which I was already aware of to some degree. Still, I didn’t expect you to also have an affinity with four affinities. If I may, have you had any… interesting tutors in the field?”

The girl glanced around, almost like she’d been caught in a lie, before sighing.

“Well, yes. I know what my family says about magic, and that-”

“No.” I silenced her with a wave of her hand. “You have no need to explain the situation or such revolving around your family. In fact, I’d prefer not to know. I’m already aware of the crown’s stance on magic, but that matters not when it comes to the reality of my students. Here, you are students first and last. I care little for the actual details of your family or anyone’s for that matter. The only reason I ask is curiosity in case I may have some knowledge of your former mentors, perhaps peers of mine.”

A lie, but not completely. I was probing for two figures I believed might have the know-how to nurture such talent.

One was my former master, but given his background within Nochesuki, I highly doubted the crown would invite him in.

The second was a figure who, as far as I knew, had been laying low since she’d returned to our era.

“Well, uh, my mentor, her name was Vivian.”

“Vivian?” I frowned, not suspecting the name; something about it ringing a bell.

Vivian…. Vivian… Oh, oh shit!

“You don’t happen to be referring to Vivian Tress, are you?”

“That’s master.” The girl smiled momentarily before hiding it with a quick wipe of her hand like she was scratching an itch on her lip.

“Vivian. Former Ornnax adventurer. She retired twenty years ago if I recall correctly.”

“She didn’t talk about it a whole lot.” The crown princess shrugged.

“Well, that does make some sense. If anyone could foster the early growth of a quad affinity mage, it would be an Ornnax mage.”

“Um, do you know her?”

“Personally? No, she was before my time.” I waved it off. “But I’ve, of course, heard of her. Very few knowledgeable folks haven’t heard of the current generation and formerly active last generation of Ornnax adventurers. If some primeval force threatened the world, it would be they who the first and last line of defense would fall upon.”

This would be true if it weren’t for the fact that I was well aware that the existence of the Sage Above All, and things such as the True Dragons, would have treated even Ornnax-grade adventures as petulant children.

“Is… is there anything else you need to discuss, Professor Koor?”

“No, not really.” I glanced to the side before smiling. “Though, I suppose it makes sense.”

“What does?”

“That such potential would be dormant within the royal bloodline. At one point, the original founders of your blood had to make a name for themselves somehow, after all.”

Mona glanced at her feet as if for the first time considering such notions. Still, I didn’t feel like dealing with a teenage girl’s existential crisis. Shooing, I gestured toward the door.

“Ms. Mona, while you are a wonderful student, you may leave now. I do have other classes, and while not advanced magic classes like this, they still require my attention.”

“Sorry, Professor.”

“No need to apologize, just stating the reality.” I laughed.

As she was about to turn around and leave, I suddenly called out, thinking of something.

“Oh, one thing.”

The girl turned around, curiosity written across her face.

“Given your talents, I believe this may prove helpful.”

Cupping my hands, I began murmuring under my breath, shifting mana around until a moment later, I held a marble that looked like it was formed of golden ice.

“What is that?” Mona asked.

“The issue with affinities is the more you have, the more distracting they become, each requiring attention to foster and improve your skills, plus the time it takes to develop your mana core. Obviously, a single affinity does not provide such a challenge. Two is manageable, but once you reach three affinities, I’ve known many mages who choose to simply specialize in one or two and relegate the rest as nothing more than party tricks. As a quad affinity, it would pain me to see you forced to relegate such talent as nothing more than gimmicks.”

“So that marble…?”

“Is it of similar design as the Standing Stone, or perhaps it would be closer to call it a sort of external mana core that you can use to practice your affinity control while refining your core.”

“Such as thing is possible?” Mona’s eyes widened in surprise.

“With the correct know-how, yes.” I lied.

Well, it wasn’t a lie. With the correct know-how, it was possible. In this case, the ‘correct know-how’ was knowledge of an ancient device made by the only peer of the greatest Sage of all time, a device that now was embedded within my very essence, a device that could filter and automatically refine mana. Not just that, one would also need an understanding of the microstructure of mana. As far as I knew, I was the only modern person alive who might possess such insight.

And finally, the minor requirement of utilizing Sage mana to reinforce the entire thing. Otherwise, it would crumble after only a few uses of filtering mana through it.

“So, what does it do exactly?”

“While refining your core, you are to hold this marble between your hands, float it, whatever. The point is, while circulating mana from externally through your core, you will include this marble as part of your mana circulation. It will make mana and core refinement considerably slower. Rather than simply drawing external mana into your core and cycling it until it becomes pure mana, you will add the step of taking that pure mana, circulating it through this marble, and imbuing it with one of your affinities. You will then take the affinity-aligned mana, draw it back to your core, and once more refine it into pure mana. Not only will the quality of the mana, the pureness, be of much higher degree, but your body will begin to acclimate to the feeling of your different affinities.”

“Wait, but I thought you couldn’t recapture your mana for re-purification?” Mona asked, pointing out the obvious.

“Normally, yes, hence why this little object is important. It will bridge the gap between impossible and possible.”

“Why have I never heard of something like this before?” The girl raised her eyebrows at me.

“Because there are none who could manage to create it except me. And besides, the worth of this marble only reveals itself in the hands of someone with three or more affinities. Only one or two affinities mean that even with the aid of the marble, your mana core would quickly adjust to the and recognize your cycled affinity-hued mana as your own, accepting it back without purification. But, if you switch between affinities for every rotation-”

“You don’t give your mana core a chance in the first place.”

“Bingo.” I winked at the girl, happy she caught on.

“Thank you.” Mona suddenly bowed at the hip as if I’d given her some valuable prize.

I guess I had in her eyes, or most people for that matter. I’d just made an extremely cheap copy of the Mana Matrix that had become part of me.

“Sir, one thing.”

“Yes?”

“Could you perhaps demonstrate?”

For a split second, my face nearly cracked, not expecting the question.

Uh oh.

“Sorry, but it’s something I cannot demonstrate, as it attunes to a singular mana.”

A lie but a convenient one.

“Oh, well, I’ll do my best to be worthy of such a gift.”

“Yes, uh, you do that.” I nodded as sagely-

By the way, the pun was indeed intended.

-As possible, watching as, at last, the girl left the room, leaving me alone.

Whoops. That was a little close.

I let out a sigh of relief.

“A demonstration. Really?” I grumbled under my breath.

Thank the gods and lords above, she didn’t insist.

As valuable as the marble would be for her, it would be useless for me. For one, I already had the Mana matrix, which was untold times more efficient and valuable than the marble, only to be expected given it was the creation of the Sage of Wisdom.

Second, and more importantly, was that without a mana core, I couldn’t use it. I didn’t ‘cycle’ mana or ‘refine’ a core. For me, strength and growth were a process of technical insight and time. I was like a magical bricklayer, laying the foundations of Sage Rings with whatever technical understanding was required for that ring. It was a process entirely unlike regular mages and their mana cores; the refinement process of their mana core was a quasi-spiritual experience of mediation and tranquility, monks performing a martial art compared to my analogy of a magical bricklayer.

In my hands, the marble was literally nothing more than a marble you would play with. The Sage mana of my Sage rings could be used to manifest elements aligning with my affinity, yet that didn’t change the fact that the mana itself couldn’t be purified as the girl would expect to witness from me had I tried to demonstrate.

Leaning back in my chair, I stared up at my ceiling, just happy I’d escaped my effort at doing a good thing unscathed.

“I think I’ll leave demonstrations to the kids.”