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Mr. Krollon was a broad-shouldered, heavy-set Dwarf. He had no beard at all, but made up for it with some of the longest, most well-kept hair Sophie had ever seen. It reached all the way to the small of his back, and was separated into meticulous, symmetrical braids.

Mr. Krollon had a very militaristic way about him, which also showed in the way he taught geography. The students were all sitting attentively and with their backs straight as they listened to the teacher. All except Trom, who was leaning as far back as he could, with his feet on the desk. That was a new thing he'd started doing in the time since Sophie had joined the class. He'd always been laid-back, but not that much – and certainly not in Mr. Krollon's lessons.

"Atteeeeen-SHION! What is the capital city of the kingdom of Neptune?"

As always, Beto's hand shot up, just like every other time a teacher asked a question. This time, though, Varis raised a paw as well.

"Varis. Report!"

It reached all the way to the small of his back, and was separated into meticulous, symmetrical braids [https://img.wattpad.com/1d720c8e5e92501e8eb3431f55026749462538dd/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4d5058334c356a495838347471673d3d2d313332323130303334352e313734396535386664613965303437383531393938353339393834382e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"Catch of the day! Yum!" Varis replied with a huge grin, which he would soon regret.

"Incorrect! And for being cheeky, give me 20 push-ups, or I'll triple your homework! Any other guesses? It's named after the only animal in the human world where the male gives birth to its children."

Sophie put up her hand.

"Sophie. Report!"

"Um... In that case, is it called The Sea Horse?"

"Correct!"

"But Mr. Krollon – they actually ARE serving sea horse in the cafeteria today," Sophie said. She felt bad for Varis, who was struggling to do his push-ups.

"They are!? Varis! Stop immediately! I'll have to do 50 push-ups myself as punishment. The rest of you, start going over the countries of the continents we've already covered." And with that, Mr. Krollon got on the ground and started doing push-ups.

Sophie glanced down at her book. Unlike the rest of the class, she wasn't supposed to read about the countries of the magical world. She'd have to read about those in her free time. Right now she was supposed to learn about all the countries of Asia. There were almost 50 countries to keep track of.

Human countries and cities weren't the only thing that Sophie had to learn about on her own. The laws of physics were pretty different in the magical world as well, because they were affected by magic itself. Magic's influence had turned out to be a lot more far-reaching than Sophie had expected, but also a lot harder to understand.

It was kind of like magic was an element like earth, wind, fire or air, but it could exist in everything, from living beings to things or places, or it could even come from nowhere at all. She got a bit dizzy every time she tried reading about it. Though she had learned that the original source of magic was something called "Worldhearts". But whatever that was, she had no idea. She was busy enough trying to memorize all the countries in Asia that started with a "T".

Suddenly someone kicked the door to the classroom open.

"Cozydozy, everybody!" Nimum pushed her way in through the door, wearing a backpack that was at least three times as big as she was.

"Nimum!" Mr. Krollon exclaimed. "This isn't your lesson! Explain yourself!"

Nimum reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"It's all good, Mr. K. Principal Marro already gave me permission!"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Somewhat disturbed, Mr. Krollon read through the note.

"And what about the children's parents? Have they been informed?"

"You betcha! Everything's cool as a cucumber, and Marro's taken care of everything."

Sophie put up a hand, but her curiosity wouldn't let her wait for either of the teachers to notice her. So her question just came blurting out: "What did Marro give permission for?"

Nimum turned towards the class, beaming with excitement. "Field trip! We leave today, and we won't be back before tomorrow at the earliest!"

"Man, I knew I should have packed an extra bone to chew on," Varis complained.

"Adventures are like that – you never know when they're gonna happen, so you just gotta seize 'em when you can! Luckily, I've got everything we'll need in this bad boy." Nimum clapped her huge backpack. "I'll wait for you down in the schoolyard. You can just leave your books – we won't need them anyway."

"But where are we going? And what are we gonna do!?" The questions just kept flying out of Sophie's mouth.

Nimum reached into her pocket. "We're going where THIS leads us!" With a flourish, she pulled out the key that Sophie had found yesterday. "We're gonna open a Dimension Door! And it's all thanks to you, Sophie!"

"Yesss! Way to go, Sophie!" Fiff cheered excitedly, making loops in the air around Sophie's head [https://img.wattpad.com/23411fbd72eb29d0510d53763aa8b1f5bc15509e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f71327674596552466538796253773d3d2d313332323130303334352e313734396535616437366631623834653532363835383330323831322e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"Yesss! Way to go, Sophie!" Fiff cheered excitedly, making loops in the air around Sophie's head. "I knew it would be worth it!"

The rest of the class started making approving noises as well. Rok, the friendly Rok giant, gave her a cheerful thumbs-up, and Mek gave her a silent nod. Sophie felt a wave of elation flow through her body.

At her previous schools, whatever she did would always be the wrong thing and the teachers and other students would chide her for it. But here, almost everyone loved her wild ideas. There were days where being the only human kid at a magical school was a bit daunting – but in moments like these, she really felt like she could prove that she belonged.

Only two of the students hadn't gotten caught up in the general excitement. One was Beto, who had been completely silent since Nimum said the words "Dimension Door" and was now staring in awe at the key, just like Nimum and Sophie's dad had done the day before. The other was Trom, who looked skeptically at Nimum.

"We're gonna open a what now?" he asked, lifting his oversized troll feet off the table.

"Excellent question, Trom! Does anyone know what a Dimension Door is?"

Despite their general excitement, it seemed that most of the students actually had no idea – except Beto, whose hand shot up immediately . He looked like he was struggling not to just blurt out the answer straight away, but to his great joy Mr. Krollon signaled for him to speak.

"Allow me to explain: A Dimension Door is an extreme rarity. Throughout the eons, very few of them have ever existed, and today there are only five left that we know of. The only thing that can open them are the specially made keys, and behind each door is a small, closed-off universe that can be molded into any shape. It's truly fascinating! The special dimension can have been shaped into a house, a mountain, a forest, a castle ... even a near-endless sky! So there's no way to know what'll be behind a Dimension Door. It could be anything at all!"

"So we DON'T actually know if the key's gonna lead to anything important?" Trom asked skeptically.

"I wouldn't say that! We may not know exactly what's behind it, but of the few doors that have been opened, they've all contained some of the greatest treasures that the magical world has ever seen."

Trom's long troll ears drooped a bit and he stared into his desk. "So it was a good thing that Sophie got that key after all..."

Beto had started listing off some of the treasures that had been found behind the various doors. "The legendary weapon, The Craft of Imagination, which is said to hold unlimited potential in the hands of a worthy wielder. The Golden Water of Prima, which has been nourishing and protecting the Tree of Life for millennia. 'The Heart of Unum' is one of those treasures as well, and that's the reason that out of all the passages between the worlds, Unum is the only one that's able to be a physical place."

Sophie sat flabbergasted, listening to Beto's explanation. Another dimension? A legendary weapon? Who was Prima? And one of the treasures had been used to build Unum itself? There were so many questions building up inside her head, all fighting to be the first one asked, that all she could manage to say was "Bwuh... Imean... Bwaah... WHAT?!"

"You nailed it, Beto," Nimum said cheerfully. "This door should lead to some huge treasure that'll probably affect the balance of the entire world. So they'd never give a mission like this to a bunch of students..." She paused dramatically. "Unless of course their teacher was one of the Seven Daughters of Mother Earth, who happen to be responsible for exactly this kind of thing!"

The class cheered, and there was a sparkle in Nimum's eyes.

"We're going to experience one of the greatest mysteries of the magical world!"

The students were just as excited as Nimum was. Now Sophie understood why Nimum had been so surprised by the key, and why her dad had been so envious.

Theywere going treasure hunting.

- Next chapter will be out on Monday the 13th of March! [https://img.wattpad.com/476e7bb1f1107b08815bedf57a8fbc3a6a77b9e1/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f2d7346455a4847547042547857773d3d2d313332323130303334352e313734396535303266326562383939623330373232313634303839342e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]