After the initiation, Gwyn wished Arise good luck and parted ways with him. Alone, Arise walked around the city of Rosea, he thought finding a library could help him settle more comfortably in this world. Of course, Gwyn was a huge help to him; she even promised to come back next week for their scheduled training. He could not describe in words how helpful she was. Considering most people die and fail on their own in this kind of situation.

Later, he found a fancy cobbled establishment. There was a huge hologram of a book, beside the door way. Its stared at Arise, following wherever he goes. It seems like the library he was looking for. Upon entering, He smelled the familiar scent of an old book. His eyes laid on rows upon rows of books. Arise approached the lady in the front desk and asked, "Can I read the books here?"

With a soft voice, the lady replied, "Yes dear, of course, these are free to read. Take care of them and we have no problem."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Arise smiled. "Actually, where can I find history and magic books?"

"Oh, you can find the history book down the aisle," The lady pointed down the hall. "And here," the table thud as the lady placed the heavy leather book down.

"This is the latest edition that came from the capital, take care of it"

"Thank you!" Arise thanked the lady. He appreciated how accessible knowledge was in this world. He picked up the magic book and went down the hall. There, he saw a collection of similar looking green hued hardcover books. He assumes those are the world history books.

He grabbed two volumes of the book and sat down at the nearest table. When he looked at the book, the letters gradually changed. At first, he could not read what the title of the book was; little by little, it arranged itself into an alphabet that Arise could understand. "Tellus through maps"

"Huh, I thought it was a history book, I guess I was mistaken. But this itself prove its worth"

'But the fact that the letters of this book immediately scrambled and arranged themselves in a language I can understand is surely fascinating. Is this innate to me, or a part of a bargain deal with that proxy god Prodimia? However, I could not understand his reasoning. This transfiguration alone has no strings attached. It's suspicious.'

In the book, Tellus was described as one of the seven worlds that nestled in the sky. Tellus was motionless in the sky as the sun and other six worlds orbited Tellus. The world itself was a vast place, Arise learned that the continent Lumenia housed the Solicia region, amongst five other regions bordering each other.

"Geocentric model... so this is the state of science in this world as of now. I see," Arise thought

He breezed through the texts, most are irrelevant to him right now as he does not have use for it. However, he needed to know what the continents are, and the surrounding regions.

Lumenia neighbors three other continents. Which is Terralumn, Sucrosia, and Dextre. Amongst the continents, he recognized Terralumn immediately. Gwyn had mentioned it before as the home of the disgraced goddess of the sun, Polaris; and how she denied access and exit of the continent

Arise had noticed every interpretation of the map. The book outright told everyone that it has the whole map of Tellus, yet it does not align to what Arise had guessed. When he measured the distance of the horizon and the sun. It was twice as much as he would expect. Yet, he simply dismissed this as because his sextant was too primitive and unreliable. However, as he walked with Gwyn. He noticed that day is quite longer in what he thought was the northern hemisphere. If the size of the planet was the same as earth, this would not explain the discrepancies he saw.

He surmised the diameter of Tellus is twice as large as earth's. With its tilt slight up due to its four moons. But what the map illustrated was four continents, shrouded by black ink which Arise guessed to be something like a big fog. He was completely puzzled by the existence of the black fog, why would it enshroud the four continents away from the rest of the world. Arise, with the book in his hand, approached the librarian. He pointed at the black ink surrounding the continents and asked, "Excuse me, might I ask, what is this black ink surrounding the four continents?"

The lady smiled and replied, "You're not familiar with it?"

Arise nodded.

"It was called the dark sea. A treacherous strip of ocean filled with haze that fries the mage's mind and sea monsters alike. It was initially impossible to sail through it, until Commodore Fritz dared to and successfully traversed through it."

"What happened to him?"

"Well, when he came back, his mind was completely gone. He muttered unintelligible words and whenever he saw something that vaguely resembled a dog, he would panic and scream."

"However, his journal provided us with information outside the dark sea. It said that there's new worlds outside it with unique people and magic. But none of us was able to verify it; aside from commodore Fritz, any attempts at traversing the dark sea was considered a death sentence." She added.

"Thank you ma'am"

"Don't worry about it, I am happy that someone still has interest in these majestic creations. You're always welcome" she smiled, Arise can see her overflowing with happiness. It seems that a few people actually care about books in this world. It was more than perfect, he had access to knowledge while competing with a few people.

"Come here dear, you should have it," the lady held out a paper coupon.

"It's a library card, you can enter here whenever you like. To claim ownership of it, feed it blood to know its master. Go on"

Arise rested the library card on his palm, he pressed his thumb which was freshly cut from the initiation earlier. A sliver of blood seeped out of it, he smeared his blood on the card. It did nothing, he felt confused and asked the lady, "Nothing happened."

"Dear, let your aetheric energy flow through it."

"I see."

He took a deep breath and exhaled, aetheric energy flowed onto the card; which immediately produced an intense glow. The card floated off the palm of his hand, it was surrounded by strange alphabets that he could not recognize.

[Your name?]

Arise felt stumped, the card just asked for his name. It was strange, however the lady reassured him that it was normal. "State your name, date of birth and a codeword to register yourself. Don't worry dear, its normal"

Arise nodded and blinked. "Arise"

[Date of birth]

"December 16, 1989"

[Denied, I have detected an anomaly, the year 1989 is impossible]

Arise sweated a bit and asked the lady again. "Uhh, ma'am, what year is it?"

The lady looked at him oddly and with a confused look and said, "It's 1085, Dear, I was surprised when you said you're born nine 900 years into the future, you're quite a jester dear," Then she smiled and barked a giggle.

"Hehe, I'm glad you found that funny" Arise said nervously.

"December 19, 1062"

[Arise, Born on December 19, 1062. Please provide a code for your entrance]

"Science?"

[Registered, welcome Arise to Soren kingdom's archive]

"With access to the Kingdom's archive, you can find the information you want to acquire. Don't let others know you have access to it though" The lady said.

What a turn of events, he acquired something even better. Knowledge won't a problem for him, as long as he has access to the archives. Then, Arise remembered something. "Ma'am, where can I buy or rent a house?"

"If you want lodging, the inn in-front of this building is the way to go. I know the owner, tell him you know Dolores, I'm sure he'll give you a discount"

"I see, thank you Miss Dolores, your help is invaluable. I can't describe how grateful I am."

"Don't fret it dear, stay safe!"

Outside, Arise went to the streets again. He perused the market for valuable materials. Most are fruits and vegetables grown by the locals. Some however caught Arise's eyes, in a stall on the innermost corner of the plaza. A merchant sold a pungent yellow chunk of rock. Arise knew what it was, alphabets however floated around the chunk of rock. It meticulously rearranged itself and formed the word, 'Sulfur'

'I know what it was but this is strange, no matter where I look, letters starts naming things. Is this a part of a gift Prodimia mentioned, but my god, this is annoying'

[Percha, Melon, Burdock, Sulfur, Silver, Iron, Sword, enchanted gems, rings}

He angrily shouted, "This is annoying!" Arise felt eyes drilling on his skull. The letters were cluttering his vision, it kept stating anything that he knew already. If magic was this inconvenient, he would not tamper with it. He thought.

Arise walked further downtown, letters kept obscuring his vision, It wasn't funny anymore. Arise inhaled as he cooled his head. Magic completely goes against what he studied back on earth, even if he faced magic with a serious thought... It contradicted everything he knew... Unless...

'That's right, if I treat magic like a branch of science... would that make my understanding of it much easier? Besides, something like quantum physics and chemistry existed back on earth, something that looked like magic in the untrained eye. I can do this'

He ruffled through his pocket. Gwyn only gave him three gold coins to start, but it was plenty enough to get him a lodge for the night and applying for the merchant license. He continued to saunter the downtown to find the merchants guild.

* * *

A young blond man stood by the mahogany door, beckoning to knock yet hesitated to do so. He clenched his fist struck the surface lightly.

Knock Knock Knock!

He waited for an answer, moments later he heard his father's muffled voice inside the room. "State what you need."

Alexandris swallowed the last semblance of nervousness and said, "I heard you need me father."

"Alexandris... Come in."

The door open and the young man set foot in the room. He walked towards the desk and bowed with his left hand on his chest. A salute to high nobilities in the kingdom.

"Morning father, why do you need me?" The blond asked.

The duke coldly gazed at Alexandris and said, "I have a task for you, my son."

"I see, what is it?"

"You see this?" asked the duke, referring to the pill he placed on the table.

Alexandris quickly replied, "A pill?"

"That's right... A pill, specifically called a memory cell."

"A memory cell?"

"Eat this, you will know what my task is for you." The duke handed the pill, Alexandris reluctantly took it.

The blond ingested the small pill, like a lightning strike, memories of someone struck his mind. It flooded his brain like a pitcher full of water, it felt unpleasant. Alexandris stumbled and breathed heavily.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The memory was a perspective of an acolyte of the church. Though hazy, he saw a purple eyed man conversing with a red haired girl. It seems they were gossiping about the initiation. But Alexandris felt confused, those two were just nobodies, why were they in the memory cell... Then Alexandris was pulled to reality.

cough.. cough!

" W-what was that?" Alexandris exclaimed. The memory felt like someone had submerged his head on a vat of water...

"Your task, capture the person with the red girl, I trust you with this task because you're my son. Do not disappoint me"

Blood dripped from his nostrils as his lungs felt like it was weighed down with an anvil. "Y-yes, father."

"Wipe that up, you're my son, act like one" The duke said, whilst pointing on Alexandris.

Alexandris turned his back against his father, hurriedly took the handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood off his nose. He sighed and said shakily, "I'll b-be off now, father..."

Behind the door outside, the eldest daughter of the Rhoeia family eavesdropped on the conversation of her father. She leaned on the wall as she heard the door creaking open. Alexandris looked distraught, like someone had thrown pieces of his brain violently. "Alexandris" Hazel called. However, he did not seem to notice Hazel, he did not stop on his tracks.

So, Hazel, feeling like she'd been tossed aside. She blocked the hallway.

Alexandris shot daggers at Hazel.

"That's not how you treat your sister Alexandris."

"Just leave me alone."

"Did father made you do an improbable task?"

Alexandris lowered his head and said in a dismissively. "That's none of your business, Hazel." He walked away, his nose was bleeding, and his body was shivering. Still affected by the memory cell.

Hazel snatched Alexandris's wrist and angrily said, "Seriously? A memory cell, what is father thinking? That magic was banned years ago."

The air of silence lingered within.

"Like I said, Hazel... none of your business."

"I'm your sister, do you think I can just turn a blind eye to this?"

Like an erupting volcano, his emotions overflowed which swept the silence of the walls. "JUST STOP," he shouted. 'Sigh, just let me be... alright?"

Hazel stood in the hallway and watched Alexandris as he went farther. She clenched her fists and bit her lip... Unacceptable. She thought to herself.

She hated how her family operates, ever since she's a little girl. As much as she love her family, Hazel could not turn a blind eye to the people of the city. Seeing how Alexandris suffer, how the Duke of Rosea made lives of thousands of people a living hell, just because he had the power to do so. She does not want any of it, all she wanted was a peaceful family. It doesn't matter if her father does not see the worth in her. She wanted happiness for her siblings. Yet, the sibling she trusted the most was tasked to kidnap a person under the pressure of their father

"Hazel? Hazel? are you alright?"

Hazel flinched as she was pulled back from the deepest pits of her mind. The lady of the house sipped from her teacup waiting for her answer. "I'm fine, mother... as always."

"Good to know, I can't see my eldest daughter look so troubled now. Tell me, what bothered you the most?"

"It's about Alexandris."

The lady looked at her with indifference and asked, "What about him?"

Hazel could not look into her eyes, she put her gaze on the ground. "I- never mind, it was nothing. I just realized how strong Alexandris is, He can do it."

The lady smiled, "That's the spirit."

Hazel forcibly kept her smile, she hid every traces of her worry into her brain, only where she can see it.

Hazel, then stood up and excused herself, "I shall excuse myself, I'll retire to my chambers."

"Very well, do as you wish" The lady replied while she sipped from her teacup.

Her face was stamped with gloom as she walked out of the living room. All of the riches surrounding her in the hallways, she does not want any of it. She wondered, why was she born in a family so cruel. Was the nobility even necessary if they themselves does not abide to noblesse oblige anymore. Hazel retired to her room and slumped to the bed. She reached her hand on the nightstand and pulled the bell. Seconds later, Hazel's personal assistant entered the room.

"Rosie, I feel like hell. I am not sure anymore if Alexandris is still my brother. I think I made him upset"

"...."

"Sorry Rosie, tell me, what can I do with this situation."

The maid stood still and smiled, "My lady, I have no position to dictate your life; maybe try understand him more."

"You're right, but I could not stand still to my father requests."

"How do you feel about it?" The maid asked.

"Not good, it felt like my heart has been ripped. I had never fought with my brother like that."

Then, Hazel sighed and said, "Either way, if I can't stop my father directly... I'll just do it the other way."

"Deliver them as always, don't let yourself get spotted outside the mansion." she commanded Rosie.

"And, Rosie, like before, do not let anyone see you get out of this mansion. Give this to them, I'm sure it'll help them"

Rosie took a thick envelope on Hazel's desk. She bowed and said. "Yes, my lady." She retreated from the shadows and like she never existed. No one had seen her leave the premises of the mansion.

* * *

Just south of the plaza, was the common business area of the city There, many of establishments owned by individuals laid, most of them offered basic necessities for the city like pawnshops, restaurants, and buildings that dabbled with magic. Arise noticed however the abundance of smithing and ore refinery services. It was not a coincidence either, most of Soren kingdom economy revolve around metal manufacturing, as the kingdom itself was near the mountain range locally known as the Ciaman mountains. Most metal found are iron, gold, tin, and mercury. Though rarer, some had managed to mine a bright red silvery metal dubbed as 'adamantite' and an 'organic' metal known as 'Perennial'. Both type of metal unknown to Arise, maybe it was an archaic term for modern metals or it is entirely different. Since perennial was really hard to process, It was often shipped as raw materials. However, perennial was also the main driver of the ore economy of Soren kingdom due to its unique properties of responding to stimuli. Unlike perennial, adamantite was incredibly priced, only to be made into equipments made for royalties and some nobilities. With many shops, there's bound to be a merchant's guild. Gwyn had mentioned the guild to Arise before she left. He needed a license from the guild in other to sell products, or he'll be targeted for unsolicited selling and be detained.

The building loomed on Arise, he noticed its wooden foundation with glowing runic symbols running on its surface and sturdy cobbled walls that seemed unstable. A feat of engineering, Arise thought to himself. The guild hall itself was relatively normal, with crowds of merchant outside the building smiling and bargaining hoping to sell their goods. Arise walked up to the entrance, the letters of the signage reformed itself to [Merchant's Guild] [Come in]. Arise opened the door slowly and peered inside. Aside from the overwhelming merchandise and goods on the common area. Lines of people had appraised their goods with the hopes of joining sub-guilds within the Merchant's guild.

[Periwinkle herb] [Zinc] [Withered dragon tooth] [timber] [iron] [scarlet eyes]

Seeing the amount of goods in the merchant's guild, Arise thought to himself. "Wait, I'm the only one here who doesn't have anything to sell. Aghh, what a blunder. Come think, what is something that'll hit with the masses..."

He pivoted in search of something he could use.

[Vanilla bean] [Milk] [Iron, Iron, Iron, Gold, Tin] [Amethyst] [Scourge claws] [Purified Gel] [Sugar] [Herbs] [Etc ETC ETC]

'I take back what I said, this identification ability is fairly useful. I know what to make, but I wonder if there's any mage that use ice element that I can exploi- I mean employ'

The sweet sugary aroma of the vanilla bean attracted him to the stall. There was a row of beans haphazardly placed on a cloth. There he asked the old man. "How much for the vanilla bean"

"1000 sol per 100 grain" replied the old man

"Grain... how much was that... does this auto translation magic thing even work with measurements" he thought

[Roughly 100 grams]

Arise exclaimed, "One thousand per 100 grains? Are you crazy that's expensive!"

"But sir, you know how hard it is to find this."

He held his pointing finger up and shouted, "700 per 100 grains!'

"I have a family to feed, 900" the old man countered

Arise and the old man locked eyes. Palms sweating as the backdrop of chatter muffled only allowing the old man's voice.

"Good sir, I'm a poor orphan, lower it down to 750!"

"Bullshit, I am a frail old man, 875!"

"My wife is very sick, she needs this, 800!"

"850 sol, final offer"

"Fine, take my money" Arise paid the old man one gold coin, in turn the old man gave him a change of one silver coin and five copper coins

'Gotcha, that's what the ancient art of haggling gets you'

"Pleasure business with you." The old man smiled. 'These beans only costed me 600 per 100 gram, what a win for me,' the old man smirked

In the end, he only got handful of vanilla beans; he forgot how expensive vanilla was, even in another world. 'Sigh, this is quite a bold move... if this dessert fails... eh, no need to think negatively'

Arise went back and forth buying an rationing his remaining money. The milk and sugar was affordable from him. 'I think this will attract the masses, by introducing the best dessert known the man. I can already smell the money.'

With not much prior knowledge to magic, Arise was not even sure if Ice magic is even possible. He knew it was a popular trope in fictions on earth, but he could be sure if such thing could be applied to this world. Without much luck on his hands, he looked around. 'I guess I have to rely on stereotypes. Let's see, most ice mage have blue hair... hmm like Cirno... yes, I look for someone who looked like Cirno.'

Most of the merchant's are brutes, most does not fit ice mages in fictions. Arise walked up to huge man, his body was like if rocks had a personality, he asked. "Are you an ice mage?"

The man looked at Arise with confusion, he glanced at other merchants and shook his head. Arise then added, "Are ice magic possible?"

Again, the man shook his head, then he said. "If you're interested in magic, I'm not the one you need to ask, try asking Mel, she's good at magic than most of us here."

"I see, then, thank you for your time."

The man smiled and went back to tend his wares.

He realized that he does not know what Mel looked like. Asking the man again was embarrassing to Arise. It was hard to accurate guess someone by their name. He then asked the old man who sold him vanilla beans.

"Old man, do you know who Mel is?"

"Hmm, I don't know her. Maybe try asking them."

"Thanks."

Out of nowhere, Arise felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around, only to see a young lady with a pointy hat looking at him. "Heard you're looking for me."

"yeah I-"... PFTT!

The lady stared at Arise, "What are you doing?"

Arise panicked and caught himself, "Ahh, nothing... Nothing at all, ahah"... 'Her look... she fits so many fantasy stereotypes, I guess she'll be an alchemist, and someone that knows a lot about magic.'

The lady wore a black skirt and a white floral blouse. she had a holster of materials from fungus to dried animals parts on her waist. Along with the pointy hat and a massive staff strung on her back

She looked at him strangely, the lady was perturbed by the sudden action of the man before him. It seemed like he had something in mind. She had no intention of dabbling with people in the guild, but she heard her name from the crowd, so she was interested on why her name was spoken.

"Then? What do you need for me?" the lady asked.

Arise pulled himself together and apologized, "where's my attitude, I am sorry about that."

"Quite alright, then what do you need me for?"

"Then if you let me, is ice magic possible?" Arise inquired.

She moved a few paces off Arise and beckoned to follow her. Arise, with his baggage, followed Mel to bench near the plaza. "We should talk here, less distractions."

"Good idea."

"Then, let's begin... hmm let's see, you asked me if cryology is possible?"

"Cryology? Oh, yes, I did."

She shifted her gaze from Arise and said, "It is possible, though rarely."

"Is there a chance I can find an ice mage?"

"The world's a bigger place, I reckon there's two or three cryologist in this duchy alone."

"So luck is my only chance of finding one?"

"Precisely, but I must ask, why are you invested in cryologist's and why are you quite unfamilliar with magic?"

"I-" Arise hesitated, he could not find excuses for her. Unlike Gwyn, who never brought up why he knew nothing of magic. Mel prodded more than he initially thought.

'Damn it, I don't have a fool proof plan for this. If I said I'm an otherworlder, they might burn me in stakes.'

"Let's just say I was born in a secluded village who condemned magic." Arise said nervously.

Mel looked at him with suspicion, her eyes gently scanning each and corner of his body. Trying to find any semblance of foolishness, her first impression of him was strange. Though looking like an idiot, she surmised that he knows more than he let on. Arise, on the other hand, was avoiding her watchful gaze. He purposely avoided any signs of lying by letting himself calm down, avoid unnecessary micromovements. Then, she cleared up and smiled, "I see, so you escaped that little village of yours?"

"Y-yes"

"I always hated Kaarti village, bunch of heretics."

"I agree with you, my village are indeed blasphemous..."

'Gee, I really said that.'

"You're not from here aren't you?"

'Huh? what is she on?'

"What do you mean?"

A smirked form on her face, she glanced at Arise while supporting her with her hand. "Got you," She said playfully. "Straight into my trap, Kaarti is a popular meat dish in his duchy... Seems like you never did your research... or... you don't belong here"

'Fuck, I really fell into an obvious trap, why did I do that...'

"Ehh, I'm just humoring you."

"Really? you seemed convinced about the existence of a village called Kaarti... It was really funny"

Arise shifted his gaze away from Mel, his face was red as an apple from embarrassment. He never met such a crafty person, truly a dangerous person to hide secrets from. Then, he asked again, "If theoretically, I'm not from this world, what will you do?"

Mel's face winced as he heard those words come out of his mouth. It was more than enough to what she had expected, much more than the transactions she's supposed to have in the merchant's guild. She concocted an sly grin and said, "I will report you to the authority so they can dissect you for research purpose."

All colors drained from Arise's face as he moved away from him. To Mel, it was too funny, she snickered as she tried to cover her mouth. "I was just joking, ahahaha."

'This woman, I can't with her, she's making me nervous'

"I-I see..."

"I'm just testing you, all this time, you're guarded up like an iron wall. But don't worry, I set my boundaries much to my client's liking."

"Wait, when did I become you client?"

"Uh, three minutes ago?"

"But besides the point, are your really an otherworlder?"

Though, hard to admit, he decided to follow his instinct for the first time. "Yes, I am."

She lit up like a fire lantern, Mel grabbed his hand suddenly and said. "I AM FASCINATED RIGHT NOW."

"You don't know how much I theorized about the existence of otherworlders. And your existence alone confirmed it... How exhilarating..."

"What does that mean for me?"

She barked a toothy grin and declared, "I will teach you magic, with all of its glory."

"There's strings attached isn't it?"

"Precisely, on one condition, you'll have to tell me what its like to your world. That's all I want"

Arise beckoned at Mel for a handshake, which she reciprocated. "Then, we have a deal."

'I may have rushed my agreement, what do I say to Gwyn about this?'