Alec leaned against the frame of the door; watching Evan running around the room, cleaning up the mess to the best of his abilities. There were two bunk beds in the room alongside four tables seemingly crammed into the place. It was a bit of a tight fit, as if either the architects hadn’t thought of a proper room plan, or the place had been transformed from a two-person room.

Nevertheless, the main problem wasn’t its tightness, but the disgusting mess its habitants had left it in. Alec could swear that he had seen something move amidst all the clothes on the ground, and whatever the thing that moved was, it wasn’t a human.

Whatever mess there was, Alec seemed to have a mean enough look to force Evan to clean up in less than 15 minutes. Much to Alec’s surprise, he didn’t use any magic while cleaning, utilizing only mundane techniques.

“Aren’t you a mage? Why aren’t you using spells?” Alec said with his voice as sharp and cold as the edge of a metallic blade. Evan, who was currently trying to pick up some trash from behind a desk, shivered under his questioning.

Turning his head around, he looked Alec up and down for a moment. With an apologetic smile, he explained.

“I’m a melee mage. Using my body feels easier than using magic,” Evan answered. He then pointed at the ever-present blue magic circles silently rotating above his shoulders and continued. “These are my gauntlet engines. They are a headache to get reinscribed so I keep them on all the time. They don’t spend any mana unless I activate them anyway.”

“Huh...” Alec mumbled. He then gestured to Evan to continue cleaning.

‘So there are melee mages too...’ He thought. Evan’s shoulder magic circles seemed to have an almost hypnotic effect. ‘I wonder what kind of magic the previous Alec used. Wait... Why am I not asking?’

“So... What kind of mage was I?” he asked. Evan momentarily froze.

“You were...” He muttered, seemingly thinking of an answer. “You were more of a generalist. Though, if I had to say, the most troublesome magic you used was your telekinetic one.”

“Oh? I used telekinetic magic. How?” Alec asked. He was getting curious.

“Well, there are three main groups of telekinesis mages,” Evan started explaining as he barely fit his arm through the gap between the desk and the wall, seemingly managing to get a hold of something. “Finally! Uh... It’s a cockroach.”

Alec’s face soured at the sight of the struggling insect. After throwing the pitiful being out the window without killing it, Evan turned to him and sat on the desk.

“The first type of telekinetics are the controllers, they generally use their skills to directly restrict or crush their enemies. Well, it’s more of an imitation of gravity magic. Once the magic was lost to time, many people wanted to replicate it,” Evan explained. Much to Alec’s surprise, he seemed knowledgeable about the topic.

“They are not very popular though, you need smart tricks or a dominant mana pool to utilize it after all,” he continued. He then lifted his hand to reveal a purple magic circle in his hand. Once it shone with mana, Alec felt a slight pressure on his arm.

“Huh... Neat,” he said. When he inspected the magic’s contact site, he realized that his skin had slightly caved in.

“The next type uses telekinesis to strengthen their own bodies, they amplify their movements while distributing the force from the enemy attacks. It’s a really hard skill to specialize in so...”

“Not many people use this too, I guess?” Alec asked. As he didn’t know how hard it was to use magic, he didn’t comment any further.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Yup. The last one is the most common, although still rare in the academy. You were the only one in our class grade that uses it as far as I’m aware,” Evan said. Alec’s ears perked up in excitement.

“These types of mages use bladed weapons. They swing them around with their telekinesis to hit the enemy with,” he said. “I’ve also heard that some use it alongside archery but that’s more of a hunter-class thing.”

“I see...” Alec muttered. ‘That type of telekinesis sounds really cool. The previous Alec and I must have similar tastes.’

“But in the end,” Evan said. “People are not limited to specializing in one skill, they can try and learn as many as they want from the system anyway.”

“Huh?” Alec raised his brow. “Skills?”

“You forgot that too?” Evan said bitterly. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have-”

“Stop. You know, I don’t know why you are this apologetic towards me?” Alec asked. Evan had been this way since the time they had met in the infirmary.

“I’m...” Evan babbled for a moment before gathering his bearings. With a resolute glint in his eyes, he walked up to Alec and put his hands on his shoulders. “We had been friends since the start of the second semester of our first year here. We were pretty much best friends, we even chose your specialization together.”

“We did everything together and then... We had a practical exam for our finals. We have always been competitive. We liked fighting each other more than anything else. And while fighting, I...” Evan said. However, as his sentence approached its end, his voice became more and more stuffy. However, Alec didn’t attempt to console him. Instead, he waited for him to finish the story. “I hit you too hard. It was a miscalculation on both our parts, and I overperformed. My punch knocked you out into a coma, seemingly also wiping your memories in the process. Even before all of this though, your memories seemed, a bit skittish.”

“What do you mean by that?” Alec asked.

“You would occasionally forget some important stuff but... Anyway. I don’t think it was anything important,” Evan glossed over the topic.

“It’s okay,” Alec said. He didn’t feel really angry as he wasn’t the one who got punched into a coma, after all.

“What I’m more curious about is something else. You talked about helping me choose my specialization. Does everyone choose their specialization in their second semester?” Alec asked. Evan shook his head in answer.

“Not really. Most people would’ve already chosen something to specialize in in their first semester. You were a bit... Different back in the first semester. Many people were surprised by your sudden change in the winter break, you know?”

“Sudden change? What kind?” Alec asked. Even before him, Alec seemed to have experienced some stranger stuff.

“It’s hard to explain,” Evan said. He let go of Alec’s shoulders and crossed his arms. “You never really attracted any positive attention back then. People, including me and Ariel, knew you only from your disability.”

“Disability? What?” Alec asked. He checked his body to see if something was missing, however, he couldn’t figure anything out.

At his question, Evan’s eyes widened first in surprise, then in worry.

“You... What did you not forget?” he asked. “You are unable to utilize the system. That’s a disability. You are a cripple.”

“Woah man, okay! That’s enough,” Alec said while signaling him to stop with his hand. “But I can see my sta-”

“Open your skills,” Evan said. Alec facepalmed with anger and pointed toward himself.

‘Of course! Of course, there would be a skill tree! How could I not think of this?’ Alec thought to himself before thinking of the skills panel. Immediately, a blue holographic panel, just like the status screen appeared in front of his face.

[DISABLED]

A bright red-colored text appeared in front of him, making Alec slightly flinch.

“You also can’t level up or gain status points, which makes me wonder how you entered the aca-” Evan was about to finish his sentence before he suddenly stopped. His eyes momentarily rolled back into his skull before returning to normal.

Focused on his status screen, Alec didn’t notice the situation.

‘Thank god I have The Author’s Pen, if not...’ Alec thought as a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. Looking around, he noticed Evan standing still in his place, seemingly zoned out. Snapping his fingers about five centimeters away from his face, Alec woke him from his absent-mindedness.

“You’ve helped me a great deal,” Alec said, getting Evan’s attention. He walked up to him and patted him on his shoulder. “Currently, I have no memories of my past. I barely know anything about the world we live in. Although you are the one who put me in this situation, I feel different. As if I’m a new person entirely. That’s why I’m not holding a grudge against you. I’m sure the old Alec would’ve thought the same way.”

Hearing his words, Evan finally lost his bearing. Tears started rolling down as he went down on his knees. Alec knew how he felt, and he also knew there was no need for words. He crouched down next to him and patted Evan on his back.

“I’m not the same Alec anymore. We don’t have our previous friendship. But that doesn’t mean we can’t start anew,” he said. Evan wiped his eyes with his arm and looked up at him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Evan. I’m Alec Greenwood.”