"Uhm Raze? You are probably... From the Past?" Amelia said to Raze. She looked at his blank face.

"For some reason, you're on a different timeline." Tristan gave a simple line.

"We don't know what caused this, it might be best if we ask old man mage later on." Roan scoffed a bit.

Razed put his elbows on the table, palms on his face. "Yeah, I guess so. I don't know to feel about this." He secretly let out a breath. 'They didn't notice, Thank the Goddess'

"Hey guys? Lets talk about this some later time, look at him. He's shocked about the news." Fia showed a worried look. Feeling sorry about Raze's situation.

Raze waved his hands regarding about what Fia said. "It's okay, I'm fine. Let talk about something else for now." He said, while avoiding he topic.

Small talks continued while they're having breakfast. As soon as they finished, the butler relayed a message.

"Milord, I've been ordered to guide you to Lord Turstin's office once done with breakfast. I would like to know if we're ready to go?"

The party gave a nod, "Lead the way please."

.......

Lead by the butler, They walked through the hallway laid with a red carpet, typically seen on castles. Expensive vases, large portrait of Royalties. Ornamentals weapons and such were displayed on the walls. The party all had a single thought, 'So cliché, just like we expected'.

After a few minutes of walking, the butler stopped in front of a door. "We've arrived, a moment please." He then knocked on the door. "Lord Turstin, our guest has arrived."

A familiar voice came out of the door quickly, "Very good, Let them in"

The butler opened the door, moved to the side and gave a bow, also gesturing to get inside the room. The party gave their thanks and went inside.

Inside the room, bookshelves surrounds the two side of the wall, behind the window oversees a courtyard were people are doing morning training. A crisp smell of book and a tinge of relaxing aroma from tea leaves spreads inside the room.

There, sitting on a chair with a simple yet elegant design sat an old man reading a book. A sofa set in the middle of the room were prepared for the guests. At the corner of the room. A person with robe were organizing books that are messily placed above a table.

With a clap of a book, the old man stood up and welcomed his guests. "Ah, welcome young ones, I apologized about the mess. Please sit down." He gestured his hand and pointed it on the sofa. "Before we begin, could you please introduce yourselves first? You already know this old man's name correct?" Turstin said.

After the request, the party gave a quick information about them. Turstin signaled the person at the corner. The person then took a book and began writing. "Excuse me, but I would like to record your names and the topic of our talk. Would that be alright?" Turstin gave an apology yet it doesn't sound sincere.

"It's okay sir. For now, we would like to know more about where we are, also our roles in this place." Roan asked the question they all want to know.

Turstin cleared his throat. "Let me begin then".

Turstin began explaining a lore regarding about their worlds. The races living on it. The disasters took place, The roles of the summoned, magics and mana, the elements of the worlds, how aura can strengthen one's self and such.

"So this world's name is Regaia. The word's origin is: the rebirth of Gaia. Named by the surviving civilization back on ancient times. A gigantic continent with islands surrounding it. Currently, we are in the capital of Rosedell, a human Territory. At the middle east side of the continent." Tristan gave a brief summary. Turstin gave a nod as a reply.

"The continent is divided into three territories: human, beastman, and deiman." Raze added

"So there are Humans, the Beastmen, Faeris: who lives alongside human and beastman, Demon people, Mermen and more living on this continent. Amelia clarified, she heard whispers at her side that only she can hear 'cat ears ....bunny people' and a giggle. She elbowed Fia, and Fia woke up from her daydream.

"Our role as summoned, is to be heroes. To saved us from calamities, to provide knowledge, and restore peace? Are we supposed to be in a video game?" Roan asked the old man.

He gave a nod. "We are not aware of the word video game, but your predecessor did mentioned something like that" Turtin said while he walked towards the bookshelves, looking for a certain book. "As for your role, we are not forcing you to join the war, but we would like to receive any kind if assistance if possible."

Stolen novel; please report.

The three gave a sharp glances at each other. While the two girls tensed up.

'So its about this topic, like we expected'

"We're still deciding if we will join the war so, the answer for joining will have to wait." Roan said, hinting he might join the war. The two girls gave him a questioning look. 'So he plans to join the war' the girls thought. 'Boys and their games'

"Also, I would like to add that we have a limit on how much or what kind of assistance we can give." Tristan said and waited for the old mage to react.

The old mage slowly look back and said "Hmm, Is that so. How come?" His tone calm.

'Not the kind of reaction I was expecting to see' Tristan thought. He then explained the plan they thought of, hinting that they wont give anything dangerous.

"I see, how unfortunate." He let out a sigh and continued looking at the books "I do hope to ask those sort of thing but alas, A law is a law. I do hope we can still receive assistance to help our people"

"We do want to help, but please, don't expect too much." Amelia said with a smile

"Very well, Thank you" Turstin gave his thanks. 'What a weak response' Roan thought, clearly hating the way he gave his thanks.

Turtins took two books, and he handed one each to Tristan and Roan. "This books were written by previous heroes. I would like you to see if it."

The two received it and opened the book. Roan saw a book full of characters with circles on it, while on Tristan has cursive words written. They flipped few pages and found few english alphabets on it.

After Tristan flipped few pages he closed and returned it "We cant read the book but we're familiar with the language. Also, can we know who's the author of those books?

"Hmmm... Let's put this books for now, we still have a dozen of books written by previous heroes. And the author of this books were named Rizal and Jae Yun" Turstin said.

Tristan took a paused and thought for a moment. 'Different nationalities, huh.'

"Would it be alright if you look at the books at my apprentice's table? Those are written by heroes too" he then pointed on the table, were dozens of book were placed.

With that said, the party stood up and checked the books.

"Ah, I can read this one" Roan said while holding a book on hand. "Hmm that book with runic characters. Say, I would like to know what language is this?" The apprentice asked. Intending to record the information.

"It's Japanese, some of the characters here has its meaning of its own." He said while he continued reading. The book is thin, probably has 30 pages. The texture of the paper were rough.

"This one is in German, I could read this" Amelia exclaimed. She holds a book thinner than the previous book. The apprentice once more wrote on the book he's recording.

After checking all the books, they were able to find one in english and while the other books were on a different language. They gave the info of the name and info of the other language if they're familiar with it. And the apprentice wrote everything without stopping.

"You can take the ones you can read, would it be alright if you transcribe it later on?" The old man mage asked

"Well, I would like to read everything first, is that alright?" Amelia said.

"So be it". Turstin gave an approval.

"By the way, old man. What happened to the previous heroes?" Roan asked after giving the book to Amelia.

'Old man? Such disrespect'. He contained his urge to discipline. "Ah you see, they were able to defeat the demon-lord. After the fight, they went back to their world. Unfortunately, they didn't leave any records or books after everything happened." Turstin replied.

"Well that's a bummer. It would be nice if they're still around." Roan said.

Tch-. Fia heard a feint click of the tongue. He looked back and saw Raze looking down, gripping his fist. She slowly poked his back and whispered, 'are you okay?'

With a jolt, he quickly let go of his fist, look at her and whispered 'I'm fine'

'Calm down...' He said to himself.

After the talk about the books, Tristan advanced the topic to magic aura.

"Sir Turstin, I would like to know more about this worlds magic and mana"

"Hoh.. I see you face is showing interest" Turstin smiled. 'If one of this younglings has interest and talents, I might ask them to be my disciple.' He thought.

"Magic and mana are connected. Magic are phenomena that men can conjure." He then raised his two hands, eye level. A small glow came from his palm. A small fire suddenly ignited on above his palm, while on the other, a small orb or water floats.

"These two are from the basic elements. Fire and water, and the others are earth, wind, ice and thunder" he gripped his palms. The orb of water shattered into ice, while the dancing flame had been blown by a strong gale. Papers flew around the room, and the apprentice mage had a defeated face.

"Magic can be learned by anyone, but that doesn't mean the can learn easily. Every individual has affinities to the elements." He paused and waited for answers. 

"Hmm.. And how do one knows of their affinities" Tristan asked, excited to know which affinities he has.

"There are two method to know. First is, by focusing and looking into one's own soul, can they see their affinities. And the other by using a device and use it measure an individual's talent."

"To see one's own soul? I'm sorry but its too vague, please explain more." Tristan said,

"Look into you own very being, see yourself and your soul. Feel your origin and your existence. If you are successful, you'll see the information in your mind. Try closing you eyes and meditate" he explained.

The party tried to see if they can see their own affinities and closed their eyes. Minutes passed and they still meditate.

"I'm don't feel anything at all" "I don't understand...." The two girls said.

Roan and Tristan still has their eyes closed, hoping they succeed. Raze had his eyes closed, waiting patiently. They didn't know he was already looking at his affinities. He was taught how to use this by his mother few years back.

"AHH! This is annoying, Why can I succeed?" Roan yelled. Frustrated.

"Hahaha, truthfully, no one can learn this in few minutes or hours. The fastest might take a month and the longest can go up to a year" He said while laughing. "And that's only for people with talent" he added.

"Then why didn't you said this to us earlier? Way to get our hopes up" Tristan said with a displeased tone.

Smiling he said, "I wanted to see if you have talent to suddenly learn it. Never Mind that, I've already ordered someone to get us the appraisal devices. Let's wait for now"

Tristan and Roan felt wronged. And looked at the old man, displeased.

Fia look at Raze, he wasn't annoyed nor complaining. 'Did Raze succeeded?'. She the tugged Amelia and pointed at Raze.

'It might be because Raze is patient that he isn't complaining. He's probably the quiet type' she whispered back.

A moment later, a knock came from the door. "Lord Turstin, we have the Devices"

.............