“Mmmmfgh…” I groaned in discomfort as I followed several paces behind Tulip.

“I told you that you shouldn’t have eaten all of that.” Tulip remarked with a sidelong glance towards me.

“You’re the one who put so much food in front of me…” I whined at my own lack of self control—It just fueled my determination to try everything, making it turn into eating everything.

“I wanted you to try things! I didn't mean for you to go and gorge down every bite.” Tulip crossed her arms as she spoke with exasperation.

I fell into a dejected silence, my arms crossed over my stomach while my head hung low. I hardly paid any attention to where we were going—My gaze only moved up again once I felt a cold blast of wind hit my face.

Tulip took a moment to glance back at me, she met my gaze for a moment before gesturing forwards.

I opened my mouth, about to speak as I walked across the threshold of the doorway. My words were however cut off before I could so much as make a noise by a familiarly deep, guttural voice.

“You’re both late,” Levi spoke with a harsh tone. “This is the only time you will get by with being late.” Levi turned to face us—His gaze remained firmly locked onto me, his piercing green eyes digging into me.

Levi was massive. I already knew as much from my trial at the Royal Court, but when I was standing across from him… it was different entirely. I was eye level with his stomach of all things. I had to crane my neck upwards just to meet his emerald eyes, while his head was framed by a practical mane of golden hair.

Levi wasn’t just muscular, he looked like a carved statue. Every fiber of his being exuded raw physical strength—A strength that gave off an aura almost as palpable as the mana I could vaguely sense from him.

“S-Sorry…” I muttered out as my gaze moved anxiously away from Levi. “It won’t happen again—I promise!”

“Very well,” Levi answered plainly, his gaze softened as he turned away and began walking. “Follow, we have a lot to catch up on. Especially for you Kirin.” He spoke while he walked, his voice was commanding. It demanded that I follow, it wasn’t a demand that I could just ignore—So, walking side-by-side with Tulip, I followed.

“What exactly… do we have to catch up on?” I asked with trepidation in my voice. I struggled just to prevent my tone from shaking in Levi’s presence.

“Tulip should not have to worry as much as you do, Kirin. However, you are woefully behind on general studies, both lacking previous schooling and missing the first handful of months of schooling here,” Levi paused as he spoke, taking in a deep breath. “However, more than anything, magic is what you need to practice. And as such, that is where we will be starting today.”

Once Levi came to a stop we were standing inside of a large, flattened area. The ground was made out of hardened sand that held a soft yellow color. The sand had several white lines were drawn into it to mark out circular spaces.

My gaze snapped to the center of the area, next to where Levi was standing. I felt the ground shift for a split moment before a pillar of stone began to rise out of the ground. Levi reached a single hand into his overcoat, pulling out a spherical crystal that was almost as large as his head—He placed it upon his freshly made pedestal, nodding at me.

The crystal looked simply like a sphere of glass, I couldn’t make out or tell anything unique about it apart from how remarkably transparent it was. It was as if light barely reflected upon it akin to a large water bubble.

“This is a Measurement Crystal. It tells you what stage you currently are as a Mage. Or, it does so as accurately as possible.” Levi spoke with confidence, he first nodded at Tulip who walked forwards.

“I doubt that it’s changed any…” Tulip trailed off as she halted before the pedestal. Her right hand moved forwards, planting itself on the crystal rather firmly.

“Once Tulip begins to fuel the crystal with her mana it will change colors,” Levi spoke rather slowly as his gaze locked onto the crystal. “Each stage has a relatively known maximum output of mana, because of this the stages have become far easier to measure in recent years."

The crystal began to shift colors slowly. At first its translucent surface slowly became opaque before taking on a dark orange-brown coloration. The crystal remained this color for a handful of moments before it grew brighter and brighter—To such a point that it was almost painful to look at. I could see the strain on Tulip’s face as she fought to pump her mana into the crystal, but it refused to change coloration.

“As… expected…” Tulip panted out. Her arms dropped to her side as she stepped back in defeat. She was heaving for steadying breaths while sweat was beading at her brow.

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“A Magus still, albeit, you are clearly close to the next barrier,” Levi spoke calmly, almost approvingly even. His gaze next turned towards me. “Place your hand upon the sphere, and push your mana into the crystal with all of your might.”

There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask Levi already. They were racing across my mind like an unsteady storm, threatening to bubble up into an incohesive rambling—But I steadied myself at his words. I took a breath, and I walked forwards.

Once Tulip backed away a little further I brought my right hand up, resting my entire palm upon the sphere. It had rather quickly lost its lustrous colors once Tulip retracted her hand, leaving me to stare at a blank, translucent sphere.

The crystal wasn’t warm, or even cold to the touch—It felt like I was holding onto something that refused the intake of energy outside of its intended purpose. I felt a gentle tug from the sphere, as if it was pulling at my mana with ravenous greed.

I let my eyes slowly close shut while Levi’s words gently rang into my ears.

“Let your mana flow Kirin, don’t hold it back.” His words sounded like distant echoes. The world around me felt like it was falling away, replaced by a luminous world of iridescent colors. Mana filled my vision through closed eyes, pulsing through my body—Releasing in tidal pulses into the sphere.

The world was drowned out around me, all sound was simply gone. My ears were filled only by a soft hum emanating from the sphere. But, it wasn’t an electric or mechanical hum—It was like a person, humming along to a lullaby. It was soft and soothing, I could feel a knowing warmth flutter through my body as my heart began to pump in tune with the gentle melody.

Mana rushed out of my body in ceaseless waves—Yet all I could think of were the voices emanating from the sphere like a distant memory.

“Hush now… Little one—Now is not the time to cry.” A gentle voice spoke, it was barely more than a whisper to my ears. It was so distant that it couldn’t be recognized, yet its tone, its intent, its purpose… they were undeniably filled with genuine love. “Listen closely, my little one… Hum along with me.”

Crying… I could hear crying in the distance, like that of a toddler sobbing in the midst of a tantrum. Their violent thrashing sobs only began to slow as a warming voice, sweeter than honey, and gentler than a feather reached the sobbing child’s ears.

“Hush now little one, open your mouth and sing. Hush now little one, open your eyes and see. Hush now little one, hum along with me.” The sobbing child gradually stopped, their tantrum calmed into a babbling chorus to match the melodic voice. “Hmm hmm hmm, hum-a-dee dum. Hmm hmm hmm, hum with me…”

My eyes snapped open as a sharp breath of horrifically cold air rushed into my lungs—The world became real once more as a furious, fiery pain crawled its way through my body without dread or fear of the agony it caused.

“Agh!” I shouted in pain while flailing desperately to pull away from the crystal. My eyes ran around wildly, searching for help in the agony rushing through my body.

The crystal remained firmly attached to my hand—Attached to its point in the air even as Levi’s pillar retreated into the stone underfoot. It was stuck, lodged in place, refusing to move like an anchor to the world itself sat before me, inducing its burning agony.

“Kirin!—” Tulip shouted. My eyes snapped over to her, she was standing up and running towards me. But the world almost looked like it was expanding around me, the earth… was moving?

“NO!” Levi boomed with unearthly finality. His gaze gradually moved away from Tulip, and towards me—It locked onto the sphere, it was a brilliant, iridescent orange color. Yet it was splitting into fragments of coloration, black lines shot through it, splintering and fracturing it into countless thousands of orange shards with luminous green sparks arcing through them.

“Why does it hurt?!” I screamed. I thrashed and tugged, it felt like my skin and bones would give before the crystal would dare to budge. I turned, twisted, and pulled. Every single fiber of my being screamed and demanded to be let go, to get away from the crystal, but it wouldn’t move. It utterly refused to do so.

Finally, with one last almighty heave, one that threatened to dislocate my shoulder; the crystal gave out. It fell to the ground with a dull thump while I fell backwards hard, my free hand barely moved in time to break my fall as I bounced gently.

Tears were rushing down my face, my entire body was aching like I had just sat inside of an inferno. But more than anything, my mind was reeling… what just happened to me?

“Levi! What did you do?!” Tulip screamed at the mountainous man. Her panicked tone grated against my ears.

“I didn’t do anything, Tulip,” Levi spoke with an unnerving calm. His gaze almost meticulously moved towards me, narrowing slightly as he examined me. “Kirin… I am not quite sure what just happened.”

“The crystal followed its intended function, it measured your mana, and yet it continued to demand more which you did not have,” Levi continued speaking before I even had a chance to ask more questions. “Meaning, you either are on the brink of breaking through the barrier into being a Sage… or, you are something wholly unique, Kirin. I am not sure which one it is.”

“What… is a barrier?” I finally asked, I heard the word uttered several times now.

“It’s a sort of wall most mages can feel,” Tulip answered before Levi had a chance to think over his words. “There’s seven barriers for the seven classes… but no one has broken through the seventh. Probably at least.”

“There is more to it than that… but that is a sufficient answer I suppose.” Levi muttered, crossing his arms while his hand reached to stroke his chin.

Tulip walked over to me, procuring a hand outwards for me to grab—Which I gladly took, with her help I shakily returned to my feet. However, as Levi began to say something my mind trailed off, remembering that soothing tune I heard from the crystal.

How did the crystal talk to me? I was certain the voice originated from it, yet I could tell from the way Tulip looked at me that she hadn’t heard it. How could she? It was just in my head right? I wasn’t entirely sure I even convinced myself of that solution before I spoke, cutting off Levi.

“Now for today's actual lessons—”

“Has anyone ever heard… voices from the crystal before?” I spoke only loud enough for Tulip to hear beside me, her eyes narrowed—But she didn't speak.