《Loop - A time story》 Prologue - Everything goes to the beginning A woman was seated on a bed, with a big bulge on her belly. She had her legs wide open and has had a face of pain. ¡°Arghhhhh.¡± She gritted her teeth and screamed in agony. There were several people in the room, a woman was grabbing something round that was coming out between her legs. A man was holding her hand while saying. ¡°It''s gonna be fine honey. You''re almost there.¡± The woman squeezed the man''s hand even further and screamed together with him in pain. ¡°Arghhh.¡± The women around the room looked at the man screaming with his wife and shook their heads. They turned their attention back to the woman, and soon a new sound filled the room. ¡°Uaaaaa¡± ¡°Uaaaaa¡± A wrinkled little baby was taken out of the woman. A new life was born! He had his eyes closed, and his skin was red. The woman on the bed made a relieved face and looked at the baby like her world was born at that moment. She extended her arms and the baby was delivered in her arms. The woman looked at her baby with attention and said to the husband. ¡°Bryan, it''s a boy! We have a son!¡± her voice was teary, and the happiness was apparent in it. The man came closer to the baby, and stroke his cheeks with care. ¡°Lena, I don''t have words¡­.¡± they were silent for a moment while gazing at the baby. ¡°His name¡­ his name is John.¡± Said the man while pondering for a bit. ¡°The same name as his grandpa.¡± After hearing what the man said, the woman lovingly looked at the baby and said. ¡°My little John¡­.¡± The baby grew, years passed and he was a boy. Just like his parents, he had dark curly hair, white skin, and dark brown eyes. Features that many people in the village had, nothing special. John''s parents were farmers, just like many generations before them. They had dedicated their lives to the plants and did their job very well. Every year, they grew a variety of different plants and sold them on the market of the nearby city. John had inherited the memories of his ancestors, for being the firstborn. Something that was normal to the humans of the continent. When he was 1 year old, his daddy took him to someplace in their farm and planted the seed of oak in there, so that he could water and watch the plant grow. Just like his ancestors did. In the place where the seed was planted, you could look around and see many giant oaks planted. A work that was done by his ancestors. From that day onward, his daddy took him to water and take care of the seedling, until John was two years old, and could do it by himself. Years passed, and little John began to awaken some of the memories of his ancestors, by watching the oak grow, he had memories of watching these oak growing, one by one. Until this forest was formed. Each one planted by one of his ancestors. He learned how to plant and take care of the crops with his father, and by the tender age of 8 years old, was already happening on the farm. Because of the genetic memories, he learned how to work in the field quickly and helped his father as best as he could. *** Today, I was going to learn how to write. The excitement kept me awake for the whole night, and I could barely blink! Only the most important people in the village knew how to write and read, and I was going to be one of them! I was 11 years old this year, and this opportunity was something that few had. Dad had paid 2 years of saving to the head of the village for me to learn. This was a very important thing, by what dad told me. Next summer, when I would be 12 years old, a mage would come from the capital to test our affinities. And if I knew how to read and write, I would have more chances to be selected. Arriving at the head of the village house, I paused before the door and took a deep breath. There rumors about the head that were told by many kids. I hesitated for a moment and opened the door. I saw that many of my friends were here to learn as well. I was excited that I would study with them! *** A bunch of kids waited without patience on the elder house. Chatting among themselves and trying to figure out some words. A door was suddenly opened and an elder came out of it. He had a well-trimmed beard, a bald head, and tanned skin. His body looked strong for his age. The elder looked around the room with a stern face, waiting for the kids to shut their mouths. The kids realized the presence of the elder, and a silence soon descended into the room. After everyone was silent, the elder warmly smile and said. ¡°Today, you''ll begin to learn how to read and write.¡± and the eyes of every kid in the room shone. *** The year quickly passed, and the kids were learning pretty quickly. The elder had many years of experience in teaching kids and knew how to deal with them. John was the average kid, although he couldn''t learn quickly, he studied hard and was on the same level as his friends. The exam would happen the next morning, and John was rolling on the bed while thinking about a thousand of things. His imagination brought him far, and he was slaying legendary dragons, saving a friend of his from danger, and even flying through the sky. While thinking of all these things, he slowly closed his eyes, while mumbling things to himself. *** The next morning, the sun was already up, and John''s parents had left to work in the field. They would usually take him to work with them as well, but as today was special, they allowed him to sleep a bit more. Lena entered their house and went to John''s room. She opened the door and saw him sprawled on the bed like a dead animal. She laughed and walked toward him while shouting and clapping her hands. ¡°JOHN, WAKE UP!¡± The boy jumped from his bed like a scared cat and quickly got up. Lena looked at her groggy son and said. ¡°The test is going to begin in one hour, it''s better for you to get ready.¡± The boy''s eyes widened when he heard that there was only one hour left. He quickly went to the bathroom and got ready. He grabbed some fruits that were on the table and ran toward the village. Lena stroked her bulging belly and said. ¡°Kids¡­¡± with a smile on her face. *** I madly ran toward the village. I could not be late today! Arriving there, I saw that many kids were already waiting in lines, organized by the head. I looked around and didn''t find the mage. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°John.¡± I heard the deep voice of the head saying. ¡°Get in line and wait.¡± he said while pointing to one of the lines. I walked to it and eagerly waited. The kids around me were as excited as I was. Many were murmuring about how mage would look like, and when he would arrive. The head got up from his chair and looked toward the entrance of the village. Seeing the elder actions, all of the kids suddenly shut their mouths and curiously looked in the same direction. ¡°Be quiet.¡± The head said. I tried to see who was coming, but there were many children in front of me, and my vision was blocked. When the mage got close to the head, I could finally see him. A man donned in blue robes, with many strange symbols inscribed in it. The man had blond hair and green eyes. Seeing the man coming closer. The elder bowed and said. ¡°We humbly welcome you, great mage.¡± he gestured toward us and the multitude of kids said. ¡°WE HUMBLY WELCOME YOU, GREAT MAGE.¡± while bowing. I was among these kids. The mage waved his hand and said. ¡°There is no need for so many formalities. Let''s begin the test, I still have many villages to visit today.¡± Luckily, our village was the first one to be attended. We were the village that was located furthest from the capital, and they began scouting from here, then to the cities closer to the capital. The Kids nervously began to be tested, and the majority of them didn''t have an affinity strong enough, nor they had a high enough mana, so they were disqualified. The man looked through all the kids. The process was quite simple. The child would put his hand on the crystal ball, and the balm would glow. The size of the glow would indicate how much mana the kid had, and the color of the glow, the affinity. Of all the kids from the village, only one was selected. The kid had a rare affinity of life. All the other kids had below-average mana and low affinity to some elements, nothing that caught the mage eyes. After all the kids, my turn arrived. I was sweating buckets and was very nervous. The mage looked at me and said. ¡°put your hand on the crystal.¡± I curtly nodded and extended my hand. The ball glowed in a small and weak green light. The mage analyzed the glow for a moment and said. ¡°You have a low affinity for the element of wood, and have low mana. Dismissed.¡± His words shocked me to the core. In the end, I was not chosen¡­ I lowered my head and retreated to the back of the line. The mage got up, nodded to the head and left the village. After the mage left, all the kids were still in utter silence. Having your dreams destroyed was not an easy thing. The head saw this and shook his head. He knew that this was going to happen. And he did the best thing that he could. ¡°What are you stand there for? You''re all dismissed. Go back to your parents.¡± He said while shooing the kids away with his hand. I walked back home with my head down. All my dreams ended here. I had no future in magic¡­ There was a girl walking beside me with her head down as well. She had a petite body and dirty blond hair. I saw that her eyes were red and she was crying. I thought for a moment and got close to her. ¡°Hey, there is no need to be like that. Life is more than magic..¡± I didn''t know if I was saying this to convince her or myself. She looked up to me with surprise in her eyes and said. ¡°Thanks.¡± In a low voice. ¡°My name is John. What''s yours?¡± I said while extending a hand in a greet. The girl shook my hand and rubbed her eyes with her other hand. She looked at me and said. ¡°My name is Alana.¡± We walked part of the way together until She had to go home. We made a promise to play together someday and I headed home. My mood got better after talking with Alana. Making her feel better also worked for me. I arrived home, changed my clothes and headed to the fields. After all, there was still a long day ahead. *** Weeks passed, and then years. I had already come to peace a long time ago that I wouldn''t be a mage. That was 3 years ago, and there were other interesting things happening in my life. I often read some books about histories of great mages and about other races. Those books were bought by my parents when they went to the closest city to sell the crops. However, the most interesting thing that was happening to me was not the books, nor the crops, but my escapades with Alana. We usually escaped from the house during the night to see each other. Both of our parents came to the conclusion that we were too old to be playing alone in the woods. I, for instance, thought otherwise. Why couldn''t we see each other? That made no sense. My parents traveled to the city today to sell the crops, and my two years old brother, Samuel, was left with me. They had probably done that so that I would stay home and take care of Samuel. It was a situation where both my little brother was watching me, and I was watching him. The day quickly passed. I prepared food for my brother and put him to sleep at night. He had already arrived at an age where he slept all night, so I would have time for my plans. After putting him to sleep, I looked through the window. It was a full moon night. Although it was dark, the light of the moon illuminated the camps. I quickly left the house and headed toward the lake¡­. I had left a message at our hidden place a few days ago, and And she left the confirmation yesterday at the place. She said she would go. I was very excited. It has already been a few months since we last saw each other, only the two of us that is. From week to week, we would eat at the other house. Our families had come quite close to each other in those last 3 years, and even our parents were friends. I looked around at the camps and made sure that no one saw me leaving the house. I sneaked through the woods and arrived at the lake. I looked around and saw that Alana was already there, looking around and waiting for me. She heard a noise of breaking branches and looked my way. I saw a beautiful smile appear on her face. Her smile illuminated the place even more than the full moon. She was wearing a white linen dress, that showed her curves and made her body even more beautiful. I walked to her and hugged her tightly and said. ¡°I missed you so much.¡± on her ears. She hugged me back and said. ¡°I missed you too.¡± with her blushing cheeks. There was a silence in the air, but instead of it being weird, it was comforting and warm. I grabbed her hand and said while looking to the side and rubbing my nose. ¡°Let''s swim?¡± She looked to the ground and said. ¡°Yeah..¡± She pointed to the woods and said. ¡°Lo... Look to the woods while I enter the water¡­¡± I promptly turned around and looked ahead. There was a sound of clothing falling to the ground, and of someone entering the water. I turned around and saw her clothes on the ground. She had her back to the shore, and I could see her bare back¡­ I quickly took my clothes off and entered the water. The light of the moon was reflecting on the water, making it impossible to see what was bellow. I got close to her and said while touching her shoulders. ¡°Are you going to stand in there, or are you going to swim with me?¡± I pushed some water to her head and she angrily looked at me. We began to swim around while playing. Looking like two kids and kindred spirits. There was happiness in the air. Words could not describe their emotions. After some time, we calmed down and got closer to each other. I looked down at her eyes and said. ¡°You''re beautiful you know¡­¡± She blushed and looked downwards. ¡°You are a beautiful man as well.¡± I smiled and hugged her. I could feel her naked body on mine. I lowered my head and kissed her¡­ *** I arrived home late at night. I quietly opened the door and went to my room. After drying myself and changing clothes, I laid on my bed. A million things passed through my mind. Plans for the future. A future with her. I was truly in love. I had worked with my father for many years, and the memories of my ancestors had completely awakened now. I rolled in the bed while thinking about what to do. How I would talk to my father¡­ The drams caught me, and I slept. I woke up in the morning and awakened my little brother. I prepared our dinner and waited for our parents to arrive. After 1 hour, they arrived. They had brought some things for us, I hastily opened the new books and was happy. ¡°Father, I need to have a talk with you.¡± He looked at me and said. ¡°What is it, son.¡± ¡°I want to marry Alana,¡± I said with a serious face. ¡°Craak¡± I looked to the side and saw that a vase had fallen to the ground, and my mother stood there, rooted in place. *** We had a lengthy conversation. They already knew that we were close to each other, and it was pretty normal for people to marry with my age. We agreed that they would talk about it with her parents for some time, and they would give me an answer. The crops were just collected, and it would take some time since we could plant a different seed again. But we would have to prepare the ground and put some things in it. A month passed since the day I had talked with my parents. They still haven''t said anything to me. I could barely sleep, having millions of thoughts. I decided that I would ask my father again tomorrow. Morning came, and I was already up. I waited for my parents to leave the house. Seeing them coming out, I went to my father and asked. ¡°Dad, have you talked with Alana''s parents? I need an answer.¡± he looked to my mother as if asking for permission. She nodded. He looked to me and said while putting his right hand on my shoulder. ¡°We were waiting for a special occasion, but as you are so eager to know. The answer was yes. You''re going to marry.¡± I was dazed. *** Time eventually passed. I married with Alana. The ceremony was simple but full of happiness. Our parents used some reserves and bought a small farm so that we could have our own income. We changed to our new home, and everything was a bliss. There were some fights, but not abnormal, just something normal to couples. Time passed, and we were married for three years already. She just got pregnant! We decided to have a child this year, and she stopped drinking the special tea. Her belly was already bulging, the child had eight months. Each day was better than the other. I had a wife, my own farm, and now I would have a child! I worked hard and expanded the house to create a new room for the baby. We bought some mobile for the room. The only thing that the room was missing was to be painted. I left the house toward the city to buy the color that she wanted, light green. I rode the horse and was quickly coming back at the end of the morning. I arrived at our house and shouted. ¡°HONEY, I''M HOME!¡± I entered the house and saw that she wasn''t waiting for me by the entrance. I searched the house but didn''t find her. I was becoming worried¡­ maybe she had gone to visit her parents? I looked at the setting sun on the horizon and saw a red color in the sunset¡­. There was a fire in the plantation! I grabbed a water stone and ran toward the fire. Getting closer, I could feel the heat in the air. I finally arrived in the place and was shocked b what I saw. Alana was laying on the ground. Still. And with a lot of blood surrounding her. I ran toward her, grabbing her body with my hands. I felt the coldness of her body and could only scream. I felt the heat on my surrounds scorching my skin. I had no intention to leave her alone in here. I would die with her in this burning hell. I looked at the wound in her chest and saw that she was stabbed in the heart, killing her almost instantly. Her body was curved, almost as if trying to protect something. I looked at her belly. Sorrow overwhelmed me, I didn''t only lose my wife, I lost my future baby as well. However, I saw some movement in her belly. I put my hand over it. The skin was cold, but I could feel a warmth from inside. And there was a kick! I grabbed Alana''s body and carried her away from there. The fire didn''t matter for me,the important thing was to save the baby. I ran to the city while carrying her body, and found a midwife and she took the baby out. There was a cut in Alana belly, her skin was pale due to the lack of blood, and her chest had a huge wound. I promised over her body, and with our daughter in my arms, that I would protect her. *** Two years passed, and my daughter, hope, was now two years old, and I was almost twenty. I finished painting her room alone and took care of her with all my heart since that day¡­ However, Hope was the sun in my life, I lived for that child. There was nothing that could stop me from loving her. This love was so great that I couldn''t describe it. I had watched her learn how to walk, listened to her first words, and nothing could compare to that. We were walking toward my parent''s house, to have a family dinner. When there was a sudden explosion on the horizon, everything went white. I used my body to shield Hope. Everything went black¡­. *** A woman was seated on a bed, with a big bulge on her belly. She had her legs wide open and has had a face of pain. ¡°Arghhhhh.¡± She gritted her teeth and screamed in agony. There were several people in the room, a woman was grabbing something round that was coming out between her legs. A man was holding her hand while saying. ¡°It''s gonna be fine honey. You''re almost there.¡± The woman squeezed the man''s hand even further and screamed together with him in pain. ¡°Arghhh.¡± The women around the room looked at the man screaming with his wife and shook their heads. They turned their attention back to the woman, and soon a baby was delivered! However, there was something strange. The baby was not crying, and his eyes were wide open while looking around. There was a realization in the baby eyes, and his eyes looked empty as if he had lost something precious as if he had lost all hope¡­. Chapter 1 - A new dawn The days quickly passed, and John was slowly coming to the realization of was really happening to him, he was back to the time he was born. Everything was the same, his parents, the house, the old dog that died when he was a child. Everything was repeating in the same way. Even though he didn¡¯t have the memories of when he was a baby, he could at least recognize something. If there was something that was different, it was him. He was a grown man, that had a daughter, and despite the circumstances, he was very happy to live with Hope. Now, his daughter was gone, and he didn¡¯t know if he would ever have her again. The only thing that he knew was that he have gone back in time, the why or the how was a mystery to him, but he thought everything would come to light someday. Weeks quickly passed after his birth, and then months. There was not much he could do as a baby, only eating and making poop! He was very sad because he couldn¡¯t control his own body. His legs were so weak that he couldn''t even properly stand. and his vocal strings didn¡¯t allow him to speak properly. Not that he tried in front of his parents¡­ His mother was acting very strange. Having a child that didn¡¯t behave as expected was strange, to say the least. John behaved well, and only cried when he wanted to eat or to be cleaned. The days passed and the months become years. John was now three years old. He learned how to talk and walk easily, surprising his parents. Even though he tried to make it seem natural, they were still amazed. They thought that they had a prodigy as a son. After all, John was very interested in books and in things of the adult world since little. In truth, John was trying to find an excuse to ¡°learn¡± how to read earlier. The years slowly went by, and his parents helped him in finding a teacher to learn how to read and write. He quickly ¡°learned¡± and amazed everyone in the town. He was the talk everywhere. How the parents wanted to have a child-like him and things like this. Even though John showed an intelligent mind, his father still required his help in the fields. During these years, something very strange happened. The memories of his ancestors about taking care of plants and crops awakened again! The memories were even clearer in his mind right now. The impression caused in his mind was multiplied. Although it was only memories of some man and woman taking care of the fields and of trees, it was still amazing seeing such things happening. He still planted the oak with his father when he was two years old, and took care of it every day, watching it grow, and feeling the nature from it. He was now eight years old. He was a bright, well behaved and beautiful little boy in the eyes of his parents and everyone in the village. Today was a decisive day for him. He could finally visit Alana!! her parents moved to the town this year according to what they told him, and he could finally visit them now! Since he was reborn, this was the moment that he most wanted to happen. He could finally see the love of his life again, and expend even more time with her¡­. *** I looked through the window and saw that my parents were working far in the fields. If I left home now, they wouldn¡¯t see it. I stepped out of the door and sneaked toward the road. Getting there, I followed the familiar route and walked toward the familiar road. Following the road, I could finally see the house in the distance. I was coming here in the last few days to observe, as it was around this time that they moved in, and today I could finally see some movement! There were some wagons and some people moving things into the house, and a woman holding the hand of a little girl¡­. This girl had dirty blond hair, and looked like a little angel¡­ I approached the house and got near the woman beside Alana. Getting closer to her, I said. ¡°Good morning miss. Are you moving here? Welcome to the neighborhood.¡± I said with my sweet child''s voice. There was a lot of bad things about being a child, but I could at least charm almost anyone with my cuteness. The woman looked at me and smiled sweetly. ¡°Oh¡­ What a cute little boy. Thank you! Do you live near here?¡± She asked. I nodded to her and said. ¡°I live in a house just 30 minutes walking from here, it¡¯s pretty close by.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, your parents must be very good people to raise such a charming gentleman.¡± I looked at Alana, that was curiously looking at me from behind her mother''s skirt. I smiled at her and said. ¡°Do you want to play?¡± She looked to her mother with pleading eyes, and the woman answered. ¡°You can go, but stay near the house.¡± ¡°Thanks, mom.¡± She said. I grabbed her little hand and guided her to play in the fields¡­. ***This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it The years slowly passed. The only real difference from the last life was that now, me and Alana were good friends for a long time ago. We were now almost 12 years old, and the day when the mage would test us would soon arrive. I awoke early that morning, ate breakfast with my parents and walked toward Alana''s house, to go to the test together with her. I already knew the results, so there was no surprise in it. For me, it was only a simple ceremony that would come and pass. I approached Alana¡¯s house and saw that she was waiting with her parents in the entrance. I approached them and said. ¡°Good morning.¡± Her mother smiled and replied. ¡°Hey John, bring her home after the test ends ok?¡± She didn¡¯t have much hope for a mage appearing in her family. Usually, only families that previously had a mage would manifest someone with the talent, and she was realistic. The life in the fields was the best one for her. Alana father looked to me and said. ¡°Little boy, take good care of my mother.¡± I straightened my back and answered. ¡°Of course sir. Understood miss.¡± They nodded and Alana left the house toward the village together with me. When we arrived there, some children were already waiting in line, already organized by the head. We came closer and quickly got into position. The other children arrived soon after, and they began to chat among themselves. I waited silently for the moment when the mage would arrive. After a moment, the head got up from his seat and looked toward the entrance of the village. The middle-aged mage arrived, donned in his beautiful robes. We did the same compliment as last time, and he began to test the kids. Everything was proceeding smoothly. The only kid selected was the boy from last time. My time soon arrived, and I placed my hand on the crystal, just as instructed. The crystal glowed with a small but deep green light. There was a glint in the mage eyes, he investigated the glow closely, but soon shook his head and said. ¡°You were almost there boy. Although you have low mana, you have an average affinity with the element of wood. Unfortunately, you¡¯re not going to be chosen.¡± I froze for a moment. There were no words coming out of my mouth, and the mage surely though that it was because I was not selected. The mage waved his hand while saying. ¡°NEXT¡± I left the place like a zombie and got back to my place. Alana looked at me and waved her hand in front of my face while saying. ¡°Are you alright?¡± After seeing her face, I snapped out of my daze and looked at her. She was already tested earlier and was not selected just like last time. however, she was not sad and crying. ¡°Are you alright?¡± I asked her. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± She answered. ¡°Are you not sad because you¡¯re not going to be a mage anymore?¡± ¡°Well, there are some good things here in the farms as well¡­¡± She said while looking down and hiding her face from me. I quickly understood what had changed for her. I had appeared in her life¡­ *** I arrived home, and my parents were working in the fields, just like usual. I seated on the couch and began to think about what happened in the test. It was not the same as last time! There were some things that I didn¡¯t remember due to the memories being so old, but some things were carved into your flesh, and you wouldn¡¯t forget them. The last time I was tested, my mana talent was low, just like today, but the affinity for wood was low as well!! However, the man clearly said today for having an average affinity¡­ How had those things changed? how? This was a mystery that I wouldn¡¯t know the answer unless I studied magic. Unfortunately, I was not selected to be a mage, so I couldn¡¯t learn it. I breathed deeply and calmed down. Even though this detail had changed, it didn¡¯t matter to me. I would still live my life happily with Alana, and this time I wouldn¡¯t let her die!!! The years passed, and we were still close to each other. The night when there was a full moon still happened. I married Alana, but this time, my parents answered faster than last time. The years passed, and we decided to have a child. I made sure to follow the same sequence in everything that I did, so Hope could be born again. I was very happy when I discovered that she was pregnant at the same time!! The excitement almost exploded out of my chest. The months quickly passed, and her belly was really big, being eight months pregnant. I was going to the city to buy some ink, to paint the baby room. She wanted to stay home, but I insisted and took her with me. I had never discovered who killed Alana, so I couldn¡¯t stop the origin of the event, I could only move her elsewhere so that she could be in a safe place. The day passed quickly. We bought the ink, and we were returning home. I wanted to know what happened to the farm¡­ was there a fire like last time? The people who killed her were still around? There were many questions and no answers. There was a tension in the air on the way back, and even Alana asked me if there was anything wrong. Getting near our house, I looked around and saw something that terrified me, but left me relieved. Our house had been robbed. People entered our house and took some things. Nothing too important. At least I could have some peace of mind now. After fixing the lock, I had a good night of sleep. *** I woke up the next morning, took care of the field, and after an exhausting day of work, I went to my parent''s house to visit them with Alana. We slowly walked through the fields, until we arrived in front of my parent''s house. I looked at the door, that was half opened and entered the house while saying. ¡°Dad, Mom, I''m home.¡± Alana slowly entered from behind me, and we looked around. My parents gave me no answer. I went to the living room and was shocked by what I saw. Both my parents were laying on the floor, Dead. *** A few days passed, and I took care of their burial. My mind was in chaos. Every morning I went to the fields to work like a zombie and didn''t know what to do. My parents had obviously died because of my actions. As my farm was very near theirs, the people had left my house, and after not being satisfied with what they found, they went to loot my parents. Maybe, the death of my parents would haunt me for the rest of my life, but I would have to live with it. There was no turning back now, what was done was done. *** The month slowly passed. Having a great burden made everything even harder. I was coming back from the fields when I heard a call for help. ¡°JOOHHNNNN.¡± Hearing my wife desperately calling for me, I ran like a madman to the house. Arriving in it, I knocked the door opened and saw that she was leaning on the wall, with a wet floor beneath her. ¡°The baby is about to be born.¡± She said. I quickly prepared the carriage and took her to the town. The midwife was already prepared because she knew the baby was going to be born around these days. I looked at the woman who heads helped Hope come from the world and knew that Alana was safe in her hands. The labor began, and it was quite short. After a few minutes, the baby had come out. She gave the baby to Alana, and just like in the traditions she was the first to announce the sex of the baby. We have a little boy. She smiled brightly, but my world fell around me. The impact of not having a girl was too huge on me. Where was my little Hope? Where was my little girl?.... Thankfully, everyone in the room was looking at my son and didn''t see my sorrowful expression. Alana looked at the boy and said in a lovely voice. ¡°Your name is going to be Bryan, just like your grandpa.¡± Looking at my son gave me comfort. At least I could live a happy life with my family¡­ i thought to comfort myself. *** Two years passed. We were happily living family. Even though I had lost my parents, my life was a total bliss these last two years. Raising my son together with Alana was amazing. No words could describe the happiness in my chest. I looked to the sky in thanks for everything that I had. I walked with Alana in one hand, and the little Bryan frantically walking in tiny steps in the other. The sky was blue, and the day was beautiful. There was a sudden light in the horizon. ¡°NOOOOOOO.¡± I screamed in despair. And everything went black. *** A woman was seated on a bed, with a big bulge on her belly. She had her legs wide open and has had a face of pain. ¡°Arghhhhh.¡± She gritted her teeth and screamed in agony. There were several people in the room, a woman was grabbing something round that was coming out between her legs. A man was holding her hand while saying. ¡°It''s gonna be fine honey. You''re almost there.¡± The woman squeezed the man''s hand even further and screamed together with him in pain. ¡°Arghhh.¡± The women around the room looked at the man screaming with his wife and shook their heads. They turned their attention back to the woman, and a baby was soon delivered. However, something strange happened. The baby was completely still as if he was dead. The midwife slapped the baby''s but in order to make it cry, but the slap didn''t make any effect. She even thought that the baby was dead for a moment, and checked it, getting relieved after seeing that it was alive. There were tears coming out of the baby''s eyes. He silently cried, as if he was suffering deeply¡­. Everybody was shocked by this sight. The midwife gave the baby to his mother''s arms. She looked and after confirming that it was a boy, they decided to name him John. The mother hugged him closely and said. ¡°Don''t cry little John. Mom is here with you¡­¡± Chapter 2 - A new dawn (2) I stayed still. The impact on my mind was too big. Losing my family two times in a row was a big hit for anyone. Even worse, losing a child. This time, my infancy passed quicker. The more I lived my childhood, the faster it seemed to pass. I was a quiet kid, not talking much and only enjoying the company of my parents. Every day a million thoughts passed through my head. What I would do when the killers arrived? Could I change the future? What if there were many people? These questions haunted me. I knew that the only way to stop them would be my own strength. So I trained and trained. There was not even a day when I forgot to swing my wooden sword. My memories of being a farmer awakened again, and this time the clarity of them was even higher. Each time I reawakened the genetic memories, I could recall them better. My eight years arrived, and I went out to make friends with Alana. From that day on, the only things in my head were the days to come. How would I change the future? Even if I had a child, it would disappear again. My mind was in chaos. Nothing was a surety. Would this loop repeat again? The years slowly passed. And the test was approaching again. My 12 years was surely a special age, it was when I first met Alana. Although I was 12 years old, my body was much bigger than the average. Because of my training, my hands were strong and my muscles well defined. The weapon I was training in was the scythe. I began to train with a sword, but I realized that buying one would be pretty difficult, so I used the weapon that all my ancestors handled to farm, and the results were pretty good. The genetic memories helped me to wield the scythe better. I went to the test with Alana. And everything repeats. I stepped forward to be tested again. The mage told me to put my hand on the crystal. I raised my arm and placed my hand on the crystal. It emitted a deep and ancient green light, and even the size was bigger than my last one. The mage eyes shined. He looked at me and said. ¡°You have the talent boy. Your affinity to the element of wood is pretty high, stay by my side.¡± I was frozen in place without knowing what to do¡­ I would leave the village? Why was this happening? The mage saw that I was frozen in place and probably thought that I was so shocked with happiness by hearing this that I couldn''t move. In part, that was true. But my shock came from not knowing what to do. The man waved his hand and I was levitated to the side. And the other boy who was selected was beside me. The test ended, and the mage turned toward us. ¡°Where is your family?¡± The boy beside me answered excitedly. ¡°My house is on that side.¡± The mage nodded and said. ¡°Let''s go to yours first. After that, we will visit the other one.¡± the boy beside me nodded and we were taken to the boy''s house. The mage had a brief conversation with the parents, and they agreed in the boy going. They wanted the boy to take some things, but the mage said that the college would provide everything that was needed. The boy gave his goodbyes to his parents and we went toward my house after I pointed toward it. We were arriving near my house, and my mind was in chaos. What would I do? Becoming a mage was a dream that I always had. But if I left the village, I would be giving up my future with Alana. When I thought about the future, my mind went even more chaotic. What would it matter? If everything repeated again, staying here would be meaningless. Many thoughts passed through my head, and I finally came to a decision. If there was someone that could stop this loop, it would be a mage. I was not giving up my future with Alana, I was fighting for a true future!The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. When I came to this decision, my mind calmed down. I swore that I would stop this madness, and get revenge for little Bryan and hope. When we arrived in front of my house, I turned to the mage and said. ¡°My parents are in the fields, I''ll call them.¡± the mage nodded to me, and I quickly fetched them. They had puzzled faces and wanted to know why I was calling them. When they arrived in front of the house and saw the mage, they were shocked. They quickly arrived in front of the mage and said while bowing. ¡°Welcome to our humble house.¡± I could see the fear and respect in their eyes. ¡°There is no need to be this formal. My name is Liam, and I am here to invite your son to the college of mages.¡± My parents were even more shocked after hearing that I would become a mage¡­ They nodded their heads repeatedly, unconditionally agreeing with me going straight away. They also tried to pack my things but were rejected by the mage. Just as we left the house, I could see a figure running toward us. The petite silhouette ran toward me and I gave her a tight hug. I looked into her eyes and said. ¡°I¡­.I''ll have to leave.¡± I said in a low tone of voice. Tears appeared in her eyes, but instead of making a sad face, a smile as bright as the sun appeared. I was stunned for a moment¡­. So many years living and knowing someone, and the person can still surprise you. ¡°You don''t need to worry, I''ll be fine¡± I looked into her eyes, took a deep breath and said. ¡°You are my best friend, you are the person I love the most. We are destined to be together, and one day we will have a family.¡± Turning around, I left the place toward the mage. Liam took a carriage from his pack, don''t ask me how he did it. And we departed. *** Alana stood in place, with John''s words reverberating in her mind. A Deja Vu of a man saying that to her appeared in her mind, but it suddenly vanished. ¡°I''ll wait for you.¡± *** The boy beside me was very excited, making many questions about the academy and how we would proceed. The mage explained many things to the boy, Ron, but John didn''t hear anything, as his mind was elsewhere. The day quickly passed, and they went through 5 more villages. From all of them, only one child was chosen. It was a girl with an affinity for the concept of water. The girl, whose name was Imir, had blue eyes and dark hair. Very different from the people in my village. I had a mental age of 52 years, but I truly looked like a child now. There were many wonders that I saw during the trip around the villages. It seemed that my village was truly backward, it didn''t have any of the things that the other villages had. Those things were magical stones that could clean the body and the clothes without taking a shower. Tools to prepare the fields that plotted the land, and many things like this. These tools made the life of these people much easier and were surely wonderful. After taking Imir. There was no more village that the mage would visit. The examiners had at most 7 villages, and in Liam case, 6. From here on, our destination was the capital! ¡°Sir.¡± I turned to Liam while he was reading a book and the other children talked. ¡°Can I have a book about magic to read as well?¡± I made my best puppy eyes and asked. I saw that he was reading a book about advanced rune applications. If he had one, why not two books? He looked at me in surprise and nodded his head after some time. ¡°What a studious boy.¡± He thought and nodded. Liam took a book from the little bag on his side and gave it to me. i received the book and looked at his bag with wonder in my eyes. How could that little bag carry so much stuff? It was not a woman purse after all. He saw that I was looking at his purse and realized why. He patted it and said. ¡°This bag is enchanted with space runes and formations. Because of this, the space inside can carry many things.¡± ¡°Runes and formations?¡± I asked. ¡°Read the book and you''ll know what they are.¡± I nodded and looked at the book title. ¡®An introduction to magic¡¯, the title was simple, but it surely told the reader what the book was about. Although we were in a carriage, there was no animals pulling it, and one in the direction. When Ron asked earlier, Liam only said that it was enchanted and that we would understand it better soon. I eagerly opened the book and began to read. The introduction talked about the author and his achievements. After going through it, I realized that I didn''t know the importance of his achievements, after all, I didn''t know what that was about. I opened the next page and read. ¡°Mana is the essence of the world, it is what keeps the order of everything, and keeps the material world from falling apart. But what is mana? To explain this, we must have in mind that everything, living or not, is involved and related to mana in some way¡­.¡± The words of the author resonated in my mind. Every word and every phrase amazed me even more. He had such a concise and vast knowledge, that everything was becoming clear to him. He gave a second look at the author name ¡®Elias Campbell¡¯. He keeps reading the book while the children were chatting. ¡°How long will it take to arrive at the capital?¡± Asked Imir. Liam lowered his book and said. ¡°We will arrive there in two days.¡± He turned his attention back to the book, giving a clear signal not to be interrupted again. Imir sighed and adjusted her position to sleep. Night arrived and the next day passed. John was entranced by the book and its contents. Many things became clear to him. Things like runes, that were totally hidden in a thick fog before, were now like a thin mist. He at least could comprehend that runes were written representations of the concepts, and mages used the runes in order to enhance the use of their concepts. Using runes and not was like the difference between trying to break a lock using brute force and simply opening it with the right key. You could still use concepts like fire, earth, star and many more without runes, but if you used them, they could be used in many more different ways. One of the examples was the concept of motion that was applied to the chariot, in order to make it move. Even if the mage, Liam, that was using the chariot didn''t know shit about the concept of motion. Some mage invented a way to power the runes without knowing the specific concept a long time ago. I also learned that formations were conglomerates of runes. They wrote a lot of runes in sequence in order to have a specific effect. The runes don''t need to be from the same concept. There was a study camp named runesmithing. They used the runes from varied concepts in order to make more powerful and varied formations. I was truly like a frog at the bottom of the well, seeing only a small part of the sky above me. The book also talked about the nine tiers that existed, and that even warriors that cultivated Ki instead of mana also had nine tiers. It was a wonderful new world that was opened to me by this book. I learned that mages could even be immortal when they reached the ninth tier. I devoured the book and learned many things, and just like this, time passed. ¡°Hey boy, wake up.¡± Liam shook me. I lazily opened my eyes and said. ¡°I''m up.¡± I straightened my back and looked forward. ¡°We are arriving.¡± he said while pointing to the window. I couldn''t see what was outside because the others were blocking the view. I squeezed myself between them and looked through the window. ¡°WOW¡± My mouth was wide open and I didn''t even have words to describe what was in front of me. Chapter 3 - A new dawn (3) The city was simply gigantic. Giant towers that touched the sky were everywhere. Many different vehicles were on the streets. And I could feel the mana in the air. This city was simply amazing! While the carriage went through the street, everyone was glued to the window looking at these amazing sights. Every one of the kids is the carriage were country bumpkins. They have never seen such an amazing city. The carriage passed through the streets and Liam said. ¡°This is the city of Hestia. Our college is located near the center of the city. Although the campus doesn''t have those big buildings, our facilities have no equal. You''ll see when we get there.¡± They nodded they heads like idiots and kept looking around. I seated and waited while my eyes were shining in excitement. After a long 30 minutes of going through the city, the excitement of the others died down and they seated. Even after the others seated, they didn''t reach their destination. They passed through a part of the city full of might manors, with a pompous air around them. Liam looked at the manors with disgust. I realized the look in his eyes and asked. ¡°Is something wrong sir?¡± He averted his eyes from the street, gazed at the sky and said. ¡°There are rich people in the school, try not to provoke them.¡± I was shocked by what he said. Rich people? In the village I was in there were only some people that were well of, but not rich. I didn''t fully get what he said to me, but I remembered his advice. I have lived for long now, so I knew that was better to learn through advice than through suffering. After passing through the pompous district, the carriage stopped. ¡°We have arrived.¡± He said while opening the door and getting out of the carriage. The kids stepped out in a hurry, and I was the last one to get out. I bumped in one of the kids that was frozen in place. I looked ahead and saw why. Countless crystals floated around the entrance and an immense area, forming a formless shield, that could only be from time to time. There were many buildings in the entrance and many more inside of it. Various youngsters were walking all over the place wearing robes. There was a lively atmosphere in the place, full of life. It was obvious that this place was special. No walls were surrounding it as if the college was trying to give the message that freedom was one of its precepts. We arrived at what looked like the entrance. Many people were coming in and out through this great archway. Liam retracted his carriage and said. ¡°Follow me.¡± We walked through the gate while looking around. After passing through the archway. The mana around the place was even stronger. I looked closely at the archway and saw that numerous formations were inscribed on it. Magic was truly everywhere in this place! ¡°Normally only someone who has a special badge can enter the college. You have entered because I have a special badge who can authorize recruits to enter with me.¡± They nodded while looking around. ¡°We will receive a badge, sir?¡± I asked. ¡°You will in a short time.¡± We walked through the campus and soon reached a big building. It had a greek style, with great columns and different statues. After getting it, we saw that many students were waiting in line with guides, just like us. They were being tested again, and a bag and a robe was given to them. I looked at the crystals and saw that they only had a bigger mana than us, but their affinities were weaker. I waited in line with the group and our turn arrived after some time. An old man that was attending turned to us and said. ¡°You''re back Liam, got some talents from the countryside for us?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°You can check old man,¡± Liam answered with a smile on his face. The old man nodded and instructed us to place our hands in the crystal, just like in the test. The boy from my village placed his hand and his affinity was shown, having a high affinity for the element of wind. Everyone from our group had a high affinity and low mana. The low mana came from the fact that we lived in an area with low mana, however, affinities were not something that could be explained, is an inborn quality. The old man nodded and said to Liam. ¡°You have found some very talented kids this year.¡± He looked at us and said. ¡°You have the talent boys and little lady, the other part is on you.¡± After saying this, the old man gave us a bag that had runes inscribed around it. ¡°pierce your fingers with this needle and let a drop of blood fall on the bag.¡± We followed his instructions and I could feel a connection with the bag, and feel the space inside of it. ¡°Wow.¡± Imir said. My reaction was not much different from hers. But I stopped my mouth from opening in amazement. ¡°Think about the item and it will come out. Now, think about the badge that is inside.¡± I turned my attention to the bag and did as instructed. The badge appeared on my hand. My eyes widened in surprise. ¡°This badge is going to guide you toward your room. The necessary books and clothes are inside of the bag as well. The clothes have an auto cleaning function, so there is no need to bother yourselves with these miscellaneous things.¡± He stopped a bit and looked around to see if we had understood. ¡°The classes begin after 3 days, you can eat at the cafeteria at 6 am, 11:30 am and 6 pm. You can tap the badge two times and it will guide you to the cafeteria, tap on it three times and it will show the way to your specific classroom. Now, come here and sign your names at this form.¡± Everyone stepped forward and signed their names. After everyone finished, the old man smiled at us and said. ¡°Welcome to the Hestia magical college.¡± *** Liam dismissed us and I used the badge to find my room. The inside of the building seemed to be much bigger than outside, I wondered for a moment if there was magic at play, then I remembered that we were in a magical college. I took the elevator to the 859 floor. I looked at the number and was amazed, the building was not so big, but there were so many floors on it. The badge guided me by emitting light to indicate the direction. And even when I got to the elevator, it showed me the number by firing a laser. Truly a wonderful tool. After the elevator arrived at my floor, I stepped out of it. I looked back in amazement. I only learned how to use it because a senior was coming out when I was trying to get in and explained to me. There were no windows on the floor I was in. Only countless doors. I followed the badge and arrived in front of a door. There was no handle on it, and no lock. There was only a symbol in the middle of it. The same symbol that the badge had, a strange rune. I looked at the badge and realized that it should go in there. I placed the badge over that symbol and the door slowly opened. I opened the door with expectations, eager to see what my room looked like. ¡­¡­.. There was no surprise. The room was quite small, it only had a bed, a table, and a chair to study, and a magical lamp above the table. There was also a small bathroom and a window beside the table. For a magical college, the rooms were just to plain¡­. I get rid of that thought and looked over the books in my bag. My eyes shone in excitement and I eagerly placed them on the table. *** I didn''t leave my room that night. I had already eaten some lunch in the carriage and was satisfied. My hunger for knowledge was even bigger than my hunger for food. Even though I had seen amazing things and wonderful sights, my objective was still on my mind. To save my family. That was the reason I came to the college, and that was the reason why I would study like there was no future, because, for me, there truly wasn''t. The first book that I looked over was ¡®mana cultivation: learning how to get powerful¡¯ the book ¡®Introduction to magic¡¯ that I had read on the trip only talked about some things but didn''t say how to use or do them. And this book was my first step to power. I had a low mana. This meant that despite my natural talent, the innate mana in my body was pretty low. Everyone''s body was born with mana, and this mana could be bigger or smaller. Depending on how big your innate mana was, the speed you could cultivate mana and achieve high tiers was different. Someone with middle mana could cultivate 4 times faster than someone with low mana, and someone with high mana could cultivate 10 times faster than someone with low mana. The difference was staggering. If I didn''t grab the opportunity and began to cultivate right away, I would lose the opportunity to get powerful. Mana talent was a characteristic that depended on the region where you were from. If the region you lived had low mana, you would be born with low mana, but if the region where you were born had high mana concentration, you would be born with high mana talent. The book didn''t say anything about it, but I realized that the rich had a big advantage, because they could enjoy areas with a high concentration of mana. Or maybe even send the pregnant woman while the baby was growing to regions like this. I dismissed these thoughts of my head and began to read the book eagerly. *** The book talked about how one could gather and refine mana inside their bodies, and the basic way to feel their mana. Feeling their mana was the first step that someone had to take before becoming a mage. Controlling your innate mana was a necessity. I seated on the bed and began to meditate. I turned my attention to the inside. Most of the time, humans had their perception directed to the outside, looking for danger, it was an instinct made for protection. Changing this was something hard, but the book described a well-known self-hypnosis that allowed this perception to turn to the inside. I did just as the book instructed and could finally feel the mana! My innate mana was thin and scattered all over my body. Although my innate mana was not strong, I could still cultivate and became stronger, the difference in cultivation speed only mattered in the first tier, after it, it was up to the mage to advance. I didn''t try to cultivate and only got used to feeling my mana for the rest of the night. My mind slowly wandered and fell to sleep. *** I woke up in the morning and saw that I still had time to go eat breakfast in the cafeteria. I left the room and tapped on the badge two times. I followed the light and finally arrived in the place. Many students were already there eating. However, there was no one to serve and no place to get food. I seated by one of the empty tables to wait for someone to serve me, however, I had a big surprise when I seated. A magic menu was floating in front of me. There were many options for it. My eyes were wide open by the magic menu. I heard some laughter and turned my head to the side. I saw that some seniors were laughing while looking at my reactions. I turned my attention back to the menu and choose the third option, cereal with milk and fruits. Just as I picked the option, a tray with the things I asked for appeared¡­.. I picked the spoon and tasted the cereal. Delicious! Chapter 4 - A new dawn (4) I finished my meal and returned to my room. many things were on my mind, however, I had to focus on being the best. Many people obviously had some kind of advantage over me. my own advantage would be my hard work! I came back to the room and seated on the chair. I looked at the curtain that was over the window. I had ignored the view because I was focused on the books, but I turned my attention to the window. I took the curtain out of the way, and the sunlight entered through it. "WOW" My mouth unconsciously opened and I was amazed by the sight. There was a huge forest that extended to the horizon, many strange and exotic birds were flying through the air and many different animals. I was amazed by it. How could there be a forest outside my window if I was inside the building, and there was no forest out there? How could they do this? I took a closer look at the window and saw that many runes were inscribed on it. They were so tiny that I had to get close to see it. The amazement was even greater now. Those mysterious runes¡­ could I learn how to use them as well? I looked at one of the books that was on my table ''Introduction to runes''. The path was laid before me, I just had to take it. I eagerly opened the book and began to read it. I decided that I would spend the rest of the morning and the noon reading it, and would cultivate at night. Each page that I read was a new world appearing before me! Runes had more used than I thought! Runes were the written form of concepts. there existed many tiers of concepts and the primordial ones. The original concepts were the four elements: water, fire, air, and earth. The four laws: Space, time, light and darkness. And the two aspects: Life and death. These ten original or primordial concepts were the ones that gave birth to every other one. The concept of sand was the fusion of the elements of wind and earth, and a tier 2 concepts. If a concept was a primordial concept, it was tier 1. If it was formed by two primordial concepts, it was tier 2, and if there was more than 2, it was tier 3. The tier of the concept didn''t mean power, but how hard it would be to master. The higher the concepts, the harder to master. however, the laws and aspects were as hard to master as high tiered concepts, even if they were tier 1 concepts. I learned from the book these things and more. There was a specific rune to each concept in existence, and to learn them, you had to have a basic comprehension of all the primordial concepts. There was a total of 6 levels to each concept. They were mortal, domain, earth, sky, heaven, and universe. Mortal was the lowest level, and the Universe was the highest. each level was divided into low, middle, high and peak. To learn the runes, you had to have at least a low mortal comprehension of the primordial concepts. In theory, that was an easy thing, after all, getting the introductory level as they called low mortal was pretty easy, but the truth was not like that. The affinities of a person dictated that they had an easier time comprehending a concept, but the ones on the other side of the spectrum became harder to learn. An example, I had an affinity for the concept of wood, that was formed by the aspect of life and the elements of earth and water. If I tried to comprehend the elements of fire and wind, and the aspect of death, I would have a harder time due to my affinity. Many apprentices couldn''t surpass the limitation of their affinities and never learned how to use runes to their fullest. Many apprentices struggled to learn how to use runes, only to fail. Concepts were limited in use. They could mostly be used in combat, however, runes and formations could be used anywhere, for almost anything! This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. You wanted a flying machine? Done! With runes, you could build it! You wanted to construct a magic carriage or a building that had a bigger space inside than outside? You could also do that! The only limitation to runes was the power source. You could inscribe them, but you needed a power source to make the formations work. An example would be the magical carriage of Leam, he must have been powering it while he was inside. There was still no cheap source of magic energy that could fuel formations and make humans take the next step in rune smithing. However, these things were not my concern, for now, I should focus and study the book in front of me. All this introductory information could be left for later. *** I studied the rest of the day and meditated at night. In the book about mana cultivation, it said that at some point, you could substitute sleep with meditation, but I was obviously not at that level yet. I woke up early in the morning, took a shower and wore the school uniform. I tapped the badge three times and followed its direction. I walked through the many buildings of the school, imagining what amazing things could be inside of them. Many students were walking on the streets by now, some of them even had some magic bags floating behind them, or even were seating on a magical chair that was floating around while taking them where they wanted. After a few minutes, I finally arrived in front of a big building. There was a statue of a woman reading a book in front of the entrance, and the big wooden door behind her was wide open. I followed the badge and finally arrived in front of a door. There were many people entering the other classes. I opened the door and entered. There were many chairs all over the classroom, organized in lines. A big blackboard was in the front, with a table and a chair. I saw that there were already some students in there, and between them, was Imir. I seated on the first chair and waited. Others shortly arrived, and the class was full after a few minutes. everyone was talking in the class. Imir, who was seated beside me said. "Hey, your name is John right?" I nodded and answered. "Yes, and you are Imir if I''m not wrong." "Nervous for the first day?" "A bit, and you?" Before she answered, the door was opened and everyone turned their attention to the door. A middle-aged woman entered through the door. She was wearing a purple robe, full of strange runes, she had a powerful air around her. She walked to the front of the board and seated on the table while looking around at the students. Her eyes passed through each one of us and after a while, she said. "Welcome to the first year of the Hestia magical college. My name is Ana Darksky, and I will be your teacher this year." Everyone respectfully nodded to her and she got up. She walked to the board and said. "Open the book ''Introduction to magic''." She began to talk about basic topics, and explain the bases of magic, just like in the book. I could see that most of the students didn''t read the book before coming to class. I asked her some of my doubts and many things were made clear to me! Reading a book and understanding it are two different things. It was obvious to me that I didn''t have the necessary base to truly understand these books. I was reading while struggling to understand them! Even if I had a bigger mental age and was more mature than the other kids around me, I was born and raised on a farm. I had some knowledge that was acquired through reading, but the books that I had contact with were mostly stories and books about farming. These new names and stuff were very complicated for my uneducated, but I would work hard and resolve all of my doubts. Most of the students only heard what the teacher said, and what was shown on the magic board. The board could project images that made understanding everything easier. The class went on through all morning, and she spoke about many subjects, they were: Introduction to magic, Magical alchemy, and magic creatures. All of them had their own uses, mainly magic creatures. According to what the teacher said, the magic creatures rarely left their lairs. However, the most precious resources were in their lairs. Knowing them was important because mages would need resources to create potions or rituals. And these resources were with the creatures. Everything that the teacher said was honey to my ears. I absorbed everything that I could and took notes to read the material that would be studied the next day. And like this, my magical studies began. *** The week passed, and now, on the last day of the week, the most awaited class would begin. Teacher Darksky said that today we would receive guidance on how to cultivate mana properly and how concepts could be used. The second part was only to show us the importance of concepts, we would not learn anything. Today, instead of being in class, we were in one of the training hall of the building. The place was huge. There were many targets and contraptions to help in learning how to properly wield mana. We were seated on the ground, organized in groups of three. My group had Imir and Ron. Mister Darksky stepped in front of the class and said. "Today, I will show you how to refine mana and reinforce your cultivation. The purpose of being in groups is for later activity." She looked around and saw that everyone nodded in understanding. "Who here already followed my instruction and can already perceive the innate mana of your bodies?" When she asked this, everyone in the class raised their hands. She nodded and continued. "Well, let''s see how well you can feel it." "To go up in tiers and get stronger, you have to refine the natural mana in the air around us. The first thing you have to do is to use your innate mana and grab at the natural mana." While saying this, she released a ball of mana of two different colors, one green, and one blue. "Imagine that the green mana in the natural mana and the blue one is my innate mana." After saying this, the blue sphere surrounded the green mana and began to "spin" and "burn" the green mana inside of it, making it become blue as well. "The natural mana around us already has an inherent concept to it. We cannot absorb it naturally like this, so we have to get rid of this natural element through the refining techniques known as mix and burn. The spin is the process of slowly infiltrating your own mana and conversing the natural mana into your own, and the burn is the process of forcefully spurging the concept from the mana." After saying this, the blue sphere disappeared. "Normally, mana can''t be seen. Only at a higher level, it''s possible for you to see it, or for you to make it visible. Now, you can try and refine the mana." Everyone nodded and began to follow the steps just like the teacher instructed. I used my internal mana and grabbed at the natural mana around me. In these last few days, I had refined my control over my mana. Feeling it was the first step, and after it, controlling was only a matter of time. My classmates were struggling around me. The teacher had only instructed them to train for this class two days ago, so they didn''t have much time to work on it. I slowly refined the mana in the air. The process was so slow because of my own low mana, something that everything in this class also had, after all, everyone in here was from some far-away place. They preached freedom in the college but didn''t put the country bumpkins like us together with the rich people in the school. I concentrated in the mana and kept refining it¡­. Chapter 5 - Hard work Everyone in the class tried to refine the natural mana, but only a few were successful. It was a boring process that required a lot of attention and hard work. After guiding the students for some time, Ana clapped her hands to have everyone''s attention. "Now that you have taken your first step into the world of magic, I''ll show you something interesting." After saying this, she waved her hand and a dark sphere appeared on it. "The mana that is refined by mages had no concept, it is neutral. However, someone can understand a concept and apply it to their mana, showing the properties of the concept." After saying this, she waved her hand again and the entire room became dark. Nothing could be seen. Ana''s voice resounded through the room. "I can use the concept of darkness. applying it with my mana, I can use this ability, the darkroom, where only I can see what is happening." light came back and I could see everything again. "I can also create darkness arrows, swords, balls, and many other kinds of attacks." A dark arrow appeared above her hand, and she launched it toward one of the training dummies. The dummy was corroded until there was nothing left. "the mana gains the property of the concept you put in it. this is just an example of what your mana can become!¡± The dark mana surrounding her changed, and it got a silver hue. ¡°The transformations of mana can be infinite. there are no limits to it, only we can put a limit to ourselves.¡± everyone in class was amazed by her show. It was truly amazing to see how mana could be used! This was also a reminder that we were not here only to learn how to be scholars, but also to learn how to fight! Just imagining her dark mana corroding someone was a terrible thought. ¡°From now on, you have to reflect on the nature of your affinities. How it¡¯s formed, what is used to nurture it, and everything related to it. There are many ways to learn and master a concept, but each person has a journey to make.¡± There was a mysterious light in her eyes. Each word she said had power and firmness. ¡°After class, you can go to the library to get some books about the concept or concepts your affinity is related to. Now, you¡¯re dismissed.¡± After saying this, she left the place and everyone went toward the library. It was our first time going there, after all, until now all the books that we needed were already in our possession. After asking some seniors and workers, we finally arrived in front of the library. It was a tower that looked like a pillar holding the heavens. There was a quietness around the place as if the birds, insects, and nature itself had chosen to stay quiet. There was a big archway in the entrance and this phrase written in big letters ¡°Knowledge can take you anywhere¡± Some dismissed this phrase as something normal, but I thought otherwise. Knowledge in the magic world meant power, and power really could take you anywhere. The limits could only be imposed by yourself. The students from my class eagerly entered the library, and everyone was instantly amazed by the sight. It was like the tower truly expanded to the infinity when you looked up. There was an elevator by the side to take you up, to what I could see was private booths, and there was a young man behind a balcony at the entrance. shelves were pilled one after the other, filling the place with books. The young man turned to us and said. ¡°Welcome to the great library, any information you can imagine can be found here.¡± with a smile on his face. Everyone was excited and went forward to ask the man for the information that we needed. ¡°Please, organize yourself and let one come at a time.¡± The class quickly formed a line and began to ask for the books for the man. Imir was in front of me and was impatiently hitting the floor with her right foot.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I shook my head and ignored it. The line moved pretty quickly. It seemed that the librarian really knew how to do his job. After a few minutes, my turn arrived. ¡°Hi little mage, how can I help you?¡± I looked in his eyes and said. ¡°I have an affinity for the concept of wood, I would like some books that could help me understand it.¡± ¡°hmm¡­ we have a very huge collection here¡­ you see, the concepts that form wood are water, earth, and life. The books about them are many¡­. I¡¯ll get you the collection that has most to do with wood.¡± The librarian turned around and placed his hand on a crystal. It glowed for a moment, and the man looked up. I followed his eyes and saw that some books left the shelves and floated down. He grabbed five different books and pilled them in front of me. ¡°Here are the books boy, have a good reading.¡± He said while smiling. I was about to turn and leave the library when I asked him. ¡°How can I go to one of these booths to study?¡± He looked up and smiled at me. ¡°These booths are only available for some special people, after all, they have advanced knowledge that is not available to everyone. If you are the winner of the tournament at the end of the year, you can go there. If you are the person to contribute the most that is.¡± I nodded and left the place, asking myself about what this tournament was about. *** I took the books to my room and concentrated on reading them. They had many things that were hard for me to understand, and I had to consult with other books very often to get what they meant. I was worried about both my parents and Alana¡­ How they were? Was Alana in love with someone else? These things began to take my concentration and I got rid of these thoughts and kept studying and meditating. The weekend passed quickly. There were so many things to study and learn that I didn¡ät know where to begin. The book that I read about concepts only gave me an introduction to what I could learn, only a glimpse of a bigger world. After the weekend, I could feel that I had gathered some mana. My cultivation had advanced for a bit. Albeit the degree was small, it was better than nothing. I went to class again at the beginning of the week. Imir arrived a bit after I did and asked me. ¡°What did you do on the weekend?¡± I looked at her blue eyes and answered. ¡°I studied.¡± She saw that I didn¡¯t want to talk and seated quietly. After a moment of awkwardness, she said. ¡°You could at least try to interact with the other students a bit. It would be good for you.¡± I opened my mouth to answer her, but the teacher entered the classroom and I lost my opportunity. The class followed the same schedule as last week. We would learn things slowly and part by part. The teaching methods of Ana were amazing. I didn¡¯t know if I thought that because the only other teacher that I had was the village head, but even so, her explanations were incredible. When the clock arrived at midday, the classes were over. The students began to gather their materials, but just before everyone began to leave the class, Ana said. ¡°Everyone, I have something to say.¡± The students obediently stopped what they were doing and looked at her. ¡°As you know, your class is composed of students that came from the countryside, and has a good talent with concepts.¡± Everyone nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s speak truthfully, the college awaits great things from you. You are being groomed by us not for charity, but for greater things. Most of you don¡¯t know, but from the second year on, if you want to study in the college for free, you have to sign a contract saying that you are willing to work for the college for 4 years after graduation.¡± The room was silent. Everyone here came from a backward place, and never had a proper education. Most only learned to read and write properly, which already was a great thing for many people in my town. Working for 4 years was nothing to everyone in this room, after all, leaving the countryside was already the best opportunity that we had. ¡°There are other classes that pay to study in here. Many of these people are from rich families or are nobles. They have a history with magic and a great inheritance in magic. They see you as mere leeches, sucking the school.¡± The eyes of the children were a little perturbed. Hearing this was not good. ¡°Many of you must be asking. Why is she saying this? Does she want to rub the truth in our faces? To answer those, No, I am not doing this for pleasure or to make fun of you. We have a thing called an internal tournament. A moment where the classes from each year dispute for the position of best class. The tournament happens at the end of the year, and the best class receives many special resources in the next year. These resources can change whether someone can become a great mage or not.¡± She gave a look around the class and continued. ¡°I am telling you this now because you still have a whole year to study and at least achieve something.¡± She took a deep breath and said. ¡°To tell you the truth, winning the tournament is not something easy, but not something impossible as well. You can do it, you only have to work hard.¡± ¡°You will be seen as the worst in the tournament, show them that you are the elite instead! Dismissed!¡± Everyone stood there for a moment while Ana left the class, everyone quietly got out of the classroom. The message that she wanted to pass to us was clear. Work hard or be scum! We were here receiving things from the school, and we were not giving anything back. The ones that paid saw us as scum, so we would have to show them otherwise. After eating, I got back to my room and studied even harder! After what she said, I think everyone in class will be motivated. I kept studying like mad. There was nothing more interesting to me than acquiring new information. I knew that I was shutting myself to many things, however, I had to stay focused on what I wanted to do. Would it truly matter to make friends if everything was going to repeat, and nobody was going to remember anything? Even Alana wouldn¡¯t know who I was if I didn¡¯t introduce myself or went after her in some way. It was a sad thing to be alone, but it was even harder to lose everything that was important to you. Sometimes, I passed by groups, and they were laughing and joking around. Imir tried to talk to me sometimes during class, but I only briefly talked to her and tried not to get too close. And just like this, two months passed. It was already April, and everyone in the class had progressed somewhat. Although we barely advanced in manipulating mana itself, the students easily advanced in terms of concepts! This was this class strength! Chapter 6 - Vicissitudes of life Monday, 9 am, 3rd cycle. Classroom. Everyone was anxiously looking around. Today, we would show miss Ana how much we had progressed in using concepts. Miss Darksky entered the classroom while looking at the excited students. They were eager to show how much they had learned. I, for a matter, also wanted to know if my evolution was average or not. Talent matters when we talk about understanding concepts and although hard work could make up for it, it was harder to advance. Everyone in this class, even if we were born in the countryside, had high-grade affinity with their concepts at least. To be accepted in this prestigious school, the student should at least posses a basic affinity, low-grade in other words. Many rich students had high-grade mana and low-grade affinity. They were pretty talented in mana cultivation but had a hard time in getting enlightenment on concepts. And my class had an easy time comprehending the concepts, but to truly embark on the path of cultivation was hard. To get to the second tier, we would have to work a hundred times what they would have. We arrived at a training hall. Miss Darksky organized us in lines, and we began to show what we learned in these last few months. Imir saw that nobody wanted to take the initiative to go first and stepped forward. Arriving in front of Miss Darksky, she bowed to her and began to demonstrate her concepts. She had a good affinity for the concept of water. She released her mana and used the water concept to transform it, creating spheres of water around her. The spheres rotated for a moment and began to spin like drills. Imir began to sweat because of the great effort, and she turned toward one of the training dummies and attacked it with her water drills. After a moment, the dummy was full of small holes, and a small smile appeared on the exhausted face of Imir. I looked at her and saw that she was truly exhausted. The attack was powerful, but her mana was so small that she could only do it one time. It looked like her comprehension of the water concept was leaning toward the destructive force of water¡­. I thought about what I have learned and remembered that my understand was more about nurturing and how water was essential to life. Imir used the concept of water as her main concept, while I used it in a complementary form. My understanding only helped my own concept of wood. Even the books that I read about only talked about one part of the concept of water. Just like many things in the world, concepts had many facets. The destructive power was one side, and the nurturing side was another. I looked around and saw that no one wanted to go after her, so I stepped forward and stood before the training dummy. I concentrated the little mana that I had and used my understanding of the concept of wood to make some branches of energy. I extended my hand and the branches wrapped the dummy, and slowly penetrated it with some thorns while squeezing it. After the branches disappeared, the dummy was bent and full of holes. I nodded after seeing that my concept could do some good damage, and returned to the back. I was truly exhausted after making that attack. My chest was heaving, and my face was pale. This was one of the things that the class had to work on. Getting our mana reserves to a good enough state. The students stepped forward and began to show their concepts one after the other. The of this class were truly talented but were all one-time cannons. Using your concept was a good thing, but only using one time and being exhausted was not. After everyone in the class demonstrated their progress, Miss Darksky nodded her head and said: ¡°That¡¯s pretty good, but not good enough.¡± She looked around at the students. ¡°Let me ask you a simple question. After attacking only once, what will you do? stand there and wait to die? The students from other classes don¡¯t have the talent in concepts like you do, but at least they can hold longer in a fight.¡± Her words reached the class and smashed our pride like a hammer. ¡°Train harder, and meditate more. From now on, great things are expected from you guys.¡± After saying this, she began to say some tips about how to use our mana with more efficiency and did some exercises that would help us in managing it. One of the exercises was to form a sphere of mana, and rotate it to the right, and suddenly trying to reverse the direction to where it was spinning. The exercise looked simple, but each time the mana sphere stopped abruptly, the mana dispersed due to our lack of control. We did the exercise until the end of the class, and she helped us with mastering it faster. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. The months passed quickly, and we followed the routine. I studied about runes, alchemy, biology, literature, history, and mana control. The subjects were diverse but would serve as the base for the following years. I enjoyed studying about runes and alchemy the most. Using everything in the world to create a potion that could kill or make a big explosion was every men dream. The subjects of biology, literature, and history were passable. Although I didn¡¯t enjoy studying them, I still had to work hard. One month after beginning to train in mana control, Miss Darksky paired us up, and we began to train with each other while using our concepts to fight. My pair was Imir. She looked like a pretty girl, but she could use the soft concept of water to cut better than a blade or to smash someone harder than a club. Imir was truly a genius in fighting and controlling mana. She could wield mana with such finesse that I was speechless at her talent. She was the first one to master the first exercise that Miss Darksky thought us, and she began to learn more advanced ones ahead of the class. The days quickly passed. My understands of the concept of wood was slowly advancing. I had gotten the water and earth concepts to the mortal level. But training with the concept of life was much harder. I understood that life was one of the hardest concepts to understand. Although it was all around us, we couldn¡¯t grasp it properly. Life was in everything, and all depended on it. However, how could I truly understand it? I could see earth and water, and even feel them. But life was different. It was already June, two months quickly passed. I was seated in my chair and studying hard about alchemy while doing some mana control exercise with my other hand. Miss Ana said something that made the whole class focus on control. The other students had a bigger mana reserve, and the affinity couldn¡¯t make such a big difference in one year. So, the only way to defeat the other classes was to have better control of your mana! The smaller the mana, the easier it was to control. An example would be, is it easier to control a horse or to guide a herd? Controlling smaller quantities was always easier. If we took our time doing the exercises and improving both the quantity and the control we had over mana, our advantage would soar. I finished the chapter about reagents and closed the book. I straightened my clothes and headed toward the dining hall. I could see many students coming and going through the streets, but most of them ignored me and kept walking. The seniors didn¡¯t care about our existence. however, the same was not true with the students from the same year as us. Arriving near the dining hall, I heard a noise coming from the garden near it. I looked around and saw that most of the students were seated and eating, segregated in groups like always. I walked toward the noise and saw an interesting scene. A young man with an aquiline nose, blond hair, and gray eyes were looking directly at Imir while being surrounded by a group. He said. ¡°So you¡¯re the famous prodigy of the shabby class¡­ not so bad.¡± Even though she was surrounded and being intimidated by these thugs, she stood her ground and answered. ¡°What do you want? I¡¯ll not waste my precious time with scum.¡± With a somber look in her eyes. The boy¡¯s face contorted and he said. ¡°Pretty fierce, aren¡¯t you? Here is the deal. You stay out of m way and out of the competition, and you can have a good life at the college. I can even show some kindness to a pretty girl¡­ however, defy me and you¡¯ll suffer consequences.¡± Imir smirked and said. ¡°Ohh, so the nobles are scared of the scum? very funny.¡± She looked around at the people surrounding her and said. ¡°You¡¯re so scared that you don¡¯t even have the courage to confront me on your own. What courage do you have!¡± A hateful look appeared in the boy''s eyes and he said. ¡°Even though we can¡¯t use mana to attack you, as per the rules, the same does not apply to our fists.¡± He said this and punched her in the gut. Imir bent forward and she opened her mouth while trying to breathe for air. ¡°Let¡¯s give her a lesson boys, but don¡¯t hit her pretty face. I don¡¯t want to damage her pretty looks.¡± He said while looking down at her. The other boys rolled their sleeves and stepped forward to assault her. I looked at what was about to happen and made up my mind to stop this madness. These were young children that only knew how to depend on their parents. I couldn¡¯t only look and do nothing. ¡°HEY, I CALLED THE TEACHERS! THEY ARE COMING.¡± I shouted while approaching them. The boys fearfully looked around and began to disperse after hearing what I said. Although they were kids, I was also one right now. Even if I knew how to fight with my fists, I could do nothing against so many people, the best option that I had was to use my wits to get the girl out of this situation. The leader looked hatefully at Imir and left the place together with his goons. I walked to Imir and offered my hand. She took it and got on her feet. She kept a calm face and straightened her clothes, taking the dust off. ¡°Thank you.¡± She said. I looked at her eyes and saw that she was trying to keep a calm face, but deep down, she was raging. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± I answered. I saw that she needed a friendly shoulder, but I couldn¡¯t offer that to her. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the dining hall.¡± I gestured for her, and we entered the place. The supper was silent. Nobody said anything. She was a genius in what she did, too great, and because of that, she was persecuted in the college. I finished my meal first and said to her before I left. ¡°We are the minority here. We don¡¯t have the number nor the money, but we must have the wits.It¡¯s the only thing we can rely on.¡± I got up and went to my room. John didn¡¯t look back, because if he did, he could see her clenching teeth and determined face. *** My room was a mess. Many papers were over the table. My revisions about runes and formations, and many researches about alchemy. The year passed quickly. I finished the spinning exercise, the division exercise and the combination of both. The division exercise was basically dividing you mana into as many parts as you could, and controlling them, to not let them disperse. It was a difficult exercise, but I had already mastered it and took the next step. The many mana spheres around me were spinning in different directions, they suddenly stopped and began to spin to the other side. Many dispersed, but the majority was still there. Controlling mana to this level was very, very hard. The only person that completed the exercise and was doing an even more advanced one was Imir. From the day that she was ambushed, she began to practice and act like a machine. She only focused on her studies and even some of her friends in class were not so close anymore. We were already in November, and the class tournament would happen in two weeks. during this year, some talents appeared in our class. They were Oberon, a boy who had a rare star affinity, Namur, a boy with blue fire affinity, and Lilac, a girl with a rare Light affinity. Besides me and Imir, these were the students that had shown most talent in the class. All of them had advanced their concepts to the high stage of the mortal realm. and Imir had advanced hers to the peak of the mortal realm. Of course, she was ahead of everyone in many aspects. During this year, I also had advanced my concept of wood to the high stage of the mortal realm, but I was stuck in here. Both the concepts of water and earth had advanced to the peak of the mortal realm, but the concepts of life was stuck in the high stage. Something was stopping me from advancing further, nothing that left me behind my peers. I could use the concept of water and earth very well in combat, but nothing compared to my wood one. I specialized in it, and even if I used both of them, I couldn¡¯t even compare to what Imir could do with water. I had already learned many things about alchemy, runes and formations, however, the comprehensions of the ten primordial concepts were still behind. I had already comprehended three of them to the mortal realm, and there were still seven left. This was stopping me from progressing in my studies of runes, not that this was a problem. After all, only the students that were 16 years old or 15 in rare cases could have the basic requirements to learn runes. The laws of space and time were easy for me to understand, just like light and wind. They were on the cust of breaking to the mortal realm, however, the concepts of darkness, death and fire almost had no progression. They were the antithesis of my affinities, and because of that, hard to comprehend. ¡°It is only a matter of time until I can comprehend them!¡± I thought with determination. Chapter 7 - Tournament John studied the rest of the day and went to meditate instead of sleeping. It was a habit he was acquiring. Meditating instead of sleeping was a hard thing to achieve, he slept most of the nights while trying to meditate, but he knew he could achieve this habit someday. He got up from his bed in the morning and went to class. The week quickly passed, and the tournament was about to happen, it would happen in two days, on a Friday. I was excited to discover what I could achieve on it, remembering that there would be many students whose talents were very high. The boys that threatened Imir didn¡¯t even know what they were doing, they were only scum between the students of their class. There were true geniuses in the school, one of them was Lionel Firemane, a genius from the Firemane clan, that had a rare sun affinity. The Sun affinity was different from the star affinity. The later had a much softer approach, even though it could exert a huge power. However, the sun concept was much fiercer, and it could destroy almost anything that stood in its path. Miss Ana said to us that the class competitions would have two phases, a team tournament, and an individual one. The team tournament would require 5 students per team, and we had already decided that the students that would participate would be me, Imir, Oberon, Namur, and Lilac. Our team was well balanced, and even though we didn¡¯t have achieved tier 1 yet, we were close. We trained our teamwork in the last few days, to be synched in the competition. We knew that many students from the noble class would already be at tier 1, and our only advantage would be our concepts and our teamwork, nobles were not humble enough to cooperate against ¡°scum¡± like us. The grand day finally arrived, I got up from my bed, and make sure to sleep properly this night. I took a shower and donned the white robes from my class. I meditated for some time to remember all the insights that I had on the concepts, and got up and being prepared. I left my room and went to the great arena. The teacher had already told us that the students would meet in the arena and that the competitors should arrive earlier than the others. I left the building and saw the sun rising on the horizon. I stopped in place and felt the sun on my skin, warming my body and giving me energy to keep going. The sun¡­ Plants needed sunlight to survive and thrive¡­. An insight came to me at this moment, and I remembered all the visions that I had inherited from my ancestors. I was on the verge of a breakthrough, but I still couldn¡¯t advance. I shook my head after seeing that I still couldn¡¯t grasp it, and went toward the arena. Although it was early in the morning, many people were already up and walking toward the arena. I looked around and saw some students that would fight against me. There were 10 different classes of first-year students, one of them being composed of commoners, eight of them being composed of sons and daughters of rich people, and one class of nobles. The one that had the most chance to win was the class of nobles; after all, they were scions of great houses. I arrived before the arena and looked at the majestic entrance. A great arch made the entrance, and a great hall was behind it. in the end of the hall, two stairs were leading to the seats, and beside the stairs, some doors where the competitors could enter the arena. The hall was adorned with statues of monsters, dragons, and legendary figures. I saw one great statue that was between the stairs, there was a plaque and engraved on it was ¡°Elias Campbell, the great archmage.¡± The statue was 7 meters tall, the man was using a robe, with an open book on his right hand, and a staff on his left. There was an air of grandiosity around the statue, and all the seniors that passed through it showed respect unconsciously. I looked around, searching for a moment, and finally found Miss And waiting for me in front of one of the doors. I approached her and saw that all my teammates were already waiting with her. ¡°What took you so long boy! Let¡¯s get going.¡± She turned around and entered one of the doors. I followed after her together with my teammates through some corridors and finally arrived in the waiting area. It was a private room, with a circular formation on the corner. There were various chairs and tables around the place. It had an air of graciousness, and everything was clean. Teacher Ana gestured for us to sit, and everybody did as asked. ¡°Good morning my dear students.¡± She said with a sweet voice. ¡°I will explain to you how we will proceed from here. She pointed at the wall and said. This wall will show the battles that are happening in the arena, as soon as the event begins. And that formation circle will teleport us to the arena. Any questions?¡± She looked around and saw that all the students were quietly waiting for the competition, with eager expressions. ¡°The dean will appear in a moment to open the event, and all the teams will be teleported to the arena, be ready.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. We waited and after almost half-an-hour, the teacher called us, and we stood on the formation. A white light enveloped us, and we were teleported to the arena. The place was huge. I saw countless rows of seats in the stands, they were all filled by students from many ages, But there was a special place where teachers and school managers were. In the main seat, a man whose aura covered the whole arena stood. He was wearing a white robe with dark details, and his aura was breathtaking. many teams surrounded us, from the first years until the seniors. The man that was seated on the main seat stood, and everything in the arena stopped. No sound could be heard, and I even held my breath for a moment. A majestic voice, full of wisdom and with an awesome aura was heard. ¡°My name is Elias Campbell, the dean of this academy,¡± I remembered where Isaw that name before, the book of introduction to magic! ¡°We are here today to witness the talents that this school is grooming, be it new buds, or the ones that are already flowering. This tournament will decide how the resources are divided between the classes. each year has ten classes, and the ones who will do the opening are the first-year students. Let the competition begin!¡± There was silence for a moment, and the crowd went crazy, they hurrayed for a moment and Elias raised his staff, and hit the ground with it, making a huge wave of mana, the wave engulfed all the teams, making them disappear. Our team appeared in the room where we were previously, and all of us were stunned. The show of power made by him was amazing, he could even teleport the teams back without much hassle. I looked at my teammates and saw that their reactions were pretty much the same, their mouths were so open that you could even fit an egg there. ¡°Hey, pay attention and meditate to be at your peak states.¡± Ana said after shaking her head, she must have expected our reaction. Everybody seated on the ground and concentrated on the mana surrounding us, we circulated our mana through our bodies while relaxing and breathing deeply, a technique that Ana taught us. We stayed like this for some time, until the wall lighted up, and the arena appeared behind it. Looking through the wall, we could see the arena from the side. I realized that the wall must be enchanted to show what was on the other side. Dean Elias motioned, and a man floated from the teacher stand and levitated above the arena. ¡°My name is Liron Predic, and I will be the judge for today¡¯s event. Every participant will receive a badge for protection, and as soon that badge is broken, the participant is eliminated in that round. Now, we will have the Lighthouse class against the Noble class!¡± The arena shouted in excitement and each class appeared on one side of the arena. Liron waved his hand, and five badges floated toward each team. the badges arrived before the participants and attached themselves above their robes. A transparent shield appeared for a moment and disappeared. ¡°The competition can start now, BEGIN!¡± the Lighthouse team was arrayed in a triangular formation. While the ones from the nobles stood in place where they were teleported. A young man looked at the other Lighthouse team and said. ¡°Olavo and Lilian, go ahead and destroy them.¡± The students that were called nodded their head and stepped forward. Olavo had dark hair and yellow eyes, while Lilian had ginger hair and brown eyes. The leader of the Lighthouse team snorted and said. ¡°Your pride will make you lose! ATTACK!¡± The members from the Lighthouse team gathered their mana and released many attacks toward Olavo and Lilian. Olavo stepped forward and formed a yellow shield, made of sand. Although the shield looked fragile, it held against the attacks and was not destroyed. Seeing that the shield was effective, Lilian stepped forward and released crude fireballs against the enemy team. The battle progressed in this fashion. Olavo defended while Lilian attacked. The teams approached each other, and Olavo constricted the members of lighthouse team, while Lilian quickly finished them off. John was alerted while seeing the dispute. The members from the lighthouse team had all achieved the first tier, while Olavo and Lilian were already at the middle stage tier 1. I recognized one of the members of Noble¡¯s team, Lionel Firemane, the most powerful first-year student. everyone in the room was looking at the fight with attention, trying to grab their weakness and strengths. everything could change if we won or not. I evaluated the strength shown by the Lighthouse team and concluded that we could defeat them easily, however, even the two that fought for Noble¡¯s team were not easy. The judge announced Noble¡¯s team victory and both teams disappeared from the arena. We looked at the arena and waited for the next match, it would be one amongst second-year students. I eagerly looked at the arena, looking forward to see how well the student¡¯s from other years fought. A light enveloped the arena, and two teams appeared on it. The judge introduced them, and the fight began. This was a genuine fight, not a play like the last one. The teams showed great teamwork and good control of their concepts. I realized that we were ahead of some students from the second year in terms of concepts. The fight progressed, and the team showed their worth. All of them were at least at the late stage of tier 1 and could control their mana with finesse. The fight ended in victory of team Moonlight, and the judge ended the fight. I turned to teacher Ana and asked. ¡°Teacher, what it the name of our team?¡± After hearing my question, all the members of my team turned toward her, eager to hear the answer. ¡°Of course the name of the team is Darksky. All the team receive the name of the main teacher of that year, and after that, they can choose to change it from the third year on, where there is no more exclusive teacher.¡± Everyone nodded after hearing her answer. I thought that the name was fitting. We would turn all the other team¡¯s sky into darkness!! We looked over the window and saw the fights progressing. from the fifth year on, the students were too strong, and I couldn¡¯t even understand some of the things and ways they used their magic. What I got from watching the fights, was the information that almost all of the students from the academy had one of the four elements as their concepts. I knew that the four elements were more common among the populace, according to what the books said, but I didn¡¯t realize that it was this common. I realized that almost 90% of the participants used one of the four elements, and that was a huge number. After the fight of the fight from the ninth-year students, the last year of studying at the college. The judge said. ¡°The first hound is finally over, Now, let¡¯s begin the second one! I call to the stage Darksky team and the Goldenbull team!¡± I looked around and saw the excitement and nervousness on my colleagues'' faces. I turned to them and said. "Hey guys, let''s rock them!" With a smile on their face and everyone smiled after me.