The veil of evening covered the sky above us, and the moon had yet to rise. The streets were empty, and the shops were closed. I gazed at my friends around me. The four of us were taking our time walking to the noble district.

The atmosphere of friendship I felt as I walked among the darkened buildings of a city brought back nostalgic memories for me.

If I narrowed my eyes, I could fool myself into thinking I was back on Earth.

The buildings were made out of stone, and the glowing symbols that lit up the streets were like lamps. I’d had a lot of fun walking through the city at night with my friends in my old life.

It felt nice to experience that again.

“Andross, you’re spacing out on us.” Amanda’s voice called out. “Help me.”

Her fingers waved in my face, alternating between fire and flesh, and my imagination faltered. There were no transforming bodies on Earth, and no magic, but here I still had friends.

Amanda was walking by my side, and I could see her pointing at William. I looked over to him and I saw a blur beside him.

Gerial.

My fellow Marked one saw me looking and waved.

“You’re the tiebreaker.” She spoke.

“What am I tiebreaking?” I had gotten lost in my memories. I turned to her. “William has [wisdom], I think you lost the moment you started arguing with him.”

She huffed at my response, and I saw her hair flare up. Agni was still with Gold in the noble district, and the wall was growing larger as we moved towards it.

I could see the symbols glowing with light across its surface in the distance. Magic swam in the air around me, picked up by my mana sense.

“He thinks unicorns are dumb.” Amanda raised an eyebrow at me. “Still think I’m wrong?”

“It’s just a horse with a horn!” William called out from my other side.

I looked from Amanda to William and saw that both of them were serious. Gerial had a hand on his mouth as he tried to hold back laughter.

I sighed and rubbed my temple.

“Didn’t you think they were dumb as well just a few hours ago?” I gestured towards William. “What made you change your mind?”

Amanda brushed a strand of her fiery hair behind her ear.

“The idea is growing on me. I don’t think I’d mind seeing one for real.” Her hands clasped together as she walked. “It’s still ridiculous. Why did you think of something so ordinary?”

“Your standards are just too high.” I jabbed her arm lightly. “You read a lot of books, what’s something you think is extraordinary?”

It was hard to determine what was ordinary when I was still used to the standards of my previous life. Back on Earth I would be called crazy for thinking that even a slice of what I had seen was real.

Now I was being told that a unicorn was too ordinary.

Amanda tilted her head. “I’m not sure. Usually if there is something crazy, there is an even crazier monster that’s been spotted.”

We went quiet.

She was right. Monsters were known for their special abilities and physique, stemming from the unique symbols that were found inside them. They could come from anywhere, including mutations of ordinary creatures or life. It was terrifying. Their bodies could take any shape or form, and they had a habit of surpassing anything the human imagination could conjure.

“It feels like I just poured a bucket of water over our heads. A bad idea for me considering my flames.” Amanda’s voice lightened the mood. “What did you guys think of the Marked one’s appearance? I thought the way he walked into the room like he owned the place was pretty majestic. Like he was royalty.”

Gerial turned his head sharply towards her, and then tripped over a rock. I saw him steady himself with his air magic and I let out a laugh.

The ‘majestic’ Marked one had almost face planted into the ground.

“Absolutely.” I agreed with her.

“He’s definitely a lot more reserved than his counterparts.” William spoke.

We turned to stare at him.

“You’ve met more than one Marked one?” Amanda asked.

William nodded. He shot me a look of confusion and I tilted my head at him. He was trying to send me a message, but I couldn’t read his mind.

“Fue’s Marked one came to my birthday.”

William’s chest puffed out as he saw Amanda’s look of awe. She took a step closer to him as he spoke, crossing over my path, but I was quickly lost in my thoughts.

Fue’s Marked one. Alyssa.

William hadn’t been there when I’d left his mansion. He didn’t know that I hadn’t talked to Alyssa.

“What’s she like?” Amanda’s eyes glimmered.

My ears perked up. I was curious as well. I saw Gerial turned towards William,

I remembered he’d been particularly interested in Alyssa.

“Chatty.” William smiled. “Your brother was right when he said the process of choosing Marked ones is random. I can’t think of two people more different from each other.”

“He’s always thought that kind of stuff.” She nodded. “You’d think he’d see the irony, considering he unlocked his bloodline.”

Amanda ran her fingers over her hair. The flames cast a light over the surroundings. As her fingers crossed over each strand, they transformed back into an ordinary red colour.

She and Alexis were identical in their abilities, but she had more control over them.

“I find it hard to believe that a divine wouldn’t make the wisest choice.” William spoke. “It’s just that we don’t know what they want.”

The wall loomed over us as I thought over his words.

“Well, we can always talk about that some other time.” William saw my expression.

We made our way through the wall, a bored security guard waving us through. I’d worried that they would have some sort of magic that detected invisible people, but to my surprise I saw Gerial’s blurry figure holding an ID card in his hand.

The guard was partially here for show, and most of the identification spells were automatic.

Would there be a record left of Gerial’s arrival?

William’s identification was gold plated, and the guard gave him a curious glance as we walked into the district.

William ignored it.

I knew he was used to getting looks. I wondered if he had any security around him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he did, although Koshima was considered a safe location.

It was home to several major powers that kept the peace, not to mention the law enforcement agencies.

“Where is Unice’s residence?” William stepped closer to me.

It was his first time here, and he looked around him like he had entered a jungle.

His eyes darted from place to place, and his shoulders hunched as though he was ready to jump at any moment.

“It's the wisest decision to be cautious when you’re in a new area, but it looks funny.” I gave him a pat on the back. “Unice’s place is closer to the back, I think.”

I had only seen her one time, and that was when I’d been walking to school from Amanda’s house. She had given us a set of directions that I had written down in my system notes.

‘Go forward. Enter the second section. We are the first house on the left.’

Her instructions had been clear and concise, and I was sure that she had sent the same to all of her friends and classmates.

I could even see a couple of students further down the street.

Not all of them had been invited to her formal celebration in the guild. Part of it had to do with politics, and the other part had to do with availability.

I don’t think my family was invited. They weren’t native to Koshima, or important in magician circles. Most of the nobles attending had been part of Koshima city. Wiliam’s father was an exception, but he was a gold mask and William was considered an extremely valuable connection.

That was a pity. Things kept getting in the way of me being able to visit my grandma so it would have been nice to see her there.

“Do we walk around while we wait for Unice to arrive?” I asked Amanda.

She had become the default knowledge holder for all things noble. She knew what was considered common sense. William hadn’t been invited to any parties so far, and before the school year he hadn’t known any noble teenagers or many nobles his own age. None that could talk coherently, at least

Amanda didn’t have many friends, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been invited out. Most people were invited because of social conventions or popularity, not friendship.

She shook her head.

“Unice is going to be fashionably late to her own party.” Amanda smiled. “It’s becoming a very popular trend.”

The directions led us to a gated estate similar to Amanda’s. The gate was open, and a staff member was greeting people as they walked through.

We walked up to them and checked our name off a list. Unice had gone all out for this celebration. A variety of lights led us up the path, through the gardens, and up to the front door.

The first thing I noticed was that the garden was leaning towards me. I slowed down as a variety of plants and flowers moved in unison to face me. The moment I stepped near them as we made our way up to the mansion, they tilted towards me like they were bowing.

I looked at them with my mana sense. Each one had specks of earth mana within them.

“Earth seekers.” William’s voice floated into my ear. “They sense attunements.”

“Oh?” I paid more attention to the flowers.

I closed my eyes, and I felt their connection to me. They released waves of power into the air and it resonated with my earth symbol.

I could stop the connection if I wanted to. Instead, I let the plants follow me as I made my way up the path.

The mansion soon came into view, and I marvelled at it. It was bigger than Amanda’s and my grandmother's.

Stone brick after stone brick entered my vision and gave me a glimpse of what I could do in the future. This wasn’t a mansion.

Unice lived in a stone castle.

I could feel the earth mana vibrating within the walls. Her parents had taken my dirt idea to the next level, completely entombing themselves and filling every inch of their lives with earth mana.

“I wouldn’t mind living here.” I remarked.

“I don’t think there is any research proving that physical closeness with an element's materials increases a person's abilities.” William responded. “Other than availability to manipulate it and practice skills. Though with earth that is not a problem.”

“That’s because you have to have faith.” I chuckled. “People’ll do crazy things because they believe it’ll help them improve.”

“Count me out.” William shook his head. “I could sleep on a bed of swords, but it won’t help my fighting prowess.”

I imagined William sleeping on a bed of golden swords encrusted with jewels and chuckled.

The door leading inside was wide open.

I looked to my side and saw Gerial hesitating.

“Is there any kind of magic that’ll impact us here?” I gestured at the castle.

“Like my house?” Amanda shook her head. “They’re not allowed to have that on during large gatherings without the permission of all parties. Unice would have put it on the invitations.”

“Let’s go in.” Amanda strode through the entrance.

Gerial stayed back despite her words.

His main concern was that there would be magic inside that would expose him.

I pulled back and let my friends go first.

“Are you going to go in?”

“I’ll check if I can first.” Gerial whispered to me. “Honestly, I’m not sure a party where I can’t talk to anyone is worth my evening.”

“Think about it. You might have some fun.” I gave him a pat on the back.

It looked like I was hitting thin air. Gerial nodded his head and started pacing around the side of the castle.

I walked in and saw Amanda and William looking around the inside with curious expressions.

I paused as a rush of emotion crashed into me.

The moment I passed the barrier between the outside and the inside I felt like I was being wrapped up in my mother’s arms. Earth mana gathered around me, not because of a spell, but because they were rushing to greet me.

It swept over my skin, and exerted comfort and safety onto the world around me.

The entire castle welcomed me.

“Andross!” A voice boomed into my ears.

I turned towards the source and saw a green-haired boy walking towards us. My friends were still admiring the house, although Amanda and William turned politely towards Ouros as he arrived.

“Ouros.” I greeted the loud metal magician. “This is a nice place.”

“Isn’t it? I swear I’m choking on earth mana every time I come here. It’s great.” He waved his hands towards his surroundings with a smile. “You should see the Destin company’s main compound. It’s basically one big block of earth mana.”

“That sounds like a fun idea to me.” I smiled.

I looked at my surroundings. The front door had let us straight into a square room that was bigger than my house. In each corner there was a different staircase, and I could see they led to different parts of the castle.

I could see a few students sitting down and chatting or exploring curiously.

“This mansion has more hidey-holes than a hill full of moles.” Ouros gestured at us to follow him. “Come on, I’ll give you a tour of the place.”

He smiled.

“You’re going to love the cultivation room.”