Mito expected to be guided to an office or some other room where they could talk, but instead the principal led them to an indoor arena. As they arrived there Aurelia turned to him and announced “We will have a mock fight. You can go all out, don't worry about me. I can roughly guess your magic capabilities and I am sure that you won't be able to kill me. Keep your swords here, it will be a magic only fight.” Mito then placed down his swords and moved into the arena. He didn’t even question the principal, he could feel that she was insanely strong.

He then prepared mentally for the match. ‘I probably need to focus on stopping her spells. To break spells from people who need to chant is easy. You know exactly what and where they cast the spell due to the fact that they say it out loud, so you can use your own energy to stop their spell from forming. But for people who don’t chant you don’t know what the spell is and where it will take form. In that case I need to enhance my vision and look out for her energy. To disperse her spell efficiently I need to read where it will form and what form it will take. This is the hard part, if i don’t fully dispers it a portion of the spell will still hit me and if I am too slow the only thing I can do is to dodge or block it with a spell of my own which has the same force. I need to concentrate, this is going to be rough.’

Aurelia started the match by hurling a few fireballs in his direction. She also was able to cast spells without using chants, which was to be expected. Mito was able to break these simple spells with ease and casted a few blue fireballs, with about half his strength. As he had expected, she was also able to block them without any effort. For a while they hurled some basic magic at each other. Aurelia suddenly made a serious face and shot multiple complex spells at him. She trapped him in a cage made of pure lightning, formed multiple golems out of metal, clad in fire and lightning. Above him four dragons made of fire, breathed waves after waves of flames on him. Mito was barely able to dodge and block the spells. Over time he got more and more injuries.

He realized that he couldn't read the spells to disperse them, he couldn't even see the flow of energy. It looked like the energy appeared out of thin air. He went and tried to cast multiple spells at Aurelia to disrupt her concentration and stop the spells she had formed. But with a light smile on her face she just broke them effortlessly. In the end he couldn’t doge a lightning strike and got hit. That spelled the end of the match.

Aurelia walked up to Mito, who lay on the ground panting, with a smile and said “You should go to the school nurse and let her treat your wounds, after that we can talk.”

“There is no need for that.” Mito answered, stood up and started to heal his wounds.

Aurelia, visibly amazed, mumbled “A mage capable of casting healing spells, this is interesting. The mages capable of a feat like this, are all old and senile. To alter the body and heal it one needs a tremendous amount of knowledge about the physiology of the body. And to gain that knowledge they studied for decades. And yet here you are a sixteen year old boy healing yourself. How intriguing.”

As they were about to leave Inertis walked over, drawing her sword.

As she was in front of them she declared “I would like to test your magic sword skill. Please get your swords and spar with me.”

Aurelia nodded and Mito went and grabbed his swords. He took a fighting stance and waited for Inertis to attack.

The two stared at each other for a while, then Inertis made the first move. Swords clad in lightning and fire clashed at each other. They made about ten moves when Inertis made a step to the left and attacked Mito with full power in an upward swing. Mito blocked the attack with both his swords. But on impact they both broke and he was barely able to doge. With an astonished look Mito put away the two stumps which were once his swords.

In the meantime Aurelia made her way to them and announced, “This concludes our test. Let us go to my office and evaluate everything that happened.”

In the principal's office the three of them sat down, Inertis poured some tea and opened a box of cookies. After everyone had their tea Aurelia broke the silence “Let's summarize: You have incredible potential. In terms of raw power you are even stronger than me, and I was declared the strongest mage of the Estaras. Also your knowledge wasn't lacking. Your sword skill is on par with the best knights in the city and you could fight evenly with Inertis. So what do you think went wrong in both fights?”

“First of all I underestimated you, I was too arrogant and should have fought with full power as you had suggested.”

“What you just said seriously scared me and I have a question about that later on, but go on.” Aurelia interrupted.

“Second: After you got serious your spells were shrouded in other spells, they were concealed, twisted and mingled. Neither was I able to read the spell itself nor could I see the energy flow. About the second part I am most curious. All that drove me back to only reacting.

And third as for the sword, I have no idea why they broke, they were coated in magical energy and shouldn’t break.”

“I see. Good looks, strong and smart. A true rarity.” Aurelia said teasingly.

Mito put on a pouting face, crossed his arms in front of him and mumbled “Yeah, yeah, and now tell me what went wrong.”

“Alright, alright. You were correct. I concealed my spells so you could not read them. It seems you never learned that. That is one part the other is that your knowledge is on point but you lack the creativity. You just extend or enhance the basic spells. For example your blue fireball. It is much hotter and stronger than a normal one, but it is still a fireball. You need to get more creative. The part regarding the energy flow, that for now I won’t tell you. You will learn that in classes. As for the sword, that is not directly your fault. You have immense strength. If you infuse all of that into a regular sword it breaks instantly. And your swords were minor magic swords, they can withstand this power a bit longer but will ultimately break. So for this you have to learn to control your magical power and only infuse a fraction. Also later on you should get magic swords crafted from a master. They should be able to withstand your full power.”

“And now for my question. You said you didnt fight at full strength. Let me ask this in numbers, my strength is about fifteen thousand. I assumed you were the same, maybe a bit more. So what is your true strength?”

Mito thought quickly about it and then decided that it was safe to tell her the truth.

“About forty thousand…”

Aurelia and Inertis both froze, this was simply unimaginable. More than double what Aurelia had guessed.

They silently drank their tea when Aurelia raised her voice again “This is a lot to think about, but you are here to learn more about magic. I will accept you into the academy and you will be assigned to the magic science class. You won't learn anything new in the practical lessons so I think magic theory is more suited for you. Do you have a place to live?”

“No, I just arrived in Walresa today and I heard the academy provides all necessities?”

“That is correct, but some students prefer to rent a place in the city. If that is not the case, Inertis will show you your room. When you are hungry, visit the mensa, which is available around the clock, and show your school batch. You can find everything else on the notice in the foyer.”

With this she dismissed them and Mito followed Inertis to the sleeping quarters. The room Interis showed him was actually quite nice, he had expected less. It was a pretty big room with a double bed, a couch, a dresser, a wardrobe and a big mirror besides the entrance. In the back to the left was a small kitchen where he could cook if he wanted and to the right was a bathroom of his own. Inertis gave him the key to the room and left. Mito laid down on the bed and thought about what he should do next. ‘School starts in five days, so I have a lot of time to look for clues of the last world traveler. But where should I start? Maybe there is a museum or something else. I think it's best to go into the city and ask a few citizens.

I also need to make some money, to replace my swords as fast as I can. Time to gather some information.’

Mito got up, left his room and made his way to the city center. On the main street he saw a few city guards, walked up to them, and asked where he could find a museum or a library.

“We don’t have a museum, but down to the road on the left side you can see the boutique Nelson and Sons. Follow down this street and you will end up in front of the library.”

“Thank you very much. Have a good day.”

The library was huge, an oval building which was slightly spiraling towards the sky. It had glass all around and beautiful ornaments all around. In front of the building was an idyllic garden with a lot of people reading. The library was an architectural masterpiece even to his standards.

He walked up to the entrance and upon entry he was stopped by a guard “Identification!”

“Do I need a special permit to enter the library? I am sorry it is my first time in Walresa city.”

“Yes, you can request a permit at the city office. This is one option, the other is to be either an academic or an assistant of an academic, which requires your batch.”

Mito, happy to hear that students have access, pulled out his school batch.

“Is this enough?”

“Ah, so you are a student here, then you can enter.”

Mito walked up the stairs and entered the building. The foyer made him feel small and insignificant. The walls were about twenty meter high and everything was in pure marmor. In the middle of the hall was a fifteen meter high statue of a mighty looking Estara. Probably a late king or some other important person. Mito walked ahead to the info desk. There sat a slender, rather tall, beautiful woman. She was pale with a few almost invisible freckles, had long fiery red hair and a pair of glasses.

“Hey, I am looking for books regarding the history of the Estara, especially the man who united the small kingdoms. If you could tell me where I can find these books, that would be a great help.”

The woman behind the desk looked a bit startled that someone talked to her and was hesitant to reply “We don’t have much information regarding that age. Most is forgotten and some information withheld by the church. If you want I can tell you what is known. Not long ago I wrote a paper regarding that topic.”

“That would be a great help. Even better than going all day long through some old books.”

“As I said there isn’t much information. But I will tell you what I could gather: About four hundred years ago the Estara were divided into nine smaller kingdoms. They were always at war and on the brink of extinction. At one point a man emerged, more powerful than anyone else. It is said that his name was Ryuu Nakamura and that he was from another world. He tried to unite the kingdoms with diplomacy, but he failed miserably. No one of the kings intended to give up their position and all refused the efforts Ryuu made. Ryuu then took rather harsh measures. He slaughtered all kings, their families and all nobles in the kingdoms. He then took the position of supreme ruler and united the Estara by force. After everything calmed down, he established a democracy and then vanished. No one has ever seen him again.”

‘Ryuu Nakamura sounds japanese, so it could be that this person was also from Earth.’ Mito thought.

“This is indeed not much information. Is there any more information regarding this ‘being from another world’ topic?”

“Sadly not, there is only his credo left: To be again in front of the one true ruler and having his wish granted, one needs to go through any hardship imposed on him and come out victorious.”

‘That sounds almost like that one sentence engraved into my mind - If you end the calamity, I will grant your wish - but he never heard about a ruler. Is Ryuu talking about some god?’ Mito thought.

“Thank you very much Ms…sorry I forgot to ask your name.”

“It’s Amelia Lewal.”

“Thank you very much Ms Lewal. My name is Mito Sirova. Your explanation was really helpful. I hope to see each other again.” Mito replied with a smile, turned around and was about to leave, when Amelia called out to him again. “I prefer Amelia, and since you are also a first year at the academy in the magic science class, we will see each other again pretty soon.” She said with a smile while pointing to her badge on the right side of her uniform.

Mito winked goodbye and left the building. ‘So this not only shows the school, it also shows which class I attend.’ Mito thought while inspecting his own badge.

His next stop would be the adventures guild. Since he needed a source of income, the easiest way would probably be to kill some monsters for money. He walked back to the main street and down to the entrance of the city. On his way in he saw a big building near the gate with an adventurer's guild sign on it, that was his goal. After a few minutes of walking he arrived at his destination. He imagined that inside it would be loud and rowdy with adventurers drinking and bragging about their accomplishments. But it was actually the opposite. Adventurers went in and out, a few sat at a table, ate something and talked. It was quite peaceful and well mannered.

Mito walked up to the counter and asked the receptionist “Hello my name is Mito, I would like to do some adventurer’s work. What are the preconditions to get an adventurer license?”

“Welcome, to become an adventurer you need to have a degree either as mage or as fighter. After that you can register here and do some solo work or go with a party into dungeons.”

“Is having a degree the only way?”

“There is one other way. If you have a recommendation from a person trusted by the guild you could also register as an adventurer.”

“Hmm, it seems I have no other choice then. Thank you for the information, I will be back.”