Ethan had to learn more about the world he was in, and the first thing that came to his mind was the diary he had found on the desk. He opened the diary to find the name of the author. It said "Name: Ethan" on the first page. After that, the first entry read "December 17, Year 498 of Revolution Calendar-I'm so happy today! My parents celebrated my birthday and I played with my friends. The cake was delicious and we had a lot of fun. My parents bought me this diary so I could practice writing as I learned at school." The original owner of this body was also called Ethan, and his birthday was on the 17th of December.
Most of the entries at the beginning were from the childhood of this person and didn't contain any useful information. Ethan skipped to the end of the diary to see what happened last. Unfortunately, there were lots of torn pages, and the latest entry was on December 17, 506. The entry read "I finally managed to save enough money to get a talent test with my father's birthday gift of 5 Silvers! I will have the talent test first thing tomorrow morning. I'm extremely excited to finally start my adventure of sorcery!". The rest of the pages were torn and this was pretty unnerving for Ethan who wanted to learn the magic of this world.
He decided to explore the his surroundings before going any further with the diary. He found a coat hanging on a rack and wore it. He opened the door and saw that it was around noon. He didn't see any tool for observing the time like a clock since he transmigrated so he could only guess.
He was inside a neighbourhood with several shacks similar to his. The neighbourhood smell awfully because the trash of all the residents had accumulated to a gargantuan pile. He hurriedly closed the door to stop the smell from getting into his shack and started running to the end of the street.
Once he reached the end of the road, the smell wasn't as bad and so he looked around. He saw a shabby sign that wrote "Lower Town, Radon Street".
After he caught his breath, he was presented with an astonishing sight. A towering castle stood seemingly not too far from him. It had several platforms floating in the air, even some spheres and buildings were floating! Each of its bricks gave off a slight radiance. The light coming from these bricks were morphing every second. They looked more alive than any technological gadget he saw in his life.
"Hey, what are you looking at so astonished? Is it the first time you've seen the castle of the Lithopolis Magic Academy?"
Ethan was startled and almost fell down when he saw the young man standing inches away from him looking at him like he was a country bumpkin. He was not a country bumpkin, he came from a technologically advanced world!
"No, it's just that today, it seemed even more magnificent than before"
The young man disdainfully said "You call that magnificent? Lithopolis Magic Academy is a third-class magic academy and it's one of the worst of the third-class. If you call this magnificent, what words would you have for the Royal Academy of Sorcery?"
"Ehhh, the unbelievably magnificent Royal Academy of Sorcery... I guess?"
"..."
The young man was speechless. Ethan, however, was glad to find someone to chat and gather information. "I'm sorry for my weird behaviour, it's just that I really like magic and magic fascinates me."
"Of course it does. Everybody likes magic. I wish I had enough talent to become a real Magician. I'm only a second-level Apprentice."
Ethan was surprised to meet someone who can actually do magic so he encouraged him. "That's really good actually, you're pretty young. I think if you continue at this pace, you can become a Magician in a decade or so."
The young man was shocked to see someone so hopeful without knowing his talent. "You know that only 1 in 100 Apprentices get to become a Magician right? And my talent is fifth-grade which means my odds are even worse at 1 in 1000." He became sombre and his face fell.
"What's your name by the way? I'm Ethan."
"I'm Daniel."
Daniel was wearing a long dark-brown robe that went longer than his length so it was dragging on the floor. His robe was very clean and there was a bronze badge with 2 stars in front of it.
Ethan wanted to get closer with this Apprentice sorcerer to get more information. "Where are you going now?"
"I'm going to the local Apprentice Exchange Club to meet with my friends. I also have some borrowed books to return. Where are you going?"
"Me? Just strolling. Can I come with you, I'd love to meet your friends?"
"Oh, are you an Apprentice? What's your level?"
"Well, no but you could say I'm still learning."
Ethan certainly didn't know enough about magic to attend this Exchange but he was eager to meet more people and learn more about this world.
He and Daniel walked a couple of blocks to reach a silver-color stone building. It had a floating sign that said "Sorcerer's Guild: Apprentice Branch".
There was a crowd in front of the building. Everybody wore a dark-brown robe except for some people who wore a dark-silver robe. Lots of people were converging around the dark-silver robed people.
"Hey Daniel, why are people attracted to those silver robed guys?"
"Pfft. What?! The silver robe represents an official Magician. Are you kidding me? Are we both living in Sorceria??"
Daniel was exasperated. Magicians were deeply respected in Sorceria and due respect must be shown to them. They possessed the power to change the tides of conflicts and offending them was akin to seeking death.
Some of the Apprentices who heard the discussion was looking at Ethan with disdainful faces.
When Ethan entered the guild, he was shocked to see a luxurious lounge similar to ones on Earth. There was a counter at the front which Daniel casually walked toward. The receptionist smiled at them and politely asked "How can I help you?"
Daniel was also polite in response. "I would like to participate in today's Exchange as a member of the club. Which meeting room is the Exchange held at?"
"It's meeting room 203, sir."
"Thank you."
Daniel knew his way around the guild and quickly reached the meeting room with Ethan.