"Welcome to the Mystical Academy!!"
The old man extended his arm towards the academy in a welcoming manner. The girl with the sailor uniform stood still with a blank expression on her face
Philip was wide eyed the moment he set foot in this place. He was confused to the extreme at what happened. He never expected to experience teleporting with the use of a portal and his balance was thrown off for a bit. He quickly recovered by manipulating his confusion and erased it when he closed his eyes and placed his right index knuckle on the bridge of his nose
He couldn't believe that portals existed and teleportation was possible, especially considering the era they were in. A part of him accepted it since he knew the coming of magic or mysticism since the year 2020. It should be about time for these things to happen
The old man observed Philip with a discerning eye and as Philip recovered, he gently pat his back and said,
"I'm sure your very confused. I'll explain everything to you inside my office"
"Office?"
Philip spoke with a grave tone
"Yes. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the headmaster, or the principal, or whatever you call me of this academy. I manage this whole place!"
The old man introduced himself as the headmaster of the academy, the one who manages teh whole place. The old man looked like he has too much vitality. His hair is white as well as his well shaped beard that doesn't reach his neck. He wore a tight leather vest that looked comfortable and showed his toned muscular body, an unbuttoned leather jacket, a necklace or an amulet around his neck, and trousers with a small satchel
The academy was not a small building like the usual schools around the world as it spans towards the horizon to the left and to the right. The academy is measured to be at least 500 thousand km² in size
As the headmaster and the sailor uniform girl was walking towards the arch of the entrance, Philip exclaimed in a brave tone,
"What if I don't want to follow?!"
The headmaster and the girl abruptly stopped. The headmaster, who had gentle eyes and looking downwards, looked up with fierce eyes towards the entrance. The girl, who had no expressions on her face, close her eyes
The headmaster looked back towards Philip and said,
"You have no choice since you have what it takes to learn mysticism and I'm pretty sure you've become interested in this place. Besides, what are you going to do since you're here? Walk thousands of miles half around the world to reach your home?"
"I could if I wanted to"
"I believe that. Now, come"
The headmaster closed his eyes and continued walking forward with his hands on his back. The girl reopened her eyes with a glint and followed the headmaster behind him
Philip glared at them for a second until they walked deeper to the entrance. He then followed behind them and finally entered the academy
~~~
As the headmaster and the girl are walking side by side through the tunnel that leads to the academy under the wall, the girl asked a question to the headmaster
"Aren't you going to tell him about himself?"
"I couldn't."
The headmaster nervously said as he released his hands behind his back and he rubbed his backhands that are shaking
"His spirit is more potent and overbearing than I thought whenever he is displeased with something..."
The girl looked at the headmaster with confusion as she saw him rubbing his shaking hands and hearing his words
"You should calm down now, Yuze, he's not that reckless and he shouldn't be able to hurt anyone, unless if he wanted to."
The headmaster turned towards the girl, who is apparently named Yuze, and assured her as he looked at her eyes
Yuze stared at the headmaster's eyes and looked forward. She closed her eyes and a heartbeat was heard. She opened them and the glint on her eyes disappeared
The headmaster turned his head towards Philip while Yuze took a peek from her right shoulder and they saw him looking forward with empty eyes, as if he was daydreaming or something
Philip noticed their gazes and looked at them with furrowed questioning eyebrows. Yuze looked forward as if she couldn't be bothered and the headmaster smiled at him in a goofy manner and looked forward
Philip found the development to be strange and weird and he contemplated as to why. He did sorts of facial expressions like deeply furrowing his eyebrows, squinting to the point he can't see anything, looked left and right with his eyes, protruding his mouth as if he's confused, and then shrugging his shoulders as he decided to ignore what just happened
~~~
As they got in from the entrance of the gates, what Philip stumbled upon as the headmaster and Yuze walked to side, was a grand view of the whole academy
In front of them was the Entrance Square which was empty. If this square was bustling with people, this place would be straight out of fantasy, like the typical town or the capital from isekai or fantasy genre
There were houses and establishments lined up across the foot of the wall and it reaches several kilometers towards the center
At the edge of the houses and establishments are spires or wizard towers that are arranged symmetrically like a circle. There are five spires and a few more smaller spires beside them
Inside the circle of spires are domes, arenas, and coliseums, as well as several more structures like boxes arranged in a very artistic manner
There are six large boxes that are also symmetrically arranged away from each other that it looked like a hexagon around the middle structure
The middle structure is called the Core Academy and this is where students of Mysticism gather to test their magic and mystical abilities and prove their strength that they are able to help the world in the future
The Core Academy is almost like a circular castle that has walls with four large triangular pillars attached to the walls in the four cardinal directionsand reaches the height higher that the castle itself
At the tip of the triangular pillars is a large blue orb that glows and pulsates every so often. The orb is surrounded by spikey rings that revolve and rotate around it
Above the orb is a stretched out pyramid, like a spike, that its corners at its base is extended like spikes and holds the orb. The tip of the pyramid is stretched up to a needle point and it releases a film of blue energy around the academy
~~~
Philip was marvelling at the scenery and at the floating blue orb in the middle of it all. He was having a little bit of vertigo as he was experiencing all of this first hand. Especially since the impossible became possible with a giant glowing orb floating above a structure and a structure above it. He almost became dizzy and fell
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
The Headmaster spoke with a smile as he saw Philip marvelling over his academy and swaying around
"What is this place?" Philip asked once again as he couldn't take his eyes of the buildings and the spires
"As I told you earlier, I will tell you once we go to my office. It's in that castle under the blue orb"
"How do we get there if it's so far?"
"Guess."
The Headmaster crossed his arms as he confidently looked towards Philip
Philip looked around and tried to see some unknown technology that might be a mode of transportation
He looked for something like a flat circular platform on the ground, a rolled up carpet, a circular motorcycle, a circular frame, and a sword. He then looked towards the headmaster
"Portals?"
"Well... Close enough."
The Headmaster lifted his shoulders and his arms as if he has given up giving quizzes. He then nodded towards Yuze
"Let's go"
Yuze nodded back and stepped forward in front of the headmaster and Philip. The wind blew in the empty Entrance Square and she stared towards the Core Academy, where she has a clear line of sight from the Entrance Square
"Hold on to her shoulder, Philip."
The headmaster told Philip as he gently place his hand on Yuze's right shoulder
Philip hesitated at first but he did it anyway and held Yuze's left shoulder
Yuze felt a strange sensation from her left shoulder and it was bothering her, in a good way. She then closed her eyes and raised her right hand towards the Core Academy with two fingers pointing to it tightly
Philip saw this and he was confused. He thought that she was like him when he controls fate around him
Yuze then raised her left hand and place two fingers between her eyes like she was about to do some ninja techniques
After a few moments, she then flicked her right fingers pointing to the left and she opened her eyes. The glint in her eyes appeared and it was more intense than before. The Headmaster noticed this and looked at her with worried eyes
She then drived her left fingers towards her right finger to form a cross. As she did this, the scenery around them changed that it warped and stretched as flashing lights covered their vision. Houses passed by them, then the spires, then the boxes until they arrived at the Core Academy
If this was seen from afar, they will see a long streak of flashing light, like lightning, that went to the Core Academy from the Entrance Square
As soon as she formed a cross with her fingers, they were suddenly in a different place, in front of a giant door inside the Core Academy
She then pulled her left fingers back towards in between her eyes. She then closed her eyes and inhaled deeply
She lowered her hands and exhaled deeply and opened her eyes as the glint disappeared one more time
At this time, the Headmaster and Philip already released their grip on Yuze's shoulders
The Headmaster walked in front of Yuze and inspected her eyes, as she opened it, with a discerning look
Philip, however, stumbled on his knees as he felt the intense vertigo that time. Newfound emotions started to swirl around his head and a ringing sound echoed across his brain. He is in the "orz" position for a while as he started to collect his bearing and began to manipulate his emotions and deny the pain of the ringing sound
The Headmaster asked Yuze as he inspected her eyes
"Are you okay? Do you feel anything out of the ordinary?"
"I'm fine, I just felt a strange sensation before we started the shift."
Yuze said quietly as she looked down while fidgeting and shaking a little bit
The Headmaster understood and looked at her ridiculously as if he was teasing her
"Oh?"
Yuze heard the headmaster and looked at him and saw a face of a wide-eyed mouth-covered-by-hand old man
"Wha-?!"
Yuze became flustered and almost covered her face with her right arm and left arm in a guard stance when he saw the ridiculous face of the headmaster
"Humpf!"
Yuze annoyingly harrumphed, mouth pouted, and stomped forward with close hands towards the giant door. The Headmaster snickered as he saw Yuze's actions
Their interaction were interrupted when they suddenly felt a surge of energy and disturbance in the air. They looked back and saw Philip who was kneeling on the ground with his hands and elbow on the floor
The Headmaster unconsciously stepped back and lifted his right arm to protect Yuze. Yuze hid behind the Headmaster and peeked her head a little bit
In normal people's eyes, if they saw Philip, they would be weirded out as to why he was kneeling down or they would call an ambulance because he also doesn't looked too good and he looked liked he was drunk or about to puke
But in the Headmaster and Yuze's eyes, the air around them was swirling and vibrating away from Philip. A dark aura was also emanating from his body but it's being contained by an invisible barrier. The energy around Philip was chaotic but it's somehow contained that it can't affect matter besides Mana present in the air
The Headmaster and Yuze stood still as this was happening. Eventually, the energy around Philip started to calm down and the air started to flow normally again. Philip stood up as if nothing happened but his right hand is on his head clutching it as if it was in pain
"Are you alright?"
The headmaster asked in the distance, still wary of him
"I'm fine... That teleportation was too much for me and it was absurd!"
"Ah! Is that so?"
"Yeah, I'm fine now, don't worry about me. This should disappear later"
'Did he knew about his power this whole time?'
The Headmaster asked himself after hearing that sentence. But after he saw him when he exhaled, he doubted it, 'He wasn't using his powers when he was being monitored, maybe it's just a coincidence'
"Alright, where to now?"
Philip has recovered from his headache and asked the Headmaster
"Oh, uh uhm... Yeah, just inside here, past this Door of Recognition"
The Headmaster jumbled his words at first. The Headmaster and Yuze stepped aside to show the giant door that is blocking the path. The Door of Recognition is made out of a certain type of wood that is intricately sculpted and carved with aesthetic designs that are pleasing to the eyes