When I opened my eyes I was surrounded by glittering golden sand. I was back in the desert from the nightmare I had the night before my confirmation.
This time it was the sun was not setting the sky ablaze with a rich scarlet-marigold hue. Instead, a crescent moon hung high in the sky.
The crescent moon looked peculiarly sharp, releasing a faint pressure as it bathed the golden landscape in a silver glow. Thankfully, there was no earthquake or giant pillars of sand warping the landscape.
The large ivory stone temple that struggled to free itself from the sand in the previous dream now stood proudly above the golden sand. Large ivory pillars surrounded the perimeter of the desecrated temple.
Shining runes were magnificently carved into the pillars, coiling upwards in a serpentine fashion. The runes glowed faintly with a fugacious golden brown.
The feathers on the roof shimmered like slightly cracked stars under the fluorescent moonlight. It was truly a majestic sight to behold, at least when giant golden pillars of sand are not crashing down on you.
As I walked in between the giant ivory pillars, the runes grew slightly brighter before fading away. As I approached the desecrated temple it appeared to grow even larger.
The gargantuan ivory doors alone were taller than the grand cathedral that was used for my affinity confirmation. Recalling the memory left a bad taste in my mouth causing me to spit on the glittering sand below.
A meticulous circular formation was engraved deep within the ivory doors. The circle formation seemed to be woven from within itself, spiraling outward into concentric circles.
Tiny characters that I'd never seen before were enthralled within the formations
The circular formation took up the majority of the door and yet was still difficult to perceive. I tried to get a better look at the exhaustive display, but the patterns exhibited a mind of their own.
Everything else with runes that were approached seemed to slightly glow from motion but the doors did not manifest such a scene. As I placed my hand on the large doors, an intense suction force could be felt.
The suction was nothing like the portal that dropped me in the listless plains. It was directly targeting my mana core.
In half a second, all the mana in my core was drained. A sharp pain could be felt in my torso as the golden landscape faded to black.
Iridescent rays wafted above my eyes, causing me to stir from my slumber. Suddenly, my eyes shot open in shock as I jolted up.
"Where am I?" I murmured aloud to no one.
Looking around, I appeared to be in a large room filled with multiple beds separated by curtains. The room was an immaculate white as if not a single spec of dust had been permitted to step foot into the sterile room.
I was laying in a Queen sized white bed near a window letting in the natural god rays. As I looked down at my body, I was covered in bandages and was wearing a cozy white robe.
"Ah! Has our cute little visitor woken up?"
A melodic voice could be heard, causing me to almost jump out of my skin.
I gripped my chest in an attempt to soothe my haphazard heartbeat as I stared at the woman with a look of stupefaction. The woman stood at approximately 1.5 meters, with a beautiful bob cut that flowed out into an intricately tied braid in the back.
The front of the bob cut was a Tyrian shade of purple that was accented by streaks of wisteria. The braid was jet black, reaching her slim waistline with wisteria highlights shimmering in contrast.
Her large eyes glistened with a stark deadpan green. The irises were dotted with porpoise-like fireworks and were even more pronounced when you noticed her small nose.
The woman noticed my staring, leaned slightly forward, and squeezed her arms together. Her bosom was accentuated as she began to speak with cherry-flushed cheeks.
"Don't fall in love with me now! I'm already spoken for!"
The apparent look of abhorrence must have shocked her because the woman quickly let out a nervous laugh while stroking the back of her head.
"The headmaster will be here shortly to give you a rundown of the current situation. He found you in the middle of the listless plains."
"The listless plains?" I tilted my head in confusion as I asked.
"Ah! You must not be from around here! We call that area the listless plains because there isn't a lot of monster activity out there as long as you avoid the forests."
"Supposedly they wanted to call it the Peaceful Plains, but I hey had to go for a name change with all the bandit and mercenary attacks!"
The woman snorted as she let out a hearty laugh. She wiped a stray tear drop from her eye as she spoke again.
"That was so funny I almost forgot to tell you my name, Evelyn. Everyone just calls me Eve for short though so you should do the same!"
"You're welcome by the way for cleaning you up and changing your clothes." She said with a wink.
My face turned bright cherry red as steam seemed to waft from my scalp in small puffs. I tightly clenched the white robe covering my chest that was already completely hidden beneath bandages.
The woman couldn't help but let out another burst of laughter.
"Don't worry I didn't see anything I haven't seen before!"
She quickly threw her hand over her mouth.
"Oh! Not that there wasn't much to see! Just that I'm an experienced woman so it wasn't my first time or anything like that. Do you know what I mean ?"
The woman was speaking at a mile a minute and was quite the personality. I could only let out a nervous laugh in response to the current spectacle.
Suddenly, a husky voice was heard, interrupting the embarrassingly comedic situation.
"So the kid finally woke up?"
A two-meter-tall man wearing a vivid cerulean robe walked into the room. Two silver sashes lay draped across his shoulders, hovering slightly above the ground.
The seams of the robe were stitched with golden threading that seemed to flow like gentle rivers. On the left chest pocket, a large design depicting the crossing of a sword and scepter could be seen hovering above an open book.
His hair was slightly longer than average, stopping at his shoulders. It was a shade of anchor silver with splashes of Persian blue scattered across the parting in his scalp.
Stylish black circular shades could be seen resting on the bridge of his nose as he approached us. His voice was smooth like silk as he spoke with clarity and confidence.
"You've been asleep here for three days now kid."
"This is the headmaster I mentioned to you earlier, headmaster Mana Walker!" Eve interjected.
"Th-three days ?!"
"Wait… did your parents name you mana?"
I asked while staring at the aforementioned headmaster.
Eve gripped her stomach as she suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. A vein could be seen beginning to bulge on headmaster Mana's forehead as she laughed.
"Eve… I told you to refer to me as headmaster Walker, did I not ?" He sighed as he spoke.
Eve stuck out her tongue playfully while winking at headmaster Mana.
"You've been unconscious for three days now and you're more concerned with what my parents named me?" The headmaster spoke again staring at me.
This time I was the one rubbing the back of my head with a nervous laugh.
"Ah… No. Three days is a long time, but at least it's faster than three months. I was just surprised to meet someone named after mana."
"It truly is a unique name when you think about it." I could feel the cold sweat slide down my cheek as I smiled wryly at headmaster Mana.
"What is your name?" Headmaster Mana coldly asked.
As I answered, the gargantuan ebony armor flashed in my mind.
"Juzou… Juzou Mortem"
I stared right into Headmaster Mana's crystal blue irises as I spoke.
Headmaster Mana closed his eyes for a moment in thought.
"Hmm…"
"I'm not sure if I should say that you're lucky or unlucky. On one hand, you might have experienced something traumatic. On the other, you stumbled upon me."
A sinister smile slowly crept across his handsomely pale face.
For a moment my attention drifted toward Eve, currently shaking her head with her hands on her hips. The headmaster began to speak again catching my attention.
"Can you tell me about what happened right before you lost consciousness?"
The scenes from before flashed before my eyes as I was reminded of the encounter with the bandit. The will I inherited from my mother must have activated and defended me in the last moments.
A million questions came to mind as I wondered if I should speak about my mother's will. Headmaster Mana's eyes seemed to narrow as I hesitated to answer.
"I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I was somehow able to defend myself against the bandit. Was I able to subconsciously cast a spell or something?"
Headmaster Mana's eyes slightly widened for a moment before returning to their steadfast appearance.
"So you're saying that you, a child, have an indigo-level core, but have never learned or cast a single spell? Are you the recruit of some royal family that has been cultivating before they could read?"
I nodded my head and let out a small chuckle.
"I'm just an orphan sir. I did not start absorbing ambient mana until months after my confirmation."
Headmaster Mana's eyebrow arched inquisitively, as if in doubt, before replying. "So what is your elemental affinity? By your rapid growth, it must be either the light or darkness element."
"Because of the scarcity of people with those elemental affinities, there are typically excess light and dark mana particles pervading the ambient mana."
I pondered for a moment about what the headmaster had said. Is there also an excess of earth mana particles due to there being a lack of people with that elemental affinity?
I put those thoughts to the side before answering in a resolute tone. "My elemental affinity is with the earth element."
Eve's eyes widened as she covered her mouth in surprise, and the headmaster's smile grew even larger.
"Why don't you attend my academy?" The headmaster's calm and collected tone was back in full effect as he spoke.
I couldn't hide the expression of surprise on my face when hearing the question. It was surprising because the reactions of people that know my elemental affinity have typically been unsavory. Excluding mother of course.
The headmaster must have taken my surprise as indecisiveness or an objection because he went on to explain the many benefits of attending the academy.
"My academy is quite prestigious. The enrollment standards are quite high, not to mention the boarding and lodging fee."
"You can attend on a scholarship that is only extended to unique or exceptional cases. This will cover the cost of tuition under the stipulation that you must be in the top ten of every class and graduate from the academy with honors."
"You're exceptionally talented when it comes to cultivating the mana core but you have no tutelage in spell crafting or properly utilizing the mana residing inside your mana core."
I short silence permeated the room before headmaster Mana spoke again.
"Also… I will be able to provide insight about what exactly occurred when you defended yourself against the bandit."
Headmaster Mana spoke as if he knew more than initially revealed, potentially even possessing knowledge about inheriting wills. He must have realized that my interest had peaked.
The other students should be arriving within the week and classes will officially begin in eight days. Eve here is the school nurse and can show you around the campus grounds.
Headmaster mana didn't give me a chance to respond as he strode out of the nurses' office. He glanced back before exclaiming, "Welcome to Cross Academy."