"Hey."
"Hey... Wake up."
"How long are you going to sleep?"
I, who was deep in sleep, slowly began to regain consciousness. There was a woman's voice trying to wake me up, her voice felt so real that it seemed as if the woman's voice was right next to my ear.
I slowly opened my eyes and saw Jenny placing my clothes on the table.
"How long are you going to sleep? Hurry up, clean yourself and go to the academy," Jenny said with an annoyed expression on her face.
Still half-awake, I slowly got up from my bed, grabbed a towel, and took a quick shower. After showering, I glanced at the wall clock and it showed 09:35.
Wait a minute, 09:35?
No wonder Jenny seemed annoyed with me. It seemed that she had been trying to wake me up since earlier, but I didn't wake up. I looked at the alarm clock on my desk and realized it wasn't ticking. No wonder I didn't hear the alarm earlier.
I hurriedly dried myself off and got dressed, walking down the stairs to the first floor while eating the bread Jenny had prepared for me on the table in my room.
"Jenny, I apologize for troubling you. I'll buy your favorite drink when I come back from the academy. I'm leaving now!" I said to Jenny, who still looked angry at me.
During the journey, Oliver, or as we all know him, Dario Turner, maneuvered through the crowded pedestrian walkway, trying to avoid collisions, spinning and dodging pedestrians like a skillful and agile dancer. And now Oliver had arrived at the entrance gate of the academy, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath.
"OLIVER!!! What time do you think it is?!!!" shouted a middle-aged man standing in front of the academy gate, whom I guessed was Jenny's acquaintance.
"I'm sorry, my alarm clock suddenly didn't go off, so I overslept," I explained to the middle-aged man.
"NO EXCUSES! NOW YOU STAND HERE UNTIL I COME BACK!!!" the middle-aged man yelled, walking away from me in front of the academy gate.
I guess I'm being punished for being late. Seriously, punishing a single, 28-year-old man like me as if I were an elementary school student?
I have been standing here for about an hour, sweat pouring down my face because the weather today is extremely sunny. It's so sunny that there are no clouds in the sky at all. And now the middle-aged man who told me to stand here earlier has appeared.
"Usually misbehaving kids like you who are always late would be expelled, but because you are an acquaintance of my acquaintance, I'll forgive you today," the middle-aged man said to me.
"Here, drink this and follow me," the man handed me a bottle filled with water.
I drank the water and followed him. It tasted extremely sour and didn't quench my thirst at all. I thought it wasn't just ordinary mineral water. This man just wanted to play a prank on a mischievous kid like me, so I decided not to finish the water and kept it.
We walked through the academy's classrooms, climbed the stairs to the rooftop. The academy consists of ten floors, more or less, and now we have arrived at the rooftop.
"You sit there," the middle-aged man said, pointing to a chair that looked quite old and mossy, as if it had always been there.
I immediately walked towards the chair and sat down.
"First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Victor Steel, you can call me Victor, and you are Oliver, right?" Victor
asked me.
"Yes, I am Oliver Blackwell!" I replied.
"Have you finished the water I gave you?" Victor asked me.
"Not yet, sir. The water was very sour, and I'm really thirsty. It's impossible for me to finish this sour water in my current condition," I explained.
"DRINK IT QUICKLY!"
Victor yelled at me, which startled me, and reflexively, I quickly finished the water. Ugh, this water really made my tongue feel thick because of its sourness.
But, why is this happening?
After drinking the water, I felt something strange in my body. I felt incredibly light, all the colors of the objects I saw seemed to change in an instant and then return to normal. My mind felt like it was being reset, as if I were a newborn baby, feeling so light and filled with happiness.
"W... What kind of water is this, sir?" I asked.
"That is Intellica, a water developed by this academy to teach people like you, who should have magical powers but have not yet learned to control them," Victor explained.
"How did you know that I have magical powers?" I asked.
"My power lies in seeing the flow of Magic power within someone's body, and right now, you possess it," Victor replied.
.......................................…
However, the reality was not like that. Victor Steel, who worked as a teacher at Eldoria Academy, knew about the power of our protagonist, Oliver Blackwell. This power could only be seen by those who possessed advanced Magic power control techniques. Since their first meeting, Victor had seen the color of Oliver's Magic power flow, which was pitch black and extremely dense. This flow was completely different from the Magic power flow of someone who couldn't control their power at all.
.......................................…
"So, when can I start learning to control my power, sir?" I asked.
"You will be specially trained, so forget about regular studies," Victor answered.
"Then why was I asked to come here, sir? Instead of wasting my time coming here and getting nothing, I'd better go home and help out at the bar," I explained to Victor.
"No, your visit here was not in vain. Starting tomorrow, come to the empty field located in the southern part of the kingdom, outside the walls, at 3:30 p.m.," Victor explained to me.
After saying that, Mr. Victor immediately told me to go home and left. I, still confused about what Mr. Victor meant, walked through the staircase leading downstairs. Eldoria Academy itself had a really large land area. It was so vast that you could probably park ten planes in its central field.
Curious, I decided to explore the academy's surroundings, and it turned out that Eldoria Academy was not much different from the academy in my previous world. This place was meant for teaching and learning activities for children. I saw kids ranging from 5 to 18 years old, each displaying a variety of abilities. Some could control plants, some could teleport, some could manipulate elements like water, fire, and wind, and there were even those who could levitate.
I was so amazed by this Academy that, unaware, I had reached the far end of the campus, an empty area that somehow had a very unsettling atmosphere. At the end, I saw a black silhouette resembling a very large figure, and it seemed to be looking in my direction. As I focused on it, the silhouette appeared to grow bigger. Suddenly, while observing the shadow, I felt dizzy, my body weakened, and I collapsed right there on the spot.
.......................................…
Our protagonist, Oliver Blackwell, who was unconscious, was approached by the shadow that he had been observing earlier. Suddenly, a mysterious figure wearing a black cloak that covered their entire body appeared. The figure drew a dagger from their left side, seemingly uttering an incantation, and in an instant, the shadow that had caused Oliver to faint appeared to be absorbed into the dagger wielded by the mysterious figure.
"Oliver, it's still too soon for you," said the mysterious figure in front of Oliver's unconscious body.
The mysterious figure then disappeared as quickly as a blink of an eye, leaving no trace behind and becoming completely invisible.
.......................................…
I woke up with a heavy and throbbing headache. Slowly, as I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on the ground. The surrounding scenery was pitch black, indicating that it was probably nighttime. I tried to recall what had happened before I passed out.
Throughout the day, I had been at the academy, meeting Mr. Victor who instructed me to see him tomorrow. Then I wandered around and... Oh, yes, I saw a figure here, and immediately after, I fainted. Could it be because I was hungry?
I attempted to stand up, but my head suddenly started hurting again. It felt as if it was being pierced by numerous nails, and my heartbeat accelerated along with the excruciating pain. I leaned against the wall and gradually started seeing strange visions before my eyes.
Numerous images appeared, but I was fixated on one particular vision. I saw myself lying face down, covered in wounds all over my body. In front of me stood someone I had never seen before, surrounded by a dark aura, while behind them loomed a large, dark purple monster with two horns on its head.
After witnessing all those visions, the excruciating headache slowly began to fade away. What is actually happening?