The academy wasn't much further from there. Alvin just came out earlier, so the wisp could see a little bit more of their world. Linfel obviously filled Felia and Alvin's ears with questions, but the two answered with patience. It was then that Linfel saw Alvin taking out his MCOM again. "Right! How do I get one of those? They seem extremely convenient."
Alvin looked at him. "Well, it isn't hard. Once you get registered, you can use your ID to acquire one. Of course, you will need to pay for it."
"That's good," Linfel was excited. Not long after, he saw an enormous wall that stretched several kilometers to both sides, and they were going right there. "The academy?"
Alvin nodded. "Academies aren't exactly that common, so they are usually built in the biggest cities of each region. Here in Sastasha City... Right, I haven't told you yet. This city is called Sastasha. It is part of the Penirura State in the country of Heffal. Anyway, everyone who decides to follow the Magus Path would converge in these cities, so the academies need to be able to accommodate them all. That's why it looks so big. In fact, our own is quite average. I went on an excursion to the capital's academy before, and it is at least three times as big."
"I see..." Linfel found it interesting. "How many students are there."
Alvin took his MCOM and checked the academy's website. He hasn't checked that information in a while. "After last year's admission test, our academy now has a total of 132852 students. Oh, it has gone up quite a lot since my admission. There are over ten thousand more now."
"That many?!" Linfel couldn't help but ask. "And they are all maguses? Is the Magus job that common?"
"How could that be?" Felia answered instead. "Our region alone has around 1.7 billion inhabitants. Yet, around a hundred thousand as students. It isn't that big of a number. Of course, if you take those who have already graduated, I would say we have around two and a half million maguses total. The number obviously changes over time with deaths or maguses arriving and leaving. Still, it is only a fraction of the overall population."
"This..." Linfel quickly asked Alvin. "Show me a map of your country. Even better, show me a map of the world instead and point to me your country." Alvin nodded and quickly opened it for the wisp to see. He also pointed out their region in the country specifically.
"Holy shit! I didn't expect this planet to be so packed with people," Linfel was getting more and more certain he truly wasn't in the same Universe anymore. "I've been to many planets with my old friend Horan, including some of the most powerful ones. Those planets were even bigger than this one. And yet, their overall population wasn't even a tenth of what you find in this one."
Alvin narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't say that we are sparsely populated as a planet, but we are far from being overpopulated either."
Felia agreed with Alvin, knowing more about this kind of stuff. "Master is right. I haven't really checked this content deeply, but I know our planet is considered below average when it comes to its number of inhabitants."
"Below average..." Linfel sighed. "Back from where I came, I don't think there was a single planet with so many intelligent life."
Even Alvin and Felia began to get some ideas now. "From the way you talked about your past until now, it looks more like you came from another completely different Universe." Yet, Alvin considering a possibility. "No, it is not that you came from another Universe since we don't even know if such a thing exists. That said... could it be that you came from the past instead? A very, very distant past?"
Linfel had to admit Alvin's idea made sense. "That's definitely possible. Still, just how far in the past must I have been for everything to change this much? Even Primordial Energy completely disappeared. Well, perhaps only this planet doesn't have Primordial Energy."
Felia shook her head. "I can't be sure this Primordial Energy of yours doesn't exist. However, I'm absolutely sure Magic Energy is the mainstream in our Universe. This is common knowledge you can find in the academy."
"If you think about it," Alvin decided to add another possibility, "it makes sense that you came from the past. The reason is simple: Primordial Energy. Linfel, you said Primordial Energy was a lot more abundant. However, not only was it much more powerful, but it was also very chaotic. Even training with it could lead to the death of many. Do you see the problem? Life would struggle to take form in a Universe with such a powerful energy. It would make totally sense that the overall population was so much smaller."
He continued. "As time passed and the Universe expanded, Primordial Energy began to lose its effect. I'm not sure how Magic Energy came to be and how Primordial Energy disappeared, but as you said, they seemed to be connected. Today's Magic Energy might be nothing more than a gentler version of your Primordial Energy."
Linfel heard those words, giving him more certainty of the theory. "Yes, it would explain everything."
Felia couldn't help but ask. "Does that mean Linfel was sent to the future?"
"No," Alvin remembered Linfel's words," he said he was put into some col box and everything went dark. Most likely, he was put in some kind of weird suspended animation. Now... he just so happened to wake up here. Of course, this is just a theory."
"I think there is a good chance that you are right," Linfel agreed. "My old friend Horan was very good with Primordial Energy runes, so I don't doubt he could create something capable of that."
As they talked, the number of people around began to increase again, most of them using the same Uniform of the Magus Academy. Finally, they arrived at the entrance. "Well, here we are. Linfel, come with me. I need to register you."