I started to read and decode the books but even though I had my fast learning activated, everytime I thought I got the language, there were just more inconsistencies, the grammar, everything was total shit. I was really about to give up but I kept on pushing, but my efforts were useless. I had tried the entire day, nothing, nothing at all.
The weeks passed, in the morning I trained magic and in the afternoon I tried to decode the books, after a few days I heard that there was a dungeon in the area I could explore and I did exactly that. I tested out new spells, I made significant advancements in all 3 magics I can use currently but still, I didn't understand the books. The war had also gone on and on, our kingdom currently in the lead, I thought about joining in in the war multiple times since I could possibly get home faster, but they always declined my help because "I was too young", like, shit, I am 10 years old.
I know I said I could shorten learning magic to around a week, that was mainly true, but gravity magic was a little bit of a bitch, while the normal spells like weight shift don't take that much mana, spells that I wanted to try out, sucked me dry, so most of the time was spent increasing my mana reserves instead of actually becoming better in magic.
The guards mentioned that the war might drag on for months so I had enough time to practice everything. I also had grown a lot over the course of the past few weeks since I arrived here, I am now around 1.40m (4.59 ft) tall, I also picked up swordfighting since I wasn't the best. I could now spar with the knights and actually beat them a few times with a normal sword. I looked around the city and got a haircut, the eldrely woman was nice, she even complimented my black hair (which is not usual here).
More time passed, a month then two months, 3, 4, and then 5 months. It was winter. The war was finished, the kingdom I was staying in won while I managed to train, and training I did. My mana pool raised to 94/100 and my mana potence raised to 91/100. My swordsmenship was better than ever, many guards couldn't win against me and I also managed to decode the titles of the books. The bright yellow one was light magic, the red one was blood, blood is a submagic of water magic, then there was the yellow one with the cogwheels, it had another language which I didn't understand at all. But atleast I could start with the other 2 now. My magic knowledge of my 3 currently known magic types have increased drastically, allowing me to also perform an archmage class shadow spell. My fire magic has increased to about Saint class and I could perform better gravity magic after raising my mana pool and optimizing the spells.
At that morning, the guards knocked on my door, "Jin. We have gathered both stones and are now able to send you back if you wish to go", I immediately grabbed my stuff and put it into my storage and went with them.
We arrived at the teleporter where the king was waiting, it was freezing. Winter here is deadly. The king entered both stones and a blue portal opened.
"Jin. It was nice having you here, I will keep your name in my mind, but for now, farewell and watch out. I wish you all the best."
I looked at him, "Yes. I will one day return and we'll catch up. But until then, farewell.", I went up to the teleporter.
With one last glance back I entered the portal. I immediately arrived in the city, everything was normal. I looked around and saw the academy in the middle of the city.
People looked at me, most likely due to me just coming out of a portal, but I couldn't care less in that moment, all I thought about was how my friends are. I rushed towards the school until I arrived infront of the gates.
A few guards I didn't recognize stopped me. I could glance inside... there were these banners, they had the same symbols as the ones the cultists had. I was shocked, my eyes widened and I started to sweat slightly, I rushed in just past the guards which chased after me.
I looked up to my right where the room of the principal was, though there wasn't Mr. Collins, no, Aria stood there and stared straight down at me, smiling. I was furious, she was the reason I didn't see my family or my friends in so long. I stopped, the guards almost tripped over me.
"Hey kid, you need to co-", I interrupted him, screaming.
"SHUT UP!"
I just stared back at Aria. I had many thoughts in my mind, it ranged from normal talking to straight up attacking her. She moved away from the window and I ran into the living building. I ran as fast as I could to the room 401, the room that belonged to Emilia and me. I banged on the door but... the person who opened wasn't Emilia, it was a normal kid with his friend.
"Do you know where a person named Emilia is? She has white hair and...", he cut me off,
"Emilia? Oh, I think she should be in room 275, with her boyfriend", he answered.
My eyes went wide, boyfriend? Not that I was interested in her like that, but still, I rushed down the stairs again and then down the corridor, I stopped at the room and also knocked on that door.
A person looking like Emilia opened the door, she smiled at me,
"Can I help you?", she said.
"Emilia... it's me... Jin...", I said, glad to see her again.
"Huh... do we know eachother?", she said. My eyes widened in shock, this couldn't be happening, I didn't look that different, did I? No, no I didn't...
I remembered I could open a person's status with the console, it was her, same name, age and magic. Everything matched, though as I looked around, I saw she was under a mindcontrol spell, the person who used it... was Aria.
I looked inside and saw a guy sitting on the bed.
"O-oh.. sorry, I must've confused you with someone..", I said reluctantly.
"No worries, happens sometimes.", she smiled and closed the door.
"What the hell has happened while I was away...", I thought.
I walked back to the courtyard where students were hanging out, everyone was under a mindcontrol spell, literally everyone. I tried to inspect it further, but all that I knew was they were controlled, there was just one thing that I also found weird, Emilia had a boyfriend despite only being 10 years old... maybe that's normal here?
My mind was made up. I was going to stop this mind control spell, I walked into the main building and knocked at the door to the principal's office. Aria was waiting for me there.
"Been a while, Jin.", she giggled.
"What the fuck have you done.", I asked, annoyed.
"Oh, you know. Just made it so when you came back you'd be so fucking pissed. First I made it so everyone forgot you, then let Emilia and some random as guy get together and don't even search for the DC. They're either killed or locked away in the dungeons, cruel, am I right?", she smiled like a literal villain.
"Alright. I didn't want to resort to this... but seems like I have no other choice.", I sighed.