-Asher Frostblade's point of view.
As they finished walking down the stairs, they came to a large room, but the only thing there was a door.
Yes, exactly, one of those teleportation doors where they can take people to different places as long as it is connected to another door and also in a place where they built it.
But then, what is one of those doors doing in a place that practically nobody knows about and in a hidden place? Mostly because this room was right in the disciplinary committee room, where there was an entrance behind the bookshelf. So, something made a lot of sense about this.
Whoever the previous chairman of the disciplinary committee was, it's possible that he was also in this room. No, but it's also possible that long before that, other disciplinary committee chairmen had found this room by pure chance.
As they all looked at the big door....
The door was round, different from the others which are square and with intriguing details on its edges and some decorations, but this one had the difference of being round, something like a portal. Apparently, it was covered with some plants protruding from its edges, which meant that it was ancient. It was at least about five meters square or six meters; in fact, the doorway was quite large. It was covered with plants and spider webs and was somewhat cracked.
"What's a door doing here?"
"No, the question is: why is this here and why doesn't anyone know about this?"
Grey added and then Julian spoke at last.
More than anything, the door definitely led somewhere, but how do you activate it? Asher had zero information about these gates: where they came from, how they were created, if they were created by humans, what magical technology they use, and how much mana must be used in order to use the gate. Asher had nothing in his head on this matter, and of course, he wasn't the only one.
"We should..." Quickly, Grey dismissed his idea.
"First of all, if this was here all along, then it means that the principal or even the teachers know, right?" Grey added again.
At that, Freddy spoke up.
"It definitely is, but why is it hidden?"
Everyone simply stared at the teleportation door with its unique round design, which was attached to the wall of the room that was at least ten meters square and empty. Only the door was there.
Asher could guess something, but not knowing anything about it, he decided not to speak.
"What if we activate it?" Luna's voice reached everyone's ears.
Quickly, they looked at Luna, surprised by the sudden suggestion.
"You're okay, right?"
"..."
Grey spoke and, as expected, the others also expressed the same thought. At this, Luna simply did not speak.
"But it might be a good idea. Somehow it doesn't seem to lead us to a dangerous place," Gloriana spoke up and of course everyone looked at her.
"Just a guess," she spoke again while waving her hands.
"Haa... Maybe you're right, but..." Asher stopped there and looked at the door.
"What if it's the entrance to a dungeon or even leads us to a much worse place?"
"..."
"..."
At Asher's words, the others were left thinking.
Those words could be very right. In the first place, it might not be a dangerous place, but there was also the possibility of it being a dangerous place or even something unexpected.
"So what do we do, do we tell the teachers or keep it a secret?" Emilia suggested.
"No, definitely the teachers and the principal must know about this, so it's better not to tell. We might get into something by talking," Grey added and then Luna spoke up.
"That's true, we still have to keep this place under strict surveillance in case someone comes in," Freddy spoke after Luna.
"In a sense that's true, but Luna, do you have any idea who would want to enter the committee and even look for the book that opens the entrance to this place?"
"..."
Luna simply fell silent, knowing that her words were somewhat meaningless; no, actually, they were meaningless, but the thing about having a stakeout is more than true.
"Then, we're leaving. Tomorrow we'll see what we're going to do," Asher spoke and then everyone nodded.
It was then that they slowly started to leave and then Asher was the last one.
"Encrid, do you have any ideas?"
"Not exactly, but I sense something dangerous that might lead to that door; maybe there's no problem activating it."
"I guess we'll know any minute now."
***
-Change of scene.
It was the next day and classes were normal. Everything was as usual, but, of course, the whole group was thinking about the mysterious door near the disciplinary committee room, which was in the thoughts of the seven of them for the whole night. Some, like Luna, were curious as to where that door leads, but their thoughts were instantly dismissed.
Luna, after all, was not supposed to think only out of her curiosity and gave it up every time she thought about it.
It was almost ten o'clock and class was nearing its end. Then, Professor Lucas' voice reached everyone's ears.
"So, that about wraps it up. See you next week, cadets, and don't forget to do what I told you to do."
Once Professor Lucas left the room, the cadets began chatting among themselves. Some, more than half, talked about the professor's class.
"Don't you think the professor is cute?"
"..."
Hearing the words of some female cadets about two seats down, Asher didn't hesitate to think that those two cadets were strangers.
"Is it normal to think of such things?"
No, in fact, there was nothing normal about that; certainly, those two cadets were just strange and weird, of course. Asher looked away from them for a few seconds and then let out a long sigh.
"What are we going to do about that door?"
He was still on the subject of the door.
After all, a hidden teleportation door in the academy was really strange, not only because it was hidden, so was its design. Asher had never seen a round teleport door before; normally, doors are square and not round, so it was unique.
Still, he kept his thoughts on that, on where that door could lead to; maybe it's to another room, also to a dungeon or even a dimension.
"No, that's impossible."
Although Encrid had somehow mentioned something, exactly an ability that could create a dimension, it was something like a kind of ability where the mage had absolute control, like a god who created a world and its rules and laws.
"I think it was called 'World' or was it 'Dominion'."
He thought about it more deeply and then remembered the name.
"It's Dominion. I thought it was World, since the ability has something similar to that."
After a few minutes of sitting and as he looked around at the other cadets, it was finally ten o'clock. It was the free time for all the cadets, where they could do their business wherever they wanted.
So, Asher started walking and went straight towards the disciplinary committee.
Once he arrived, he opened the door with the key that Professor Lucas had given him the day before and then entered the room. The first thing he looked at was the bookshelf; no, he looked at the door that led to the room where the teleportation door was.
At that, he walked over to his desk and sat down.
*Haa... I'll wait for the others...*
But as he muttered those words, it was then that the voice of that woman echoed right next to Asher.
"Hi, honey, I haven't spoken to you until today."
Asher's whole body froze, he couldn't move a single muscle and he couldn't even move his eyes; in fact, nothing could move from his body. He was completely frozen when the woman's voice whispered right next to him.
Then, two hands landed on both of Asher's shoulders; they were the woman's hands.
"What do you want?" Asher asked.
"Uh, nothing, I just wanted to talk to you a little."
Asher said nothing but to hear her words.
"I see you're already a second circle, you also won the test, got a hundred on the written test and even became the chairman of the disciplinary committee."
"I am so proud of you, my little genius. I hope you keep it up and get stronger."
Still, and after those words, Asher simply said nothing. It wasn't that he couldn't, he just didn't know what to say to the woman.
Asher felt the woman's breath close to his hair, knowing exactly where the woman's head was. Asher thought for a moment.
"If I manage to move and attack her? No, that might be impossible. She must be too strong and could avoid any attack."
In fact, he was more than right; certainly, with only the woman's presence, Asher could not control his body. It was his instincts controlling him, basically telling him that if he moved, something bad could happen to him. It was something Asher couldn't help; after all, his same instincts were controlling him.
Of course, Asher wanted so badly to know who the woman was who watched him every day and what she wanted from him. Not only that, he also wanted to know what she was to him; was she friend or foe? But whatever the answer, at some point he would know; of that, Asher was sure.
In the meantime, he could only stand still, doing absolutely nothing, when the woman appeared. With this, it was already the second time the woman had spoken to him.
"Oh, I almost forgot, I also brought you a gift, compensating since you achieved several successes in one day."
At that, a book appeared out of nowhere right in front of Asher, placed on his desk in the middle. Seeing a book that had a dark color and no letters or anything else, just a book with a dark cover, Asher stared at it.
"It's a skill," then the woman spoke.
"At the moment, I can only give you something like this, so carry on as usual and I will reward you with much better things."
After looking at the book, the woman's hands left Asher's shoulders and a few last words came out of the woman. At that instant, the door to the living room was opening, which meant his friends were about to enter.
"Bye, honey, I'll visit you again next month."
And then, Asher felt the woman's breath right near his cheek and then....
"A little goodbye, honey."
It was a small kiss on his cheek that Asher felt. That left him completely confused, and then the door to the room opened and six cadets walked in.
"What the hell was that?" Then, he was able to move his body; it was no longer frozen like before and he quickly spun around.
"Gone..."
Seeing that the woman was gone, Asher looked at the group of six coming in, and after a while, each of them started talking. But, of course, Asher paid no attention to them and concentrated on thinking about the woman.
"Her behavior towards me is strange, but I think I have an idea.... Maybe she's a relative of this body."
He had a vague idea of who the woman might be, based on her behavior and attitude, and also on the words she had said to Asher. He concluded that she might be a relative. However, he did not know who she was or what she looked like, and Asher also had no memory of the body she currently occupied. Therefore, he had no memories of people other than those he himself had known.
But it seemed more than obvious that he was a familiar, which meant he was not an enemy.
"No... I shouldn't think positively about that yet; it's possible he's an enemy."
Of that, Asher was sure. The original Asher had no memory of anyone, or where he was from, or where he was born. Practically, the original Asher had lost his memories, and after a while, the Asher from the other world reincarnated in the body of the original Asher. Therefore, Asher had no idea who his family was, who his acquaintances were, or who knew him.
"I guess I'll find out at some point, but I have to get pretty strong so I won't be intimidated by that woman again."
In fact, it was extremely frustrating for Asher to not be able to do anything when that woman appeared and his body froze completely, unable to move a single muscle. It was a very annoying thing.
Still, Asher was sure of one thing.
"Whoever that woman is, she's watching me all the time."
Then, he looked at the book on his desk and quickly picked it up.
Making sure no one else had seen the book on his desk, Asher used his dimensional ring and kept it in it. It was all quick, and no one noticed....