With newfound confidence, Lucian flipped to the next page of the diary.
"After telling my reasons, Yasolt was quiet for a bit, but then he asked, 'What path do you plan to walk?' The question was simple, but the truth was that even I didn't know what path I would take. It could lead to my success or it could lead me to my death. So, I simply told him, 'I don't know?' I wasn't satisfied with my answer, but it was true. As we sat there silently, he spoke again, 'Do you think you will find your path in life?' 'What I have in my future, I can't tell, but what I can make of my future is in my hands. So maybe I will, or maybe I won't. Who knows what's in the future? But I'll try my best,' I told him with confidence."
"So you will leave tomorrow? And there is nothing that can stop you?" he asked. "Yeah, I plan to leave tomorrow at sunrise, and there's no reason for me to stay here anymore," I replied confidently. Suddenly, he got up and walked away, which surprised me. I was confused about why he just left without a word, but I guessed he got tired of my talk and decided to go. After a while, I also got up and went back to sleep. Tonight, I packed up all my things, and I am prepared to leave tomorrow as soon as the sun rises." And that's how the page ended.
Lucian was puzzled as to why a good friend like Yasolt would walk away from such an important conversation. He also didn't know the past of Yasolt and the owner of the diary. It was both fascinating and strange to read such a story while not knowing the backgrounds of these people. Nonetheless, it provided Lucian insight into a person's greed for power and human relationships while making him aware of his own past life mistakes.
As he was about to flip to the next page, there was a sudden knock on the door. Lucian jolted at the unexpected sound, but then a voice came from behind the door, it was none other than Galen. "Lucian, are you still awake?" Lucian quickly looked at the clock, realizing it was nearly midnight. Scared, he tried to keep as quiet as possible to make it seem like he was asleep.
But Galen spoke again, "You know I can see light coming through the bottom slit of your door, right?" This quickly blew Lucian's cover, and he hid the diary under the bed before opening the door.
"Yeah, I wasn't sleeping."
"Were you not sleeping because you couldn't, or is it because you were doing something?"
'He is quick to catch on.' Lucian thought to himself.
"No, I just wasn't sleepy, but I'll head to bed right now." Lucian said, trying to sound sincere.
"Go to bed quickly. Don't make your body feel any worse, okay?" Galen said to Lucian in a gentle tone.
"Okay, Dad, I will." After closing the door, Lucian jumped onto his bed, thinking to himself that he had read enough for tonight, and turned off the light.
But even while lying down, Lucian couldn't help but wonder about the diary and the writer's future. He thought about Yasolt and wondered if the people in the diary were still alive as he slowly drifted into sleep.
The next day, Lucian woke up, did his daily routine, and waited for his mom and dad to leave the house. After they left, he went to his room to continue reading the diary, but as he was about to open it, he heard a knock on the front door. Lucian felt a little annoyed but was also confused about who it might be. He quickly walked to the front door and opened it, revealing none other than Amara. He hadn't seen her in a while, she had left the village when she turned 18 to study at a faraway academy called Rumen Academy. This was the first time he was seeing her in four years.
As soon as she saw him, she grabbed him by both arms and hugged him tightly while lifting him into the air.
'I know I'm not that heavy, but am I really this light?' he thought as Amara lifted him effortlessly.
"You're so much taller, Lucian, and even cuter!" she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
"Thanks! You've become much more bearable to look at." he teased her.
"You haven't changed a bit, have you, Lucian? Always making fun of your big sister." Amara didn't seem to mind the teasing; they had always been like that since he started talking and teasing her. This might have driven others to anger or madness, but for her, she was always playful and tried to make him smile. Over time, he would smile at her efforts to make her feel better.
Amara looked much more mature and somewhat reminded him of his sister, even though he didn't want to remember her. But, he guessed that was the only good reference he had.
Amara's eyes wandered around the house as she walked in. She asked, "So are both Mr. and Mrs. Dawning out for work right now?"
"Yup, they just left for work," he told her as he went to the kitchen. She sat down on the sofa and asked, "So what are you doing today? Do you want to hear the stories from my academy life?" Amara asked with an excited expression, it was almost like she had been saving all the stories just to tell him.
He handed her a glass of water and sat down on the couch next to her. "Obviously I do! I have my own dream of going to an academy one day, so the more I can learn, the better." he said.
"I knew you would want to learn about the academy, so I brought something for you from the academy."
Amara then opened her bag, which she had placed on the table, and pulled out three books. "What are these books?" he asked curiously.
"These are the books from my academy."
"Really? Books from the academy?" He quickly grabbed one of the books and started flipping through the pages.
"Most of the books are provided by the academy, and the students are strictly prohibited from sharing them with any outsiders who do not belong to the academy."
"Then how did you manage to get these out of the academy?" he asked, concerned that she might have stolen the books for him.
"These are the books that I bought myself, so I can take them anywhere or even let other people read them. But these are not as advanced as the ones that I read at the academy; compared to those, these are similar to a beginner's guide."
"Doesn't matter if they're just beginner's guides, I can probably learn a lot from these," he said, excitedly looking at the books.
"The one you're holding is a basic guide to mana channeling and mana nature. The second one is history, and the third one is a basic guide to weapons."
"History?" he was surprised but not shocked, as it was also a major subject in his past life. But seeing a history book about this world made him excited to read such a book.
"Yes, history. You can't just be knowledgeable in magic, to become a top student, you need to have knowledge of everything, and history is one of those important subjects." Amara explained excitedly.
"Amara, you also got a scholarship, right? How hard is it to get one?" he asked after hearing her enthusiastic voice.
"Well, it's tough to get into the academy in general, but to also get a scholarship on top of that is extremely tough. But since I always had a dream of attending that academy, I studied hard, focused on impressing the teachers, and even managed to get a recommendation letter from a previous scholar from that academy."
Amara getting into the academy was already a massive achievement, but she also received a scholarship because of her intelligence and great talent in earth magic.
'I wonder if I can also get a scholarship.' Lucian thought to himself.