They were walking hand in hand toward the city of Elyken.
The city was buzzing, packed with shops selling magical tools and books.
On the other side of town, you could see students heading back to school.
Aya looked around curiously, then turned to Rio with a grin. "Think we could learn some magic?"
Rio, caught off guard by the sudden question, muttered, "Magic…?"
Aya's smile got bigger. "Yeah, it sounds kinda dope, right? Plus, they say this place has the best academies."
Rio thought for a sec, then looked at Aya with a smirk. "Could be kinda cool…"
---
Tye was sprawled out on the bed in their honey-colored room, lost in thought.
The sound of the door creaking open snapped them back to reality.
???: "Yo, Tye."
A smile spread across Tye's face. "Hey, fancy lady."
Nova let out a soft laugh. "Fancy lady? Someone's getting polite!"
She walked over with light steps, plopped down next to Tye on the bed, and said gently, "Something up?"
Tye grinned. "Does something *have* to be up?"
Nova's smile faded. "Tye, don't lie to me."
Tye pulled her into a tight hug, burying their face in her chest. Warm tears soaked into Nova's shirt, and as she caught the familiar, sweet scent of Tye's hair, she gently ran her hand over their head. "It's okay… no big deal…"
---
Days had passed since Rio and Aya signed up for the magic academy, and today was their first class.
Rio was slouched on his desk, looking bored and staring at Aya, who was practically bouncing with excitement, waiting for class to start.
The classroom had jade walls, a magic-powered blackboard, and a few leather chairs for decoration.
Nova piped up, "Isn't this awesome? First class today, and they're gonna test our magic levels!"
She was wiggling her legs in excitement.
Rio yawned. "Yeah, I guess…"
A few minutes later, the teacher walked in, looking all serious. "Name's John Smith. I'm here to give you the lowdown on magic, its rankings, and test your power levels to wrap things up for today."
He was a short dude with red hair, green eyes, and glasses.
The teacher headed to the board, focused some magic on it, and a few images popped up.
"Alright, as you can see, there's five power levels, ranked from weakest to strongest."
"Magic, or 'deter' for short, comes from the environment and air—it's basically infinite. But how much you can soak up depends on your level.
Think of absorbing magic like how black absorbs sunlight—the higher your level, the more you can take in.
We measure magic with numbers from 1 to 100.
Now, let's go over the levels and how much magic each one can handle."
"Level 1, marked by a human symbol, is the weakest. They can handle 1 to 20 magic units. They can heal small cuts or revive flowers."
"Level 2, marked by a spear, handles 21 to 40 units. They can make small explosions—think five centimeters wide—heal minor wounds, and revive plants."
"Level 3, with a tiger symbol, pulls in 41 to 70 units. They've got stronger versions of the lower-level powers, plus they can move at speeds up to 1 kilometer per hour."
"Level 4, marked by a flower, takes in 71 to 80 units. They can heal deep wounds, move at 50 kilometers per hour, and their destructive power covers 500 meters."
"Level 5, marked by a mouse, is the strongest and super rare, with 81 to 100 units. Nobody really knows much about their powers…"
"Any questions?"
Aya raised her hand, curious. "Why can't anyone absorb more than 100 units?"
The teacher pulled his magic off the board and said calmly, "The human body can't handle that much magic—it'd just explode."
He took off his glasses, walked to a gray cabinet in the corner, and carefully opened it.
"We need this device to check your magic levels."
He pulled out something that looked like an hourglass.
"When you put your hands on both sides of this hourglass, it gathers the magic in your body and shows your level on this screen."
"Starting from the left row, one by one, come up, introduce yourself, then put your hands on the hourglass."
A girl with green hair, green eyes, and average height from the front row went up and turned to the class.
"I'm Toru Markenson, 16 years old."
She turned to the device in the teacher's hands, gently took it, and placed her hands on both sides.
After a few seconds, the number 45 showed up.
The teacher smiled at her. "Nice, you're Level 3. Go sit down, next person's up."
One by one, the students got tested: a brown-haired, brown-eyed guy named Syd Karo got Level 2; a girl with dark brown eyes named Yuki Takuro also got Level 2; and a guy with emerald eyes and hair named Ryota Kashin got Level 3.
Aya practically skipped to the device, all hyped up. "I'm Aya Hoshin!"
She grabbed the device from the teacher and stared at the number that appeared.
The screen showed 80, and Aya's eyes lit up with joy.
The teacher looked at the device, shocked. "That's incredible—Level 4 is super rare."
Aya shot him an excited grin and headed back to her seat.
Rio dragged himself up, looking bored, and walked to the teacher. "I'm Rio Parkinson."
He took the device, and… nothing showed up.
Rio glanced at the teacher. "Think it's busted."
The teacher's eyes went wide. "Y-you… you're Level 5."
Rio stared at him, stunned. "W-what? Me?"
---
Tye found themselves in a field full of yellow flowers.
They walked forward slowly, and a blurry image of a girl came into view.
She turned toward them.
Her face wasn't clear, but a warm smile was plastered on it. "Think they're pretty?"
A soft breeze started blowing, carrying a few petals in front of Tye's face.
They closed their eyes and raised a hand to shield their face.
When the breeze died down, they lowered their hand and blinked, suddenly back in their room.
They looked around, realizing they were still wrapped in Nova's arms.
"A dream…?"
Tye glanced at Nova, who was fast asleep beside them, and gently brushed a strand of hair from her face.
"What's pretty…?"