Optic Mage

Lesson 02 - Magic Diagram Archives

The class was astounded. But many refused to believe Aiken could suddenly do magic, and at that amazing level. He was called a fraud, a cheater, and was even accused of using illusion magic.

Aiken revelled in victory, but he was in no position to be swell-headed. "Instructor Watkins, if you'd like, I can still help you with your duties."

"But you won the deal," she said, quite confused.

"I know," Aiken smiled, "but you're a good teacher, you deserve it." He walked a bit closer and spoke softly, "And I know what people look like when they don't get sleep. That's not healthy."

She cautiously agreed, and class came and went like any other day.

Although Aiken chalked it up to being concerned about her, his real intention was scavenging for information. He needed people for that. However, the moment that class ended and Instructor Watkins left, a bunch of students surrounded him.

"So, what was that, huh?" his primary rival spoke up. It caught the attention of the rest of the class quickly.

Ah, her again. This queen bee sure has a lot of worker bees around her. "Ah, Queen Bee. Here to bully me again?"

"Wh–"

"Please hurry it up, then. I've got business to attend to," Aiken leaned back comfortably and looked her straight in the eyes.

"How dare you speak to Lana like that, lowborn?" a fellow fumed, and backhand slapped Aiken.

He held his own face and licked his lips to see if they were busted. "Ah, so your name is Lana. It's a pleasure to meet you. Word of advice, Lana," Aiken smoothly faced a palm toward the boy that slapped him, "if you want to bully me, please do it yourself." A gushing jet of water sprayed forth and flung the boy across the classroom.

Aiken stood up, and the encirclement of worker bees reflexively stood aside. He made his way outside and left them all speechless. His target for now was the school library.

"Good afternoon," he greeted the librarian who served as the receptionist of sorts.

But before he could state his purpose, another voice swerved around the corner of her desk, "Claire, can you send me all the logs from yester–"

The man suddenly paused when he saw Aiken. "You, look familiar, kid."

"Bryan?" Aiken questioned.

"Aiken?!" Bryan's eyes popped.

They both erupted in laughter and were both scolded by Claire. It was a library after all. Bryan quickly pushed Aiken into his office and closed the door. "What the hell happened? We said cheers and drank and I suddenly ended up in this office, man! What about you? Why the hell do you look like thirteen?"

Aiken laughed once more, simply happy to see his co-worker, Bryan, whom he was drinking with before they got summoned to Harallen. "I don't know. It's still so weird. Did you realise this world has magic?!"

"Bruh, everywhere I turn, there's magic. I could hardly sleep last night. I don't even know where I live right now, man!"

"Ouch, that's rough. Well, this lady called um," Aiken took a few seconds to remember, "Natalie Fendora said she was the one who summoned me, and she said it's top secret. Don't tell anyone."

Bryan squinted his eyes, then suddenly began going through some documents. "Aiken, that's the headmaster of this school."

They both sat down and decided to help each other with whatever information they could garner in their respective occupations. Bryan helped him pick out some books that would help him understand the basics of magic. "There's something called the Magic Diagram Archives. Even I, as the head librarian, cannot access certain books there. It's like cloud storage without admin access. Anyway, take this," Bryan handed him a necklace with the school's logo on it.