WALKING THROUGH THE empty hallway of Sky Crane Academy was Ryle. It was not because there were no classes today that the hallway was not crowded, but Ryle was already late for his class due to the fact that the young man had been into Prine Library. In fact, Ryle planned to skip classes for today to continue his business in the library, but he had already got his answers so he proceeded to attend the academy.

As Ryle was on his way to his classroom, his mind was wandering somewhere else. Alrael's revelation left so much impression on him. Aside from being told that there were no myriad magics; when he asked for the Promised Kingdom, the five division, and the jefes, Alrael's answer remained the same. Ryle had no choice but to believe on Alrael's words, because the young man had narrated to him the history of the Arc Continent.

The history that Alrael knew was completely different from the history that Ryle had learned. As per Alrael, it was 300 years ago that the three kingdoms was built who later on became huge forces to resist the Undead Race. In Alrael's story telling, there was no mention of the Promised Kingdom, the five divisions, the jefes, and myriad magic.

Now, Ryle couldn't stop thinking about how much year did pass since he transmigrated. The people had already forgot the Promised Kingdom which became the last refuge of wizards against the Undead Race. The five divisions who were the foundations of the war were no longer remembered. There were no records of the might, the battles, and the great strength of the five jefes who led the resistance.

Ryle had only one conclusion in his mind right now, that it could it be thousands of years or ten thousand of years had passed; in that span, the Wizard Race suffered from an event that almost cost their extinction that was why all records of the past were buried six feet under.

"What have become of the world..." Ryle whispered to the wind.

What would Ryle do with his life now? He was helpless as he questioned the reason of his existence. The purpose of his transmigration was to find out the answer to his question: why did Equera poison him to death? Contrarily, now that there were no accounts of his past, this feat could no longer be accomplished. Ryle didn't know any longer the direction of his life.

Since Ryle was too absentminded, he didn't notice that he had unconsciously entered the class without even excusing himself. What Ryle commited was considered as a serious offense in the academy, that was why the moment of Ryle's entrance, the gazes of whole the class were glued at him.

"Jadren, you dare act like that in my class?" shouted Kin, the instructor of the class' Basic Mana Class. He happened to be discussing about the efficient use of mana when Ryle interrupted it. His face was covered with red, which was evident that he was furious.

It was at this moment that Ryle had woken up from daydreaming; Instructor Kin had successfully knock some sense into him. As a matter of fact, all of Ryle's preceding actions were out of instincts. Now that Ryle was awake, he suddenly become aware of his trespasses.

"My apologies, Instructor Kin. I was so drowned in my own thoughts," admitted Ryle and gave a bow to express his sincerity. He wasn't someone who would refuse to acknowledge his mistakes.

"This little one requests the Instructor to let this impoliteness of mine slide," Ryle added.

On the other side, Kin had a grin plastered on his face. "Oh, a request you say? Does someone from a military family even qualify to make one. Don't me me laugh, Jadren."

It was not everyone, but most of the class bursted into laughter with Kin's remarks. The instructor then looked at one of his students and winked; the student returned it with a grin. From that nonverbal communication, a deal took place and the content of that deal was to embarass Jadren.

"However, since you ask politely, how about this one... if you happen to answer all of my questions correctly, I would fulfill your request, but failure to do so means you would run all around the academy with only your underpants," added Kin.

Anger was what was flowing through Ryle's veins at this moment. Through Jadren's memory, Ryle was able to recall that this was not the first time that Kin would embarass Jadren in front of the class, but it had become a normal occurence. Ryle didn't know why did the instructor kept on picking on him, but Ryle was certain of one thing — he would pay back this humiliation a hundred times in the future.

"The instructor is too considerate. If that is the case, then my request should be fulfilled in no time considering the fact that I have nothing to learn from this class. I thank the Instructor Kin for the one-sided offer." As Ryle undo his bow, he met the instructor's eyes with a deadly stare.

From a grin, Kin's expression immediately turned ugly; Ryle's remark was so shameless. For a student to claim that he had nothing to learn from the class only meant one thing: his knowledge surpassed that of the instructor — it was indirectly saying that the instructor was lacking. Any instructor who would hear such a sentence from their student would feel humiliated.

For Kin, this was more than a humiliation, but an insult. In his 20 years of teaching, this was the very first time that his knowledge was doubted; he suddenly felt an urge to beat up Jadren for that. If it weren't for the fact that he was an instructor and the recording array, he would really dare. Unable to do what was mentioned above, Kin had made a resolve that he would instead do everything in his power so Jadren would be embarrassed at its finest.

"Oh, coming from someone who's at the bottom list of the rankings in this class. That's so bold of you," Kin returned the humiliation.

"Well, sometimes, trying to prove yourself is an insult," said Ryle and did a bored pose.

Not only Ryle's words made the instructor angry, but the top performers of the class as well. Jadren's statement was a declaration that if only he had tried, then he would be able to shake the rankings of his class. It was as if he only view the rankings as a playground.

"Look at you now, Jadren — you have grown balls and have become shameless."

Ryle caressed his chin and uttered, "You say... shameless? What a word... but I prefer to call it as confidence, Instructor Kin."

"Oh, let's see where that confidence will take you." Everyone in the class felt something heavy on their shoulders; the mood was becoming tensed.

"Please, be my guest..." A provocation could be hinted on Ryle's lips.

Oozing would be a perfect fit to describe Ryle's confidence at the moment, but it wasn't a bluff because he qualified do so. The source of it was the fact that Instructor Kin was teaching Basic Mana Class. For someone who was once a promising genius during his time, mana was Ryle's playtoy — all the roundabouts of mana, he knew it. Simply put, there was nothing about mana that Ryle didn't know.

"Define mana for me, but this time don't wet your pants like the last time," aggressively expressed by Kin and a couple of laughters was again heard in the class.

"Did my wetting-on-pants acting get you last time? I didn't know it would be that good to even leave an impression on you, Instructor Kin," reasoned out Ryle. It might be embarrassing, but it was true that Jadren peed his pants because he wasn't able to answer Instructor Kin's question.

"Oh, please don't try to cover it up. Just answer my question."

"Of course, the whole class already knew what mana is, so let me keep it short, mana is the stamina of magic. It is what is consumed everytime a wizard would conjure or cast an order."

"Oh, you have gotten sharper; your speech has even became fluent... what a suprise." Kin was having some doubts if the Jadren in front of him was the same Jadren that he knew.

"Was I not clear? If I try, I would definitely excel. Now, what? Are we going to waste the whole time praising me or we'll proceed with your questions, Instructor Kin?" Ryle snorted.

Kin was successfully provoked by Ryle's actions; without a delay, he proceeded to ask his next question. "How do you recover your mana?"

"Why do I feel like the question is getting easier?" expressed Ryle and received a 'woah' from the class. "There are two ways to recover mana: (1) through resting; with rest you'll eventually recover your lost mana and (2) through a proper breathing technique which is the most efficient method to recover mana."

With the pace of Ryle as he was answering the questions, Kin's face was starting to turn uglier. The instant he would finish his question, Ryle would immediately procure an answer to his question without even having the time to think as if it was too basic for him. Something in Kin was starting to believe that the Ryle today was really a bit off.

"And mana stone is?"

"It is consumed by wizards in order to strengthen and expand their mana core."

"Oh, then where do you get them?"

"By killing an undead," Ryle let out a yawn this time which had angered more the instructor.

"While it is true that you can obtain a mana stone by killing an undead, a mana core is located in specifically which part of the body of the undead?" Kin decided to level up his game.

The last question uttered by Kin resulted to a mischievous curve being revealed on his lips. He was sure that he didn't discuss this lesson yet with his students so it would be impossible for Jadren to know the answer to it. Minutes passed and Jadren was still silence so the grin on Kin's face widened.

"Why speechless? Are you ready now to share to the academy what underpants you are wearing today?" teased Kin.

"Well, I was contemplating on how to summarize my answer since it will be a long one," Ryle's oozing confidence became more violent. "You see, the location of a mana stone varies on every undead; there are countless undeads, which means the location is different on every undead. For example the mana stone in skeletons are located in their two eyes; for zombies, it is in their brain; for mummies it is in their heart, and the list goes on,"

After Ryle finished his sentence, all the hair of Kin's body stood up for seconds. He was yet to teach the lesson to his students, so how come Jadren knew about it. Could it be that Jadren had a private tutor? However, considering the fact that private tutors would cost a fortune, a mere knight family could never afford one. Kin was puzzled where did Jadren learned the information.

"As I said, there are a lot of undead. I suggest the instructor to name an undead, then I would determine in which part of it the mana stone is located."

"B-bone Dragon?" For the first time in a while, Kin stuttered.

"Throat, backbone, and brain."

"Pharaoh?"

"Heart."

"Lich?"

"Brain."

The two continued for half an hour or so and there were no questions that Ryle couldn't answer. At the end, Kin could only admit defeat, grant Jadren's request, and suffer from the humiliation. If Kin continued any further, he might not be able to save himself from another set of embarrassment.

"This class can only offer nothing to me," Ryle exclaimed and took his seat.

What Ryle had said did add fuel to the hatred that Kin was feeling for the young man. If earlier Kin only felt an urge to beat Jadren, that urge to beat became an urge to kill Jadren. If only weren't for the recording array that was installed on the sigil of Sky Crane Academy located on the left side of his uniform.