The glaring screen cast a bright glow in the dark forest, illuminating a hunched figure.
"Maybe I shouldn't have spent the night on Devil Net," he muttered, yawning as his joints cracked while he lifted his sorry carcass.
"Worth it." He grinned.
At least he had gathered plenty of information—both about the supernatural and the mundane.
First, the date. It was 2003. That alone was a goldmine. He knew exactly how to get richer than rich in the next twenty years. And one of the only characters he remembered of the light novel was Rias Gremory, at the start she's supposed to be 17 or 18, here she's 12.
Meaning that he could swing by Kuoh and take the boosted gear for himself later on.
He'd rather not go to Japan before being strong enough to at least escape the people who watch this country and more importantly this city.
But what really caught his interest was the supernatural. He had assumed he had no Qi Core, but it turned out he had been wrong.
There were three types: the upper, middle, and lower dantian.
He inhaled deeply as he read, trying to connect his internal energy with the outside, just as he had attempted the night before—only this time, he focused around his lower abdomen.
"Gotcha," he gasped before immediately coughing, falling to his knees in exhaustion.
He snorted. "Should've just sat down like a normal person. But no, I had to act tough. Genius move."
Giving up, he sat cross-legged against a tree, the cool dew seeping into his pants.
Then, he felt it. A small sphere, denser than the rest of his Qi. If his Qi felt gaseous, then his lower dantian felt like liquid.
He focused harder, diving deeper into that sensation, trying to see beyond the surface.
And then—understanding struck.
It felt exactly like when he was in the void, bodiless, existing as pure consciousness.
This wasn't just energy. It was him. No flesh, no shell.
The realization shattered his focus.
He gasped for air, chest heaving, his body drenched in sweat. His throat tightened, making every breath feel like a struggle.
He forced himself to take slow, steady breaths. His body still trembled, his limbs heavy, but his mind wouldn't stop buzzing.
Qi. Soul. Energy. It all made sense now.
But magic—magic was supposed to be different, wasn't it?
"Yeah, no," he wheezed. "I'm done for today." His body ached.
He decided to stop QI discovery and training and to start magic one.
From what he gathered in his night of research, magic was done through 'Magic Energy', but what's magic energy?
"I need to find paper to take notes. But first theory, Qi fuels the body, magic fuels the world." He mumbled.
He got back on his feet, slowly staggering toward the river, getting undressed before diving to wash up his sweating body.
His slender body moved, ignoring the aches, muscles pulling under bronze-toned skin. He ran a hand through his curls, wincing when his fingers snagged on a knot. He yanked it free with a scowl, then dunked his head, scrubbing the grime away.
"Human magic needs calculation, an anchor and magical energy to work." He mused to himself. "What kind of… What do they call it? A spell? A charm? Or just magic ? I'll ask Margethud this evening. Anyway, which one will I try first" He hummed.
He tried thinking of something memorable for his first time using magic but not something that'll blow up the forest.
'Probably a magic circle, they don't need me to know how to use mana.'
He got up not bothering to dry himself, spotting a patch of damp earth near the river He crouched down, scooping up a handful of water and spreading it on the ground to make it more workable.
Using his phone to find a model, he drew a circle with stranger symbols in them and a bit further a second circle linked to the bigger one.
"Hopefully it works and goes kaboom." He chuckled.
He brought himself in the smallest circle before kneeling and putting his hands on the ground and focused on the circle to trigger it and on himself to feel his magical energy.
After some long moments alone naked in a forest he finally felt a tug in his chest, it was somewhat painful.
The air before him buckled.
WHUMP
A sudden, violent compression that sent a sharp gust slamming into his face. His hair whipped back, and for a fraction of a second, his breath caught in his throat, stolen by the shockwave.
The leaves around him rustled in protest, some even tearing free and swirling away in the aftershock.
Then, silence.
As the dust settled, his eyes locked onto the fresh hole in the ground, arm-deep and eerily precise. No fire, no smoke—just raw force, like something had erased a chunk of the earth in an instant.
He stared.
And then, he collapsed onto his back guffawing.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH !"
————————————————————
Another day wasted. Meredith slammed her pen down, glaring at the mountain of papers on her desk.
Meredith sighed in annoyance as she finally left her desk—and what a desk it was! Papers were stacked high, covering every inch in ink and notes she hadn't even bothered to organize.
The teenage girl marched forward with determination, taking big strides. Her auburn braid swung with each step, her blue eyes fixed ahead, avoiding any eye contact.
She just wanted to lock herself in her room. It wasn't like she had anyone to talk to anyway.
Her best friend was out living an adventure while she was stuck here.
Life was unfair. Le Fay had joined after her, yet Meredith had been deemed only good enough to secure the loot from other people's adventures.
'I hope she's okay' she mused, thinking of her best friend.
The temptation to quit Golden Dawn and go explore the world on her own grew stronger by the day.
She could be doing so much more with her time—even sleeping would be better than this desk job. Not only was it boring and exhausting, but it also limited her growth and kept her from experimenting.
At least the sheer monotony had pushed her to explore other parts of herself, to try new hobbies.
One of those led her to start a blog—or more like a diary—just to keep her thoughts in one place.
She hadn't even realized what she wrote was being published as a website. She had just been using it as a word processor.
She was mortified when she received a private message from someone who had read all of her thoughts.
At least she had made a friend out of it.
Apparently, he was an orphan around her age, all alone, trying to learn magic.
What could go wrong?
"He's a boy," she breathed, her eyes widening.
She quickened her pace toward her room—only to slam straight into someone.
The downside of avoiding eye contact was that she didn't always see what was right in front of her.
Looking up, she knew she had messed up badly.
Standing before her was one of her supervisors—someone technically at her level but with seniority over her.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, he was also the guy who, according to gossip, had just been dumped by his fiancée a few hours ago.
She could face the situation she caused or leave it to the next poor soul that comes through to handle it, she thought before bolting past him without hesitation.
"Sorry, sir! I need to go to my room urgently. I'm leading an important experiment!" she improvised, already far down the hallway.
Finally safe in her room, she could allow herself to indulge in her daily routine—cursing everyone who had wronged her.
Those insufferable idiots had no idea how lucky they were. They got to go on missions, explore ruins, discover ancient artifacts, while she was stuck doing paperwork. Paperwork!
One day, they'll realize I'm the only competent one here. And when they come running for my help? I'll be conveniently unavailable. Probably sleeping.
She let out a long sigh, rubbing her temples.
Maybe she was being dramatic. Maybe she just needed sleep.
No. She needed revenge.
But, since cursing people out loud was a great way to accidentally trigger some unknown tracking spell, she settled for silently plotting their inevitable downfall.
Finally able to sit in front of her laptop, she sent a message to her new friend.
Margetud: Still alive?
Waiting for a response that might never come was agonizing. She didn't know him well yet—they had only talked the day before—but he was nice and funny.
She really hoped he hadn't killed himself messing with magic.
Fervent Atheist: I find your lack of faith disturbing.
"Thank the Lord," she sighed, relief washing over her.
She melted into her chair, her body loosening up from the tension.
The first few weeks after discovering magic were always the most dangerous. Everyone was reckless at first, and many either died or ended up permanently injured.
Even those with mentors often hurt themselves, so she couldn't even imagine how many people died trying magic alone.
She wished she could help him, but Golden Dawn had made her sign a geas preventing her from teaching or taking an apprentice when she joined.
Margetud: So you're okay?
She double-checked.
Fervent Atheist: Yep, I made sure to stay away from the explosion.
Her body snapped back upright, her glare burning into the laptop screen.
She was going to kill him.
Margetud: Please tell me you're joking.
Fervent Atheist: Ah, almost forgot. Do you call it a spell or something else?
Margetud: WHAT EXPLOSION? ANSWER. NOW!
Fervent Atheist: Let's go with "magic circle." It turned energy into force. Then it turned dirt into… less dirt.
Usually, they don't produce big explosions, she reasoned, so he's probably not hurt.
Fervent Atheist: So is it a spell, or do you just call it magic?
Margetud: You can call it whatever you want. It's up to you. Now, what kind of explosion are we talking about?
Fervent Atheist: No fire, no smoke—just a pure bang and a missing chunk of dirt. I ran away from the site. Pretty sure the police will show up.
Ah. Staying under the radar while experimenting with magic—a classic problem.
Margetud: Lucky for you, that's my area of expertise.
Fervent Atheist: What?
She could already picture his confusion.
Smirking, she decided to let him struggle a little longer.
It was absolutely not payback for the explosion scare.
Fervent Atheist: What are you talking about?
Margetud: I'm talking about the solution to your problem.
Fervent Atheist: REALLY?? WHAT IS IT?
Margetud: A type of magic.
Fervent Atheist: ??!
Margetud: ◕｡◕
By this point, Meredith was cackling of her revenge as every cartoon villain should.
Fervent Atheist: Okay, I'm completely lost.
Margetud: What's my job? My field?
She figured she'd give him some hints.
Fervent Atheist: Archivist? You keep artifacts safe.
Margetud: My job is to make sure artifacts are safe to be stocked and that nobody touches them without my accord.
Fervent Atheist: And how is that helping me?
'Is he dumb?' She thought pinching the bridge of her nose.
Margetud: Barriers, you nimrod.
Fervent Atheist: Are they physical? Like a magical construction?
Margetud: Some of them are. Why?
Fervent Atheist: I have so many ideas…
If they worked together on the project and that helped her the geas didn't work, they couldn't stop the organization's members from working together. The system would never have worked.
Now she had more leeway to give him more help and instructions.
Margetud: Tell me more.