The world as we know it is merely a parallel reality to the true world—a realm where technology not only exists, but magic thrives alongside it in seamless harmony. Humans are born with the innate ability to wield magic through catalysts, and this power has truly shaped humanity into the apex predator of Earth. Magic isn't just a tool or convenience; it's the fundamental foundation upon which civilization stands, determining social hierarchy, economic status, and survival itself. Those without magic find themselves relegated to the lowest rungs of society, while those blessed with powerful abilities ascend to positions of influence and wealth that would have been unimaginable in a purely technological world.
The two major catalysts for wielding magic are the Card and the Circle, each representing vastly different philosophies of power and approaches to magical mastery. Card magic allows anyone to use magical abilities without requiring years of study, natural talent in mana control, or inherent magical affinity. If you manage to awaken a card during the crucial awakening period around age thirteen, you can utilize its abilities as frequently as your body can withstand, with the only true limitations being the card's own inherent restrictions and your physical endurance. This accessibility has made card magic the dominant form of magical expression, though it comes with the significant drawback of being limited to predetermined abilities.
However, as a Circle mage, one gains access to ancient magical circles—intricate, geometrically perfect formations that are incredibly complex and demand exceptional affinity for mana manipulation, years of theoretical study, and an almost intuitive understanding of magical principles. Circle mages aren't bound by predetermined abilities like cardsters, but instead face limitations imposed by their own ego, willpower, and mana capacity. The flexibility of circle magic allows practitioners to adapt their spells to any situation, creating custom solutions that cardsters simply cannot replicate. Fortunately, mana capacity can be enhanced through external materials like crystallized mana stones, rare herbs, or enchanted artifacts, making this path theoretically limitless for those with sufficient resources and dedication.
Circle mages, or simply "Mages" as they're commonly known, are significantly rarer and generally more powerful than cardsters, though the path to mastery is far more demanding and expensive. The fundamental weakness of cardsters lies in their dependence on awakening—some unfortunate souls only manage to awaken a single card throughout their entire lifetime, and sometimes it's pathetically weak or utterly useless for practical purposes. The awakening process itself is unpredictable and mysterious, influenced by complex factors including genetics, emotional state during the awakening period, significant life experiences, and pure chance. No amount of preparation or desire can guarantee a powerful awakening, making it the great equalizer that keeps even the wealthy and influential humble during their children's thirteenth year.
However, certain cards possess the remarkable ability to evolve alongside their user's proficiency and dedication, growing stronger and more versatile over time. These special cards are called growth-type cards, and they form an unbreakable spiritual bond with their wielder—they cannot be stolen through any known method, traded like commodities, or transferred under any circumstances, not even through death. The bond persists until the user's death, at which point the card simply ceases to exist. Regular cards, conversely, can be stolen through the use of specialized grimoires wielded by skilled thieves, or willingly passed down through families as precious heirlooms, creating entire dynasties built around powerful inherited abilities that have been cultivated and refined across generations.
In this unforgiving world, only two things hold true value above all else: raw magical power and accumulated wealth. Everything else—love, friendship, honor, artistic expression, intellectual pursuits—exists as mere secondary considerations, luxuries afforded only to those who have already secured their position in the rigid hierarchy. Power and wealth in this society can come as easily as breathing for the fortunate few born into influential families or blessed with exceptional awakenings, yet prove as elusive as capturing lightning for the vast majority of humanity who struggle with weak abilities or limited resources.
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In a rundown apartment that had seen better decades, with peeling wallpaper and creaking floorboards that spoke of years of neglect and minimal maintenance, a young man with short silver hair and striking green eyes could be seen meticulously brushing his hair while putting on his carefully maintained outfit. The ensemble was simple yet dignified: a crisp white button-down shirt that he had painstakingly washed and pressed the night before, and black trousers that had been ironed with almost obsessive precision despite their obvious age and subtle signs of wear. Despite his hurried movements and the clock on the wall ticking dangerously close to his departure time, there was something oddly mature about his demeanor—something that set him apart from typical teenagers and spoke of responsibilities far beyond his years.
He was already running late for school, a fact that would normally send any teenager into a panic, and while one might expect an eighteen-year-old to be rushing to classes as a student, the reality was quite the contrary. He was a teacher at Meridian Academy, one of the most prestigious magical institutions in the country, a fact that never failed to surprise those who learned of it. The irony of his situation wasn't lost on him—barely older than some of his students, yet forced to command their respect and attention in a world where age and experience typically determined authority.
His story began in tragedy that had shaped every aspect of his character and worldview—orphaned at age thirteen with absolutely nothing to his name except the clothes on his back and a burning hope for a better future that seemed increasingly naive in retrospect. Thirteen is the crucial age when human souls develop enough strength to potentially awaken their first card, and he had prayed desperately, spending sleepless nights hoping and pleading for the world to bless him with something powerful enough to change his predetermined fate of poverty and social insignificance. He had dreamed of awakening a combat card that would make him a legendary warrior, or perhaps a healing ability that would earn him respect and wealth as a medical practitioner.
Instead, fate delivered what felt like a cosmic joke designed specifically to mock his desperate circumstances: a pathetic F-rank card called "Translate." This seemingly useless ability could only convert any known written language into French, and the cruel irony was that French wasn't even his native language, making the card initially completely worthless to him. He had to spend months of precious time and his limited resources learning French grammar, vocabulary, cultural nuances, and idiomatic expressions just to begin utilizing his supposedly magical gift. During this period, he survived on charity and occasional odd jobs, studying French with the same desperation that others might reserve for life-or-death situations.
However, fortune occasionally smiles upon the determined, and his breakthrough came during a particularly difficult period in his life. During one late evening while translating a melancholic Spanish poem for pocket change—barely enough to afford a single meal—his card suddenly erupted in brilliant light that filled his entire cramped living space, transforming before his amazed eyes into an E-rank card dubbed "Translate Version 2." This evolution allowed him to convert French text back into any language he chose, essentially creating a two-way translation system. It was a modest improvement, but an improvement nonetheless, and more importantly, it proved that his card was a growth-type—something he had barely dared to hope for.
His hopes ignited like a wildfire, burning away the despair that had been his constant companion. With dedication and relentless practice that bordered on obsession, perhaps he could become something significant in this world—maybe an international ambassador, bridging communication gaps between nations, or a translator for major corporations conducting global business. The path seemed clearer now, even if it still centered around French linguistics, which limited his options considerably but at least provided a direction for his efforts.
Driven by newfound determination and refusing to accept failure, he pushed his abilities to their absolute limits, using his card for hours each day until exhaustion forced him to rest. The more intensively he used his card, pouring his will and determination into each translation, the more it responded to his efforts with gradual improvements and subtle enhancements. Version 3 emerged after months of dedicated practice, granting him the power to translate any known written language into any other written language—a genuinely useful ability that opened doors to freelance translation work and finally allowed him to earn a somewhat stable income.
When his card finally achieved C-rank status after nearly three years of constant use and improvement, something remarkable happened that changed his entire worldview: he gained the ability to understand spoken languages in real-time, translating auditory input instantly and allowing him to comprehend conversations in any language as if they were being spoken in his native tongue. His envisioned future as a diplomatic translator suddenly seemed not just possible, but inevitable, and for the first time since his awakening, he allowed himself to believe that his life might have genuine meaning and purpose.
The breakthrough to B-rank brought an unexpected surprise that initially filled him with excitement—somehow, defying all conventional wisdom about card awakening, he had awakened a second card. Initially dismissing it while celebrating his primary card's evolution, he eventually remembered reading about controversial methods to influence card awakening that most people dismissed as superstition. Desperate research revealed that sleeping upside down while regularly donating food to strangers could potentially awaken healing abilities—one of the most sought-after powers in existence, capable of generating enormous wealth and social status.
Despite his crushing poverty and the fact that giving away food meant going hungry himself, he committed to this ritual for seven grueling days, surviving on scraps and whatever kindness strangers showed him while giving away what little food he could afford to those who seemed even more desperate than himself. When he finally examined his new card with trembling hands and heart pounding with anticipation, he unleashed a string of curses that would make sailors blush, his dreams of healing magic crashing down around him once again.
It was an F-rank ability called "Detect"—arguably the most underwhelming power imaginable, so weak it seemed almost insulting. It allowed him to perceive everything within a pitiful one-centimeter radius around his body, regardless of size or speed, providing information that was virtually useless in any practical situation. Its only apparent application seemed to be locating mosquitoes during sleep, enabling him to deliver precisely targeted slaps to end their bloodsucking careers—a skill that provided no income, no social status, and no hope for the future.
Yet fate, it seemed, enjoyed its elaborate games and had more surprises in store for him. This card, too, proved to be a growth-type, though its evolution was painfully slow and its improvements seemed almost mockingly incremental. By age sixteen, after years of constant struggle and gradual progress, his translation ability had evolved into "Googol Translate"—an A-rank card enabling him to speak, hear, understand, and translate every known language on Earth fluently and instantly, including ancient and dead languages that scholars spent decades trying to decipher.
His detection card had also grown significantly more useful, though its naming convention remained frustratingly verbose and seemed designed to mock his situation. Now a B-rank ability called "Observing My Surroundings Carefully," it granted him awareness of everything within a two-meter radius in extraordinary detail. Heartbeats, muscle tension, breathing patterns, micro-expressions, hidden weapons, concealed emotions—nothing could escape his enhanced perception. Additionally, he gained the peculiar ability to perceive fast-moving objects as if they were moving ten percent slower, a discovery made during an unfortunate encounter with school bullies who had decided to target the strange orphan boy with weird abilities.
The fight had been almost comical from his perspective—like being attacked by children moving in slow motion. While he couldn't throw a proper punch to save his life and had no combat training whatsoever, he could effortlessly dodge every attack with an almost supernatural grace, creating an endless stalemate that continued until his opponents exhausted themselves trying to land a single blow. Of course, this advantage would prove useless against anyone with actual fighting skills, formal combat training, or superior cards designed for battle.
Now, in 2025, both his cards had reached S-rank—the theoretical pinnacle of card evolution in their world, a achievement that should have guaranteed him wealth, status, and recognition. His translation abilities were unmatched globally, capable of instantly understanding and communicating in any language that had ever existed, while his observational skills rivaled the most sophisticated surveillance systems and could provide detailed intelligence that governments would pay fortunes to access.
Yet despite possessing two S-rank cards that represented years of dedication and struggle, despite abilities that were genuinely unique and valuable, the best position he could secure after graduating high school was a teaching job at Meridian Academy. The irony wasn't lost on him—in a world that valued power above all else, his intellectual abilities were seen as secondary to flashy combat cards or impressive elemental magic.
As he grabbed his worn leather satchel, checked his appearance one final time in the cracked mirror, and headed for the door of his modest apartment, he couldn't help but wonder if the world would ever truly recognize the value of what he had to offer, or if he was destined to remain forever underestimated in a society that valued flashy combat abilities and destructive power over subtle, intellectual capabilities that could solve problems without violence or destruction.