A New Beginning (Again)

Ryuji slowly opens his eyes again, this time slower than the last. He is now in a room filled with the sounds of moving clinking pots, the wonderful smell of food fills the air. Positioned on a chair up against a table, Ryuji comes to the realization that he is in the kitchen. A rustic style kitchen, lit by unknown floating orbs of light, many kinds of dried meats are hung up against the wall. A beautiful woman can be seen standing by an old stove preparing some kind of food.

“Why am I in a kitchen? And who is the woman standing over there?”- He thought to himself.

Before he can get any kind of answer, a plate filled with omelette and sausage is placed before him. The wonderful aroma makes his stomach growl as he stares at the delicious looking food.

“The breakfast is ready!”- The woman calls out to someone in another room.

“Coming!”- A reply can be heard from the other room.

A man walks into the room and sits down across from Ryuji. He looks to be in his late 30s, and he has a very muscular body. With a bright smile, he asks:

“You haven’t started yet, Leo? Your food is going to get cold.”

All of a sudden, information in the form of memories came into his mind. Ryuji understood that the man and the woman here are his parents. He has entered the body of a boy named Leo in this world. Before he can think any further, his stomach growls as his hunger has caught up with him. He takes a big gulp and chows down on the food without any hesitation. It was a meal that reminded him of his real mom’s cooking. It was the fact that he didn’t eat his last meal with his real mom that made him sad. Understandably, tears started rolling down his cheeks.

“Is something wrong?”- His mom asks.

“Nothing, the food is just so delicious, that’s all.”- The boy replies.

After the meal, the boy took some time to recollect his thoughts and went into the living room. He looks into the mirror, seeing a boy who has a very similar appearance to him while he was still alive, only with slightly different features. He learns that his dad was a warrior and his mom was a cleric that got married. They moved and settled down within the capital in the Kingdom of Alexandria, the biggest and most powerful nation within the world of Ataxia. Leo turns around to see his dad leaving the kitchen and heading towards him.

“Now that your 14th birthday is coming up in a few days Leo, have you decided on what you want to be yet? I’m sure you already want to become a warrior.”- His dad smiles, nudging him.

“Aww honey, no need to pressure him. We both know that Leo will make a great cleric.”- His mom says, walking out from the kitchen.

“Ahaha, I love it when you joke like that, but we all know he is GOING to be a great warrior.”- His dad said, with a slightly annoyed smile.

“Warriors are outdated. Everyone wants to be one, I’m sure our son knows better to not choose such a boring class. Cleric is certainly the best choice he will make.”- His mom also gives an annoyed grin back.

After a brief silence, they shout at each other “WARRIOR”, ”CLERIC”, ”WARRIOR”, “CLERIC”, “WARRIOR”, “CLERIC”. They both look over at Leo, after a few seconds pass, they sprint fast at him and ask him about his decision.

“Well...aha…”- Leo awkwardly avoids their stares and scratches his head hesitantly.

“I want to be a mage.”

A few weeks later, now 14 years old, Leo is eligible to register for schooling in magic. Using their savings, his parents send him to the Royal Mage Academy. Sitting right in the capital, it is the best magic school in the kingdom, maybe one of the best in the continent. In Ataxia, every magic user has to go through the process of magic affinity testing. This process matches the magic user to one of the many elements in the world like: Fire,Water, Wind, Earth, Lighting, Light, Dark, Nature, Ice, Poison, and Divine. Spells in Ataxia are not limited to its elements, any users can use any kinds of low tier spells. Its effectiveness, on the other hand, will be influenced by the elemental affinity of its user. For example: Fireball can be cast by any user, but those who have affinity to fire would be able to make Fireball a lot stronger.

After a 20 minutes walk, Leo and his parents arrive at the Royal Magic Academy. A massive castle-like structure surrounded by a long fence leading up to the gate, where a giant crest sits. Two pillars connected to the gates are guarded by two giant moving gargoyle statues, with each sitting on their pillars. Many students wearing mage robes of various colors can be seen inside the Academy yard, talking and walking. Some are flying on the many strange objects they bring. There are also many non-students like Leo who are there to test their affinity. Arriving at the main gate, the big iron fence door glows a light blue hue and opens by itself. Floating magical texts appear in front of Leo, guiding him and his parents to the testing location. They see a long line of other kids and some adults there to have their elemental affinity checked. At the top of the line is where a big magic circle can be seen, accompanied by an old looking mage and a young one holding a book. Leo entered the line, and within 30 minutes, it was his turn.

“Step into the magic circle please.”- A mage directs Leo into the circle.

The boy obliges and without hesitation, steps into the circle.

“O Great Anthropos, please allow me to look at another one of your children and his great talents. Reveal all that is there, Oniobus.”

As the mage chants the spell and waves his staff. The magic circle glows, changing into many different colors, repeating in a set pattern. The young mage who stood on the side recorded the results into a piece of paper using a spell. After a small amount of time, the circle stopped glowing. Leo was instructed to step out by the old man, who directed him over to the young mage. After being given the paper, Leo was directed over to the back of the room, where another mage would analyze the result of the test.

“Since I was a crazy strong mage in my previous life, my magic skill has to also be super crazy good in this one.”- The boy grins as he thinks to himself.

To his disappointment, the person told him that his magic affinity is only slightly higher than a normal person. He was also told about his elements of affinity which were: Fire, Ice and Divine. Even though his magic level wasn’t what he wanted, the person told him that he has just barely enough potential to meet the criteria to be able to take the entrance exam. He was also informed that the entrance exam would take place two weeks from now, giving him a fine amount of time to prepare . The boy and his family were sent home after he was given the book “The Art of Magic” and some advice on how to prepare for the exam by the mage. Eager to be accepted into the academy, Leo started his magic training for the next 2 weeks.

Those two weeks went by in a flash, and the day of the magic exam finally arrived. Leo can be seen outside his house wearing a blue cloak, a symbol for those who will be taking the tier 3 exam. The tiers are split based on the contestant’s potential, from 3rd being the lowest (above average) to 1st (talented).

“Good luck! We know you can do it Leo!”- His parents said while waving goodbye to Leo.

Approaching the magic academy, Leo couldn’t help but be in awe of the many flashing bright floating lights in the sky. They form the academy crest, surrounded by magical beams from many directions.The atmosphere was completely different compared to two weeks ago. The sky is filled with many mages and messages, with a lot of familiars acting as security for the exam. Sounds of trumpets can be heard from the floating horns on the top of the gate. And as he got closer, the boy could hear a loud voice repeating the phrase:

“COME ALL PARTICIPANTS, TODAY IS THE DAY TO PROVE YOURSELF.”

Leo could see hundreds of other examinees just like him all lined up inside the school. Many with blue cloaks, some with purple cloaks, and a few rare black cloaks. They all have come here for a chance to be admitted into the Royal Magic Academy. The boy was just so taken aback by the incredible sight that he stopped paying attention to what was in front of him. All of a sudden, a thud sound can be heard and Leo fell to the ground.

“OW, WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU DIMWIT!”- a loud female voice can immediately be heard.

Leo took a few seconds to recollect himself and look up. He sees a girl around his age, flat chested, with a black cloak. But the thing that stood out the most was her hair, a bright, intense red color that draws all the attention to it. Her appearance basically stuns Leo for a moment, as he snaps out of it he speaks.

“Oh, my b..”- Leo attempted to apologize.

“OF COURSE IT WAS YOUR FAULT!”- The girl interrupts.

“You have the audacity to bump into me!?! A daughter of the great Zauberei royal family?”- She angrily states.

From appearance alone, Leo can tell that the girl is some kind of royalty, from her items to her clothes, even more obvious with her nasty attitude. With his otaku experience, he knows to stay out of trouble by just apologizing to her and move on quickly.

“Hehe, sorry. I was distracted and didn’t see you there, I hope you can understand and forgive me.”- Leo forces an awkward smile while avoiding eye contact, trying to walk past her.

“WHERE YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING? You think you can just leave now after saying sorry!”- The girl shouts.

“You idiot, you dunderhead, smelly stinky doo doo, booger snot, turd nugget!!!”- The girl continues her barrages.

Her insult stops Leo in his tracks. He tries to keep composure as he remembers many similar anime scenes, but certainly he is reaching the edge of his patience. As he tries to ignore the insult, the girl yells.

“YOU VIRGIN LOSER!!!”- The statement echoes through Leo’s head.

That’s when his facade broke, Leo entered an all out yelling battle against a girl that he has just met for the first time. They went on to argue for a few minutes, with neither side showing signs of slowing down. That was until a sound could be heard, “BONK!”. It temporarily quiets down the two arguing buffoons. Leo looks over to the right, he sees a very beautiful looking girl, shorter in stature, also wearing a black cloak. Her hair is a very calming and soothing light blue, quite opposite from the girl he is arguing with. What’s more important was the fact that she just hit the other girl on the head, and yet, the red haired girl hasn’t even retaliated or yelled.

“My name is Nia Zauberei, and this is my older sister Amber.”- Nia says as she points over at the red-haired girl.

“I would like to apologize for her childish behavior. I hope that you would forgive her for displaying such a disgraceful side.”- She speaks in a slow, casual tone.

Nia then put her hand over her sister’s head, pushing it down and also bowing her head, signaling an apology. Leo was taken aback by this so much that he could not come up with a reply. He just stood there, surprised.

“Well, since we don’t have much time to waste. We will take our leave.”- Nia says.

“Hmph!”- Amber indicates her annoyance.

The two sisters then left, entering the school gate.

“I can’t believe that I actually met a tsundere. But without the dere part, she was just a bitch!”- Leo thought to himself.

Leo realizes he also doesn't have time to waste himself, and hurries towards the gate.