Origins

After his glorious retreat from the classroom, they left the school grounds and headed towards a street food stands area.

There was no problem with leaving early since it was the last day of school, in fact, most of the students hadn't even brought backpacks to school.

"That was weird, even for you." Said James as the three of them walked down the street.

"Yep, quite a bit, and that-*munch*-that was your plan? Just touch his ankle?" Sarah added as she ate a candy that she bought at one of the stalls.

Suddenly, she stopped eating and her expression changed to one of realization before saying "...Could it be...that's what you're into...?!" And then she took a few steps back...

'...Really...?' Thought Jay as his eyebrow twitched.

He decided to ignore her for the moment before starting to explain.

"...Well, the plan was just to touch some part of his body, so it's just a coincidence that it was his ankle." He answered as he crossed his arms. "More importantly, don't you think it's about time...you let me down?".

That's right, all the way from school to this street, Jay had been carried like a sack of potatoes by the prince of the school.

"Ah, right."

*Munch*

'You seriously forgot!?'

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot that I was carrying you, since you're so light, I didn't feel the difference." Answered James as he put me down.

"Wow, you insult my weight while flattering yourself, how skilled."

"Of course not, you know how we pugilists are-"

"Yeah, I know, don't worry, I'm just kidding." Jay knew what he was going to say so it was best to interrupt him before he started explaining everything about the pugilist's story.

That was because Jay didn't want to hear it again, he even knew it by heart after all.

*Munch*

"If you know so much then you won't mind explaining it to us, right?" James said with a look of wanting to test him on his face.

He originally wanted to refuse, but seeing the fervent look on Jay's face, he decided it was best to comply.

"Of course not! Ahem! Long ago, after the Great Proliferation, a man was born...with no special ability... and no capacity to feel the mana in the world...but what he had, was an unwavering determination.

The man in question set out to train the only thing he had at the time...his body.

After many tribulations, traveling all over the world, creating training methods that put his life at risk and fighting battles impossible to win, something changed inside him.

The limit he had as a human being...was broken.

*Munch*

The battles that were once impossible were now solved with the lifting of one of his fingers, the trips that used to take him months, now took him just minutes, the training techniques that were once so deadly and complicated for him were now as easy as breathing.

*Munch*

That is how the first pugilist in history was born, with pure determination and hard work.

And his name was... Atlas, The Pugilist Founder.

Since then, countless people who didn't born with a special ability or the capacity to feel mana followed his example, and although it was hard and risky, some managed to obtain stenght that far surpassed that of a normal human.

Of course, it was easier for them thanks to Atlas, who opened the path and shared his knowledge."

*Munch*

"Hey, stop eating!"

*Munch*

"You..."

"Alright, alright, I'm done with the candy, you guys want to eat something before we go home~? I know a good ramen restaurant nearby." Said Sarah after finishing the candy she had bought in record time.

"...you literally just ate and now you want more...? Wow..." Jay said with a surprised expression on my face.

"Voracious as always eh, as expected from Sarah the glutton..." Said James, playing along.

"It's just a sweet, you idiots!"

"Oh, oh, now that you're at it, tell the origin of the magicians." James added.

"Hmm, would you like to do it Sarah?" He said by looking at the girl who was suddenly at another candy stand.

As Sarah was a mage herself, she knew much better than he did what the origin of mages was.

"Nope, I'll give you the honor of enlightening our friend." She said without even turning around.

"All right then! Ahem!" Jay said, assuming again a storytelling posture.

"Before the first pugilist was born, there was a woman, the word genius would be an understatement to describe her, with academic achievements that would shame the vast majority of the world's scholars at the young age of 15.

This woman was particularly fascinated by natural phenomena, and loved even more the espers, human beings who were the living embodiment of those natural phenomena.

Unfortunately, she had not been born with powers and had not manifested them in her entire life, causing her great disappointment.

However, she was not someone who was willing to accept things as they were, so determined to find some way to control the natural phenomena she loved so much, she began an investigation, studying ancient ruins, meteors, and the events that changed the world as a result of the Great Proliferation.

Several years passed and she disappeared from the sight of the world, slowly making the world forget her.

Until one day, suddenly, the whole world shook, in the sky of the country that now is known as Gliedal, everyone could see the same woman who years ago had amazed the world with her intellect.

But before people could do anything else, several complicated and extremely huge circular patterns appeared in the sky, their appearance was mystical and mysterious, then, a huge crack even bigger than the circular patterns opened in the sky, only to disappear seconds later along with the woman.

However, in the short time that the crack had appeared, something had seeped into our world from there, a new kind of energy that would later become known as... mana.

It was as if a current of fresh air was moving through the world, and although many people did not feel it, there were several others who began to perceive this energy, and most importantly, began to make use of it.

Some imitated the patterns that had appeared in the sky at the moment the crack appeared, others used the mana in their own way, giving birth to many branches of magic, achieving what before only espers could do... control natural phenomena.

And although that woman did not reappear after the day the crack opened, she is considered the first magician in history and also the reason of why there is mana in this world.

This woman's name was...Aphra, The Mage Founder."

"Hm, she's not only the first magician but also the reason why there is mana in this world... truly an amazing person." James said with a look of reverence on his face, which was normal, he admired strong people regardless of what class or gender they were.

"That's right, the Founder is truly amazing! And even though you skipped over some details, you told the Founder's story well!" Said Sarah with a bright and prideful smile.

"Then, how about you also tell us the origin of the espers next~? I don't know it very well." James said as he approached another candy stand.

"Oh, well, the origin of the espers is a little more complicated," Jay replied as he followed James. "As they were the first class to appear and since it was a really long time ago, only the first esper is known, and it is not even clear if that person really was the first esper."

"But you, ah excuse me, give me 3 of those chocolate bars, please." James asked the salesman.

"Make that four." Added Sarah, it seems that the candy she bought in the previous stall was no longer in this world.

"4 then... thanks, here." After paying the vendor and giving us the candy, James continued. "Ahem, as I was saying, then tell that, there's still a distance until we arrive to our houses~"

"Hm, alright~"

*Munch*

'Sarah's already eating... why am I not surprised...'

The three of them continued to move forward as Jay started to tell the story of the first esper.

"It is said that the first esper was a person loved by the world itself. When the world had not yet known the existence of mana or the martial techniques of pugilists.

A woman was born, blessed with a beauty that was enough to embarrass the most beautiful women in the world.

A family so influential and powerful that rulers of entire countries didn't dared offend.

An intelligence that rivaled the great minds of that time.

With all the things she had, it was already enough for her to triumph in this life, however, in that year, the Great Proliferation occurred, a catastrophe in which the animals of the world began to reproduce at insanely fast rates and most importantly, they began to mutate, becoming stronger, bigger and more intelligent, turning into something completely different, monsters.

Even until now, no one knows the exact cause of the Great Proliferation, but one thing was known, most of the mutated animals were incredibly hostile to human beings, attacking anyone who came into their sight.

The human race suffered great damage in that time because the weapons they had were not effective against the monsters, and as a result, countless lives were lost.

Those were desperate times, quite a few countries had fallen and many others were in a precarious situation, forcing them to escape to the island that now is known as the Altur Country, and that gave them a temporary peace.

However, the monsters were relentless and managed to reach the island, then, seeing as they had nowhere else to run, humanity gathered all the remaining military power they had, waging war against the monsters.

Unfortunately, the monsters were attacking as if they didn't care about their lives and there were so many of them that they looked like a sea flooding the human army.

But just when humanity was about to lose the battle, someone appeared in the sky of the battefield.

She was the daughter of that prominent family, and at the moment she arrived at the battlefield, without even giving the monsters a chance to get close, she displayed her abilities, creating huge hurricanes of fire, provoking earthquakes and enormous thunderstorms that completely destabilized the sea of monsters, giving the human army time to escape.

That way, she single handedly eliminated the sea of monsters.

According to the records of the supposed survivors who saw her face the army of monsters, it was as if she was mother nature herself, retaliating against them.

From that day on, as if it were a domino effect, several people began to manifest special abilities, helping humanity in the fight against monsters and thus creating the class that would be known as espers".

"Creating hurricanes of fire, causing earthquakes and thunderstorms...for a pugilist that's almost impossible to do..." James added.

"That's right, even with magic, you can only do one of those things and I doubt that it would be as strong as hers, oh right, you didn't mention her name~." Said Sarah with her lips a little bit stained with chocolate.

"That woman's name was Cyra, The Esper Founder."