Deadline

From his talk with Arisa, Alastor had decided to not go back to his dorm that night. Instead, he went on a stroll towards the Magical Training Hall. 

The Marjin Academy could be considered an Imperial Academy due to its origin. The main goal from finding it was to create a balanced power scale despite anyone's origin.

Anyone was accepted as long as they had enough potential, and Alastor was one of those. His origin at the start was dubious, he spent his first year while keeping a low-key profile. 

Only for him to be revealed as the true Eldest son of Baron Davish, one of the wealthiest people in the whole Empire. 

The days had passed and Alastor magically changed. From being a low-key figure, to becoming a hot sensation that stirred rumors wherever he went. 

Though, those rumors were not good ones. 

That was how Alastor's life went, but that was the original Alastor. The current Alastor had a completely different life from that, although some points had resembled his life. 

"The knowledge from that princess was certainly valuable."

Giving out a soft sigh, Alastor hid between the shadows. Something was telling him that tonight, he would need to play a bit. 

The night sky was not black that day, and not even dark blue. In fact, it felt like the moon was weeping bloody tears once Alastor took notice of him. 

'But everyone had been moving like this was just a normal occasion, I gave up the help of that system, and thus I need to discover more by myself.'

Tomorrow, he will spend more than half a day in the library to understand this world fully. Looking at the huge clock tower from afar, he noted, 

"It is almost midnight now. I wonder if my intuition was actually wrong this time?"

His voice was barely above a whisper. Alastor would never believe someone would be able to sneak on him and hear his words. 

That was why he flinched away once someone exposed themselves behind him, "Hey~"

Another face that was in the system's files, with an important notice-

[Evan Kali]

[Ex-Best Friend.]

"Evan?"

Why was this young man who smiled at him broadly an ex friend? Alastor was not an idiot, but he could read people's hearts better than anyone. This person had no hostility towards him, so, why? 

A conflict of interest? That was not too far, especially at this age, mayhaps it was over a girl. 

For whatever reason they were ex friends now, Alastor was willing to grab this friend back. He could feel an amazing strength from Evan. 

'I could put that to use.'

Evan sat next to Alastor while staring at the night sky, "You still remember my name then."

"Mhmm."

Evan was not bothered by Alastor's silence, he was used to that during their 7 long years of friendship. 

"I figured it was the correct time to talk with you about our conflict," scratching his head, Evan added, "Since it was my fault to begin with. But I'd need your permission to fix it?"

Being met with a soft humming noise, Evan decided to take that as a permission. In reality, Alastor was unable to come up with a precise answer due to his lack of knowledge about this body's memory. 

Thankfully, he had a long history of dealing with people. 

The atmosphere between the two was calm as he waited patiently for Evan's next words. Most likely, he would have the context by then. 

But even Alastor had to pause after hearing what Evan said. 

"Your broken Magic Foundation… I finally found a way to fix it."

The howling wind was the only noise that interrupted the silence that fell between them, Alastor's face had never changed. That smile that was not at all smiling was unnerving for Evan who looked at his friend. 

Meanwhile, Alastor was cackling in his head. 

'Broken Foundation?'

That was something Alastor never heard of! 

When practicing magic, the person is going to create a certain amount of magic circles inside their bodies and veins. 

Usually, the Caster would get hindered by that. A weak body may not be able to handle many Magic Circles, which would hinder their growth and make them hit a bottleneck. 

Alastor's unique method was to never use those. Instead, he made those magic circles through other mediums. 

That was why he never noticed something wrong with his body. And no wonder the previous Alastor had played it low-key after the rumors came out. 

'He would have been in huge trouble if he was cornered and yet unable to defend himself.'

That Alastor was clever, as clever as him. Which made his blood boil in excitement. What else did he hide? What else is he going to face? 

If it was someone else, they may have been resenting the previous Alastor and cursing him repeatedly. 

He was too different from them, though. 

"And how is it possible to fix that? Once the foundation is broken,.." 

Once the foundation was broken, it was impossible to fix. That was something Alastor had experienced, he knew for a fact that was impossible.

'But perhaps this world is different…'

Evan let out a soft breath he did not know he was holding, Alastor did not seem to be angry at him, and even curious about the solution. 

Evan was more than willing to share. 

"I heard there was a certain magical gemstone hidden deep within the Academy to safeguard it from dangers, it was an important gemstone that had an extremely wide range of spells engraved in it."

Pulling a small mirror from his pocket, he showed Alastor what seemed to be a glowing cave. Many diamonds shone brightly around the pathway as the image moved deeper through the cave. 

The blue hue did not fade as they went deeper, instead, it got stronger until it became blinding. The image turned white as soon as it showed the star-shaped gemstone in the middle. 

Both of the young men covered their eyes, groaning as how glaring that light was. 

"That was a bit too bright."

"Ugh. I know, but it's legit."

"Where did you get this from?" Alastor asked while rubbing his eyes. 

Grinning, Evan jumped to his feet, "From my family's basement. Crazy, right? We spent a long time there but never bothered to check, and now we find such an important thing!"

Alastor felt content with the amount of knowledge Evan had, he was about to respond when something stopped him. 

Another screen appeared right in front of him, but this time, the world had turned silver and without any colors as the time stopped. 

[Yahello! Alastor had been a bad guy, so, Esme game would start earlier than expected!]

Alastor jumped from his place, swiftly creating two spells to use if needed. But the next screen disappointed him. 

[The restrictions of the world, however, are still strong! Esme game got pushed forward but won't start immediately.]

[Esme Game is going to start in 29:23:59]

'Hah… A whole month before it starts.'

Slowly, the world started to move again and the colors returned to their original state. Alastor pushed his disappointment and walked towards Evan. That night would be long as the two friends would 'catch up' together.