Theory

The academy wasn't much further from there. Alvin just came out earlier, so the wisp could see a little bit more of their world. Linfel obviously filled Felia and Alvin's ears with questions, but the two answered with patience. It was then that Linfel saw Alvin taking out his MCOM again. "Right! How do I get one of those? They seem extremely convenient."

Alvin looked at him. "Well, it isn't hard. Once you get registered, you can use your ID to acquire one. Of course, you will need to pay for it."

"That's good," Linfel was excited. Not long after, he saw an enormous wall that stretched several kilometers to both sides, and they were going right there. "The academy?"

Alvin nodded. "Academies aren't exactly that common, so they are usually built in the biggest cities of each region. Here in Sastasha City... Right, I haven't told you yet. This city is called Sastasha. It is part of the Penirura State in the country of Heffal. Anyway, everyone who decides to follow the Magus Path would converge in these cities, so the academies need to be able to accommodate them all. That's why it looks so big. In fact, our own is quite average. I went on an excursion to the capital's academy before, and it is at least three times as big."

"I see..." Linfel found it interesting. "How many students are there."

Alvin took his MCOM and checked the academy's website. He hasn't checked that information in a while. "After last year's admission test, our academy now has a total of 132852 students. Oh, it has gone up quite a lot since my admission. There are over ten thousand more now."

"That many?!" Linfel couldn't help but ask. "And they are all maguses? Is the Magus job that common?"

"How could that be?" Felia answered instead. "Our region alone has around 1.7 billion inhabitants. Yet, around a hundred thousand as students. It isn't that big of a number. Of course, if you take those who have already graduated, I would say we have around two and a half million maguses total. The number obviously changes over time with deaths or maguses arriving and leaving. Still, it is only a fraction of the overall population."

"This..." Linfel quickly asked Alvin. "Show me a map of your country. Even better, show me a map of the world instead and point to me your country." Alvin nodded and quickly opened it for the wisp to see. He also pointed out their region in the country specifically. 

"Holy shit! I didn't expect this planet to be so packed with people," Linfel was getting more and more certain he truly wasn't in the same Universe anymore. "I've been to many planets with my old friend Horan, including some of the most powerful ones. Those planets were even bigger than this one. And yet, their overall population wasn't even a tenth of what you find in this one."

Alvin narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't say that we are sparsely populated as a planet, but we are far from being overpopulated either."

Felia agreed with Alvin, knowing more about this kind of stuff. "Master is right. I haven't really checked this content deeply, but I know our planet is considered below average when it comes to its number of inhabitants."

"Below average..." Linfel sighed. "Back from where I came, I don't think there was a single planet with so many intelligent life."

Even Alvin and Felia began to get some ideas now. "From the way you talked about your past until now, it looks more like you came from another completely different Universe." Yet, Alvin considering a possibility. "No, it is not that you came from another Universe since we don't even know if such a thing exists. That said... could it be that you came from the past instead? A very, very distant past?"

Linfel had to admit Alvin's idea made sense. "That's definitely possible. Still, just how far in the past must I have been for everything to change this much? Even Primordial Energy completely disappeared. Well, perhaps only this planet doesn't have Primordial Energy."

Felia shook her head. "I can't be sure this Primordial Energy of yours doesn't exist. However, I'm absolutely sure Magic Energy is the mainstream in our Universe. This is common knowledge you can find in the academy."

"If you think about it," Alvin decided to add another possibility, "it makes sense that you came from the past. The reason is simple: Primordial Energy. Linfel, you said Primordial Energy was a lot more abundant. However, not only was it much more powerful, but it was also very chaotic. Even training with it could lead to the death of many. Do you see the problem? Life would struggle to take form in a Universe with such a powerful energy. It would make totally sense that the overall population was so much smaller."

He continued. "As time passed and the Universe expanded, Primordial Energy began to lose its effect. I'm not sure how Magic Energy came to be and how Primordial Energy disappeared, but as you said, they seemed to be connected. Today's Magic Energy might be nothing more than a gentler version of your Primordial Energy."

Linfel heard those words, giving him more certainty of the theory. "Yes, it would explain everything."

Felia couldn't help but ask. "Does that mean Linfel was sent to the future?"

"No," Alvin remembered Linfel's words," he said he was put into some col box and everything went dark. Most likely, he was put in some kind of weird suspended animation. Now... he just so happened to wake up here. Of course, this is just a theory."

"I think there is a good chance that you are right," Linfel agreed. "My old friend Horan was very good with Primordial Energy runes, so I don't doubt he could create something capable of that."

As they talked, the number of people around began to increase again, most of them using the same Uniform of the Magus Academy. Finally, they arrived at the entrance. "Well, here we are. Linfel, come with me. I need to register you."

They went through an identification gate, where Alvin put his ID on one of the many terminals in there. Felia seemed to do the same, allowing her to enter as well. However, neither of the two went deeper into the academy straight away. Instead, they brought Linfel to another building right past the entrance. 

That's where Alvin would be able to register Linfel as his Familiar. They weren't the only ones there. Now and then, someone would bring their new Familiars for registering, or they would come to update some information regarding themselves or the familiars. In any case, this place always had a few people going through the processes.

At one of the counters, Alvin presented his ID again before speaking with the attendant there. "Hi, I would like to register my new Familiar."

The attendant, having done it countless times, just nodded and pointed at a small platform on the side. "Tell you Familiar to stay there. We will record his energy in the system."

Linfel did as he was asked and went up to the small platform. Immediately, several scans went through his body, analyzing him from all sides. At first, everything went fine. Too bad the equipment appointed some differences a few moments later.

"Hum? That's weird." said the attendant, making Alvin, Linfel, and Felia grow tense. The attendant looked at the information regarding Linfel with a confused expression. "His Magic Energy waves are quite different from normal range. Is he a special type?"

Since Familiars could be created, some were made to attend to some specific requirements. Naturally, they would be different from your general-purpose Familiar that most Academy Students use. "Still, even if it's a special type, these waves are kind of strange."

Alvin quickly asked. "Is it a problem? I did make a few modifications during the creation process, especially regarding his knowledge. Perhaps the set of options I chose wasn't very common." Of course, that was a big lie.

The attendant thought for a moment and nodded. There were indeed constant possibilities when a Familiar was created, so this one was just kind of out of the norm. "Whatever. Let's go with these parameters." In the end, it would be ridiculous if the attendant suddenly felt Linfel wasn't a Familiar, so he just accepted the differences.

The analysis continued as the attendant ignored the results. The important part, which showed that Linfel was indeed a Level One Familiar, did not show any issues. It wasn't worth reporting something related to such a common level of Familiar. "Alright, it is done."

Right after, an ID card was created, which the attendant gave to Linfel. "You can use it directly or you can buy an MCOM and bind this card information to it. Both will allow you entrance into the academy grounds under your master's name."

The attendant then asked Alvin. "Will you add any other information?"

"Yes," Alvin sighed in relief, seeing everything went fine. "I would like to add my MFC compatibility level with my familiar into his and my IDs."

That's what they discussed before. Since Linfel could connect with Alvin, this information could be added to their information, which would make everyone sure that Linfel was truly a Familiar created by Alvin. Only personal Familiars made with the master's soul as a base could connect to their masters, after all.

The attendant nodded. "This service costs 100 AMC."

Linfel remembered Alvin mentioned the Academy Magic Credit system. He just didn't expect Alvin would need to pay so much of it. Alvin mentioned the type of missions and tasks he usually did, and they didn't pay much, so a 100 AMC was quite a big value.

"Is it fine?" Linfel asked him.

Alvin nodded, although it was possible to see the pain on his face. "It is fine. I just need to work harder to amass more points." He quickly paid those 100 academy credits through his MCOM, which left him with almost nothing.

The attendant confirmed the payment and asked their group to follow him. Soon, they were brought into a different room where you could see a few other Maguses as well. One of them, in particular, seemed to catch a lot of attention. He seemed to be around Alvin's age and his Familiar was Red in color, showing that it was a level higher than the rest.

"Saimon, didn't you have a level two familiar already? How come you got another one," a student asked the young man called Saimon. "They are super expensive to make already at level two."

"Hahaha!" Saimon laughed. "I had to get a new one, of course. The previous one was pretty shit. Our compatibility force was ridiculous even though it was made based on my soul. Naturally, I had to get rid of it. This one, however, is much better. Right, Xatis?"

The red Familiar quickly bowed to Saimon as it nodded. "Yes, master Saimon."

Saimon nodded, satisfied. "As for the price, do you think I lack the money?"

The students surrounding Saimon all nodded in agreement. "Indeed, the Iyaval Family definitely doesn't lack resources."

Seeing that, Linfel got curious. "Can you Familiars be created straight at level two?"

Felia nodded. "We can, but that's the limit. More than that, and our souls wouldn't be able to hold the high level of Magical Energy in our bodies. From there on, the familiar must level up on his own."

Alvin also added. "Even so, creating a Familiar straight at Level Two is extremely expensive. Definitely not something I could pay for. Besides," Alvin patted Felia's head, "I have nothing to complain about mine."

Felia obviously felt happy to hear that.

Linfel smiled and asked. "Anyway, do you know the guy?"

"Yes," Alvin explained, "He is in the same year as me. As you heard, his name is Saimon Iyaval, a member of the Iyaval Family. They operate a magic stone trading company, so he definitely doesn't lack the resources. That's the only reason we have such a commotion in here. Well, just ignore his group. We have never interacted before, and I really don't think we ever will."

Linfel nodded and was about to ask something else when one of the workers responsible for the tests shouted to the students inside. "Alright, everything is ready. Those who have their connections to be measured stay in the center of the room. The rest just wait behind the line."

"There we go," Alvin and Linfel prepared.