Prologue

The kingdom of Orthodox.

A legendary kingdom widely renowned for the power of its military.

As a result of the great war, the kingdom of Orthodox had taken over nearly half of the continent, securing its place as one of the superpowers of the world, second only to the famous magicians of the Verdant Empire.

–––

Maboroshi academy.

The most famous of the academies in Orthodox, known for the capable magician's it has raised through the decades.

The name of the academy itself would be enough to nearly guarantee someone their position as a court magician in nearly any kingdom except Orthodox and Verdant.

–––

"Immortality research group… what type of stupid research group is that?" A black haired girl muttered as she rubbed her head with her hand and walked down the corridor.

"We will accept you to Maboroshi, under the requirements that you join a research group."

These are the conditions every student has to meet if they wish to enter said academy.

In reality, these conditions aren't too hard to meet.

Except for said girl.

As a student that originated from Verdant, she was met with strong opposition to even let her into the academy, but this was eventually overridden by her magical talent.

Yet no research group would accept her.

She had tried to apply for the modern technological magecraft research group, but was quickly turned down on the grounds that she was too "Verdant".

It was a sick kind of racism, but one she couldn't do much about, which she realised all too soon.

In fact, for every research group she had replied to, she had been answered by "No. But why don't you try for the immortality research group?"

Apparently, there was only one person in said group, which was why she would almost certainly be accepted.

He was a magical genius who had been instantly accepted to the academy despite his unknown origins, was accepted due to his sheer magical talent. He was deemed by the teachers to be unteachable, seeing as he possessed more ability than even them, an object full of enigma.

He was known as "Jhin, the Wizard of Mysteries."

"Ah, here we are." She said as she prepared herself to knock on the door.

As little as she would like to associate with this "Wizard of Mysteries", she had little choice if she wanted to stay in said academy.

The instant her fist met with the door, she heard an explosion, followed by a yell of surprise.

She opened the door and ran in, wondering if this "Wizard" was okay.

Turns out he was.

Buried under a mountain of books, she could make out a hand sticking out of the books, and glasses lying on the ground.

The person in the books finally managed to get up before sweeping his hand around on the floor.

"Your glasses are here." She said as she quickly grabbed them and placed them in his hands.

"Ah, thank you." He said as he picked them up and put them on his face.

It was then that she got a proper look at his face.

And she promptly froze.

"Clarke?"

–––

"Clarke?" Those words left her mouth before she knew what she was doing.

The wizard froze for a slight moment, but recovered fast enough for her not to notice.

"Clarke?" He asked, "Who?"

The girl shook her head, then replied, "Nothing, just an old acquaintance."

"That being said, I never got your name." He said, smiling.

"It's Luna." Luna replied back, "Am I right to assume you are Jhin?"

"Yes, that would be me. Now why are you here?"

"Well, I need to join a research group and I've been rejected by every single one of them."

"Every single one?" Jhin said with a curious expression, "Why?"

"Well, I come from Verdant."

Jhin froze again.

"...Verdant?"

"Yeah." She said, paying no heed to his reaction, "I ended up being directed here."

"I see. Well, I guess I can accept you." He said, smiling.

"Thank you so much!" Luna practically yelled as she shook his hand.

"Well, I look forward to working with you… Luna."

"Same with you… Jhin."