Two Worlds at a Time

Aric didn't want to argue and just followed Gopher to one tent. This tent had a green triangle flag blowing in the wind. But here was the thing: there was no wind nearby, and still, all the flags over the tents seemed to be blown by some kind of wind mechanism.

Aric knew what it was. It was wind magic. Gopher had gifted him quite a few books about magic, and now Aric had a very general idea of how magic worked. After he had learned some runic circles and engraved them, he stopped learning more. Though his consciousness could handle more, he didn't see any need to add more.

He wanted to wait and see if he could join a school and then understand his abilities a bit better. Aric soon found himself inside the tent. He had watched Harry Potter movies in his previous life, and thus, a part of him was expecting something like the Harry Potter movies, with enlarged space on the inside of the tent.

But he was sorely disappointed. He entered only to see two men: one middle-aged and one a young adult sitting on two chairs behind a quite raised wooden desk, which had intricate patterns on it.

On the desk, it was written:

Windfall School of Magic.

"Gopher?! Is that you? You're still alive?" The middle-aged man looked at Gopher with surprise once they entered the tent. The tent was not exactly in the middle of the square, and it wasn't flashy enough to attract the attention of the young teenagers to check here.

"Max... They sent you this time? Tch. The school has just gone a few more levels down," Gopher replied with a huff.

"At least I got the job of caretaker teacher that you always wanted," Max replied.

"What? You cheated. I would have gotten the job," Gopher seemed quite angry as he replied.

"Can you both please be civil? We are representing the school here, not some old-age bicker," the young man spoke as both of them seemed to be at each other's throats. The wind had started to pick up pace around the tent, so the anger was very evident. But the young man's words put brakes on the emotions.

"We will have a match after this is over. Let's see if you deserve that position or not," Gopher said with a smirk and confidence.

"Where do you even get that confidence from? You were no match for me 20 years ago, and it's still the same."

"We'll see about that," Gopher replied and pulled Aric to the front. Finally, Max took his eyes off Gopher and looked at Aric. Just from his body and face, Max could tell that this man was well-nourished and fed. He didn't see any parents around, but since Gopher had brought him here, it was a good enough sign.

"Is this your new pet to play with?" Max asked. Though Max had insulted Aric in the process, Aric could tell that there was no malice in it. It was just a spat of jealousy between the two.

"Watch your words, you coward. He is my... student." Gopher almost said that Aric was his business partner but held back, knowing Max wouldn't believe him anyway. Max didn't push further and indicated for Aric to touch the crystal.

Max might have a beef with Gopher, but that didn't mean he couldn't think straight. Max showed Aric a foggy crystal ball placed on the table. These crystal balls were determiners of elements for someone.

If a fire mage touched the ball, it would glow red. Anyone destined to be a mage would have an element within them. In fact, all the people born in this world had their elements from birth. It was talent that decided whether a person would be a mage or not.

So, for the crystal ball to turn red meant the person was destined to be a fire mage; blue represented water, brown represented earth, and green represented air. Yellow represented lightning, black as dark, and glowing white as bright. The last three were pretty uncommon. If that wasn't uncommon enough, then a person having multiple elements was even rarer.

Aric didn't know if he had access to any of the mentioned elements, as he felt his magic abilities might not cater to traditional elements. His might be tied to time and space, and he wasn't sure if these schools had any way to measure or recognize that. At least, the books he had read didn't mention anything about space and time.

As Aric touched the ball, it reacted almost instantly. The foggy color started to change, and soon it turned green. The light was so bright that the whole tent seemed to be filled with green light. This made the jaws of the three others present in the room drop.

"This..."

"Fucckkk."

"Oh my dear Aurelius..."

"What is your name? No... your name doesn't matter. We will accept you right now with full scholarship, and you'll get a free personal consultant and teacher with all the amenities provided. Food and lodging will also be free. You just need to sign—" Max went full blabbermouth out of nowhere, which Aric wasn't expecting at all.

Actually, he was both surprised and disappointed with what was happening. A part of him wanted this assessment to show an unconventional color, but it only showed green, which was a symbol of wind and air magic.

"Uhh..."

"Now, now... Associate Professor Max, are you duping another student into joining your shitty school? Kid, what's your name? Come to our school. We'll provide double the facilities, and also our Waterways School of Magic is better versed in water and wind magic than Windfall. So, what do you think?"

"Associate Professor Joel, let me remind you that this is the tent of Windfall, and according to the agreement, none of the other school associates are allowed to step into the tents of others. It's also illegal to spy on others," Max growled loudly.

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