Prologue + Class 1 (1)
The class was very boring. The words said by the Professor of Magic, Lee Hak-beom, sounded plain and amateurish as if he were talking to simpletons.
“Can you tell me what was the class even about?”
‘The Human Sleeping Pill’, that was the nickname given to Professor Lee Hak-beom. If his pupils were in the first grade, the class should make them feel like they’re in the first grade. Unfortunately, he didn’t share that notion.
“So, what do you guys think about double casting? People say that only geniuses can do it, but in fact, anyone can. As you may recall, magic casting has a fixed pattern if you create a system that can handle this quickly…”
“Huh”
Kang Min-Hyuk yawned out loud.
“I’m so tired. Can’t he finish this borefest already?”
Professor Lee Hak-beom’s words tickled his ears; eventually, he succumbed to drowsiness.
The class began to giggle. Min-hyuk’s head nodded as he drifted off to sleep.
‘Once I wake up, this boring class will finally be over,’ he thought, before going to sleep.
“Kang Min-hyuk. Wake up!” he felt a sudden surge of pain. Placing his hand on the back of his head, he wondered who or what hit him.
“Mr… huh?” he was confused, and he couldn’t understand the situation. “Was Professor Lee Hak-beom mad at me for falling asleep in class? Was that supposed to be his punishment?”
It was not him.
This person was not Professor Lee Hak-beom.
The man was visibly angry but had an unfamiliar face.
“Klinsmann, do you find my class easy? Do you want me to make it harder? To the point that your eyes will squeal wide open? I should bring you to the Punishment Committee right now, but I’ll let you without punishment, just this once. Now, get up and explain the theory in the textbook.”
“Yes?”
“Move!”
Bump!
Min-hyuk thought he must have been going crazy. He was so terrified that he didn’t even bother checking who the Professor was, or why he called him Klinsmann.
The Professor’s face was bright red and looked like it would explode any minute. He hurriedly opened the textbook.
“…Double casting?”
Double casting.
The theory that Professor Hak-Beom spoke of was there, but how could he begin explaining it, in that strange reality to which he now belonged?
‘How do I explain it in this strange reality, who Professor Hak-Beom was?’
With that in mind, he found himself able to give only one response.
“I can’t explain it.”
His punishment was now certain. How could he explain that he was only a first grader with no knowledge about double casting? From the man’s facial expression, he could tell he was about to get punished.
“It wasn’t enough for you to sleep in my class, huh? You could not even explain a basic theory that even monkeys know? Okay. I tried to let you off the hook, but clearly, I no longer have a reason to do that.”
Wait. What? What was double casting again? Wasn’t that supposed to be a high-level skill in magic essence? But he said that the theory was basic, an elementary course! Min-hyuk convinced himself that he had to be dreaming; he felt another sharp hit at the back of his head.
Bang!
“Go to the school office, right now!”
Yes, yes. It was not a dream. It was, in fact, reality.
* * *
He was embarrassed enough after getting hit on his head, and now he was being sent to the office.
“…What?”
School office. In his head, he saw it as an enormous space that smelled of books emitting an aura of a ‘wizard’s roof’, similar to what one might see in a scene from Harry Potter, full of magical tools and professors dragging their robes around.
The Professor beckoned him to enter a room, and offered him a seat. He was nervous. Magic moving so many objects at once? It must have been dynamism, but using such high-level magic was unheard of, at least in his reality. That type of magic consumed exorbitant amounts of mana and stamina for just one try, and no sane person would use their kinetic powers so casually.
Anyway…
“Klinsmann.”
The headmaster’s tone sounded dubious.
He sat expectantly on his chair. He looked up at Min-Hyuk with a sharp glance,“I still don’t grasp how you got into the ‘Royal Magic Academy’, but surely, if a dunce like you can’t even explain basic theory, then there is no place for you in this academy. It’s unfair to those students who study hard to have you here.”
That sounded fair.
However, the headmaster’s words still confused him.
“Double casting is a basic theory?”
“What was the Royal Academy again?”
“Why do people keep calling me Klinssman?”
He was so confused.
The headmaster continued to criticize him, and it was not long before he would leave the office.
Then, he finally concluded.
“This is not Korea.”
This realization sent shivers down his spine. But first, he decided to sit down.
The last thing he remembered was being in Professor Hak-Beom’s class; how did he end up here then?
He needed to gather more information.
Quickly, he returned to the classroom where he first woke up.
* * *
Name: Klinsmann.
Age: 14 years old.
He was in Professor Albert’s class, but he had no memory of that.
Eventually, he had to ask his classmates who they were. They also gave him some useful information, though they looked at him with consternation.
“You’re asking where you are? Is your head okay? You’re in The Royal Academy of Magic, the most prestigious educational institution in the UK.”
“Korea? Do you mean Monster Land? The country of Korea was destroyed a long time ago. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Korea and Russia have been turned into monster wastelands, so stop sleeping and get ready for class!”
“Enhanced civilization? That’s bullshit, and there are no knights in this world. Some people claim to be witches, but they don’t have any higher magical abilities, and besides, you don’t have to fight them yourself.”
It was a lot to take.
By talking with his classmates, Min-hyuk was able to understand the surrounding reality better.
“It is clear that I am still on Earth. This country’s name and language prove it, but it is nothing like the world I know.”
Parallel Universe.
It was possible.
That would explain why this world was exactly like Earth, but with a completely different society.
“The Earth I lived in developed a reinforced civilization due to the frequent monster invasions. We strengthened the human body with the spirits extracted from these creatures. We fought directly with them to protect our territory. I have no idea where I am, I’m from the Ganghwa civilization. It is clear that here they have a completely different system.”
He felt dizzy.
“This world, this parallel universe, has many similarities with the one I lived in before, but had formed an entirely different civilization.”
His head was filled with so many questions.
However, there was one more thing he had to know.
“…Was the Professor using Salt Power? Also, have you ever seen the British Archangel, or something like that?”
Consciously, he asked with a careful tone.
But he still received absurd replies.
His classmates made faces and spoke as if they were driving out an annoying worm.
“What did you just say? Salt power is widely used. As for your second question, did you mean the special magic called ‘Archmage’? Archmage is a sacred title. They said it could only be obtained if you climb at least seven circles. Professor Albert is only a fifth-circle wizard; why would you think he is an Archmage?”
Hush!
Their words kept making less sense to him.
Kinetic powers being the norm and how they spoke about Professor Albert. Being a fifth-circle wizard was subpar here?
The gap between his world and this one was becoming wider.
“… In the world I lived in, a fifth-circle would be considered an enchantress though.”
He was now sure.
It was a completely different civilization to one he knew. Ganghwa.
And this was certainly a parallel universe.
“This is a world where magical civilization has developed.”
Magical civilization.
An unfamiliar remark lodged in his heart.
He sat down and looked at the cover of the book he was using in Professor Albert’s class.
Elementary Magic.
Professor Albert is a 5th-circle wizard. He was said to be a failure and brought the academy to lay down the magic foundations.
“This is a low-level theory in magic civilization.”
He turned the pages.
Remembering his embarrassment, he looked for the answer to his Professor’s question earlier, that it was ‘double casting’.
“Double casting means using two spells at the same time. Even when the first magic occurred, double casting was still unfamiliar, but casting did not matter to humans, because ‘automatic casting’ was invented. Many spells can be used simultaneously these days, because multicasting has become the criterion for judging the magic level of wizards.”
“…Automatic casting?”
Automatic casting.
Multicasting.
These are all unfamiliar words.
He turned over the bookcase and started examining it closely.
“Auto casting is a form of recording magic system of a wizard’s mana. It is a modified form of Memorize magic. If you use the same magic repeatedly, by dispersing the mana in a certain form, the magic is automatically displayed when you use that type of mana. This is the most basic technique that has used the ‘memory’ of mana to empower this world to fight monsters.”
That’s it.
Kang Min-hyuk swallowed his saliva.
It was a world that he was yet to understand completely, but he was convinced of the textbooks’ contents.
“Professor Lee Hak-beom said that double casting could only be done by a genius. It was actually possible to double cast while calculating the magic formula at the same time. But if the automotive system theory of remembering magical forms is correct, then this is a giant evolutionary leap.”
Kang Min-hyuk’s body trembled.
Is this how savages feel when they encounter a strange civilization?
With his head filled with more information, he was not yet ready to turn over the remaining pages.
What knowledge is behind them?
If double casting is the theory of basic processes, then how much more knowledge is hidden in the pages that remain.
It was then.
Shook!
“…?!”
He felt similar dizziness.
Suddenly, the world started spinning, and he put his head on his desk.
Thump
“Kang Min-hyuk. I’ll forgive you if you sleep in class, but don’t you think snoring is a bit rude?”
Finally, he saw a familiar face.
Professor Lee Hak-beom was looking down at Kang Min-hyuk with a stern look on his face.
