Zane looked at himself in the mirror. Despite his best efforts to maintain his hygiene, he looked rough. His eyes were tired, his hair had grown a bit too long, and his skin looked haggard and dry, almost screaming for moisturizer. Living in a world in which he needed to constantly worry about the attack of countless terrifying creatures was not for the faint of heart.
"I should probably grow my hair," Zane thought. For this shift, he spent three days. Next time, it may be a week or longer. If one day he disappeared with short hair but reappeared five minutes later with long hair, anyone with one brain cell would be able to put two and two together.
"I need to remain low-key until I learn both [Instant Casting] and a teleportation spell," Zane thought. With these two methods, his safety will be mostly guaranteed in the modern world. Before that, he will not publicly reveal his identity. The only issue is that he might meet someone in the program, but that'll be fine as long as they don't reveal anything to his family, the government, or any other interested party. Luckily for him, the US alone has a population of 300 million, meaning the chances of encountering one of the trainees are small.
"My skin needed that," Zane sighed to himself after a deep shower and intense beauty routine. Putting on casual clothes — shorts and a white t-shirt — Zane ordered some Fufu. During the trial, he couldn't eat 5000 calories, but now, he was about to indulge himself. While waiting for the food, Zane first called his sister and mother to check on them and talk about the latest gossip about the trainees. He followed that up by calling his best friend, Myk, and checking on Aunt Rykov.
Over the past 2 weeks, he's been so engrossed in his training and preparing for the second shift that he neglected Mykhailo. Besides the conversation they had on the first day of the announcement, they mostly communicated through texts. But to be fair, Myk also seemed quite occupied and always in a hurry. Plus, he's not always available even when Zane checks on him.
The conversation brought a smile to Zane's face. Myk was happier than the last time they talked, and it didn't take long for him to know why: hope. With magic suddenly appearing in the world, he saw hope to save his mother. Maybe modern medicine has its limits, but the same cannot be said for magic.
"I should keep an eye out for any healing spells," Zane thought after hanging up the phone. Myk and Anty Rykov meant a lot to him. Not only did they grow up together, but when his parents were going through a divorce, it was their family who supported them both. More importantly, Aunt Rykov showed him that a family can be happy and fulfilling with just one parent.
Now that Zane had dealt with his familial obligations, he sat at the kitchen table to wait for his food while scrolling through his web for information about the changes in the world. The pressure was starting to build. Despite what happened during the first shift, most people still did not take the tower and the invasion seriously. But now, even more people were found dead in their homes. The reality of the upcoming invasion was starting to sink in for most people, and Zane had already detected signs of a first wave of panic. Yes, the first wave. According to his prediction, there will be plenty more.
Humans are too good at adapting and compartmentalizing. Until the Demon Race opens a portal into the world, true panic will not happen in the world. As long as humans can continue to eat, sleep, and work without their lives being radically altered, they can compartmentalize any event or situation. Before then, only small waves of panic will occur — mostly in already chaotic countries — followed by a long period of peace; the process will repeat itself until the first invasion.
Zane exhaled to calm his raging thoughts. As he continued his scroll, he stumbled upon a few videos of Mages and Knights displaying their powers. Two particular videos have started to gain momentum and are likely to go viral. The first was of a thin mage casting a fireball on a tree before desperately trying to extinguish the flame with buckets of water. The second was of a thin female knight deadlifting 1,500 pounds. Considering the highest deadlift record for women was 700 pounds, and for men, 1000 pounds, people started to wonder whether this video was real. Zane reckoned it won't be long before the news picks up on these two videos, and numerous articles will be written about them.
The food arrived, and Zane continued scrolling while eating. Most of the information online was useless or straight-up a lie. After scrolling for an hour, he thought he wouldn't find any useful information until he saw a tweet of a Rune Warrior who claimed she had lost an arm during the trial. However, the tower's healing wing regenerated the limb within hours.
Intrigued, Zane read the comments and replies, and many people corroborated her story. Furthermore, these people revealed that the tower warned them that limb regeneration was a high-level spell and that everyone had a limited number of spots. Once they are used, the trainee must pay for the operation.
"Warriors must pay for potions. Knights must pay for classes, and now, everybody must pay for healing spells," Zane muttered, sighing deeply to himself. Even the Path of Extraordinary Powers cannot escape money or resources. With his limited funds, how on earth is he supposed to support his mage training?
The rich and wealthy will inevitably have another advantage in the upcoming new era. Although most of them aren't chosen as trainees, and they might not have the talent even if they are, it didn't matter. They only need to use their wealth to sponsor other mages, and soon enough, they can control most of the transcendent individuals.
"I've already lost under capitalism, I cannot lose in the new era," Zane thought. He had already decided that this month, he would do everything possible to raise funds to support his magical training. The Dark Web that he's been avoiding like the plague will become his closest friend.
Feeling a bit agitated, Zane went for a walk, which also helped him digest his food. At first, he was wary that his increased perception would result in another sensory overload, but he realized the increased mental energy made it easier to control himself. Unfortunately, while one problem was solved, another arose: the terrible smell. It took Zane a while to adapt and ignore all the different odors his nose could detect.
After his mind calmed down, he returned home to lie in his bed and nap. Sleeping in the wild will never be as comfortable as sleeping in his bed. At around 8 o'clock, he woke up to meditate. As expected, the process was not nearly as efficient as during the trial. An hour later, Zane continued his spell-casting training. Not feeling the motivation to walk to the abandoned cemetery, he trained the Mana Shield Spell only. The training took two hours, followed by another hour of mana channeling, with three 20-minute breaks in between. With such a strict and disciplined lifestyle, most people would feel tired and bored, but he enjoyed it immensely; he had long figured that he was the kind of person who thrives under structure.
As Zane woke up early the next day, he checked his phone and saw a missed call from his mother. He called back, but she didn't answer, probably busy at the hospital. After leaving a message, Zane was about to go on about his day when he immediately felt a vibration from his Soul Crest. Immediately injecting mana into it, a hologram screen projected in front of him:
[Trainee Zane Kwame Skylar, you are now invited to visit the Dimension Tower's Plaza. Use the incantation —- Ailu Ashu Aiju Avalo — to teleport to the setting directly and to return to Earth. Be mindful that your current access only grants one entry per day. Please manage your time wisely.]
"Let the Arcane Truth guide me to the tower of origin — what a strange incantation," Zane muttered, translating the key to entering the so-called plaza. However, he did not dwell on it too much. His first instinct was to activate this spell, but he remembered the state he was in. So, without wasting much time, he took care of his hygiene and food. Then, he put his meditation book, the crystal from the tiger, and the remaining potions into a school bag before activating the spell.
"Hmm? There is no mana here at all," Zane immediately noticed. This energy-free environment made him a little uncomfortable, reminding him of his first camping trip with Cindy; they climbed a mountain and entered a low-oxygen zone, and Zane had to rely on oxygen tanks after spending a few hours at such a high altitude. However, unlike before, Zane swiftly adapted in this mana-free zone before taking a good look at his surroundings.
"Am I in some kind of mall?" Zane immediately thought. Many buildings surrounded him, but most of them seemed to be small shops operated by people in magical robes or wearing armor. The venue was enormous, stretching for as far as he could see. Sounds of people speaking Gremorian echoed everywhere, with a few speaking in English and various other languages. The sight was beautiful but too much to take at once.
As Zane looked around, he suddenly paused, his mouth agape. A floating building — this plaza had a floating building built atop an enormous rock sediment, with an escalator attached to it. As far as Zane is aware, the concept of floating cities is beyond the capabilities of human technology and engineering. It's something humans will not be able to achieve in the next few centuries.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Zane finally noticed the person next to him. There stood a white woman in her early 20s, with short, bright blue hair, wearing a blue magical robe bearing a pin with two stars, clear eyes, and a gentle demeanor. Zane smiled and asked. "It's indeed beautiful, but I'm more concerned about how it was built."
"The architect used Anti-Gravity Stones as the foundation and a 4-ring Gravity Spell to control the height, stability, ascension, and descent of the building. Well, that's the short version."
"The work of a Grand Mage? That would explain it," Zane nodded. "By the way, I'm Zane."
"The name's Lysana," the woman smiled. "Would you like to check out my store?"
"And here I thought you were fascinated by my good looks. It seems you're after my pocket.
Lysana patted his shoulder and uttered with a serious expression, "I've seen too many handsome men. As for you? You're barely in the top 100."
"Is that so? Well, I don't really believe you, but I guess I can live with the knowledge you still found me handsome."
Lysana chuckled as he led Zane to her small shop, which contained a variety of things: robes, staffs, potions, scrolls, and even a few shining weapons. "You know I'm an Earthling, right?"
"Your dress and accent are obvious."
"Accent? I thought I spoke in perfect Gremorian."
"It seems, besides being a narcissist, you're also a bit arrogant."
"I won't deny that," Zane smiled. "But back to the topic. My point is, as an earthling, I have no money to buy goods — unless you take the US dollars."