The Grand Academy was a fortress of magic and tradition—an arcane marvel with sky-piercing towers and floating platforms connected by runic bridges. Its protective enchantments were said to be impenetrable, its guards trained to sense the smallest ripple of foreign energy.
And yet…
One man slipped through its walls as if they didn't exist.
A hooded student walked silently through the academy's front gate. He wore the standard uniform—a dark robe trimmed with the Academy's silver crest—and a dull white mask that hid the upper half of his face. Nothing about him stood out. His aura was carefully muted, dampened by divine seals layered beneath his skin.
Even the watchful instructors glanced over him without suspicion.
"Disguised as a mage" "No flow of mana." Ray thought.
He had forged the perfect backstory an orphaned apprentice raised by a dead master, gifted a letter of recommendation before the old man passed. Using divine magic, he had imprinted the letter with ancient runes even the Academy's inspection spells couldn't decode.
His footsteps were silent, his presence weightless.
But his peace didn't last long.
As he moved through the orientation hall, heading toward the student dormitories, a voice rang out behind him—loud, chaotic, and filled with unchecked energy.
"Hey! You there! The one in the mask!"
Ray froze.
A girl with crimson hair tied in a messy ponytail sprinted up to him, half her uniform wrinkled and her boots still caked with dried mud. She grinned wildly, hands on her hips.
"You're new, right? You've got the whole mysterious vibe going on. I like it! I'm Sylfa!"
Before Ray could reply, she looped her arm around his shoulder like they'd known each other for years.
"I bet you're strong. You hiding your mana? Come on, duel me! Or—wait—maybe you're from a hidden family? No? Wait, you're secretly a master, right?"
"…No," Ray said curtly.
She laughed. "Oh, you totally are. You're one of those cold types, huh?"
Before he could make a clean escape, another student approached—a boy with oversized glasses, a journal in his arms, and eyes filled with endless curiosity.
"Excuse me! You're new, aren't you?" the boy said eagerly. "What's your name? Where did you transfer from? What's your elemental affinity? Is that mask enchanted? Wait—don't tell me—you're on the run from someone powerful, right?"
Ray suppressed the urge to sigh.
The chaos-girl and the question-machine. A perfect storm.
"I should've stayed in the forest," he thought.
He kept his answers short. "Ray. I'm not that strong and I'm Just… here to study."
Sylfa clapped. "Ray! .Nice. You're totally going to be targeted by the student council."
Ray's eye twitched beneath the mask.
The boy scribbled furiously in his journal. "Ray.. a... mysterious past... potential..."
"Enough."
"Excuse me," Ray said politely. "I need to deliver this to the administration office."
He vanished down the hall without another word, his presence vanishing like a whisper. The two students blinked.
"Where did he go?... Did he just… disappear?"
---
Ray navigated the Academy halls with ease, avoiding enchanted patrols and detection spells with techniques that far surpassed mortal comprehension.
He found the principal's office easily—a large room nestled in a high tower just beneath the Grandmaster's restricted quarters.
Inside, a tired-looking man in ornate robes looked up as Ray entered.
The principal blinked. "Yes? Can I help you?"
Ray handed over the letter.
"I'm a transfer student. Wandering mage from the Southern Glade. My late master was an alumni—he left me this letter of recommendation before he passed away."
The principal scanned the glowing document, humming.
"These runes… quite rare," he muttered. "But they match our ancient records. Truly Remarkable."
He nodded. "Very well. We welcome all talent here at the Academy. You'll be assigned to Class C for now, until further evaluation."
Ray bowed slightly. "Thank you. I simply wish to study in peace."
The principal waved him off. "Follow the crystal markers. They'll guide you."
As Ray turned to leave, his expression darkened behind the mask.
"They didn't even question it. The security of this place is more ceremonial than practical."
---
Once registered, Ray began to explore.
The dormitories were vast and crowded. Students sparred in enchanted arenas. Spell theory lectures echoed through runestone halls. Elemental beasts roamed in magical cages. Libraries stacked with grimoires stretched endlessly, guarded by runic barriers that scanned every reader's mana signature.
Ray walked through it all unnoticed.
But his real goal lay deeper—beneath the Academy, where secrets stirred.
He passed through restricted zones cloaked in divine illusions, slipping past barrier wards without triggering a single glyph. Hidden chambers filled with relics, maps marked with red circles, names of ancient dungeons etched into hidden scrolls.
"The Grandmaster's collecting relics… but why?"
Each item seemed to be a fragment from long-lost ruins, the kind sealed away after the war Ray had fought centuries ago.
"He's not just collecting power. He's building something. Preparing for something."
Ray found one room that drew his attention more than any other—a vault locked behind a paradox seal, a type of divine lock that even gods hesitated to use.
He pressed his palm to the door.
"...This seal is strong. Whatever is inside… isn't meant to be touched."
But before he could investigate further, he felt it—
A faint ripple.
From above.
The Grandmaster had moved.
---
Far above, within the highest tower of the Grand Academy, the Grandmaster sat in silence. His eyes opened slowly.
A faint trace of foreign divinity had just moved through one of the lower halls.
Barely perceptible.
But it existed.
"…He's here."
---
Back in the dorms, Ray returned to find his belongings placed neatly in a modest room. The two troublesome students were waiting.
Sylfa grinned, feet up on his bed. "Found you! You're in Class C too! We're roommates now!"
The glasses boy raised a notebook. "I calculated the probability and guessed you'd be placed with us!"
Ray stared at them, deadpan.
"The world really hates me they put me into this two annoying flies."
He closed the door behind him and sighed.
"At least this will be entertaining."
But his thoughts quickly returned to the Grandmaster. That name echoed across time. A man who had once stood as a student beneath Ray's shadow—now a leader of the mortal realm's greatest arcane institute.
And he was hiding something.
Something dangerous.
Ray stood by the window, watching students run across the courtyard beneath a crimson sunset.
"If he's planning to repeat the past… I'll stop him before it happen."
He looked at his reflection in the glass, the mask hiding his eyes.
"Even if it means tearing this place down to dust."