Faith stared at her, processing the information that just dropped like a boulder onto his brain.
[Id be the thirteen thousandth… in just a month?]
He muttered, more to himself than anything else.
» How is that even possible? That would mean, like… hundreds of trainees die each day? No, no, that can't be right. Maybe time doesn't even move the same in this world…
Lumini tilted her head, blinking in confusion as Faith rubbed his chin, scanning the grass at his feet.
Then he muttered plainly, completely giving up on beating around the bush—
[ Hey… I'm confused about a lot of things… and you can't really tell me anything, sooo… tell me everything that you CAN tell me.]
She grinned. Bright. Wide. Dramatic.
Lumini: "Your wish is my command."
She spun in a slow, overdramatic twirl midair, and in a flash, her outfit shifted.
Her hair transformed from coding into a deep crimson red, her eyes split into a strange mix of gray and blood-red, her dress morphed into a white hoodie with short shorts and flip-flops, her face had a new attachment to it as well, as she now had glasses, the big, round kind.
"Tadaaaa," she said, hands on her hips, as if she'd just completed the grandest magic trick in the world.
[ How did you… downgrade your outfit? ]
"Downgrade?? " she said, pouting.
"This is what I usually wear, and besides, it's an outfit from your world too, so you should thank me."
[ Yea yea, whatever. I just… I just want to know more about this world,]
He said, rushing her with eagerness.
"Okay, fine…"
She sighed, rolling her eyes slightly, and opened another HUD in her hand. This one was bigger, more complex, but still elegant, she anchored it to the air then opened up her palm.
Rows of code spiraled and twisted before her fingertips, forming into a digital marker she could hold.
"Look."
She drew a blank square in the air and split it into five neat rows.
"This," she began, tapping the top of the chart with her marker,
"is the entire framework of magic in this world. The thing you'll be trying to learn from here on out. The baseline, the building blocks… everything."
She wrote at the top row: "NO MAGIC."
Lumini: "This is where you're at right now."
Faith stared at the chart, rubbing his chin.
» No magic. Right. Got it. A literal starting line.
She moved on to the second row: "BASIC MAGIC."
"This is… the basics,"
she said, scratching the back of her head, voice casual but precise.
"A bit complex at first. There's no way I could teach you all of it at once—there are too many variations of magic and what they're used for—but I'll try my best. You'll need this foundation to understand spells and everything else."
Faith raised a brow, leaning closer.
Then she wrote on the third row: "SPELLS."
[ Eh?? Aren't spells and magic the same? ]
"Nope."
She said flatly.
"Magic is something you already have.
You can harness it. You can naturally create it—but you can't exactly use it to summon fireballs or lightning bolts out of nowhere. Not yet, anyway."
"Most human rookies get stuck here, "
She muttered, stomping the air like she was physically pounding the ground in frustration. "Pisses me off every time."
She leaned back, thinking for a moment.
"Hmmm...now how should I explain this..."
[Haven't you done this countless of times...]
Faith said blankly.
"Well yes...but I've scanned your memory and came to the conclusion that explaining it by any verifiable means, would result in you not understanding."
Faith blinked, slowly. [ So… you're basically calling me stupid? ]
"Precisely." She said, like it was a fact of life.
He sighed. A long, exasperated sigh. But he listened anyway.
"Spells are… like techniques you apply with magic. You need magic to use them. Without your magic, or certain levels of magic, spells won't work. You can't just… pull power out of your ass."
"To put it simply," she continued,
"spells are like… recipes and magic is the ingredients. Without the ingredients, the meal doesn't exist and without the recipe the meal CAN'T exist."
Faith: [ So magic is like my stamina? ]
"Jackpot!" she screamed, bouncing slightly in the air.
"Finally, something you understand! See? I do know you can learn!"
He sighed again.
» I dont mind taking the disrespect if in the end it gets me the info i need.
She zoomed back to the board, marker poised like a general commanding an army.
"Now this…" she said, voice suddenly serious, eyes locking onto his with a weight he hadn't felt before, "skills."
Faith's stomach tightened from the pressure.
"This is what you'll need the most," she continued, marker dancing across the board. "Without this? You die. No debate. Skills define how you survive, how you fight, how you exist here. Magic and spells are important—but everyone has them. Skills… are what make each person unique. They are the deciding factor in any battle, whether it be against a beast…"
[ Or another human. ]
He cut in, finishing her sentence with zero hesitation.
Lumini blinked, impressed. "You know… I think I'm starting to like the way your brain works."
She smiled, genuinely.
"Thanks? I guess?."
He shrugged, unsure what to do with the praise.
"To learn a skill," she continued, eyes serious again,
"you first need to develop a routine for something, wether it be a fighting style, or just running very fast....For example, the strongest human I've ever tutored had a speed style—he developed it because he always outmoved his enemies. Every person's style is their own creation. You can't just 'pick' a style off a shelf."
[ So I can't choose a style… I develop one? ]
"Correct."
"Each style a person has is invented by how they fight. Or live, for that matter. If you want to be a farmer, fine—you'll just plant carrots faster than everyone else. That's your skill. That's your style."
Faith froze for a moment, thinking back to when he first spawned here an hour or so ago. All the chaos, all the terror.
This world wasn't just about survival… it was about adaptation, creativity, invention.
"Continuin—"
She began, but he held up a hand.
[ Before you continue, I must know something. ]
"Ask away." she said, crossing her arms.
[ Is everything similar in this world… to my world? ]
She tilted her head, considering her next words. "For the most part, yes. We don't have your technology—no cell phones, no cars, nothing like that—but we do have the essentials. Food, materials, buildings… everything you would reasonably recognize. Humans, animals, plants—they exist here too. It's just… shifted. Altered a tiny bit. "
Faith nodded slowly, absorbing it all. [ Got it. ]
"Continuing… the final one," she said seriously again, her marker poised like a conductor about to drop the crescendo.
Faith stared as she wrote on the last blank box at the bottom of the chart.
[ Mastery?? ]
"Yes… mastery," she said swiftly, as if it were the simplest, most obvious concept in the world.
"When you've finally achieved everything you have—every skill, every spell, every ability you can learn… this is the stage that defines you."
[ Abilities? ]
She smiled faintly, eyes glinting with amusement.
"You're going to have to figure that one out yourself. "
[ Pretty sure abilities are everything combined. ]
She grunted, half exasperated, half impressed.
"You're too smart for your own good," she muttered.
Faith grinned proudly at that.
"As I was saying," she continued, marker dancing in her hand,
"Mastery… is… well, mastering everything you built up. There is no real limit. No ceiling. It's just how hard you push yourself to achieve your goals. Your personal peak is whatever you make it."
[ Awfully inspiring… that's a first,]
He said, clapping in a sarcastic slow-motion, like a critic at an indie theater.
"Oh, shut up,"
She said, rolling her eyes, but her lips twitched into a smile.
Faith chuckled. The first genuine laugh in hours, maybe days, earth wasn't exactly that good of a place, but here? He can finally be free...
Finally be what he wanted...
Be useful.
He leaned back against the trunk, enjoying the calm after the storm of explanations, of charts, of impossible worlds.
Then he turned his head…
And looked down.
His smile....
Immediately vanished.
His eyes met... eyes.
Deep, unnatural, burning blue eyes—cold, intelligent or maybe not, and filled with a kind of malice that made his stomach twist.
The Shadow Beasts....or whatever they were, had somehow reached the top of the tree.