Chapter 1: Chapter 1

The entire room, located on the second floor of a modern apartment building, was enveloped in darkness, and the only available light source was a small red bedside lamp.

On a rather large wooden bed, a black-haired girl in her teens was lying down to sleep. Her face seemed tired and slightly nervous. Finally, she grabbed her phone and set the alarm clock for five o'clock in the morning. Putting it down with great reluctance, she lay down to sleep. Reaching out, she turned off her bedside lamp.

Her room was permeated with the smells and sounds of a summer night. She could hear the chirping of grasshoppers and smell the pleasant aroma of fresh grass. Alexandra sincerely loved it. Although she wasn't particularly fond of summer itself, the calm and cool nights evoked nostalgic feelings in her. Despite her unpleasant expression, she earned a slight smile. She turned on her side.

Finally, she reluctantly closed her eyes. It seemed as if the whole world had fallen silent. Nothing could be heard anymore. All reality seemed to blur. She didn't try to fight it. She gave up and everything turned black.

It seemed to her that only a few seconds had passed. However, after a while she felt the pain and the weight of her own body. She did not feel like opening her eyes. She pulled her nose hard, but she did not smell the grass, but a foul stench that was repulsive to her nose.

It was lying on a dirty mat. She slowly rubbed her eyes. Her whole body seemed heavy and weak at the same time. She raised her right hand and moved her fingers, then sighed deeply. Propping herself up with her hands, she began to stand up. She looked around and focused her gaze on a recess in the wall, which was fenced off by bars. Moving closer, she tried to breathe in the fresh air coming from this not-so-large window.

After a while, she touched her hands. It was rough and filled with calluses. Compared to when her hands were soft and smooth a moment ago, it was a huge contrast. Her whole body had also changed. Although her hair color was similar, now her hair was extremely short.

- [Here again, huh? Sometimes I dream of never waking up...] - She said, languidly in Polish.

"Jael can you stop babbling again? I just got up and you're already pissing me off. Just from listening to you I want to throw up."

In this world, her name was Jael. However, she has always preferred her other , "dreamy" name, coming from a place called Earth: Alexandra. She tried to live , "above" this world, although deep in her heart she realized it was impossible. Inwardly she knew that she belonged to this world, more than to planet Earth.

Wrinkling her eyebrows, she looked at a girl with a dark complexion and shoulder-length white hair like snow. Her name was Morta. Their shared hatred had lasted from the very beginning. One could say that she had always been in a higher position than the others. The reason for this was her appearance. In the simplest terms, she was simply pretty.

She was an Atrian. A country of which she was quite large in terms of area, but hopelessly weak in every other respect. Her family belonged to an ethnic minority living in the southern mountains. The rare color of her hair, plus her dark complexion was certainly remarkably exotic on the Eastern Continent. Her unusual beauty caught the eye of their owners right from the start. Of course, to her contemporaries, her life was still on the scale of hopelessness, but compared to others, these were real luxuries.

Even though they had known each other for many years, Morta saw herself as a better person, as she didn't have to work physically, and was also treated much better than the rest.

However, what was her life? Only a person who had never experienced the wonders of this world could consider serving the elders of a noble family as a blessing.

Alexandra's situation may have seemed worse on the surface, but she herself considered herself rather lucky. While the rest may have envied Morta's position, Jael saw it more as her worst nightmare.

However, differences in worldview were inevitable. After all, she possessed a secret power. A power that allowed her to experience life in a world that was much more advanced in terms of technology and worldview.

On the other hand, the world in which she now lived seemed backward and much more limited. A strong slave system, class divisions and general injustice still existed here. However, in this world with the mysterious name of Kinana, there was something that definitely set it apart from Earth.

It was a secret energy that the locals called in the local language: the Otrwwa. Although it is impossible to translate this term correctly due to the ambiguity of the word, it would be most accurate to call it magic.

However, despite its existence in this world, any attempts to get more information met with failure. She knew only one thing about Otrwa, only nobles could use it, and although as a child she had dreamed of getting out of this place with the help of magic, she eventually gave up her hopes. In the end, it's not worth tying your hopes to something so uncertain.

Today was a surprisingly important day in the lives of her and a few of her peers. It was the day she would reach the age of majority (or at least according to Empire law), having reached the age of fifteen. Although she was not actually fifteen yet, no one cared about their exact birth dates.

She belonged to the noble Yamer family, though she herself preferred to call them the yam family, which she thought was eminently ridiculous given that the head of the family, Lady Atrang had surprisingly orange and wrinkled skin. Unfortunately, apart from her, no one caught on.

In any case, although it was a family of nobility, they had the title of Viscounts, and although the title was quite high, they mainly controlled villages and one town, which was also the county's capital. Interestingly, this town was considered quite large, but she personally considered it a rump. Although the center itself, where the estate was also located, was quite nice and resembled a typical European marketplace in appearance, but other than that the town looked average. Even from even the market square one could see wooden shacks and poverty districts. In addition, it stank badly.

She had once heard that the city was supposed to be home to a whole fifty thousand people, but she personally questioned this fact. She had personally seen larger cities with a population of only ten thousand.

Although perhaps this would be possible if one counted the outskirts of the city to the population, which was not impossible, given that the land classification system in this world was one big mess. However, these outskirts were villages that looked catastrophic, making even the worst villages in Poland she had seen look like world-class metropolises in comparison.

Nevertheless, one could say that she was lucky anyway. While serving the nobility may not have been one of the easiest jobs, things could always be worse. Working in the mines was unlikely because of her gender, but it was still not an impossible option. But tiring and dirty work on the farm, or worse, in a brothel.

In addition to her, equally seven of her peers will come of age that day. The reason these nobles had so many minors was that the price for children was less when she was young for some reason. Although in general girls were more expensive back then anyway, this did not apply to the ugly ones....

She didn't always work at their estate, but she vaguely remembered previous times. Before the yam state, she probably worked as well, somewhere else. Even so, it didn't matter to her.

Children often did normal work like adults, but fortunately the current head of the family was against such arrangements and waited until they reached the age of majority and just then they would be assigned official duties, and until then they are mainly engaged in small matters that do not require much effort.

The assigned work could have been basically anything from cleaning, to working in a brothel or mine in case of overstaffing. But she was unlikely to be threatened by this, given the recent plague that caused a significant staff shortage. Her reputation was also rather good, so she wasn't particularly worried about it.

Before leaving, she needed to wash her face and wipe her body with cold water, so she went to the hygiene room designated for servants. Once that was done she changed her clothes. When she finished passing the servants who were older than her, she left the servants' room for fresh air. There she found the rest who, like her, would also be undergoing the coming of age ceremony. Among them was also Morta. She certainly stood out from the rest.

Next to her stood four girls and eight boys, most of them sitting on the steps in anticipation. Most of them very thin with a few exceptions. Some looked scared and some looked excited. Ola sighed at the sight. A couple of girls were apparently hoping to get a similar function to Morta, but Alexandra highly doubted the possibility, they were too average for that.

"Why is it always you who comes last?"Asked in a bored voice one of the boys named Katoro, at which Alexandra rolled her eyes and wordlessly stood next to them.

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The boy was visibly upset at her reaction. He was a rather stubborn type of person, but he was characterized by quite a lot of physical strength, so most people preferred to remain on friendly terms with him.

"Can you finally shut up? You talk too much. My ears wilt at the mere sound of your disgusting voice." Morta said. Among those gathered, she had the highest position and was almost untouchable. She was one of the few who could offend him among their age group.

Alexandra, having ignored the two of them, also sat down and began talking to her colleagues. She rarely talked to others because of her job as a helper at the stable, where she was the only one of her age group to work. She took care of rather small things there, but her work was still exhausting.

She started talking to two people with names: Lella and Jermeio. Lella worked cleaning, while Jermeio worked in the garden. They were like siblings to each other, despite the fact that they were not related, and even the fact that they came from completely different areas, on opposite sides of the world. Lella knew all the gossip about the residents of the estate and the latest happenings. After all, it was the cleaners who could circulate throughout the estate. What's more, they had terribly long tongues.

It was Lelly who learned about all sorts of things related to this world, the family she served, politics, world events, or even magic. Thanks to her, she was certainly more informed than the rest. On earth, she even made a Yam family tree to better comprehend the people living there and their relationship. She also managed to create a makeshift map of this strange world. She based it on a large painting hanging in the living room, where she had only been twice, so her memories were not very clear, and Lelly's descriptions.

Finally, after a rather long and particularly boring wait, an elderly woman, dressed in all-black yet elegant attire, appeared. She was an elderly maid and, unlike them, she was not a slave. She served as the personal maid of one of the family members. She was most likely the third or fourth daughter of some minor nobility. It was an honor for them to serve the higher-ups personally.

Aside from a few harsh words, the elderly maid silently led them through the courtyard to the central part of the estate. She rarely went there. This part was especially guarded by guards.

After a long time, they finally arrived at the place. It was a fairly large room, resembling a workshop of sorts. It was quite a mess, and in the middle of it sat a woman of about forty, dressed entirely in white. It was hard to read anything by her face. She was as motionless as a doll, and her downright porcelain face didn't improve the impression either.

"Hello, you must be this year's test subjects. My name is Kaela Lzi Abec, however.... well to you it probably doesn't matter anyway. In any case, I will call you one by one to this room." She pointed to the massive wooden door on her left."

"Any questions?"

For a brief moment there was silence. Seeing this, Miss Porcelain got up and walked through the door, then pointed to the first person.

The first person left after about ten minutes. The second was Morta, who pushed her way into the queue, but she was definitely there longer than the first person, she could have been there for up to three-quarters of an hour. When she came out she didn't make any more commotion, she looked rather thoughtful, but Ola couldn't tell if her performance was great or terrible.

More people went in and out, time flew by very slowly for her. Finally Katoro entered, followed by her turn.

Not even a long time passed, and the door opened again. It was her turn.

She felt a slight sense of dread. Finally, after all these years, everything would eventually be revealed.

"Now you... Eh... Finally the last one..." She said, Kaela visibly tired of the whole procedure "Are you waiting for an invitation? Be faster. I don't have all day."

The woman threw herself violently on a chair and sighed deeply, looking slightly annoyed. At first she mumbled something to herself, writing something on a piece of paper

"It will only take a moment. See this pebble-like thing? Touch it." She said, pointing to a strange spherical object with a radius of about ten centimeters. It was an unusual object indeed. It was completely black in color. However, it was not just its color. It was simply perfectly black, one could even call it the opposite of light.

I have never seen anything like it in my life.... I know that in this world there is magic and these things, however, still.... What's even stranger is that this thing doesn't cast a shadow....

She slowly walked closer after which, without the slightest hesitation, she placed her hand on this peculiar object. After a moment, the completely black sphere, began to glow from below.

"Hmm around six? Worse than average." Said clearly disgusted woman.

"Um, excuse me, if I may ask, what is that?"

The woman sighed loudly.

"Hymp, you probably don't even realize how many times I've heard this question today.... In any case, they are all average at best! Agh! How pathetic! Me! Great Magician of the fourth circle working in some rump! - She shouted hysterically, walking in circles around the room."

Ola, on the other hand, looked confused, completely not expecting the current events. This sudden monologue surprised her greatly.

"I've always been known as a genius, you know? Even from the time when a great talent was discovered in me as a child. However, so what? Who cared about my dreams? I trained all my childhood! I would get up at six o'clock and practice until the very night, until my whole body trembled at night. - Suddenly she turned abruptly and pointed her fingers violently at her - What about you? You dream of great careers. Do you dream that you will suddenly become powerful magicians from just like that! Worthy of laughter! Look at me! I trained all my life, not to mention my great talent, which you plebeians are devoid of, and what do I get out of it? Well, that's what! You are worthy of pity. Hmph leave your dreams of being magicians to your children."

If she lived in a cartoon, right now question marks would appeard above her head.

I don't care about your life story!

However, having thought about it for a while, she concluded that a better option would be simple silence. It was better not to expose herself. Although she may not have looked very strong, she was still a mage. Although she didn't particularly understand what it meant to be a mage of the fourth circle, it was better to be careful.

"Im tired. In theory, I should also test yours control... but, with that little of mana, you couldn't use it even if your control was stronger than mine, what is impossible. So it's a waste of time. Just go away, kid." Said an annoyed woman.

I did as she ordered. Or did I?

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