What If Everything Is Real?

Catherine might not recognise any of the words coming out of the Professor's mouth, but she could at least remember how they sounded.

As the Professor continued to babble on, those strange words slowly entrenched themselves within Catherine's mind. At the same time, a cold sensation entered her body through her abdomen area, where the Professor's palm lay.

It felt as though she was being hypnotised, and she gradually stopped thinking about anything other than the words spoken by the Professor.

These words quickly formed together in her mind, connecting into a long verse that was the incantation for the 106th Steel Hunter's Meditation Method.

Of course, Catherine had no idea what this 106th Steel Hunter's Meditation Method really was, but that was secondary.

All she could think of right now were the words that the Professor was repeating to her. Before she knew it, she, too, started to repeatedly recite them in her head as well.

Once...

Twice...

Ten times...

Catherine lost track of how many times she recited the incantation, her mind seemingly entered into some sort of autopilot mode as she continued to repeat the incantation in her head.

***

When Catherine finally regained her senses, she realised that she was sitting upright with her legs crossed and back against the wall.

The cold sweat on her forehead had dried, and her fever seemed to have passed as well.

Not only had the weak sensation from before vanished, but she also felt more invigorated than usual, almost as though she just had a good nap!

But when she opened her eyes, Catherine could not help but jump to her feet in shock.

"You guys! Just what are you doing in my house?!" Catherine agitatedly pointed to the man and child duo, who were just sitting on her bed and looking at her. "And what did you do to me just now?"

"Hey, hey, is that really the attitude that you should be showing to someone who has just saved your life?" the Professor shook his head in disapproval. "How ungrateful!"

Jin had been playing with his fingers. But upon realising that Catherine had regained her senses, he promptly jumped out of bed and started walking towards her.

"W-What?"

Seeing the young boy approach her in such a fearless manner, Catherine subconsciously took a step back and ended up pressing her back against the wall behind her. "What do you want?"

Jin stared at Catherine for a good few moments before turning back to the Professor. "She really is better now. I guess you really weren't lying about helping her just now."

The Professor: "..."

Does that mean you have been doubting your teacher this whole time?

"Who are you?!" Catherine questioned once more.

The Professor sighed, then gestured towards the chair at the desk. "Take a seat. I will slowly explain everything to you."

"I don't need to sit! Just tell me what you are here for, or just get out!" Catherine warily stayed where she was.

She had no idea what happened earlier, but when faced with strangers who had just barged into her house, how could she still be in the mood to sit down and talk?

"Suit yourself if you wish to stand," the Professor shrugged. "Before I speak, I have a question for you, so answer truthfully. Did you attempt the mana awakening without first getting your teacher's approval?"

"…Mana awakening?" Catherine furrowed her brows.

"Judging from the hesitation in your voice, I must be right," the Professor shook his head once more. "Young Miss, you are very lucky that we are in the vicinity. You are already so old. To attempt mana awakening without even a foundation meditation technique to control the awakened mana, you could have died without anyone even realising it!"

Catherine was actually very confused at the moment.

She had initially thought that this was a new type of house robbery that made use of some new modus operandi.

But what kind of house robber would stay around and wait for the house owner to wake up?

And who would bring a kid with them to commit a house robbery?

At this point, Catherine could not help but recall how the house door had been suddenly unlocked from the outside, then swung open with an inhuman force.

Then there was the OC12 Pro, the two-storey house that turned into a strange office building and vice versa, the Orchid Exhibition, the strange incantation from before, and all this talk about mana awakening...

What if I tell you that everything here is absolutely real?

Secret Keeper's voice rang out in her head once again.

Could it be...?

"Are you a real... a real... m-mage?" Catherine asked hesitantly.

The Professor revealed a look of surprise, and Catherine immediately regretted having asked that.

Just how did I end up asking something like that?

It sounded like a question from a clueless kid!

For someone in her late teens to be asking a stranger that, Catherine could not help but feel embarrassed.

But what Catherine heard next caused her to freeze.

"Wait a minute, are you not from a mage's lineage?" the Professor asked in return.

Catherine shook her head hesitantly.

"No way! You are a normal person?!" the Professor stood up in agitation.

"Are you in trouble, Professor?" Jin asked.

"No, that's not right!" the Professor ignored Jin and pointed to the opened box that used to contain the OC12 Pro. "Then... how did you get that?!"

"Someone gave it to me this morning..." Catherine replied.

"I see, so someone did that. That's good to hear!" the Professor finally relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. "In the end, I am not the one responsible for involving you in the world of mages. That's right, I'm only passing by and rendering my help to someone who needs it. So tell me, who is the irresponsible bastard who gave it to you without proper instructions?"

"I got it at an orchid exhibition. They gave it to me when I went there this morning," Catherine seemed to be caught in the flow, and simply answered whatever she was asked.

"An orchid exhibition? You mean the Orchid Exhibition organised by the Orchid Corporation?" the Professor widened his eyes in shock. "That cannot be true! The Orchid Corporation is a Rank 7 faction. They will know better than to give a normal person something like a mana awakening crystal!"

"But it's true! I got it from the VIP room!" Catherine retorted.

The conversation was flowing so naturally that, without having realised it, she had completely forgotten her initial embarrassment from mentioning the existence of mages.

"Wait, VIP room? You said you were in the VIP room?" the Professor felt the corner of his lips twitch.

"Professor, isn't that the place that you applied to enter but was rejected?" Jin asked.

"I never applied to enter. I was merely asking them about the requirements!" the Professor hurriedly corrected the kid before turning back to Catherine.

No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible for a normal person like Catherine to be allowed into the VIP room of the Orchid Exhibition.

No, that's not right.

In the first place, how would she even know about such things if she was just a normal person?

"You are just screwing with me, aren't you?" the Professor narrowed his eyes at Catherine. "You are actually from a mage lineage!"

"I'm not! I have no idea what that even is!" Catherine argued.

The Professor did not want to, but he could not help but to believe her.

After all, no decent mage lineage would allow their apprentices to undergo mana awakening without even passing them a foundation meditation technique.

Even if they did, no sensible apprentice would dare to do so for fear of the consequences.

On top of that, any apprentice from a mage's lineage would have long awakened their mana by the time they were as old as Catherine.

The Professor rubbed his temples with a sigh.

Just what had he gotten himself into?

All he wanted was to exchange some pointers with a random mage teacher, and possibly promote his services a little.

Who knew that he would end up getting involved in something as strange as this?

"Is there something wrong?" Catherine asked hesitantly.

"No, there's nothing wrong. Nothing at all," the Professor sighed again. "I suppose it is fate that brought me here. Since it has come to this, I might as well give you some guidance before leaving."

"Guidance?" Catherine asked.

"That's right," the Professor nodded. "Now that you have already undergone mana awakening, you can be considered to have taken a step into the world of mages. Without any professional guidance, you might walk down the wrong path and fall prey to temptations. If others find out that you are a complete newbie, you can easily fall to their ploys. In the worst case scenario, you might even just lose control of your mana and explode."

"Does that mean... you are going to teach me magic?" Catherine could not help but feel a hint of excitement in her heart, but she quickly calmed herself down. "No, wait. I'm sorry to say this, but before that, are you able to prove that you are really a mage?"

By now, she was already slowly being drawn into believing in the existence of mages.

And if mages truly existed, then who would not be interested in learning some magic?

However, the rational side of her still needed some sort of evidence to convince herself of the situation.

She had lived all her life believing that mages were nothing but made-up characters belonging to fantasy stories, so it was not easy for her to switch her mentality just like that.

The Professor: "..."

Is this girl still doubting him after he literally saved her life?

Then again, it can't be helped.

This is the problem with normal people and their blind belief in contemporary science. Even though the evidence is already placed right in front of them, they will still find it difficult to believe in the existence of mages.

"Jin, show this elder sister your Flame Body," the Professor said.

"Huh? Why me?" Jin sulked. "She asked you to prove it! You can show her something instead!"

"Oh? Are you still not confident of doing it?" the Professor asked with a taunting smirk. "I thought you are already an established mage now that you have hit Rank 1, but I guess I have been wrong about you eh?"

"That's not true!" Jin retorted. "Fine, I will do it, but this is the last time. And I'm definitely not doing it because you told me to. I am just proving to you that I am really able to do it!"

"Of course, of course," the Professor replied with a shrug.

It's so easy to deal with kids like this!

With that, Jin stepped forward with a determined look in his eyes, and Catherine instinctively took a step away in response.

What happened next caused Catherine to widen her eyes in absolute awe and amazement.

Right before her very eyes, the eight year old Jin suddenly burst into flames!

The fire encompassed his entire body, such that even his facial features could barely be seen anymore. All she could see was his silhouette, with the short hair on his head rising and swaying with the crackling flames.

Had she not been mentally prepared for it, Catherine would have screamed in horror. However, she was a lot calmer than even she had expected herself to be right now.

From her position around two metres away, the sudden rise in temperature could be felt by her entire body, reminding her of the times when she sat before a huge campfire back during her school trips.

There was no doubt about it, this fire was no illusion.

Yet despite being engulfed in such raging flames, the kid himself seemed to be completely unaffected, as though the flames covering his body were nothing but a warm embrace.

"How is that? Impressed yet?" Jin asked with a proud grin on his face.

Catherine wanted to answer the kid, but no words escaped her mouth. All she could do was to nod in a daze. Nevertheless, her eyes were sparkling in amazement as she took in the seemingly impossible sight before her.

Mages and magic...

These things that she has always thought to only exist in fantasy stories...

They are actually real!