The city was buzzing after the rogue attack. Whispers passed from merchant to mage, all describing the strange bck-haired child who’d unleashed a fire spell the size of a full-grown wyvern—without a chant, glyph, or focus.

  At the heart of it all, Kagami sat at a quiet table in the guild quarters, spooning lukewarm stew into his mouth without emotion.

  Mikay paced behind him, troubled.

  “I need answers,” she muttered. “That wasn’t mana—at least, not normal magic. His energy was... older, raw. There has to be someone who knows what this ‘chakra’ thing is.”

  ---

  The Tower of Records

  That afternoon, Mikay brought Kagami to Liria’s famed Tower of Records—a towering spire filled with tomes, scrolls, and magical research from across the continent.

  She stood before the Chief Arcanist, a robed schor with five monocles stacked across one eye.

  “He summoned a giant fire sphere without a chant. He called it… a Jutsu. He says he uses something called chakra, not mana.”

  The schor blinked all five lenses at once.

  “...Chakra?”

  “Yes.”

  He flipped through dozens of dusty tomes, his voice curious and increasingly frustrated. “We have no records of any such system. No ancient spells, no cultural magic that matches. It's not elemental manipution. It's not divine casting. It’s…”

  He snapped the book shut. “It’s not from this world.”

  Mikay sighed deeply and looked at Kagami, who had been quietly examining the strange magical runes along the tower walls.

  He ran his fingers over one and whispered, “So… different from seals.”

  Mikay pced a hand on his head. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”

  ---

  Meanwhile, with Zack…

  Zack had taken a different route. While Mikay sought answers in books, he sought someone who’d seen everything—his old mentor from the Mage Academy.

  He found her exactly where he expected—in the training field behind the academy, unching controlled explosions at a floating target dummy while sipping from a chipped teacup.

  “Still blowing things up for fun, Master Rivel?” Zack grinned.

  The woman turned, her silver hair in a loose braid, her eyes sharp despite her years. “Zackery Flint. I thought you left this pce to swing a sword and chase bounties.”

  Zack ughed. “Still do. But now I have something better. A kid.”

  Her brow rose. “You had a child?”

  “Adopted,” he crified quickly. “Found him in a cursed forest. He’s three years old, and he burned a rogue alive with fire magic. No chant. No focus crystal. Just… said some strange words and boom.”

  She blinked. “You brought him with you, didn’t you?”

  Zack smirked. “Of course I did.”

  ---

  The First Meeting

  Kagami stood silently in the training field, hands folded behind his back as Master Rivel circled him like a hawk sizing up prey.

  “He doesn’t even hold a wand,” she muttered. “His core is… odd. The mana flow feels jagged. Inverted. Almost like it's wrapped around another force.”

  Kagami narrowed his eyes. “I don’t use wand. I use chakra.”

  Rivel knelt in front of him. “Then show me, child. Show me what this chakra can do.”

  Kagami nodded slowly. “Not much… but I try.”

  He stepped back and took a breath, fingers moving into a hand seal. “Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu…”

  But only a small puff of smoke emerged this time, and he coughed from the exertion.

  Rivel didn’t ugh. She watched him intently, eyes gleaming. “That movement. It’s not like our casting. You’re shaping energy through your body—not the air.”

  “Hand seals. Focus. Breath,” Kagami said. “Body must grow stronger to control more chakra. My chakra… still here. But not ready.”

  Rivel slowly stood. “He’s not a mage.”

  Zack frowned. “What then?”

  “He’s something new,” she said. “Or something ancient. But his control, discipline, and instincts are years ahead of his age.”

  She turned to Kagami.

  “I’ll train you. Not in spells. But in how to sharpen what you already know. In time, we might even help your body handle more of that chakra.”

  Kagami gave a small bow, hiding a smile. “Thank you, teacher.”

  Rivel raised an eyebrow. “You’re oddly formal.”

  “I trained with a man who became a Hokage,” Kagami said quietly. “And another who trained shadows.”

  Zack blinked. “What?”

  Kagami just walked toward the center of the training circle, standing still beneath the golden light of the afternoon sun.

  ---

  Later That Night…

  Mikay returned from the tower, disappointed but unsurprised by the ck of results.

  “No trace of chakra?”

  “Nothing. Not even legends.”

  Zack smiled as he handed her a cup of tea. “Well, we found someone better than books. Master Rivel’s agreed to train him.”

  Mikay blinked. “She did? The mage who told the Council their spells were too boring?”

  “Exactly.”

  Mikay watched Kagami practicing slow movements with a stick sword by the firelight, his every motion focused and sharp.

  Despite his tiny frame, he moved like a warrior.

  And now, with someone who could see past the surface, he’d go even further.

  ---