"Open... Status... Window..."
In an instant a light blue transparent screen silently appeared before him, it's glass-like form hovering mid air with a bunch of weird symbols being displayed on it.
Dean's eyes instantly flung open. He had suspected it, with how unusual everyone were acting he had already prepared himself to witness something like this, but this...
It was something else.
There was something off-putting about witnessing the impossible happen before your very eyes.
Seeing was after all believing, but in this instance seeing just couldn't be believed.
"I-It's... it's impossible... magic... magic is... it's..."
It truly was.
Magic was a fairy tale, it wasn't real, everyone past the age of ten knew it.
But...
There was irrefutable evidence right before his eyes and he would be a fool to keep stubbornly denying its existence based on what he perceived as reality, what he perceived as possible.
Dean sighed, in a moment he suddenly looked like he had aged a decade.
"So we really are in another world..." he murmured.
It was at that moment that Lady Olivia's voice floated from the front, you could practically hear her glee from it.
"In our world magic is everywhere and can be found in all things," she bellowed." You have probably been sensing it since your arrival, after all it is the very air we breathe, the essence of life".
There was a period of silence as Lady Olivia smiled, then she waved her hand across dramatically and a spark of bright flame ignited in front of her, it mirrored her actions and left a blazing trail of fire across.
An arc of flames ignited in the air above her, blazing with such ferocity that the students felt like their faces were being cooked. But no one was actually harmed by it.
"W-What?!"
"Is... is that...?"
"Magic! It's real!"
" Unbelievable... "
" Impossible!"
"So... so... pretty..."
Faced with a reality where something as impossible as magic was suddenly visibly possible, the reactions from the students were huge and varied from person to person.
Magic...
It was just impossible, it couldn't be real, everyone knew that. After getting past a certain age people left behind most of their childhood fantasies, there were somethings you know was impossible as an adult before you even get introduced to your science subjects, which was why things like Santa and magic were supposed to be just fairy tales, things used to brighten the lives of cute seven year olds.
"How..."
Dean was astonished. From that yellow light he witnessed from within the woods back on Earth, to the pressure exerted on him by that knight, to the floating 'system' thingy, all of them had been preparing him for this moment, the moment when he witnessed it, magic, no tricks involved, no rabbits being pulled out of hats, no, it was the real thing.
'She conjured a flame with her hands..., ' his eyes suddenly widened as a certain thought flashed past his eyes, a frown instantly twisted his beautiful features.
' This changes things... '
It was at this moment that Lady Olivia began speaking again, but this time Dean winced, because before she even said it he could tell what she would spew out from her lips, those venomous lips... venomously beautiful lips.
"This is just a little trick," she smiled wildly. "With a little practice you could naturally do the same and much more, and So. Much. More".
The reactions from the students were to be expected, for normal people like them to be suddenly told that was possible to do magic, to conjure flames with just a light wave of their hands, this was just too tempting of an offer for anyone to simple pass up, although he would hate to admit it, Dean was also swayed.
"Goddess... sorry I m-mean Lady Olivia... could we really d- do it..." a certain male student stepped forward, then stuttered when he realized how ambiguous his words sounded. "... magic... I mean?"
"Of course," the beautiful woman smiled, everything was going forward as expected. "You may not have realized it yet, but once you came here you all have already started using magic, and quite an advanced one at that".
" What! "
" Us?!... Magic? "
" How...? "
It was like every single reaction she witnessed caused her smile to spread even further.
"Yes, you have all without exception been using magic," she then gestured forward. " You wouldn't have realized it now, but the words I'm speaking are actually of a different language from yours".
"Hah!"
"What!"
"R-really...?"
"Now that I think about it... "
Dean further furrowed his brows.
"Big... big brother..."
He squeezed her hand, but didn't reply.
"Advanced linguistics," Lady Olivia pointed forward. "It's a passive skill, one of the many that comes to you along with your status window".
"O-one of the many...? " this time it was Mrs. Emily their shy and petite teacher that spoke. The atmosphere had long since overwhelmed her but perhaps whatever little responsibility she felt for the kids as their teacher made her want to shield them a little, even if it was obviously impossible.
After hearing her, a look of distaste flashed past Lady Olivia, but it was quickly replaced by her disarming smile.
"But of course," she placed a hand on her mouth as she chuckled. "You should focus on the words written on your status window, it should answer some of your questions. Of course that only applies to those chosen, not you two".
As she chuckled, she looked pointedly at the two adults amongst them.
'Those chosen...'
Dean captured the word, but he like all the other students was already focusing aptly on his status window.
A few words he could somehow understand flashed on the pale blue transparent screen.
[ATTRIBUTES]
[SKILLS]
[ABILITY (IES)]
[INVENTORY]
"Hmm?" Seeing the interface before him Dean felt it looked familiar, how could someone like him who had delved into the worlds of thousands of animes and mangas not recognize it.
"... a system..."
It wasn't too surprising, after all after witnessing magic today nothing that happened here should be surprising anymore.
Besides, anyone who had watched any issekai anime knew that after the transmigration came the system, after all, one needed some help navigating an unfamiliar and sometimes unwelcoming world.
"Let's see what we have here..." he sighed. " Hmm... alright... attribute... "
He stretched forth his index finger and tapped lightly on one of the few available words, immediately after, it shimmered with a brighter light and then the whole information displayed switched entirely.
[ATTRIBUTES]
Name: Dean Oslorn
Magic Affinity: Fire
Level: 1
EXP: 0/100
MP: 1000/1000
HP: 76/100
STR: 10
PHY: 9
AGI: 8
INT: 100
PER: 50
BAL & COR: 15
"Hmm..." Dean narrowed his eyes. "That's good... right?"
"Let's see... a fire affinity," he smiled. "Seems great, does this mean I can now control fire?... Cool."
"My strength is a ten, physique is a nine, agility an eight, and my intelligence and perception..." he gasped. "Are a whopping hundred and fifty!"
He chuckled, a self satisfied narcissistic smile blooming on his face.
"Well... nobody ever accused me of not being intelligent... but... hah..."
"Looks like I overdid it this time, if I do say so myself," he laughed. "I guess I can't help it, I'm a genius in any world I am".
His self imposed joy didn't last long as his smug smile suddenly froze, a dangerous thought suddenly encroaching on his joy, he looked around in suspicion.
"Wait a minute..." he mulled. "Are my intelligence and perception stats way too high or is that just the norm and my other stats are just ridiculously low?"
He paused, then suddenly broke out with an arrogant laughter.
" Of course not, how could a genius like me be compared with other average talents... hahaha... haha... ha..."
"..."
"..."
"... right?..."
His face fell.