Ethan had school in six hours.
Unfortunately, the Beginner Sorcerer Manual didn't seem to care.
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He sat cross-legged on the floor of his room.
The black book rested in front of him.
Its pages glowed faintly in the darkness.
Outside, rain tapped against the window.
Inside, Ethan was trying to learn magic.
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Again.
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The tutorial objective remained floating before him.
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[Tutorial Objective]
Learn Mana Reinforcement
Progress: 0%
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The description was annoyingly short.
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Mana Reinforcement
Use mana to strengthen the body.
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"That's it?"
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The book remained silent.
Apparently magical manuals weren't interested in detailed explanations.
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Ethan sighed.
Then closed his eyes.
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According to the manual, reinforcement was one of the most basic abilities a sorcerer could learn.
Even weaker sorcerers could use it.
The problem was learning how.
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Mana wasn't a muscle.
He couldn't simply flex it.
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Instead, he had to guide it.
Shape it.
Control it.
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Which sounded much easier in theory.
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For nearly thirty minutes, nothing happened.
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His mana circulated.
His concentration improved.
The blue particles appeared around him.
Yet reinforcement never activated.
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Then frustration took over.
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"What am I doing wrong?"
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A notification appeared.
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[Suggestion]
Stop forcing mana outward.
Guide it inward.
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Ethan blinked.
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"...That would've been useful earlier."
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The system ignored him.
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Taking a deep breath, he tried again.
This time he followed the advice.
Instead of pushing mana away from his body...
He pulled it inward.
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Immediately something changed.
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A warm sensation spread through his arms.
Then his shoulders.
Then his legs.
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The feeling wasn't dramatic.
Not powerful.
Just noticeable.
---
Like drinking hot tea on a cold day.
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A notification appeared.
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[Skill Learned]
Mana Reinforcement Lv.1
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Ethan nearly laughed.
---
Finally.
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A real skill.
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Excited, he stood up.
Then froze.
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His body felt lighter.
---
Not stronger.
Not yet.
Just lighter.
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He crossed the room.
The movement felt smoother.
More natural.
---
Interesting.
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Very interesting.
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He opened the status window.
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Name: Ethan Graves
Class: Unawakened Sorcerer
Level: 0
Mana: 8/10
Skills:
Mana Thread Lv.1
Mana Reinforcement Lv.1
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Two skills.
Not bad.
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The next experiment happened entirely by accident.
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Ethan picked up his backpack.
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The bag felt unusually light.
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He frowned.
Then looked inside.
Nothing had changed.
The contents were identical.
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Yet lifting it required noticeably less effort.
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Mana Reinforcement wasn't increasing his strength directly.
At least not much.
It was improving his body.
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The difference was small.
But real.
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The discovery kept him awake until nearly sunrise.
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When his alarm finally rang...
Ethan hated everything.
---
School was torture.
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His eyes felt heavy.
His brain felt slow.
And his teachers seemed determined to speak as much as possible.
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By lunch he was barely functioning.
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"You're dying."
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Ethan looked up.
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Lily wasn't there.
Wrong location.
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Instead, his classmate Ryan sat across from him.
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"What?"
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"You look dead."
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"Thanks."
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"You okay?"
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"No."
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"Fair."
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Ryan returned to his food.
The conversation ended there.
Which Ethan appreciated.
---
The fewer questions people asked, the better.
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Especially now.
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Because while eating lunch, Ethan noticed something strange.
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The cafeteria felt different.
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Not physically.
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The atmosphere.
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The people.
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The air itself.
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At first he couldn't identify the problem.
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Then he remembered Mana Sense.
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Slowly, carefully, he activated it.
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The world changed.
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Blue particles filled the cafeteria.
Floating everywhere.
Moving between students.
Passing through walls.
Exactly as expected.
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Then he noticed something else.
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A black particle.
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Just one.
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Unlike the others, it remained completely still.
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Hovering above a student sitting near the corner.
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Ethan frowned.
---
The student looked normal.
A little tired maybe.
Nothing unusual.
---
Yet the black particle remained.
---
Watching.
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The moment Ethan focused on it—
It vanished.
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His heart skipped.
---
The sensation felt familiar.
---
Very familiar.
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The same feeling he experienced near Platform Three.
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The same feeling he experienced near the hidden staircase.
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Something supernatural.
---
Something connected.
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The realization unsettled him.
---
Because Riverside Station was one thing.
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School was another.
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The station was strange.
The station was connected to ghosts.
The station was dangerous.
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School wasn't supposed to be.
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For the rest of the day, Ethan couldn't stop thinking about the black particle.
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By the time classes ended, he had convinced himself of one thing.
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Either:
A) He imagined it.
Or
B) Something was spreading.
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Neither answer was comforting.
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That evening he returned home.
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The pocket watch remained silent.
The manual remained unchanged.
The system offered no new warnings.
---
Everything appeared normal.
---
Which should have reassured him.
---
Instead it made him nervous.
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Because the calm never lasted.
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Not anymore.
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Around midnight, Ethan sat at his desk reviewing the manual.
A section he had previously ignored caught his attention.
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Entity Classification
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Immediately, he began reading.
---
The first page contained only three categories.
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Residual Spirits
Weak.
Often harmless.
Usually tied to locations or memories.
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Manifested Entities
Dangerous.
Capable of influencing reality.
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Unknown
Avoid contact.
---
Ethan stared.
---
That seemed...insufficient.
---
The next page was worse.
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Note: If classification is impossible, retreat immediately.
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Very encouraging.
---
As he turned the page, the room suddenly became colder.
---
Not dramatically.
Just enough to notice.
---
Ethan froze.
---
Slowly.
Very slowly.
He looked toward the window.
---
A shadow stood outside.
---
His heart stopped.
---
The figure remained motionless.
Watching.
---
Black coat.
Pale face.
---
The ghost.
---
Relief immediately replaced fear.
---
"You."
---
The ghost didn't smile.
---
Didn't wave.
---
Didn't move.
---
For the first time since meeting him...
The ghost looked worried.
---
Genuinely worried.
---
Then he raised a hand.
---
Pointing toward the city.
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Not Riverside Station.
Not Platform Three.
---
The city itself.
---
Ethan stood.
---
"What?"
---
The ghost's mouth moved.
---
No sound emerged.
---
Yet somehow Ethan understood.
---
Only two words.
---
Too late.
---
The ghost vanished.
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At the exact same moment, every light in Ethan's room flickered.
---
Once.
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Twice.
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Three times.
---
A new notification appeared.
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[Emergency Alert]
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For the first time...
The system's blue screen was flashing red.