Dimension Tower, Director's Meeting Room:
As always, Lord Drakken sat at the head of the table with a screen opened in front of him. However, the meeting room was empty, leaving him alone with his mountain of work; raising and cultivating an entire civilization was not an easy task, nor for the faint of heart. Luckily, this was not his first rodeo.
Tap! Tap! Tap! While Drakken was deep in thought, the sound of light footsteps caught his attention.
"What bad news did you bring me this time?" Drakken asked without removing his eyes from what he was doing.
"How did you know it was bad news?" Nua asked.
"Your footstep is slower than normal, and that only happens when you have bad news that you don't want to tell me."
"…Headquarters rejected our application for a Divine Shaman."
"That's not too surprising," Drakken replied. "But there should still be some reward for discovering these SS-grade talents, right?"
"Yes. They sent us three 6-pulse Great Shamans and 12 other Great Shamans."
"That's good news," Drakken said, finally looking at her. "Don't you think so?"
"The Earthlings already have a decent Shaman Magic System. If we had more help, we could build a robust training method on par with the Mages."
"We can take it slow," Drakken stated. "This is only the first generation of recruits, and we've already uncovered three SS-Class Talent. There should be more." As long as this dimension continues to show promise, the headquarters will invest more resources.
"You're being too optimistic," Nua shook her head. Using the Destiny Orb to choose the recruit means that statistically, the first generation is the most talented. Of course, because they only used a 4th-tier Destiny Orb for a population of 8 billion, a lot of talent will slip through the cracks. Regardless, Nua wasn't too optimistic that such a high level of talent would be discovered anytime soon.
"I think you will be surprised," Drakken stated. Earth was not simple. The fact that Sage Firenz was interested enough to select someone for this job was proof enough, but this dimension's absurd size added to its mystery. The homeworld of countless top civilizations is only a fraction of this dimension, and only the Abyss can compare in terms of size. Drakken has been investigating the cause of this, but so far, he hasn't uncovered the mystery.
"I hope so," Nua sighed.
"Is there anything else?"
"Oh, yes, I want to give an official warning to Master Ruderto."
"Who?"
"The director of the Runescribe Department."
"Wasn't that Gorak's job? Oh, right, he died 300 years ago after failing to become an Archmage," Drakken groaned to himself. Even after mastering the Mind Palace Spell, thousands of years of memories can sometimes make his mind a bit messy and chaotic.
"What did Ruderto do?"
"He keeps complaining about how many Rune Diagrams and modules his department has to inscribe for the Rune Warriors. He keeps sending me reports, asking to accelerate the mage's training; he wants the first batch of Earthling Runescribes to appear as soon as possible so he can free his hand."
"These guys won't be ready to learn a profession until next month — and only a few of them will barely meet the minimum requirements," Drakken shook his head. "Since this is his first mission, explain the situation to him."
"You think I haven't tried? Look! Look how many emails he sent me in the past 2 weeks." Nua flickered her wrist, and her holographic screen materialized from the soul crest on her left arm; it then flew toward Drakken, who immediately frowned after seeing the long list of emails. Ruderto's behavior was indeed unprofessional, bordering on harassment of a superior.
"I'll speak with him. If he continues with his behavior, then you can give him an official warning," Drakken stated. Jobs at the Dimension Tower are not only highly sought after but also quite prestigious. As such, the last thing anyone working there would want on their résumé is a poor performance rating. According to the tower's rules, every employee below the 7th tier will be fired after three official warnings. Given how rare and valuable top Runescribes are, Drakken decided to give Ruderto another chance.
"He had better behave," Nua snorted coldly.
"How are the preparations for the academy?" Drakken asked, changing the subject.
"Everything is prepared."
"Good. Contact me if something goes wrong," Drakken nodded before focusing on his task at hand. However, after sensing that Nua wasn't leaving, he asked: "Is there something else?"
"The Earth nations have been buying our products and testing them. Should we stop them?"
"No need."
"Alright."
Friday, Auguest 5th, 7:30 AM:
Zane was ready. Wearing khaki cargo pants, a white shirt with a black blazer, white Air Force 1, a $300 watch, three silver rings on each hand (thumb, index, and middle finger), and a necklace to go with his mother's amulet, Zane nodded in satisfaction at his reflection in the mirror. Checked his crispy line-up and his well-trimmed beard, Zane nodded in satisfaction. Although he didn't care for his appearance, he had to admit his mother had good genes. As for Jaamal? Well, he only contributed the hazel eyes.
"Let's go," Zane thought before walking to his room. He texted his mother, telling her he might not be available anytime soon. After receiving a response, Zane held two carry-ons, a school bag, and a long duffel bag, then recited the incantation to enter the plaza. Unlike the last two times, Zane found himself on a platform with a magic circle engraved on the floor. Intrigued, he tried to observe it, but to his horror, he instantly felt dizzy; he not only could not remember the spell model, but he couldn't even look at it.
"No wonder mages with good memory can't just steal spells by looking at people casting them," Zane thought.
"You can't stay on the platform for too long," someone reminded.
"Oh," Zane said, looking around to find the voice, but there was nobody. Instead, he realized the area he was in was isolated by a barrier, preventing other people from entering this teleportation platform. Without uttering another word, he rolled his two carry-ons out of the barrier. Realizing he was about five minutes east of the school, Zane headed directly there.
"This takes me back," Zane thought. As soon as he entered Red Flame Academy, he felt as if he were transported to his first day at MIT: the endless chatter of students looking to start a new life, the excitement of entering a new environment, the prospect of meeting new and interesting people, the freedom to explore the unknown — everything felt the same.
"There doesn't seem to be a lot of people," Zane thought. Compared to most college campuses he had visited, the number of people present was pitifully small. "And all the students are Earthlings." After looking around, he concluded no other members from the tower were students, just staff.
Zane followed the holographic signs to a storage area where he placed his bags. After receiving a pass code to retrieve his stuff later on, Zane followed the signs to an auditorium. Since he was early, he took a seat in the front while looking around. A rough calculation revealed that this room had more than 25,000 seats, the equivalent of a small stadium.
The floor was reddish-brown, reminding Zane of mahogany; the walls were pure white, with the dragon logo spewing flame on all four sides. The rostrum was more than three meters with a humongous red curtain hung on the back that accentuated the presence of anyone trying to address the audience; there were no podiums or any speakers — Zane didn't even find signs of a sound system of any kind.
"The architecture is suspiciously similar to Earth," Zane thought, wondering if this was done by design or just a random coincidence. Lord Drakken should be a well-traveled individual, so it wouldn't be out of this world if he had visited a dimension that was similar to Earth in its customs and architecture. The world is vast, and Zane has opened his mind to the endless wonders and infinite possibilities.
Time passed, and more people arrived. No one from the tower had appeared yet, so Zane began a conversation with a young black lady next to him. She was only 20 years old, only two years out of high school, and yet, she was recruited to fight an inter-dimensional war. In just two weeks, life on Earth had become strange.
At exactly 8 AM, something finally happened. A portal slowly manifested on the elevated stage, and to everybody's surprise, a centaur walked through. The room became quiet. No one knew whether it was because of the grand entrance or the absurdity of seeing a fantasy creature, such as a centaur, appearing in real life.
"I will connect you to the tower's magic net," the centaur said, directly skipping any introduction or long speech. "There might be a slight uncomfortable sensation in the hand with the crest. Bear with it."
The centaur raised his hand, and a long black staff with a half-moon curve at the tip materialized. Under everybody's quiet gaze, a magic circle slowly manifested in the air, along with numerous runes. Zane counted the time, and the centaur took more than five minutes to cast his spell. However, Zane couldn't blame him; the spell diagram was so complicated that once again, Zane felt his head hurt when he even glanced at it.
Once the engraving process finished, Zane thought the spell would be cast, but he was wrong: something unexpected occurred. A transparent circle materialized underneath the spell diagram. Then, the mana in the air suddenly flew into the circle and turned it blue. As the circle gathered more and more mana, the transparent parts of its body transitioned into a physical state that manifested as the color blue.
Everybody waited with bated breath for the entire circle to turn blue and the spell to activate. However, to everyone's surprise, the process stopped midway through, and then the spell diagram trembled. A unique wave of energy spread to every corner of the auditorium, passing through the bodies of every student.