Rhys awoke the next morning feeling unusually refreshed. He was certain he had dreamed something pleasant — yet not a trace of it remained.

  Fortunately, Master Chloe’s quarters included an attached bath.

  It was far from the conveniences of the modern world, yet impressively clean, tidy, and hygienic.

  Once he finished washing up, the room cleansed itself through magic, instantly and thoroughly. Not even a lingering scent remained. It was as if all impurities were swallowed by a black hole.

  Even after two weeks, Rhys could not help but mutter in awe each time.

  “Wow… this beats any smart home system I’ve ever seen.”

  With the room still empty, he began warming up his body. He stretched, loosened his muscles, and jogged lightly in place.

  Liz had always accused him of exercising to avoid becoming another out-of-shape researcher. He insisted it activated his brain. She never believed him.

  About two hours later, Ingrid entered the room accompanied by Master Chloe.

  Today, Chloe wore a long black outer robe, and both women looked noticeably more tense than usual.

  The moment they stepped inside, the blonde girl hurried to gather papers and several books from the shelves and desk, packing them swiftly into Chloe’s large satchel.

  Meanwhile, Chloe took her usual seat, pulled out several documents, read through them, signed them one by one, and handed them to Ingrid with instructions to have everything sent out before noon.

  From their conversation, Rhys gathered that an urgent matter had arisen that morning, requiring Master Chloe to investigate something outside the academy.

  As Ingrid moved toward the cabinet containing the herbal arcana vials, intending to pack a few for Chloe, she suddenly gasped.

  Several bottles had lost more than half their contents.

  The herbs steeping inside were shriveled and yellowed, as though they had dried out in the span of a single night.

  “What…? They weren’t like this yesterday.”

  Master Chloe arched a brow, glanced briefly in their direction, then returned to her documents.

  “Ingrid, did you mix the ingredients incorrectly?”

  Her eyes never left the papers.

  “No, Master. Everything was normal. When I put the bottles away, there was no reaction at all. Rein, you saw them too, didn’t you?”

  She turned to Rhys, seeking confirmation.

  Rhys nodded along.

  “Yes. They looked fine yesterday.”

  “But did you touch anything? Mix anything? Even a little?”

  Ingrid switched targets so abruptly that Rhys nearly jumped.

  He shook his head quickly.

  “…I swear, I have no idea what those mixtures even are. I didn’t go near them.”

  “He’s telling the truth.”

  Chloe cut in, waving one hand without looking up.

  At once, glowing sigils appeared upon the glass cabinet, four or five rows of light that shimmered faintly before fading away.

  “No fingerprints of his. Only yours, Ingrid.”

  “How interesting… so there’s a spell that checks fingerprints too.”

  “But how did this even happen?” Ingrid muttered.

  “Let it go. Next time, check the ingredients carefully before sealing them. Something may have contaminated the vials without you noticing.”

  Chloe rose to her feet and gestured for Rhys to step closer.

  “As you know, I have urgent business outside the academy. I’m not sure when I’ll return—perhaps a day or two, though a full week at most.”

  She paused, as if weighing something, and then nodded to him.

  “I heard from Ingrid that you wished to stretch your legs outside. Very well—”

  Master Chloe folded her arms.

  “But only within the Healer Department complex. Let me be clear: you are not permitted to return to the First-Year Hall yet. There are still mandatory physical and psychological evaluations to conduct. I trust you understand.”

  Rhys nodded gratefully.

  For the past two weeks, he had felt like a lab rat raised in a private research chamber.

  “And every time you go outside,” she added, “Ingrid goes with you. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

  He shook his head. “No, ma’am. Thank you.”

  “Good. Once I’m done with this assignment, I’ll carry out your tests myself. After that, you’ll be allowed to resume a normal student routine.”

  She paused, studying him intently.

  “And how is your memory, Rein?”

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Her crystalline blue eyes locked onto his.

  Rhys felt it at once—the subtle pressure, the familiar sensation of someone trying to push open the door to his mind.

  But unlike the first day, the door did not even rattle.

  It stood firm, reinforced, immovable.

  After a few seconds, the probing ceased.

  Chloe exhaled softly and allowed herself a small smile.

  “Your mental barrier remains as strong as ever. Fitting, for Arcadia’s prodigious young mage.”

  Before Rhys could reply, a glass orb on the large desk began to blink with pulses of light.

  A man’s voice echoed out, slightly nasal, faintly obnoxious.

  “Hellooo? Chloe? You’re still in the Vault? Could you hurry? The coachman and I’ve been waiting almost an hour.”

  Master Chloe froze. Her brow twitched in irritation.

  “I doubt the coachman is the impatient one, Aiden. I’m leaving now. Five minutes.”

  Rhys blinked.

  He had seen the orb before but assumed it was decorative, like the kind fortune-tellers used in old films. Instead, it was some sort of magical communication device.

  A crystal ball phone… though the form factor could use some work.

  Chloe slipped the orb into the pocket of her black cloak as Ingrid hauled up the large satchel.

  The two were about to leave when Chloe abruptly stopped. She turned, tossed the black cloak onto a chair, and pulled a white-and-gold mantle from the wardrobe.

  Ingrid stared in confusion.

  Chloe sighed.

  “I forgot I’m traveling with Aiden. If I wear black next to that man, you know exactly what rumors will spread.”

  Ingrid clamped both hands over her mouth.

  “Don’t you dare laugh, Ingrid,” Chloe warned.

  “If you do, you’re brewing twice the potion stock tomorrow.”

  With lips pressed tight, Ingrid followed her master out of the room.

  Silence settled over the chamber once more.

  Rhys scanned the surroundings again with new eyes.

  Many things he had brushed off as ordinary now seemed… suspiciously advanced.

  A cabinet that used fingerprint-detection magic, a crystal ball that functioned like a phone, and an entire corner filled with strange arcane instruments collecting dust.

  This was a world of magic; for all he knew, any one of those strange artifacts might be lethal if he so much as brushed a fingertip against them.

  He shook his head. Fortune favored him, it seemed, for not having the habit of poking his nose where it didn’t belong.

  About an hour later, Rhys had finished his bath, dressed himself, and was seated at the small desk, reviewing his notes. Suddenly he remembered the one critical question he had forgotten to ask Master Chloe that morning.

  It concerned the perception of mana, the very subject that had plagued him since reading Bratos’s treatise.

  The door opened again.

  Ingrid stepped inside carrying the usual breakfast tray, though this time she also held a basket brimming with fresh potion bottles.

  Rhys moved to help with the basket, but Ingrid declined, handing him the breakfast tray instead.

  He accepted it and sat quietly, eating while watching her deftly replace the depleted vials in the cabinet.

  While poking a slice of Sweetglen fruit with his fork, he seized the chance to ask her about mana perception—his current, maddening obstacle. Perhaps she might know something useful.

  Ingrid paused, glanced upward in thought, then replied,

  “Mana perception? Hmm… it’s like breathing. When you breathe, you know the air is there. That’s all.”

  Rhys felt a throb bloom behind his temples.

  That explanation helped him precisely zero percent.

  And with Master Chloe away for several days, he had no one else to ask.

  “After breakfast, I’ll take you outside for a little walk,” Ingrid added. “A change of scenery might help. Maybe it’ll jog your memory, like you said.”

  She finished replacing the last of the spent potion bottles and set the basket aside.

  Rhys smiled broadly.

  He was genuinely grateful. Anything was better than being cooped up in that room, and more importantly, he needed every scrap of information he could gather in order to survive this unfamiliar world.

  Not long after, the two of them stepped out of the healing chamber.

  The moment the massive black-green metal doors shut behind him, the outside world blazed with such bright light that he instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.

  “Too bright? Not surprising,” Ingrid murmured. “You’ve been eating and sleeping in there for two weeks. Might be a record.”

  Rhys blinked rapidly to adjust.

  When his vision cleared, he found himself standing on a long corridor paved with polished white stone.

  Copper lines were inlaid along the floor, glowing faintly to form intricate looping patterns that illuminated the path.

  “When I stepped out, I felt… strange,” he said. “Like I was falling from somewhere high. Is that normal?”

  “Yep. Happens the first few times.”

  She walked beside him, hands clasped behind her back.

  “That room is actually an isolated magical domain created by Master Chloe. You can’t see them, but the doorway is sealed with multiple layers of magic barriers. Only a handful of people in the entire faculty have permission to pass in and out.”

  Rhys turned back.

  The enormous black-green doors rose nearly fifteen feet, the surrounding wall etched with dense arrays of luminous sigils.

  “So that’s why that man called it a Vault.”

  “That man… you mean Master Aiden.”

  Ingrid nodded and continued leading him down the corridor.

  He noticed that there were no windows, no doors branching off— just long, smooth walls lit by white lamps spaced evenly along the sides.

  They were not lanterns, nor did they resemble any electrical lights from Earth.

  The glow was steady, warm, and utterly magical.

  The strange part was how bright the light was; it shone with all the intensity of a spotlight from his own world. No wonder his eyes stung. For a moment, he had mistaken it for sunlight.

  “Master Aiden? He’s a professor here?”

  Rhys asked absently.

  “Yes. He’s a bit odd, but you’ll see soon enough.”

  Ingrid stepped forward, each footfall echoing along the corridor.

  A cool dampness seeped through the stone beneath them, brushing lightly against his skin.

  “By the way… aren’t these lights a little too bright?”

  He finally gave voice to his complaint, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the glare streaming off the walls.

  Ingrid halted.

  She pointed to a nearby wall lamp and made a small downward motion with her hand. Instantly, the brightness of every lamp along the corridor dimmed, as though someone had turned a dial on a remote control.

  “Master Chloe dislikes dim places. We think it’s just her personal preference.”

  She continued walking.

  Rhys followed, unable to stop himself from forming another theory.

  So that's why technology never took root here. Magic already does everything — and does it better.

  After another sixty feet or so, they reached a grand white staircase carved from stone, spiraling upward like the coils of a seashell. It stretched more than twenty feet toward the next level.

  Rhys tilted his head back.

  Above the staircase was a vast domed chamber of glass, allowing soft white light to filter gracefully downward.

  “Don’t tell me… we’re underground!”

  He turned to the girl beside him.

  Ingrid beamed.

  “You guessed right. We’re in the basement of the Healing Department’s Research and Training Building of Arcadia Academy of Magic. Come on, let’s head up. I’ll show you around our department.”

  This glossary defines new terms, magical tools, and personnel introduced or expanded upon in Chapter 6. For previous entries, see earlier chapters.

  Locations

  Vault

  A private healing chamber within the Healing Department, reserved for high-risk or high-priority patients. It exists as a sealed magical domain, equipped with layered defensive wards and healing support arrays. Entry is restricted to authorized personnel only.

  Healing Department’s Research and Training Building

  A subterranean facility of Arcadia Academy dedicated to medical magic. The building integrates light-based enchantments, magic-sensitive infrastructure, and silent defense wards. Navigation includes spiral staircases, magical elevators, and corridors lit with mana-reactive runes.

  Magical Devices & Technology

  Sigil-based Fingerprint Detection

  A magical forensic system that detects and highlights traces of magical residue left by touch. Commonly used on containers like medicine cabinets or storage units.

  Communication Orb

  A crystal sphere embedded with vocal-activated runes. Used for real-time long-distance communication, similar in function to a magical telephone.

  Brightness-Controlled Magic Lamps

  Mana-powered lights responsive to hand gestures. Common in high-tier facilities, they emit stronger and cleaner light than mundane lamps, calibrated for medical use.

  Infrastructure-Based Magic

  Auto-Cleanse Inscribed Magic Circles

  A utility-based magical sanitation system embedded directly into the structure of facilities such as restrooms or hospital wards. These runic magic circles are permanently inscribed and powered by mana crystals.

  Activation is automatic, triggered by specific actions (such as entering a room or touching a panel), and the spell effect cleanses the area of physical impurities and contaminants without the need for a mage.

  These systems are limited to simple magic—typically Cantrips or low-Troposphere-tier effects—due to limitations in energy cost and structural complexity.

  Auto-Regenerative Inscribed Healing Circles

  A series of intricately carved runes embedded into the walls and ceiling of specialized recovery chambers, such as the Vault. These circles continuously emit low-tier healing magic without direct caster intervention.

  Powered by mana crystals and governed by environmental triggers, the circles enhance a patient's natural regeneration over time. Though classified as low-tier magic (Troposphere level), their passive and uninterrupted function makes them extremely effective for long-term care.

  In Rein’s case, these circles were instrumental in accelerating his recovery from a coma to full mobility within two weeks.

  Key Characters

  Master Chloe (Update)

  Head of the Healing Department at Arcadia Academy. A calm, composed, and highly skilled mage specializing in advanced medical magic. Wears formal black robes in the lab, and ceremonial white-gold robes when representing the academy publicly.

  Ingrid (Update)

  A first-year female student at Arcadia Academy and one of Master Chloe’s direct disciples. Skilled in herbology and potion preparation. Frequently assigned to assist in the department’s Vault, especially in Rein’s care and internal logistics.

  Master Aiden

  A faculty member of Arcadia Academy. Currently corresponds with Master Chloe via communication orb. His departmental affiliation has not yet been clarified.

  Some places look safe only because no one asks the wrong questions.

  what does that say about the hand behind it?

  See you in the next chapter.

  —Re:Naissance