{ 8 MONTHS AND 25 DAYS LATER… }

  In all these months, Mirac had accumuted a multitude of new knowledge!

  He hadn't limited himself to formal lessons but had taken advantage of every opportunity to delve into the history and geography of the Seven Kingdoms, spending—whenever he felt he could—long hours among the shelves of the royal library.

  However, despite his efforts, he had still not discovered anything crete about the Chaotics or the supposed magical tool to identify them. At most, he had stumbled upon vague myths or a legends told in some dusty book.

  But once again, the real ges had e with Math!

  Over these months, the progress he made in this field had beeraordinary: by also studying from the book of his presumed father, Mirac had learo perform addition and subtra with ease, and after memorizing the multiplication tables, he even began to tackle multiplication and division.

  While with the first two operations he was now able to handle calcutions with multi-digit numbers, the tter still required a bit more practice.

  Yet, despite his well-known deep disdain for Math, he had experienced a variety of emotions, pletely ued: a mix of satisfa, personal pride, and something akin to... joy?!

  Him, feeling... su emotion... for Math?!

  IMPOSSIBLE!

  Precisely because it seemed inceivable to him, Mirac had started to suspect that Math was a subtle maniputor, capable of somehow infiltrating his mind and maniputing his emotions.

  This thought had only increased, expoially, his desire to somehow rid himself of that annoying Sintony with Math!

  And one day, while rummaging through the various books in the royal library, he discovered that such a thing was truly possible and achievable!

  Although the argument was long and tedious, full of pompous and unnecessary terms, the basicept was clear: if a person hates or strongly rejects the element with which they are in Sintony, such aversion break the metaphysical bond eg subjed object, freeing them from that unwanted e.

  This w had been described for the Elemental Sintonies, but Mirac couldn't help but hope that it was the same for the Anomalous ones!

  So, perhaps by persevering in his rese and fueling his hatred, one day he would succeed in breaking free from that bond with Math forever!

  After all, he longed with all his being to live a free and carefree life again, without the stant fear of being discovered and executed because of his Chaotiature.

  But unfortunately, despite harb a perpetual hatred for his Sintony, Math still seemed pletely indifferent to his rese.

  In fact, throughout the year, instead of fading away as he had hoped, Math appeared to focus solely on his learning progress.

  The nights following the days when he had learned new mathematical cepts, in fact, had always been marked by the usual dreams in which the starry sky recorded his progress.

  In the dreamlike silehe usual floating messages would appear, formed by the familiar white mist that suddenly appeared before him, densing tlowing words:

  [ You have learned how to perform: Addition ]

  [ You have learned how to perform: Subtra ]

  [ You have learned how to perform: Multiplication ]

  [ You have learned how to perform: Division ]

  And each operation recisely defined, like a lesson carved into the sky:

  [ Addition: A basic arithmetic operation that involves bining two or more numbers, called addends, to obtain another number, called the sum. Therefore, if ? and ? are two numbers, addition is represented as ? + ? = ?, where ? is the result of the sum of ? and ? ]

  [ Subtra: An arithmetic operation that involves calg the differeween two numbers. Given a number, called the minuend, and another number, called the subtrahend, the result is called the differeherefore, if ? and ? are two numbers, subtra is represented as ? ? ? = ?, where ? is the result of the differeween ? and ? ]

  [ Multiplication: An arithmetic operation that involves repeatedly adding a number, called the multiplid, for a number of times equal to the value of another number, called the multiplier. The o be multiplied are called factors, and the result is called the product. Therefore, if ? and ? are two numbers, multiplication is represented as ? ? ? = ?, where ? is the product of ? and ? ]

  [ Division: An arithmetic operation that involves determining how many times one number, called the divisor, is tained in another number, called the dividend. The result of this operation is called the quotient. Therefore, if ? and ? are two numbers, with ? ≠ 0, division is represented as ? ÷ ? = ?, where ? is the quotient of ? and ? ]

  [ gratutions! ]

  [ You have learo perform all Four Fual Operations! ]

  Even today, on February 28th, Mirac expected to receive simir messages.

  After all, as the final milestone reached that m, after weeks of exercises, Mirac had finally learned how to tell the time! A rather trivial skill, but ohat had always been g in his previous life.

  And so, as he slept, the dream world weled him again. Before him, the starry sky filled with new floating messages:

  [ Today you have learo Tell the Time ]

  [ You have learhe cept: of Time ]

  [ Time: A fual physical quantity that represents the dimension in which events occur in ological order, marking the passage from the past, through the present, to the future. Its basid fual unit of measurement is the sed ]

  [ Sed: Defined as the duration of 9 192 631 770 osciltions of the radiatioed during the transitioween two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom ]

  [ You have learned many things! ]

  [ Math is proud of you! ]

  [ Math wants to reward you... ]

  [ gratutions! ]

  [ You have obtained... ]

  * * *

  { THE DAY... }

  It was Saturday, March 1st, 1415.

  The sky above the castle was clear and blue, while a fresh breeze rustled the leaves of distant trees.

  As he made his way towards the training grounds, Mirac reflected absentmindedly on the new skills he had acquired over the past year. In addition to "Instant ting," he now possessed other powers:

  [ Practical Addition: In a fi of objects, you create additional identical ohus adding them to the base set ]

  [ Practical Subtra: In a fi of objects, you make some disappear, thus subtrag them from the base set ]

  [ Multiplicative Touch: After toug an object, you multiply it by the desired number, creating identical copies ]

  [ Dividing Cut: After toug an object, you divide it by the desired number, cutting it into identical ses ]

  And what he had obtaihe previous night were these other two abilities:

  [ Immaterial Clock: You possess a mental clock that unditionally marks time ]

  [ Instant Knowledge of Age: You instantly know the exact age of an object or individual with a single gnce ]

  "Hmmm..." Mirac reflected, desding the stairs with a distracted expression.

  As incredible as they surely were, he had ested these powers.

  And, frankly, he had no iion of doing so!

  On one hand, because he didn't feel the need for them.

  Oher, to avoid the risk of his Anomalous Syntony being discovered.

  But above all, due to his eternal grudge against Math: experimenting with those powers would have been like giving in to its charm, a step that would have meant, in a sense, fiving it.

  And Mirac certainly did not want to give it that satisfa!

  "Tsz, stupid Math!"

  Reag the ground floor, Mirac headed towards the back door, crossing paths with several servants, butlers, and officials along the way, them distractedly. But it only took a gnce for his mind to fill with numbers: no longer just the exact t of hairs on their heads, but also their respective ages!

  'Forty-two... Fifty-eight... Sixty-three... Fifty-one... Thirty-seven...'

  At one point, as he walked, he caught sight of Carmen in the dista the end of the hallway to his right, probably heading towards the kit.

  'She's only thirty-t, she looks much younger!' he thought, surprised.

  Just like with "Instant ting", "Instant Knowledge of Age" seemed to work indepely of Mirac's will. The information appeared in his mind on its own, without him having to do anything.

  In trast, the abilities reted to arithmetic operations required an active intervention to be used. Probably, a voiand.

  As for the "Immaterial Clock," to activate it, the previous night he had been required to manually set the time.

  However, Mirac hadn't done so yet.

  This was because he sidered the "Immaterial Clock" just another ability that would clutter his mind every day. Every minute. Every sed!

  'Huh, the st thing I need is a clock tig incessantly in my head! Damn, cursed Math!' he thought irritably.

  However, this was not at all the right moment to be distracted by such thoughts, especially with su important day ahead.

  'e o's go! Today will be different... I'm sure of it!'

  Reag the door, Mirac grasped the thick golden haightly. He took a deep breath, then pushed decisively, finally stepping outside. The cool air brushed his face as the familiar training field opened up before him.

  As every afternoon, he had e there to practice with the sword, uhe guidance of the Grand Knight Leonard.

  And this was despite it being Saturday, a normally restful day alongside Sunday.

  During the year, in fact, a new was introduced for the first day of each month, on which Mirac had to demonstrate his skills in front of another person who would observe the eraining session.

  A special spectator, someone whose judgment weighed more than anyone else's...

  The third stro swordsman oire ti, and also his father: King Arthur!