As Devon walked into the dining room the next morning he noticed that the others were already gathered around the table eating, and that there was an extra plate set out seemingly for him.

  Leonardo seemed to notice him immediately without so much as looking his way “Ah. Good morning sir Devon. Breakfast is on the table ready for you.”.

  After which Lady Jasmond and Emily took notice of him “Good morning devon.”

  “Morning kid.”.

  Trying to ignore that all attention was on him Devon took his seat at the table and focused on the meal in front of him. It looked like a normal breakfast with pancakes, eggs, and some small vibrant dark red cubes of meat which compared to his last meal was a nice surprise. The pancakes and eggs tasted like normal although the prior had some vanilla-like flavouring mixed in. The cubes of meat were tough yet juicy, or perhaps just greasy, and it had a light herby seasoning flavour on its sides.

  Next to his plate was what looked to be a light blue smoothie of some sort though upon holding it he noticed it was cold like a slushie even if the consistency wasn't as frozen as one.

  “That's what we call a sweetslush.” Emily commented “It's made from a fruit that produces a cream-like substance which gets mixed with other fruit ingredients to create refreshing and popular drinks.”.

  Upon trying it Devon noted that it had a berry like flavour though it was sweeter than what one would expect from fruit alone.

  After being left to himself to finish eating his meal Lady Jasmond finally spoke “Now then, I think we should continue where we left off yesterday. Mainly whether or not you will be entering school.”.

  Devon had been thinking it over since last night and while he would rather not go through with it he also did still want to try to make friends and saw this as his best option to do so “I'll try going at least.”.

  “Alright in that case I suppose we should go over what we need to do to prepare you and what to expect while attending.” Lady Jasmond said.

  After thinking for a bit Lady Jasmond continued “I believe first we should go over what you physically need to prepare. Which reminds me we still need to get you some other outfits. We would have had more ready but outfits like that cost a lot more than one would think, considering how simple of an effect it is to enchant.”.

  She was referring to a temporary outfit her and Emily bought the other day for Devon that he was currently wearing. It was a simple black shirt and shorts that when he was putting on seemed like they’d be way too big and loose. However as he put on said outfit that morning they adjusted to a comfortable size for him thanks to what was apparently an enchantment of some sort.

  “Besides” she continued “this way you’ll get a say in what clothes you have to wear. But let’s save the shopping trip for later in the day, maybe around lunchtime so we can grab something to eat at a restaurant as well.”.

  “Now then if we are putting that off until later then I guess really the only other physical preparation is to gather some supplies you’ll need which…”.

  she trailed off as she started looking over at Leonardo who just replied “Do not worry I have already taken care of making a list of what we can supply from what we already have here, and what we need to go out and buy.”.

  “Of course you did Leo. Tell ya what, when the lady and kid go out you can go with them and I’ll go round gathering what we need.Emily chimed in.

  “So getting back on track” Lady Jasmond said “if all physical preparations are covered, or rather are going to be covered, then that leaves… I suppose just teaching you enough of the basics to make sure you aren’t too lost or confused when classes start. Now what subject to start with.”.

  “Why not let sir Devon decide my lady?” Leonardo asked “Or at the very least you could let him know what he needs to be taught so he knows what is going to be covered.”.

  “Sure.” she replied ”We need to cover the basics of magic and the underworld’s history along with some expected common societal knowledge. Everything else you should know from regular schooling in your world at least to a good enough degree.”.

  Devon thought it over for a while and eventually asked “Can we start with going over.. I guess anything to do with the underworld itself?”.

  Despite being more interested in magic he figured that starting there would be better or at least make it more tolerable in the long run.

  “Alright, but just give me a moment to think of a good starting point for someone who very likely knows nothing about it.”.

  It took awhile and some input from Leonardo and Emily but eventually lady Jasmond settled on where to begin.

  “Let’s begin by saying you should erase any assumptions about the underworld you have from myths or legends as they very rarely get any details right. And even when they do get something right it is either not fully correct or interpreted through a premade lens of incorrect assumptions. Which starts us at the question what is the underworld. The simple answer is it is another separate but connected plane of existence and we will keep it there as the complex answer would take a whole lifetime of learning for you to understand. But to continue from that we go to who lives here and how this affects your world. The latter of which is simply answered by saying that the underworld itself does not affect your world however the inhabitants can and sometimes do which leads us back into the prior question. As a whole we simply call ourselves underworlders however we split ourselves into four categories, those being Demons, Devils, Daemons, and the other category, literally called other, as it just encompasses any being that does not fit within the original three categories.”

  After being given a second to process the info Devon asked “so what category do you all fall under?’.

  And lady Jasmond smiled before replying “ Well each of us are actually from a different category. Specifically, I am a subtype of devil called a mystic devil which improves my general magic abilities and is the only reason I could give you magic power as part of our deal. Leonardo belongs to the daemon category which has no subtypes and doesn't give special abilities but allows for the potential to use all general magic. Finally Emily belongs to a type in the other category specifically she is a succubus though she doesn't really use any special abilities that being one grants her other than when she enters dreams to make deals on my behalf. And while we do not have an example for it, the final category, demons are basically the wildcards of underworlders as they have no set special abilities but always have at least one, and they can look… varied to say the least.”

  “Now then…” lady Jasmond took a second to refocus and then continued on “To continue from where we left off before that question we should go over how underworlders affect your world. And that is… a bit complicated but I’ll stay with a simple version for today. Basically we can not travel to your world on our own meaning we are only able to be summoned there by a human. Typically our main goal after being summoned would be to make a binding deal like the one you made, then return unharmed, though the unharmed part is not necessary, and neither is returning alive as if we die in your world we regenerate back in our own world, typically wherever we were before being summoned. Anyway we make these deals in order to gain a benefit, not for your sakes. Said benefit is that the more a human gives up for a deal, and the less we have to use our power on said deal, the more our maximum amount of power that we both have total and can use at once grows. There was another way for demons specifically to gain power but it is no longer possible so the only special way for an underworlder to grow their power is to be a mystic devil and give a human some of their power which will grow within said human then be returned with however much it grew by being added to the mystic devils maximum.”.

  “Why don't we leave this here for now? It’s early in the day and the kid looks like if they get any more info their mind will overload.” Emily said bringing this conversation to a stop as the other two came to notice how overwhelmed Devon had started to look.

  Devon spent the rest of the morning just processing the info that was given to him until eventually his train of thought was interrupted when Leonardo retrieved him so that they could head out to shop. As they strolled through town towards the store devon noticed just how out of place he looked as everyone around him had some inhuman feature such as hornes, a tail, or even differently coloured skin, and it started to worry him if he would stand out too much within a school full of underworlders but he figured that in public was not the place to ask that question so he pushed it aside for later.

  Eventually they arrived at the store and Emily parted ways agreeing to meet up in an hour and a half at a pre-agreed upon restaurant for lunch leaving just Devon, Leonardo, and lady Jasmond to enter the clothing store.

  The store was clearly not a big chain store as it was too small and had generic branding on the outside simply being called Dress Up Clothes Shop. upon entering it however, it still looked like a professional shop at least until you looked around for the clothes themselves which were sparse with only one or two examples per style. However, despite that, or maybe because of that, there were numerous styles, some formal, some flashy, some simple, some so unusual you would know you were not on earth just by looking at them.

  “looks like the lady is not here.” Leonardo commented which was when Devon noticed there seemed to be no staff present.

  Noticing a sign on the counter, Devon walked up to it and went to read it. The language seemed foreign but thanks to part of the binding deal he made he was able to read it after concentrating on it for a bit.

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  The sign read as follows “hello valued customer I am currently dealing with something else and will be back in ____ minutes. Do not bother trying to steal a display piece as it will not go well for you. If you are ready to be served please ring the bell next to this sign and I will be alerted to your presence.”. The space for how long they would be busy for was left empty so lady Jasmond went ahead and rang the bell then they took a seat and waited.

  Eventually a hidden side door opened and out walked a lady. She had bright pink hair and skin whiter than snow but her most eye-catching feature, at least to Devon at this point, was her arms. It wasn't that they looked off but rather that she had an extra set. One set came out higher than normal near the top of where the shoulders would normally be, and one set came out lower than normal closer to the lower chest area.

  “Why if it isn’t lady Jasmond! It’s always a pleasure to have such a valued customer visit.” the figure said, voice seeming to echo out from her.

  “Please we’ve been over this, remember, you of all people do not need to use my title.” lady Jasmond replied.

  After a bit of banter and polite conversation the lady whose name had not been revealed to Devon yet finally said “Alright while I love chatting with you, usually when you want to just chat you invite me over, and if you come visit my store it’s to do business so tell me dear friend what brings you hear today?”.

  “You are correct that I’m here on business not to talk so I guess let's get started by introducing you two” lady Jasmond said gesturing to Devon.

  “Oh did you finally find someone up for adoption in our area or is he from another area? Actually, first let me introduce myself first. I am known as Noir and am the owner and sole staff of this shop. It's a pleasure to meet you.”.

  Correctly assuming Devon would not speak Lady Jasmond stepped in “This here is Devon he is a little on the shy side from what i have noticed so expect me to do most of the talking for him. And yes he is the one I ended up adopting. We are here because he is in need of a whole new wardrobe and I mean a completely new one.”.

  “Well I am honoured to be the person you decided to go to and I promise you Devon no matter what style, colour, or size you may be looking for I have it in stock even if at a glance it may not look as though I do.” Noir claimed despite the shown selection saying otherwise.

  Devon never really cared what clothes he was wearing before and even if he had known what kind of clothes he wanted to wear any terms Noir was using were going straight over his head. Eventually realising Devon knew basically nothing about fashion Noir decided to put him through what she called a sampling which, as one might expect, would involve him trying on many different sets of clothes.

  However there were some things that needed to be covered first “do you know if Devon gets allergic reactions to any material?” Noir asked.

  After looking at him for a moment, Lady Jasmond responded “we’re unsure but if you can stay away from anything that commonly causes reactions just to be safe we would appreciate that.”

  “Alright next what kind of budget are we looking at and how many sets, both total and different, does it need to cover?” Noir continued.

  Lady Jasmond smiling just said “You know as well as I do that budget is not in my vocabulary as for how many sets, at least 10 different sets 2 of each or a minimum total of 20 sets. Whichever happens is fine so long as he gets enough clothes.”.

  “If I did not know your wealth I would be concerned about you dear.” Noir said as she shook her head. “Now finally, are there any potential obstacles your body has in the way of clothes? And upon looking you over I don’t see… any at all” Devon started to get worried at her comment but Noir just continued “You’re human passing to a t. Makes my job easier but is this actually your true form? I know some people hide theirs in order to not have to deal with horns or tails, especially tails, but if your true form is different you should get at least something tailored to it in case you have a reason you need to show it. Even just a change in height could cause you to be unable to wear anything you own, and a change in colour could mean your clothes need the same.”.

  Noir seemed to be in her own world at the moment as otherwise she would have noticed Devon's sheer panic on his face.

  But lady Jasmond just put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a gesture as if to say not to worry about it then simply looked back at Noir and said “This is his true form so you do not have to worry about any body based obstacles, alright.”.

  “Good. Like I said, it makes my job much easier. And with those out of the way let us start by finding what colours work for you and what you like, then we'll find different styles that feel comfortable and look nice on you.”.

  It took over the agreed upon time just to narrow down what styles he would wear and could pull off but when all was said and done Devon for the first time in his life felt like he would have clothes he actually wanted to wear and look good in. He even ended up wearing a different set of clothes out of the store than he wore in. Now instead of the black t-shirt and shorts, he was wearing a dark blue, long sleeve shirt with a two button collar and dark grey, almost to the point of just being black, sweatpants. Because of how long they took they arrived late to the restaurant and found an annoyed Emily who, once again, was holding numerous bags waiting there for them.

  After having lunch and heading home to put everything away Devon was called to the living room in order to continue going over any information that he would need for school. However instead of continuing with info on the underworld, Lady Jasmond decided to start their discussion on magic.

  “Now then once again I’m going to ask you to set aside any assumptions you may have on magic based on any fiction you may know so that we can start fresh and with an open mind. Magic in concept is both very simple and extremely complex depending on how in depth one analyses it. Once again we will stick to the simpler explanation for now meaning all you need to know is that magic is manipulating the world around you by utilising a form of energy that intertwines with reality itself. This energy is called mana for simplicity in current times. It is normally not available to humans such as yourself. However, as I previously stated, since I am a mystic devil I have the ability to grant a human a portion of my maximum mana as part of binding deals, and have done so for you. Typically this is done in small amounts in order for the mystic devil to retain as much maximum mana after making a deal as possible, but I have a lot more maximum mana than any other mystic devil and would have no problems giving you access to more maximum mana than even some devils have, and so I did. You still do not have as much as most daemons but with time because your human any maximum mana you have will grow meaning you'll likely have more than them after a decade or more, but still not more than what a daemon who is actively making deals with humans the way I do would have.”

  “Now we are going to have you take a little test to determine what kinds of general magic you can perform.”.

  Upon saying that, Leonardo took out from a box, what looked to be a platform of some kind with a bowl that had a hole in its centre suspended on it by thin legs that reached out to each corner. He then placed a glass or perhaps crystal board of some sort in a slot under the board and somehow filled the bowl with a viscous blue liquid that seemed to ignore the hole in said bowl.

  “Now then sir Devon” Leonardo spoke “what I have placed here is the device that will allow us to determine your magic abilities and limits. I could explain how it works in detail but for now let me just say what you have to do.”. He then pulled out what looked to be a pen of sorts. “This is not a pen but a miniature needle like the ones used in your world to help test blood sugar. I am sincerely sorry but I think you know where I am going with this. You simply need to poke a spot on your finger and let even a single drop of blood fall into the liquid and the device will do the rest. I promise it is safe and at most will feel like a pinch. I even had Emily buy a new device today just to be sure it is clean.”

  All it took was one drop of blood and a few seconds later and the liquid started to pour onto, and somehow into the board. After the bowl emptied the board glowed then seemed to settle with new words written into it.

  “Alright let us see what we are dealing with here.” Leonardo said. To Devon it seemed like random nonsense words and numbers even with his ability to translate the written language, however It seemed Leonardo understood what it ment and essentially translated it for him.

  “So it seems the lady may have gone a bit overboard with granting you access to types of general magic, or maybe random chance just decided to shine upon you like a desert sun, as it seems you are not missing any type of general magic. That being said, you are slightly on the higher end of mana consumption for everything, including basic magic, and have no special abilities to offset that. Or at least it does not seem like you have one but the special ability section seems like it is being vague which I did not even know was possible. My only other guess would be that perhaps you are developing one but it is not formed yet, since you are human and your magic should grow, it seems like it could be possible. But I would have to talk with experts about it to be sure, so for now we will just assume you do not have one.”

  “I will confirm that I left his magic up to random chance.” said lady Jasmond “And that I did not intend to give him a special ability but I know one appearing randomly is also possible. But for now let's move on and do some practical training. You will need to already be able to control your magic to some degree after all.”.

  The training started simple, in fact all Devon had to do was focus on how he felt all the while lady Jasmond would be doing something which needed them to hold hands to essentially create a ring.

  “Alright Devon, here is how this is going to work. I’m going to cause both of our magic to start flowing in a circle through the ring our arms are forming. All you have to do is try to sense it moving. This is considered the first step for people who have a teacher or someone else to help them, and you do not even have to control your magic or even sense it while it is still.”.

  Devon responded “Alright when do we begin.”.

  Lady Jasmond chuckled and said “Just try to focus. I've already started on my end.”.

  Things went silent for a bit after that inorder to help Devon concentrate and to him nothing seemed to be happening but he assumed lady Jasmond had no reason to make a fool of him in this manner as she could probably do so in many other ways so he continued focusing.

  Minutes passed and soon Devon started to feel something, but it was not the flowing magic instead it was frustration as, to him, it still seemed like nothing was happening. Yet there was something else that was making him feel this frustration, that being a dizziness that had slowly started to appear seemingly from nowhere.

  “I don't feel too good. I think whatever you're doing is making me dizzy.” he stated. But once he did it subsided almost immediately.

  “How about now?” lady Jasmond asked seemingly also out of nowhere.

  “Better. It's basically gone.” Devon responded.

  Lady Jasmond gave a worried smile “Well good news is you are able to sense your mana moving. However, it seems your mind is having trouble due to it. I'm unsure how to proceed with this information maybe…”.

  As she trailed off Leonardo chimed in ”If i may, my lady, I believe Devon may simply be more sensitive to mana. I have heard this exact reaction before with that being the root cause. And if that is the case then so long as sir Devon keeps training his senses he will eventually get used to the feeling of mana moving within him and it will stop being a problem.”.

  The two of them kept at the training until supper, occasionally stopping to give Devon a rest when he started to feel too dizzy to continue. After supper was more of the same as despite lady Jasmond, Leonardo, and even Emily suggesting he just take a break for the night and do something else, like play some of the games they bought for him before he arrived, Devon insisted he wanted to continue training, seemingly out of spite for having extra trouble with it. And thus his night concluded late and in frustration however he still went to bed feeling proud of himself as for the first time he had found something that drove him to want to succeed, and it was all because of that risk he took making the deal.