Devon woke up ready to start the day despite all the negative feelings trying to overwhelm him. He went to the dining room, where he once again saw Leonardo and Lady Jasmond sitting there. Leonardo again went to grab him food, giving them a chance to talk. Devon decided to ask something relevant to today and save the talk of the test for later.

  “So, since I’m going to Mya’s today, what should I bring?”.

  Lady Jasmond was surprised he asked that after what happened but said, “I’m not quite sure. I guess grab your game devices and you should be good.”.

  After breakfast, he grabbed one of the bags from his room and put all the games he owned in it, leaving behind the game visor until he knew what it was.

  It took a bit to get to Mya’s house, but Leonardo managed to navigate Devon and Lady Jasmond without issue. After knocking on the door, an elderly woman answered. She, much like Mya’s sister, looked just like Mya except older.

  “Welcome. Ya must be Devon’s guardians, and ya must be Devon himself. Please come on in.”

  The house reminded Devon more of a cottage than an actual house, but it still felt cozy. The bottom floor had only a kitchen, dining room, and living room with a set of stairs leading up. There wasn’t much in terms of decorations except for a large rug in the living room.

  “Allow me to introduce myself,” the woman said “I am Milda. The girls are just upstairs in their rooms.”.

  Lady Jasmond then introduced herself “Hello, I am Devon's parental figure, Lady Jasmond, and as you guessed, this here is Devon.”.

  “Hello,” said Devon.

  “Oh.” Milda exclaimed, “Didn’t expect ya ta be from a noble house, though I guess that helps explain something.”.

  Milda then yelled up to them, “Hey girls, Devon’s here.”.

  With that, the two sisters came down the stairs.

  “Heya, Devon,” Lucy said, “glad ya took me up on my offer.”.

  “Hey.” Mya chimed in, “So, I’m guessing those two are yor caretakers.”.

  Lady Jasmond responded with “Hello, I’m Lady Jasmond, this here is my servant Leonardo. I will not be here long but I do want to talk with Ms. Lucy for a bit, if you do not mind that is.”.

  “Sure thing.” Lucy responded “Why don't ya two run upstairs till lunch? I didn't plan on starting till after then anyway.”.

  “Ok. Come on, Devon,” Mya said before essentially dragging him up the stairs.

  After being given a tour of Mya’s room and plushie collection, Devon asked, “So, what kind of games do you have?”

  “Well,” Mya said, “I don’t have many. And the few I do have, I already played until I no longer enjoyed them.”

  Luckily, Devon had a solution and said, “Well, I brought the ones I was given if you want to try them.”

  “Yes please,” Mya responded.

  They tried each game one by one, taking a few minutes on each.

  Mya commenting on just how many Devon had every so often caused him to eventually ask, “How common are these kinds of games?”

  Mya thought for a moment before responding with, “Well, these kinds that we lower-class households can get our hands on are relatively new, and most houses haven’t found them worth picking up, so I'd say it’s less common than the upper class and nobles' game devices. Or maybe more common since ya usually do have more than one per house that has any.”

  “I didn't realise there was another type for the higher class and nobles,” Devon commented.

  ”Yeah, there is, but they can’t be made anymore, apparently, they’re ta complex for modern methods. Or something like that anyways.”

  Devon then asked, “Any idea what they’re like?”

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  “Well,” Mya explained, “apparently, they’re these small devices that ya wear that connect to a bigger device. Once ya turn it on, ya essentially get mentally transported to a fake world. One that’s said to be unique ta each person where… I’m not sure what happens from then on.”

  “What do those devices look like exactly?” Devon asked.

  Mya simply responded, “Don’t know exactly, just that they’re small and meant to be worn on the head.”

  Devon started to wonder if that game visor was one of the devices she was talking about but decided to put that question off until he could ask someone who would know the answer. Eventually, they made their way through each game, and by the time they finished, lunch was ready. Heading back downstairs, Devon noticed that Lady Jasmond and Leonardo were gone. More immediately relevant, however, was the smell of home cooking that filled the air.

  “Made y'all something special since we have a guest over,” Milda said.

  On the table sat what looked to be just a normal pie that one would find back in the human world. This threw Devon off as while some of the food here resembled food from his world, this was an exact copy. Upon sitting down, Mya and Lucy seemed confused, as if they had never seen something like it before.

  “Hahaha.” Milda exclaimed, “How’d I manage to surprise all three of ya? I know Mya’s never had this, but Lucy, you had it before.”

  “I don't ever remember having this,” Lucy said.

  “What even is it?” Mya asked.

  Devon chimed in with, “It’s some sort of pie, right?”

  Milda said, “Of course it is. And it’s my grandma’s recipe based on pumpkin pie from your world. Uses a Gourd-like fruit from our world as the pumpkin replacement, though. Also, I’m not sure how it holds up to the original, but it’s still delish.”

  Devon did not really have anything to compare it to since he had never had any sort of pie before, but despite that, not only was it as delicious as Milda said, but it was also somehow comforting. It was served with a bitter Tea-like drink that did complement the flavour but was just not the kind of thing Devon liked to drink.

  After finishing their meals, it was time for the magic lesson. The plan was to get Devon to the point where he could cast at least one of the basic effects. To that end, he was given a choice of which basic effect he would like to try casting.

  “Which would you recommend for someone with no experience to start with?” Devon asked, having no preference.

  “Well,” Ms. Lucy responded, “out of the three we can easily detect, creating light would be considered easier than the other two, but not by much.”

  “Alright, let's start with creating light.” Devon decided.

  After turning off the lights and covering the windows, Ms. Lucy explained the process: “Now, since ya will be in my class, I got ta look over the information ya submitted during the magic aptitude test. And taking into account where ya skill level is at, I think we should be able to go right into casting the effect. So first, ya need ta have in mind what effect ya want ta cast. This means having a clear understanding of what ya want to happen and how it should happen. For this, I’ll simply tell ya what ya need to have in mind, That being ya want a glowing light in the form of a ball that floats.”

  Devon closed his eyes and took a bit to focus, then said, “Now what?”

  Ms. Lucy then explained, “The next step is ta imbue those thoughts into the mana inside ya. Ya do this by focusing on the mana and thoughts at the same time as if they were one thing.” Devon struggled with this at first, as focusing on his mana was still new to him, meaning he would lose focus on his thoughts when trying to do so. Eventually, something seemed to click for him and focusing on his mana felt natural. Not only that, as soon as he started thinking about the effect, he felt something shift in his mana, and he knew he had done it.

  “Done,” he said confidently.

  This threw off Ms Lucy, who responded with, “Alright if ya’re so confident, let’s move on to the final step of projecting the mana at a specific point.”

  Devon did this as if it were second nature.

  ”Open up those eyes and take a look, Devon.” Mya chimed in.

  At first, he saw some weird-looking designs, which seemingly were from closing his eyes too hard as they cleared up in no time. Then he saw it. A ball of light floated right where he projected his mana.

  Mya said, “Ya did it Devon, and even quicker than I did. Took me more than a few tries.”

  But Devon wasn’t finished, as he started to play around with it. Moving it, making it brighter and dimmer, and even colouring it. This left both Mya and Ms. Lucy stunned.

  “Wow, that's impressive Devon,” Mya said.

  Ms. Lucy followed it up with, “That… is an understatement. Moving it is on the easier side, and even one of the basic effects requires that technique. But changing its properties on the fly like that is on another level.”

  This left Devon confused as it did not seem to take that much effort.

  Eventually, after the surprise wore off, they moved on to the next effect, affecting temperature. Then, they moved on to moving physical objects. Both of which were done with relative ease. Devon seemed to be gaining expertise in casting effects extremely fast.

  However, instead of seeming proud or happy, Ms Lucy seemed more confused than anything, so Devon asked, “Is something wrong, Ms Lucy?”

  “No,” she replied “At least nothing seems wrong. And yet, something seems off. Could just be me reading ta much into ya being a natural though.”

  Throughout the remaining time, Ms Lucy had Devon try more Complex and specific effects. Eventually, it was time for him to leave, and after saying goodbye, Devon headed home with Lady Jasmond and Leonardo. Upon arriving home, Devon had some supper and went over his day. He asked Lady Jasmond if she got any tutor recommendations from Ms. Lucy, and while she did, she said it would take her a bit to find one who was available. After relaxing for a bit, Devon went to bed, ready for the next day.