It's too hot.

Akio couldn't bear the heat. It was too hot for him to bear. Of course, it was hot but relatively, it was not as hot for others as it was for him. In fact, they could handle the heat just fine.

The reason was that all those years he had spent inside the rift, he never felt too hot or too cold since he could easily manipulate the temperature, climate, and weather to his will. As a result, his body had forgotten what the heat was actually like in the real world.

Right now, he could easily manipulate his body temperature, but he didn't. Reason? Because, no matter how much he became proficient, the deed still requires energy. Since he knew that he couldn't live in the rift forever, he had to get adjusted to the real world. Even though the energy consumption was just next to nothing, using it for the rest of his life, would be neither comfortable nor efficient to him.

The heat was affecting Akio severely. With droopy eyes, hanging hands, and a bent spine, he could barely even walk. Even so, he slowly continued to make his way to the prep center.

The reason he was going to take admission there was because he had dropped out of school early. But this did not mean that he was going to attend the magic academy a year later than his intended age.

After completing school, students are generally given one year off for the self-learning of their own powers. During this time, wealthy families generally pick a tutor for their children to learn about their own abilities. It is during this time that prep centers are open. It is for those who could not complete their education due to unforeseen circumstances.

The reason so many students aim to attend one is that the valedictorian and salutatorian graduates from each center get a scholarship which allows them to exploit the services of the academy for all the time they are there.

It was this that Akio was aiming for. He had no one to pay for his admission since was disowned or someone to teach him the things required for the magic academy.

The entrance fee to the prep center for him was nil since was an orphan now. And as for the entrance exam, there was none. Since the number of applicants was already very low, they were not sorted out for admission. The reason these rules were made was because the country believed that there could be some unfortunate genius out there waiting for someone to save him. Originally, this was only a trial law, but since was proved to be successful multiple times, it was converted to be a permanent law.

Here, the centers do not teach the students magic. Magic can only be taught by certified magic instructors and it is compulsory for the instructors to take up teaching only at the few magic academies across the country. However, these instructors could be asked for tutoring only when given permission by their respective institutions. Magic taught by anyone else is a severe crime punishable by execution on the spot.

What these centers do teach is the entire high school syllabus, not the whole syllabus, but only the bare essentials, along with a bit of basic magic study.

Although in this one year, some learn how to use magic, they are not allowed to use it publicly or for fights or any other illegal activity. There have been instances where inexperienced magic users tried to use magic to show off their power which resulted in the death of the said person. There was even a case that resulted in a massive genocide due to incorrect usage of magic.

Akio was slowly but surely getting used to the heat now. He became a little more upright and paced faster than before. He glanced at his wrist to see the time. It was 11:35 now. The admissions closed at 12:00.

While Akio could possibly reach it in time if he just went at his current pace, perhaps in fear that he didn't want to lose his education again, made a beeline sprint for it.

While running, Akio didn't use an ounce of magic. Because using magic leaves a mana trace that has a unilateral code specific to each person. Hence, it can be easily used to track who it was from.

But Akio had a doubt. Since the magic detector couldn't detect his space magic, could his mana be traced back to him? He pondered that as he ran.