The class got up from their seats some a bit more tense after hearing of the news than others. The students quickly formed groups where they either talked with each other, either introduced themselves or just talked about what they just learned.

One of the students, Jimmy Fletcher, had taken notice to their teacher’s strange appearance. Bags under his tiered eyes, dirty clothing, the faint hint of cigarette smoke that oozed off him and his odd sense of confidence. So, he decided to take a deeper dive into their new teacher.

Jimmy pulled out his phone and looked through William’s profile on the school’s registry.

Name: William.

Gender: Male.

Age: 27.

Date of birth: October 6th, 1994

Nationality: German.

Amplitude: 8,5.

Singularities: Converter.

Title barer: Title not disclosed.

Yade arts: Weapons crafting (Origami).

History:  Master’s degree in history and a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and language. Theft, illegal gambling, illegal street fights, confiscating illegal contraband...

Holy... Jimmy thought.

There is more but it all seems to be redacted. Jimmy thought to himself.

Jimmy walked over to the red-haired girl he had known since childhood.

"Amelia!" He exclaimed as he walked over to her.

"Are you here wanting to set up another bet?" Amelia asked, smirking.

"No not this time. Look at this." Jimmy said handing her his phone.

She looked through Jimmy’s profile, the expression on her face went from uninterested to chock in a matter of seconds.

"An Amplitude of 8,5!" She exclaimed.

She continues to read.

"A title bearer!?"

"I know and that’s not all, he apparently has a dirty past. I was only able to dig up the first couple words from the redacted pages but there is a lot more than that." Jimmy tells her.  

"But an amplitude that high... The last time I saw an amplitude even close to that was Miss Kasandra back in high school." Amelia said.

"Wasn’t she 7,2 though?" Jimmy asked.

"Does it matter? The point is I have never seen anyone with this high of an amplitude before." Amelia retorted.

Amelia glanced over to their teacher.

Who in the world are you? Amelia thought to herself.

"If this isn’t some glitch in the system then... I believe these classes could turn out to be interesting." Jimmy said.

After a short five minutes, the students returned to their seats and the lecture resumed.

"Now we had our time to recuperate from that let’s get back into the lesson." William starts.

"As previously stated, sages are beings that can harness Yade to perform magic. However, Yade needs an exchange of something else to be used. That’s why we use language as an exchange for the ability to use Yade for magic." William explains.

"Sometimes however, there is more we need to exchange for some spells. For example, those who use the sage arts of Origami or Ink." William explains.

"And for those of you who have never heard of a Yade art before I will explain it in short."

William rips off a sheet of paper from a notebook that laid on the desk. He writes the word "sejf" on it and then hold the paper in the air and whisper.

"Sejf."

The paper starts to shine a golden hue and it transforms itself into a dagger.

"This is the Yade art Origami. It's when a sage exchanges language and paper to craft weapons."

"With the Yade art ink a sage exchanges language and ink to be able to control the ink and manipulate it."  

"Similarly with sages with singularities. For example, a converter, like me, exchanges their body and language to be able to convert Yade through its different stages." he continues.

"And while I’m on the topic of differences in spells, are any of you willing to explain to me what a personal ability is and what is the difference between personal and open abilities?" William asks.

Ophelia raised her hand.

"Go ahead."

"Well like the name suggests, a personal ability is a spell that only the individual knows, that develops and comes to life when the sage is around 15 to 19, I think. While open abilities are... well the spells everyone knows." she explained nonchalantly.

"Exactly. There are of course rare times when a personal ability is formed when the sage is born. Now for you new sages, you will attain  personal ability. However, they are formed from personal struggles and from the goals you want to attain."

"Meaning, for some all you might need is the appropriate amount of Yade to start the forming process and for some of you, it's the personal part of it." William explained.

"Do you want to share your personal ability with us Ophelia? There are no enemies in this classroom." William asks her.

"Sure, why not. It's not like knowing it would be help any of you if we were in a fight." She said.

"My personal ability is λαμπερός ήλιος (radiant sun). It creates a circle that surrounds me in four diameters. In this circle, I gradually heal injuries and poisons over time." Ophelia explains.

"Interesting now as-" William starts before getting cut off.

"What about your personal ability? I mean you are our teacher wouldn’t it be the safest option if you told us it?" Ophelia asks seemingly very curious over William’s personal ability.

"It’s called erhöhter. That's all I’m willing to share."

Ophelia seemed to frown at the basic answer.

"Any other question relevant to me?" William asked with a serious tone.

Jimmy raised his hand.

"Are you a criminal?" Jimmy asked William.

William was a bit taken aback by this.

"I-I'm sorry?" William said.

"It says on your profile on the school’s registry that you have a criminal background." Jimmy reveals.

Now the entire class focus was completely on William.

He's a criminal? One thought.

How could they allow someone with a criminal past teach here? Hector thought.

Cool. Ophelia thought.

William looked at the students nonchalantly.

"... Fine yes I have a criminal history." William confirmed.

The class looked at him shocked.

"What? You attended school on the island of Nostradamus, the criminal haven and you are surprised I have a dirty history. Half of the teachers and students here probably have it like me." William argued.

The class went silent.

Oh, come on, someone say something this is just getting awkward. William thought.

"Is it true you are a title bearer?" a voice broke the silence.

It was Amelia. She stood up looking unfazed by the news of her teacher having a criminal history.

"And is it really true that you scored an amplitude of 8,5?" Amelia continued.

"Yes. To both." William respond.

A small gasp echoed from some of the students, and next to that choir of gasps a hand raised.

"Yes, Hector." William said.

"C-could you explain what she means?" Hector asks, a bit more cautious now than he was before.

"Well, let’s start with the amplitude. Since it's the easiest one to explain." William started.

"Amplitude is the way we sages measure our proficiency in Yade and in being a sage in general."

"The scale goes from 0,0 to 12,0. Everyone is born with an amplitude of somewhere between 0,1 to 1,5. And the average sage sits around 4,5 to 5,5. With 8+ signifying an advanced sage." William explains.

"The only other one here at the school that I know to have also been 8+ would be the principal himself. Just by looking at him, I would say he lays around 8,49." William says with a prideful glee.

"And a title bearer is someone who has been bestowed a title." William says.

"A title is an acknowledgment by the Yade itself. We don’t really know why, but after some events or some sort of mastery or achievement, a sage can be granted a tile by the Yade. Where the sage also gains a set of spells unique to that title, becoming what we know as title abilities." William explained.

"A title never disappears as when it has been created it will never vanish, becoming something permanent in this world. A title bearer can either choose a successor via their offspring or via someone they feel would be their successor. And if they don’t find one before death then the title will wait until it finds one it sees as fitting to the title." William continued.

"So, what is your title?" a new voice asked.

William scanned the auditorium, looking after the voice. He found the source to be a tanned, brown haired man with raggedy clothes and blue eyes.

William recognized his face as Nicholas Carrillo someone that stuck out to William.

Well, hello there mister 7,5. William thought.

William sighed.

"Can’t hide anything these days..." Wiliam mumbled.

"My title is Sage of the firstborn." William announced.

"It was handed down to me from a dear friend of mine."

The class went silent.

"W-what?" Nicholas let out.

"I understand your confusion. As some of you might know titles themselves are supposed to be a bit more self explanatory of why one is given it. Like master of spiraling fire or something like that." William said.

"And I am just as lost as you all are on to what the criteria of gaining this title is. The only thing from it I find familiar in is the word, Firstborn." he continues.

"The firstborn?" Hector asks.

"The firstborn is the first being in all of existence to gain the power of Yade. Making them the first ever sage and thus the most powerful being under God." William explains.

"Isn't the firstborn said to be a Babylonian? So, isn't it just a myth?" one girl asks.

William saw Hector’s confused look and decided to answer his question before he could even ask it.

"First of all, for you new sages, the Babylonians are beings born directly from the Yade and are very human like in their appearance. They are said to be the very first beings made by the Yade and are said to be very powerful. The stories say they left our world and locked themselves inside Babylon. Their great tower." William starts.

"How powerful?" Nicholas asks.

"If we were to measure them using our amplitude method then I would say a normal Babylonian would scale... somewhere between 20,0 to 25,5." William explained.

"Now if we go back to the question asked before. Yes, many consider Babylonians to be just a myth, but we have just enough evidence that they exist as we do of them not existing. If you ask me, the fact that the firstborn is mentioned in my title is proof enough." he said.

"Any more questions about me?" he asks.

The class was silent, not a word said.

"Then that would be a great point to end at. Classed dismissed." Wiliam said.

With that, the students got up and shuffled to the door.

William stayed and read through the class list once more. Making sure to memorize the students he will be teaching from now on.

He spent hours noting down what they had gone through and planned for coming lectures as well as lessons for possible converters. When he was done it was already past noon. So, he left the auditorium and headed to his room.

As William tiredly walked up the spiral staircase leading up to the hallway his room was located in, he noticed something. Jammed between his door and the wall was a marine blue envelope.

Daniel. William imminently thought.

He took the envelope and unlocked his door.

As he sat down on a chair, he opened the envelope and read the letter inside.

After reading it he put the letter down and took out a cigarette. He cracked open his window and started to smoke.

"What do you want me to do with this huh? Damn you, Daniel." William muttered as he put the letter in one of his drawers.