A good two years have passed since the night she got her father’s old clothes.

Molly's second year of school was coming to an end, and with it her (mostly) normal life. Despite being rather extroverted, she didn't talk to many other people besides Airen and his little group. Her days had simply been too busy.

School was basically a vacation in comparison to her life outside of it. Her afternoons were filled with training from Alistir, as well as almost obsessive research with both alchemy and the Mechanomicon.

And yet, she was never exhausted. She was by far the top of her class, even taking lessons on higher level subjects typically reserved for later years.

Second years differed from first years by allowing for them to eat outside in a small park area during lunch, although many kids took this opportunity to climb in the large oak trees in the area, or take a quick nap.

It doesn't go over well with their guardians and parents if they come home dirty or injured.

It was during lunch break that Molly decided to go to her inner world while Airen sat beside her.

—-----------------------------

The inner world changes depending on where Myllo initiates it. She has to tell Myllo to start it. It's as if the inner world takes in magic from around her and constructs a rather abstract version of her surroundings.

This time, the inner world was made of giant oak trees and large silver pathways through lush grass. It was an exaggerated version of the park

[Molly]: “Hey, Myllo.”

[Myllo]: “Are you sure you want to enter here of all places?”

[Molly]: “What's wrong with wanting to see what it'll look like each time?”

[Myllo]: “You don’t get tired of doing that?”

A small grin slowly formed on Molly’s face.

[Molly]: “Let’s try to bring someone inside the inner world again!”

[Myllo]: “Ugh. Fine.”

After about a minute of what appeared to Molly as Myllo desperately trying to relieve herself, all of a sudden, Airen showed up.

[Myllo]: “Yes, yes, YES!! IT WORKED!!!”

[Airen]: “WHERE AM I?! AM I DEAD?!!”

[Molly]: “Wha–!”

She was absolutely dumbfounded. Wasn't the inner world just a strange dream land in her own mind? This had to be a fake Airen.

[Myllo]: “Molly, I assure you, this is the real Airen!”

[Molly]: “How is this possible?!”

[Airen]: “I can't believe we're dead!!”

[Myllo]: “You're not dead.”

[Myllo]: “Apparently, since the magic gem can take in magic and information from around us to make the inner world, that means that we can connect minds!”

[Molly]: “But telepathy is an extremely difficult and rare skill! Only Bailin can do it in the entire kingdom!”

[Myllo]: “Heh, heh, heh. Molly, you should know better than to assume I haven't spent the last two years training as well.”

[Airen]: “Molly, I am so confused! Where am I? Who is this cute twin version of you? Can I go back to school now?”

[Myllo]: “Hi there, I'm Myllo!”

[Molly]: “Welcome to the inside of my imagination. And yes, you are being held here against your will for some reason.”

[Airen]: “Uhhhhhhhhh…”

[Airen]: “Isn’t this insane?! How are you able to do this?! Are you Gifted?!”

Gifted. According to the Book of Angels religion, a Gifted child is supposedly given magical abilities by the angels and gifted to humanity. Most noble and wealthy families can trace their roots back to one.

[Molly]: “G…Gifted?! I’m too weak to be a Gifted!”

[Airen]: “No really! Think about it! You live in the Scholar House! Why else would you be under their care?!”

[Myllo]: “Because they think our dad’s blood may have consequences.”

[Airen]: “Consequences?”

[Molly]: “I’m not really supposed to tell anyone about this, but my dad wasn’t from this world at all.”

[Myllo]: “Wha- You’re telling him this now of all times!?”

[Airen]: “What do you mean?”

[Molly]: “He was from, like, a different Earth. Without magic. He got summoned here-”

[Airen]: “Wait, you gotta stop telling me this stuff! Isn’t this stuff really secretive?! You could get me arrested for saying this! This is like telling me about a military operation!”

[Molly]: “Come on, it’s not that bad! Just don’t talk about it.”

[Airen]: “That’s not how this works! Now you gotta stay quiet about this too!”

[Molly]: “Oh.”

[Myllo]: “Oh.”

[Airen]: “You guys… might not be as gifted as I thought.”

[Myllo]: “A-Anyways, it's been about six minutes. We should get going.”

[Airen]: “Hey Molly.”

[Molly]: “Yeah?”

[Airen]: “I'm gonna miss you. I'm sorry we didn't get to know each other better.”

Molly paused for a second. This entire two years and not once did she consider Airen's life outside of school. It was always discussions about the cool stuff in the Mechanomicon, or what the newspaper said, or what was for lunch that day.

Well, better late than never.

[Molly]: “I'm sorry Airen. But, we can start here. So, what do you do outside of school?”

[Airen]: “I do archery- wait we really gotta discuss this stuff here?! In this imaginary land?!”

[Molly]: “We can do it later.”

[Airen]: “Alright. Thanks for endangering my family, you ding dongs!”

And with that, Myllo kicked them both out.

—----------------------------

As they were going back to class, Molly eyed the blind kid. He had been quiet for as long as she had known him.

[Airen]: “Apparently, he's in the Hero Program too.”

[Molly]: “Seriously? How is that supposed to work?”

Airen preferred not to answer. 

He took his seat in class, in front of Molly instead of beside her like last year. He began to think about what she said to him earlier.

Did she really not know how big of a problem he’s in now because of them? Did she not care?! 

He left class that day with a pained throat from sadness and fear.

—-----------------------------

It was time for training with Alistir.

After two whole years, her magic and reflexes improved quite a bit. Yet, because Myllo has all the magic, her capacity in magic is below average overall.

What she did have was ingenuity.

Using ideas from the Mechanomicon, she made an alchemy-powered katana, a weird curved sword that the book talked about. Her and Alistir had also deciphered how the seal on the book worked, and could replicate it to an extent now. 

That seal alone could already reshape the world, revolutionizing almost all industries. The seal that gave the tome its durability was copied onto her new sword.

It also had a secondary ability to propel the blade to almost sonic speeds using very expensive alchemy.

She better not lose that sword.

Alistir motioned Molly to ready herself. For almost a year now, they went from struggling to feel magic to sparring with each other. Molly was able to use magic to strengthen herself to an extent, like how Kursteb did during the school orientation program. Nowhere near the level of him, but enough to perform superhuman feats like chopping through tree trunks and jumping ten feet into the air. 

She was proud of the progress she made.

Even if that progress was toward becoming a valuable tool of her country.

Her departure for the Hero Program in the capitol was fast approaching. Alistir would push the both of them to their limits in these final few sessions.

[Alistir]: “Begin!”