He immediately stopped his presentation.

’I took a while to prepare this material and now I’m fumbling hard. Get it together, get it together,’ he thought.

’Don’t get distracted, don’t get distracted,’ he murmured internally.

’Ok.’

"Excuse me for earlier."

"My name is Jafar and I’ll be hosting you all. Please relax and enjoy."

"This presentation may contain items you’re already familiar with, but be understanding, not all of you may be informed."

He began.

"The rifts opened less than a hundred years ago."

"Merlin was born not long after as the mage with the greatest affinity to mana and its manipulation even till date."

"Not much is known about Merlin other than what’s public. He keeps to himself or at least he tries to."

"Monsters rarely make it to the ground."

"Have you ever wondered why?"

"It’s not because there’s a shortage of them."

"It’s simply thanks to the systems put in place by those that predate us."

"Most regular people don’t know of the intricacies, but there’s a barrier that envelops the sky."

"The rifts aren’t sky-bound. No, they come from above our atmosphere."

"The barrier is what keeps these monsters back initially."

"Mages are sent in to handle them up top, keeping damages and lives lost to a minimum."

"The reason monster attacks on the ground are feared is simple."

Jafar paused.

He was clearly building tension.

It seemed to be working.

"It’s because monsters who can make the landing are strong enough to not only penetrate the barrier, smart enough to find weak spots, but most importantly ruthless enough to stop first responders."

Jafar paused again.

The first responders he referred to were the first set of mages that head towards the rift to close it.

"Rifts open spontaneously for all we know. There may be a science, but it’s one we’re yet to understand."

"It’s all still pretty mysterious."

"Humanity has existed for thousands of years. The rifts seem to be more ancient, but in our dimension they’ve existed merely a century."

"I may be getting ahead of myself, but after this orientation you’ll be listed on the Mage Table."

"An online list for rookie mages. This is how you’ll get selected to join a mage circle."

"A mage circle performs their activities together."

"This is where things get serious," Jafar said.

"The non-mage community knows nothing of this and it should remain that way."

"Should any of you breach this, your life goes, like that."

He demonstrated with a finger snap.

Things were really getting tense.

"Closing sky rifts are only the basics of what we do as mages."

"Sometimes we are instructed to enter these rifts and are met with a whole other world with advancement far out of humanity’s league."

"This is how our staffs came to be."

"Merlin journeyed into a rift early into his career."

"Many others had been fascinated by the rifts and made attempts to go in."

"None ever made it back. None till Merlin."

"He discovered the first magic staff."

"The one that awakened all your potentials today."

The staff began glowing simultaneously before it disappeared, presumably returning to its master.

"These rifts are home to medicine, artefacts and concepts the earth has no idea of."

"Only the strongest of the strong dare enter."

"It’s only mandatory when Merlin says so."

"You’ll understand more about this. It’s less relevant since you’re all still rookies."

"About 40 years ago, Merlin shattered his first wand to seal a demon lord."

"A monster of inconceivable power."

"The current landscape of the earth was formed by both their clash."

"The aftermath left the planet looking unfit for life."

"Merlin cast a spell that erased this from the minds of the populace."

"This knowledge could only be attained after one awakened as a mage and personally the spell breaks for that individual."

"If I told you about the fight between Merlin and the demon lord as a regular human, your memory would be erased immediately."

"Merlin’s spells are no joke."

A hand was raised.

"Yes?" Jafar allowed.

Finally someone with a question.

"If this all happened within the century, then how did humanity bounce back from a fight that left the planet itself in ruins?"

"There’s almost no proof of damage or scars anywhere but the Lost Continent," Marzi asked.

Jafar wanted to smile, but then realized he wasn’t as impressed with the question as he had expected.

"Merlin had access to all talents known to man."

"Yes?"

Jafar continued.

"He remotely activated a time spell that accelerated humanity’s evolution."

"We may be in 2026."

"But actually we are at least a thousand years into the future."

The hall went quiet.

This information was getting a bit too much.

Things they’d never heard of or even thought of were being presented to them.

Most of them being between that ripe age of 16 and 18.

Jafar heard a voice through his piece.

It was feminine.

"Cut the crap. You’re saying too much."

"Sure, right, Lady Morgana."

"I heard Merlin was powerful, but to activate a spell that would entrance the whole planet not once but twice, that should be impossible right?" Darwin asked.

Jafar gave no response.

He desperately wanted to, but he knew he couldn’t.

"Well you’ll just have to find the answer to some things yourself."

"You’ll hear no more from me on Merlin."

"I’ll end on a system rumor."

"There’s so much more I could talk about mages, but I’ll leave it to your circles to do the rest."

"You’ve all heard of the god system, this I know."

"The rumor goes something like this."

"The gods protected humanity, humanity forsook them and as punishment, the gods unleashed a plague known as the rifts to rain curses in the form of monsters down."

"Eventually a band of gods regretted this decision and they created a barrier to protect man from these rifts."

"It wasn’t sufficient."

"One lone god converted his energy into a power system."

"This system became known as the god system."

"The gods’ final gift to man."

"You’ve heard of the tale, right?"

The entire hall erupted with noise that could only confirm the tale was indeed common.

"2 years ago."

"Counter-proof to the counter-proof of its existence became known."

"It came to Merlin in the night."

"It was revealed that on October first this year, someone would in fact awaken the god system."

Murmurs were heard.

Some awakeners even began regretting why they didn’t wait for the 1st to do the awakening ritual then.

"Calm down," Jafar said.

"Merlin also revealed that the regular awakening process had nothing to do with the system."

"You could be an already awakened mage. That doesn’t hurt your chances."

The hall erupted, this time much louder than the last.

Jafar smiled.

"Well, I’m telling you all this to discourage you."

Everyone became silent.

"The wielder of this system will only bring peril before us."

Everyone was shocked.

None of this made sense.

The system was meant to be a gift from the gods to safeguard mankind, but now it’s being presented as a threatening concept.

"Humanity has had it easy this past century despite what we believe."

"According to the sages, there exist worlds with not rifts but towers and dungeons, hells and purgatories."

"We count ourselves lucky indeed."

"The moment the god system is activated, mankind becomes exposed to these other worlds."

Jafar smiled.

"No questions may be asked."

He knew they would have a lot.

In truth, he himself didn’t know what to think.

The god system could potentially bring threats their way, but it’s also possible it could protect them.

’What if these threats come either way and they don’t have the gods to protect them? Would Merlin alone suffice?’

’I doubt this would be enough to dissuade them though,’ Jafar thought.

"Thank you for having me," he said, ending his presentation.

He walked off stage.

He saw a feminine figure.

It was Morgana.

He ran to hug her, but she just gave him a cold embrace and dragged his ear out.

"I told you not to say more than necessary. What was all that?"

"You didn’t even talk about some more basic and essential things."

"I told Valentine to keep you away from the kids, but he wanted you to have your chance. Now look where that landed us."

"I’m sorry," Jafar said.

He really wanted Morgana to let him off this time.

His ear hurt like a lot.

Darwin and Ramon exited.

They set up their profiles after receiving their licenses, hoping to get scouted online via the Mage Table.

They exchanged contacts and went their separate ways.

Right as Ramon got on the bus, he received a notification.

He got tense.

He was definitely expecting something in particular.

It was Darwin.

The message read,

"Hi."