The atmosphere in the room was suffocating. Jack couldn’t stop fidgeting; his anxiety was building as time went on. After all, sitting in front of him was the principal. The Principal. A man who, in the three years of school he was told not to mess with, was now asking for his presence.

  A former Grand Wizard, participated in the battle of Lillauna. During that time, he single handedly held an entire brigade for hours, turning the tide of war. A great feat that not many could achieve.

  They say if you are called by the principal, it only means one of two things: either you did something bad, or he found you interesting.

  “Settle down, young one; there is no need to be tense. You are not in trouble.” He took a sip of water. “You and I will have a little talk."

  The principal shuffled through his files, finally pulled one out. Ruffling through the papers. The front cover was imprinted with a name;

  Jack Oat.

  “It seems that you are one unique character, Jack. Born without a single trace of magic, but very gifted. For a child to have this level of intelligence is quite exceptional.”

  “Uhh, thank you?" Jack answered unconfidently.

  “That being said, I notice even though you have intelligence, you lack communication skills; just today you fought with Christopher, yes?"

  Jack nodded.

  “This can be a huge problem in the future where you might bite more than you can chew, so my advice is to try to think before offending someone."

  The principal adjusted his glasses before opening Jack’s files and scanned its content carefully. .

  "Ahh, here it is.” His sight locked on a particular thing.

  “It appears that you set your sights on becoming a magic professor.” His tone was calm but laced with curiosity.

  “I must say I'm not surprised with it since you are excellent in magic theory. But I must ask you, why do you want to become one in the first place? Very rarely does someone decide to become one at that very age.”

  Jack went silent, carefully choosing the right words. “It's a matter of personal goal for me, the experiment, the element, and to undo something that seems impossible.”

  “But you do understand the challenge, don’t you? Especially for someone without magic.”

  Jack clenched his fist as his posture straightened in his chair. “I know the challenge, and I’m willing to take it." His voice was steady, filled with quiet resolve.

  “Very well, Perhaps you have a trick up your sleeve that I don’t know," the principal ended with a bright smile. “I’m looking forward to that trick of yours.”

  Jack gave a weak smile, then stood up and made his way to the door.

  As Jack left the room, the smile on the principal’s face faded away, replaced with a long sigh.

  “Be strong, young one." The principal stood up, stared sharply at the door. "Your journey will be a tough one."

  ***

  Jack walked back to his class, having met the principal, all the pressure was just being released. Checking the surroundings, he found that the majority of the class has gone home for today, and only a few have stayed playing a card game with their friends.

  Not one to meddle in others' business, he quickly collected his things and tried to leave.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  As he reached the door, a huge hand gripped his head and slammed it against the doorframe.

  The adrenaline surged through his body as the pain rushed to his head. With dizzy vision, he slowly recognised the person standing in front of him.

  “Time to pay up, motherfucker.” Christopher growled, crackling his finger. “You're going to regret making fun of me."

  “For showing the whole class that you are an idiot?” Jack’s words barely escaped his mouth before another fist met his face.

  Blood was dripping down Jack’s chin, but he remained calm through the pain. “Damn, even after all this time, you still can’t throw a good punch."

  Furry flashed in Christopher’s eyes. “That’s it.” He snapped his fingers; his goons surrounded him, pinned him to the wall. With a snarl, Christopher conjured a searing fireball, its heat warping the air around them.

  Jack's heart’s pounded, being pinned and held to the wall; he knew he had bitten more than he could chew. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the upcoming doom.

  “So long..." Christopher sneered.

  The room exploded with light and fire. The ground shaken as the fire engulfed the location where Jack was pinned. Christopher smirked, confident that he would be celebrated for reducing a useless person to taking up space in this prestigious school.

  But as the smoke cleared, gasps echoed through the room. Jack was unharmed, shielded by a wall of floating cards. The other students stared with wide eyes. Their cards, which they had casually held moments ago, now hovered protectively around Jack.

  “I knew it, you were lying all this time.” Christopher clapped his hands as he pointed to the sky, summoning a brilliant light above his head. The orb blazed like a miniature sun.

  “Let's see if you can survive this.”

  But the sun quickly faded down, and a huge gust of wind whipped through the classroom.

  Jack emerged from the shield cards, but something has changed. His once brown eyes are now glowing a crescent blue, and an unnerving aura pulsed around him.

  “Lighting Thunder." A whisk of voice came from his mouth, completely masked by the sound of wind.

  For the first time in his life, Christopher felt scared. Thunder had always been frowned on for being a cheap spell, something that a street performer used. But this time... the thunder was feral.

  The bolt struck before he could react. Ok Pain surged through him like a thousand needles piercing through his skin. He collapsed, begging the pain to stop. His body fell cold to the floor, and the darkness filled his eyes.

  Jack stood silently before his legs gave out. The cards around him fell one by one.

  A figure stood at the door, observed the whole commotion from the very beginning. Jack’s blurred vision failed to notice who it was.

  Thud

  Jack's body fell flat on the floor; the other students dashed out from the classroom, leaving the trio alone in the classroom.

  The silhouette marched closer to the scene of the incident.

  Trying to process what he just witnessed, he mumbled as he checked Jack's body, "So you the one who caused the sensor to go haywire, not her."

  He moved his hand across Jack's left arm and noticed some blue lines forming. "What are you hiding, Jack?" He pulled out a phone from his pocket, dialled a certain contact.

  ‘THE INFORMANT’