Kai's entire body trembled as he stared at the stranger who had just incinerated a massive beast with what looked like a casual flick of his wrist.
The man was tall, blonde, and undeniably foreign-looking—definitely not Japanese. His black coat hung loosely over what appeared to be some kind of military uniform, and those violet eyes seemed to pierce straight through Kai's soul. Everything about him screamed "European fantasy character."
Kai's mind scrambled for his broken English lessons.
"Uh... th-thank you!" he stammered, gesturing wildly while still half-naked. "You save me! Very danger! Big monster gone!"
The stranger tilted his head, looking amused. When he spoke, it was in perfect, fluent Japanese.
"You can speak Japanese?"
Kai nearly collapsed from shock. "You... you speak Japanese? But you're clearly not... I mean, how is that even possible?"
"Interesting reaction," the man said, walking closer with an easy grin. "Tell me, kid, what's your name?"
"Kai Atsuya," he replied automatically, still trying to process this impossibility. "But seriously, how can you speak Japanese so perfectly when you look like you stepped out of some European movie?"
The stranger stopped a few feet away, studying Kai with those unsettling eyes. His expression suddenly shifted to something completely serious.
"More importantly," he said in a clinical tone, "why is yours so small?"
Kai blinked. "My what?"
"Your mana presence. It's pathetically weak." The man's serious mask cracked as he burst into laughter. "Though now that you mention it, everything about you seems pretty undersized."
Heat flooded Kai's face as the double meaning hit him. "Hey! You can't just say things like that to someone you just met!"
"Can't I?" The stranger grinned, completely shameless. "I just saved your life, shorty. I think I've earned some observation rights."
Despite his embarrassment, Kai found himself oddly relieved. This guy was clearly insane, but at least he didn't seem hostile.
"Look," Kai said, trying to salvage some dignity, "I appreciate the rescue, but I have no idea what's happening. One minute I'm walking home from work, the next I'm naked in a magical forest getting attacked by demon bears."
The stranger tilted his head with genuine confusion. "Work? What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know... a job? Employment? Making money to survive?" Kai gestured helplessly. "Don't tell me this world doesn't have jobs."
"Making... money?" Juno's expression grew more bewildered. "Kid, are you feeling alright? Did that beast hit your head before I showed up?"
Kai stared at him. The complete lack of recognition in those violet eyes was unsettling. It was like trying to explain color to someone who'd been blind their entire life.
"Okay, forget that. What about... uh..." Kai's mind scrambled for something universal. "You know what a house is, right? Buildings? Cities?"
"Obviously I know what cities are. What kind of idiot do you take me for?" Juno looked genuinely offended now. "Though your way of speaking is... odd. Where exactly did you say you were from?"
Kai hesitated. Something told him that mentioning Tokyo—or Earth, for that matter—wasn't going to go over well. The man's face went completely serious. Not playfully serious like his crude joke, but genuinely grave. Those violet eyes seemed to look through Kai to something far beyond.
For several long seconds, neither spoke. The forest around them hummed with residual mana from the earlier fire magic, and Kai could swear he felt something pressing against his consciousness—like the air itself was alive and watching him with invisible eyes.
Finally, the stranger seemed to shake himself from whatever dark thoughts had consumed him.
"Name's Juno," he said, his tone lighter but carrying an undertone that suggested he knew far more than he was letting on. "I'm what you'd call a Lichtritter—basically a knight, but with significantly better magical abilities and a much higher chance of dying horribly."
"A knight?" Kai examined Juno's unconventional appearance—the casual black coat, the messy blonde hair, the complete lack of armor. "You don't look like any knight I've ever heard of."
"And what exactly do you think knights are supposed to look like?" Juno raised an eyebrow with genuine curiosity.
Kai opened his mouth to answer, then realized he had no idea how to explain medieval European imagery to someone who'd clearly never heard of Europe. Or medieval times. Or probably any of the reference points his brain wanted to use.
"Uh... never mind," he said weakly.
"Right. Well, since you're clearly more lost than a demon in a prayer circle, let me give you the basics." Juno began walking deeper into the forest, gesturing for Kai to follow. His tone took on the air of someone explaining something incredibly obvious to a particularly slow child. "You're currently in Lichtreich—the human empire. This forest you nearly died in? It's a restricted area called the Divine Forest of Zezon. Normal people aren't supposed to be here because it's crawling with mana beasts that would happily turn you into their afternoon snack."
Kai stumbled along behind him, still processing the fact that he was apparently in a magical empire. "Okay, so why are you here then?"
"Because I'm not normal people," Juno replied with a grin that somehow managed to be both charming and slightly terrifying. "Now, long story short—this world runs on something called mana. That pressure you're feeling in the air? That's not just atmosphere, that's pure magical energy that gives everything its power."
As if to demonstrate, Juno casually extended his hand toward a nearby tree. Flames danced across his palm without burning him, casting flickering shadows across his face. "Every living being can harness mana, usually in one specific element. Humans get seven possibilities: fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, ice, or sound."
The casual display of magic made Kai's brain short-circuit for a moment. He'd seen it before when Juno had incinerated the beast, but watching someone conjure fire like it was no more difficult than snapping their fingers was still surreal.
"What about demons?" Kai managed to ask.
"Five different flavors of nightmare: shadow, space, storm, metal, and venom. They live in the territories beyond the great barrier wall." Juno's expression darkened slightly. "Much nastier crowd, and significantly less interested in having polite conversations before they kill you."
The blonde knight stopped in a small clearing and turned to face Kai with that predatory grin returning. "Which brings us to your immediate problem. If you're going to survive more than five minutes in this world, you need to awaken your mana core."
"How do I—"
"By getting the absolute hell beaten out of you until your body decides it would rather fight back than die." Juno cracked his knuckles with obvious enthusiasm. "Fair warning—I've been told my teaching methods are somewhat... intensive."
What followed was five hours of what could generously be called "training" and more accurately described as "systematic torture disguised as education with a healthy dose of psychological warfare."
Juno moved like some kind of supernatural force, appearing behind Kai before the poor boy could even process where he'd gone. The blonde delivered precisely controlled strikes that left Kai gasping, wheezing, and questioning his life choices, but somehow never actually broke anything important.
"Too slow!" Juno called out cheerfully, casually stepping around another wild swing while simultaneously tripping Kai with his foot. "At this rate, a demon toddler could take you down with a spoon!"
"I'm trying!" Kai panted, sweat streaming down his face as he picked himself up from the dirt for what felt like the hundredth time. "You're just impossibly fast!"
"Speed isn't your problem, shorty. You're overthinking everything." Juno punctuated this observation by flicking Kai in the forehead hard enough to make him stumble backward. "Your brain keeps trying to analyze what I'm doing instead of just reacting. Stop being so damn cerebral about it."
"Stop being cerebral?" Kai wiped blood from his nose, glaring up at his tormentor. "That's like telling someone to stop breathing!"
"Exactly! Now you're getting it!" Juno's grin widened as he conjured a small fireball and began casually juggling it. "Breathing happens without you thinking about it, doesn't it? Mana should work the same way."
Two hours later, Kai was beginning to suspect that Juno's definition of "training" was actually just "creative ways to inflict non-permanent damage." The man had moved from simple physical strikes to using small bursts of fire magic to herd Kai around the clearing like a particularly uncooperative sheep.
"You know," Juno said conversationally while launching another controlled flame that singed the hair on Kai's arm, "most people start to get the hang of this by now. Are you sure you're not secretly brain-damaged?"
"Maybe I would get the hang of it if you stopped setting me on fire!" Kai yelped, diving behind a tree that immediately caught on fire. "This is insane!"
"Insane is a bit harsh. I prefer 'unconventional but effective.'" Juno's voice came from directly behind him, causing Kai to jump and immediately trip over a root. "Besides, you're not actually on fire. I'm very precise with my flame control."
"Your precision doesn't make this hurt less!"
"Pain is just weakness leaving the body," Juno replied sagely, then immediately ruined the wisdom by laughing at his own joke. "Actually, I have no idea if that's true. I just heard someone say it once and thought it sounded profound."
It was during the fourth hour, when Kai was lying face-down in the dirt contemplating whether dying might actually be preferable to continuing this torture, that something finally clicked. The constant pressure he'd been feeling in the air suddenly seemed to... respond. Like it was reaching toward him with invisible hands.
"There we go," Juno said, his voice taking on a genuinely pleased tone for the first time since the training had started. "I was starting to worry you might actually be hopeless. Now stop thinking and just let it flow."
The sensation was utterly indescribable. Energy coursed through Kai's body like liquid lightning, settling somewhere deep in his chest before spreading outward through his limbs. When he managed to push himself back to his feet, everything felt different—lighter, more connected to the world around him, as if he'd suddenly grown new senses he never knew he was missing.
"Congratulations," Juno said, clapping slowly with obvious mockery. "You've officially awakened your mana core. Only took you five hours, which is... well, it's not the worst I've seen, but it's definitely not impressive either."
Kai focused on the new sensation, trying to understand what his body was telling him. The energy felt strange—vibrational, like sound waves rippling through his bones and echoing in his skull.
"Sound magic," he said, somehow absolutely certain despite having no idea how he knew.
Juno's expression immediately shifted to barely contained hysteria. He doubled over, clutching his stomach as laughter poured out of him like water from a broken dam.
"Sound? Are you serious right now?" Juno wiped tears from his eyes, still chuckling. "That's not even a real combat element! Sound magic is what people use when they want to be really good at yelling at people!"
Heat flooded Kai's face. "What's wrong with sound magic?"
"What's wrong with it?" Juno gestured wildly, his amusement making him almost manic. "Kid, sound magic is used for sending messages and maybe creating some minor defensive barriers if you're really creative. It's the magical equivalent of being exceptionally talented at humming!"
The blonde knight continued his mocking tirade with obvious glee. "I've met sound mages who became excellent town criers, some decent musicians, and one guy who made a living as a human alarm clock. But fighters? Warriors? People who actually matter in combat?" He shook his head sadly. "Not so much."
Kai felt something burning in his chest—not mana this time, but pure, concentrated determination mixed with a healthy dose of spite. This was exactly like his old life all over again. Dismissed. Overlooked. Treated like he was fundamentally inferior simply because of circumstances beyond his control.
But this time was different. This time, he had a choice.
Kai felt something burning in his chest—not mana, but pure determination. This was exactly like Earth all over again. Overlooked, dismissed, treated like he didn't matter. But he'd been given a second chance in this world, and he'd be damned if he was going to waste it being mediocre again.
"Then help me get stronger," he said, meeting Juno's gaze directly. "You said strength matters in this world, right? That it determines whether people accept you or not?"
"I did say that." Juno's amusement faded slightly, replaced by something like curiosity.
"I lived seventeen years on Earth being nobody special. Just another face in the crowd, working a dead-end job with no future and no one who cared if I existed." Kai's voice grew stronger with each word. "I don't know why I'm here or what I'm supposed to do, but I'm not going back to being invisible. Not again."
Juno studied him for a long moment, those violet eyes seeming to weigh something Kai couldn't understand.
Finally, he sighed. "You know what, kid? I like your attitude, even if your element is garbage. But I should warn you—I'm not exactly known for being a gentle teacher."
"I figured that out already," Kai said, gesturing to his bruised and battered body.
"Oh, this?" Juno's grin returned, but now it carried a distinctly dangerous edge. "This was just the warm-up. If you really want to get stronger, you better be prepared for the possibility that you might not survive the process."
Those purple eyes gazed down at Kai with an intensity that made the air itself seem to thicken.
"I'm not a good trainer, kid. You better be ready to die."