As the goddess Uzakia vanished into shimmering particles, silence filled Benjamin's room. The three idiots all stared at the shattered floor caused by Benjamin and Uzakia's earlier clash.
Ivan broke the silence first.
**Ivan:** "Sooo… Benjamin. How do we fix this? Got any spell like 'Floorus Repairus' or something?"
He said it sarcastically, but deep down he genuinely hoped such a spell existed.
Clard cracked his knuckles confidently.
**Clard:** "No worries, boys. *I'll fix it.* I shall use—my bow. And shoot. The floor."
He already had the bow drawn, glowing arrow pulled back.
Benjamin didn't even bother reacting.
Ivan simply smacked Clard in the back of the head again.
**Ivan:** "STOP trying to kill the house!"
Benjamin sighed and stepped forward.
**Benjamin:** *"8th Circle Magic: Temporal Unwind."*
A faint ripple distorted the air.
Light bent, dust reversed, pebbles rose and "rewound" themselves.
The broken floor twisted back in time, knitting itself whole as if nothing had happened.
The room had literally traveled to its own past.
But Benjamin staggered, breath sharp and heavy.
**Ivan:** "BRO—are you okay? Since when can you cast THAT level of magic? That's— that's high-tier!"
**Clard:** "HIGH?! TIER?! MAGIC?!"
He yelled so loudly the atmosphere gained 30% more oxygen.
Benjamin waved them off and forced himself up.
**Benjamin:** "I'm… fine. Probably. I think."
Ivan faced Clard with the expression of a teacher about to explain quantum physics to a goldfish.
**Ivan:** "Okay Clard, listen. I'll explain magic ranks. Again. Slowly."
He inhaled dramatically.
**Ivan:**
"Magic circles go from 1 to 10:
1st — civilians
2nd — students
3rd — gifted students
4th — professors
5th — grandmasters
6th — elite mages
7th — fusion spellcasters
8th — primordial-level
9th — archmages
10th — literal gods.
Got it?"
Clard had fallen asleep halfway through.
He woke up with drool on his chin.
**Clard:** "Uhh… yes."
(Absolutely not.)
Ivan looked at Benjamin instead.
**Ivan:** "You understood that, right?"
Benjamin nodded slowly.
**Benjamin:** "If 10th Circle is god-tier… then isn't it safe to say the Seven Demon Lords might be 10th Circle too?"
That stunned all three of them.
Even Clard's brain rebooted for a moment.
**Benjamin:** "I can cast 5th Circle spells maybe twice… and one spell up to 8th or 9th Circle. But only once. And it nearly killed me."
Ivan exhaled sharply.
**Ivan:** "We… need training. Real training."
Benjamin nodded.
Clard nodded too, though he wasn't fully aware of why.
The weekend arrived, and Ivan and Clard prepared to return to their homes.
Ben waved them goodbye—
But something caught his eye on his desk.
A small folded note.
Left by Uzakia.
Benjamin picked it up.
---
## **The Note from Uzakia**
**"Don't use 5th Circle magic or higher unless absolutely necessary.
It can destroy your brain.
Use the mana strings I left for you instead.
Another gift is beside this note."**
**— Uzakia**
---
Beside it lay a strange pen engraved with runes.
Benjamin sat on his bed and focused.
Mana-strings — thin threads of pure arcane structure — appeared behind his eyes like glowing lines of logic.
He grabbed the pen.
Writing magic formulas directly into the air.
He drew a simple fire rune.
It pulsed.
**BOOM!**
The tiny fireball detonated into a miniature explosion.
A neighbor screamed through the wall:
**Neighbor:** "HEY! STOP BLOWING UP THE KITCHEN, YOU LITTLE PYRO!!"
**Benjamin:** "SORRY!"
His hair was slightly burnt.
His bed was vibrating.
And the kitchen smelled like roasted potatoes.
Benjamin collapsed onto his mattress, exhausted yet thrilled.
He closed his eyes, mana-strings dancing in the dark like constellations.
**Benjamin:**
*"So this is what Uzakia me
ant… If I can master this, I won't need high-tier spells…"*
He inhaled deeply.
Focused.
And began training alone.
**End of Chapter 10**
---