Day turned night, Jack and Leonora returned to Aiden's room. They saw no sign that Aiden would wake up from his faint, still in the same state as before.
"His only option is to join the Astralis Magical Academy if he wants to change his fate," Jack replied.
"Then let him be mocked and scorned by the nobles? I don't want to! It's better for him to be an adventurer than a mage," Leonora emphasized.
The Astralis Magical Academy was often the first choice for noble children, while the Arcanis Sword Institute was always a favorite for the common folk.
If they didn't choose either, they could take the third option, which was to become an adventurer. Still, the status of adventurers was much lower than mages or knights.
"It's better to talk to him later. Let him rest first," Jack replied.
Jack took Leonora and left Aiden's room. Just as the door closed, Aiden woke up from his long sleep. He opened his eyes and sat up on the bed.
"Being an adventurer? Is that the worst of the worst options?" Aiden asked.
Aiden aka Liu Feng seemed to turn his head to the area surrounding him, paying close attention. From the mirror, Liu Feng realized he had reincarnated into Aiden's body, complete with Aiden's memories and his own.
"According to the red-clothed lady, the high-level curse officially activated when I turned 12," Aiden explained, holding his cheeks.
There was only one way to find out, which was to take a bun spread with peanut butter. If Aiden's tongue couldn't taste anything, the curse was active.
He opened the bedroom door slowly, watching the area around him to see if Jack and Leonora were still awake. There was no one in the kitchen, Aiden's parents were probably in their room.
Aiden picked up some table salt since he couldn't find where Leonora kept the peanut butter. He put his little finger in and tasted the salt with his tongue, it didn't taste salty.
'Damn! My curse has been activated, my food and drink will be tasteless, even sex will be plain,' Aiden said.
'I'll go mad if I don't stop this curse soon. But where can I find the essence of the Fire Dragon Chronos beast?" asked Aiden, turning around.
"Aiden?" asked Leonora, waking up because she wanted a drink.
Aiden turned around and smiled, greeting his mother in the same warm manner as before. Leonora cried sadly, she rushed forward and embraced Aiden's body tightly, Aiden responding in kind.
"Are you okay? What's your body feeling?" asked Leonora, panicking.
"I'm fine. Probably, the heat in the middle of the day hit my head, making me dizzy and faint."
"Heat, huh? Indeed, the temperature in this city is much hotter than usual. But the important thing is that you're fine," Leonora replied, hugging Aiden's body again.
"You don't have to worry about the Arcanis Sword Institute. You can take the adventurer's path as—"
"No," Aiden interrupted, surprising Leonora.
"What? You want to join the Astralis Magical Academy?"
Aiden cleared his throat in agreement. He made it clear that his purpose had changed significantly, Aiden didn't want to be a knight, he wanted to be a mage.
"Look, the Academy is full of cunning nobles. If you go there, I'm afraid you'll get some kind of discrimination from them," Leonora said.
"Don't worry, Mom. Dad's already taught me martial arts, so if the nobles try to put me down, I'll punch them in the face!" asserted Aiden.
Leonora smiled and nodded, agreeing to what Aiden had said. Not long after, Jack arrived and saw Aiden talking to Leonora.
Jack was pleased to find Aiden had woken up much sooner than he had expected.
"Finally, you're awake, Aiden," Jack said, Aiden smiling at his father.
"I'm fine, you both don't need to worry about me," Aiden replied.
"Yes, I understand. Still, the entrance exam for the Arcanis Sword Institute has been closed. You are no longer able to join them," Jack replied.
"What about the Astralis Magical Academy?"
"You want to become a mage? Mages are only for nobles," Jack said, worried.
"I remember, they don't have any restrictions on that," Aiden replied.
Leonora stepped closer to Jack, seemingly responding to her husband with a nod of her head. Jack looked up at Leonora, gazing deeply into the woman's eyes.
In the end, Jack agreed with what Leonora pointed out.
"Well, I won't stop you if you really want to be a mage," Jack replied.
"But I warned you, Aiden. They won't accept you easily there," Jack continued, pointing ahead at Aiden.
Aiden would confidently take that path, even though he knew he would be threatened by many noble mages who would not like to see him at the academy.
They asked Aiden to return to bed and rest. As Jack remembered, registration to join the Astralis Magical Academy was next month. Aiden had about 26 days to train before joining their entrance exam.
Aiden opened the bedroom window, looking at the city of Byrone in the nighttime scene. Aiden had never studied magic and such before.
However, Nathan had said that the city library had magic stones and basic magic books.
The magic stone was used to see the dominant element of a mage, while the basic magic book was a guidebook for any non-mage in learning the basics of magic, including streaming natural energy into the body.
"I have to go to the city library to learn magic. At least it's the only way for me to pass the academy entrance exam," Aiden explained.
"It's possible that I can find information related to the essence of the Chronos Fire Dragon beast. It's better to try than nothing," Aiden chimed in.
That night, Aiden rested to recover. He was ready to give up his dream of becoming a knight just so he could break Aetherna's curse and return to Earth.
***
The next day.
Byrone City.
Aiden left early in the morning when Jack and Leonora went to the market. But, Aiden's destination was different from his parents.
He would go to the city library to do two things: check the dominant element in his body and seek information on basic magic.
The market and park were much more crowded than the library, but for those seeking information, it was exactly the kind of quiet they wanted and needed.
Aiden walked up to the city library and entered it. Sure enough! The place was so quiet with bookshelves lined up neatly untouched, there was an old man wearing glasses with white hair who was busy dusting the bookshelves.
"Please come in. Find the books you want," the old man explained.
"Besides books, I want to try magic stones," Aiden replied.
"Magic stones? All the noble families have them, why doesn't your family?" the man asked, stepping closer to Aiden.
Aiden was silent, not knowing what to say in response to the man's question. The old man cleared his throat and nodded slowly, his silence indicating that Aiden was not of noble origin.
"No, huh? You're pretty desperate to enter the Astralis Magical Academy. Are you already prepared for the consequences you're about to face?" the old man asked.
"I'm ready," Aiden said firmly.
"Come with me."