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The first thing he noticed was that the arena seemed much larger when you were at the center of it, with everyone staring at you. The students in his group were all arranged in a large circle, with Lord Eternius already positioned in the center.

Eternius raised his arms and a bright silver sigil formed in the air above each student's head. "By the power granted to me by the God of Magic, Dioul, allow these young souls to discover their calling in this universe!" He smashed his hands together and the sigil exploded, white light overtaking James' vision. When his eyes cleared, he found himself floating in a nebula, with colorful gases spiraling around him in lazy eddies. There was no up or down, only space as far as the eye could see.

The gases slowly coalesced before James, forming into a rainbow sigil, shaped like a 2-dimensional dragon's head. On impulse, he held his hand out, and the sigil floated onto it, glowing softly above his palm. He gasped, his eyes swirling as he saw things that he had never seen before, or rather, been able to see and understand. He looked at the gases surrounding him and saw their components, the parts creating a grand whole. He looked off into the void and saw stars and planets, glimmering brightly against the darkness, and understood what they were made of, what made them tick. It was like he was enlightened, able to see the natures of all things.

As soon as it had begun, the moment ended, and James found himself back in the arena, the dragon's head still sitting above his palm. Looking around, he saw that each other student had a symbol too, some the same and some unique. His was the only dragon's head as far as he could see.

Eternius addressed them all with a smile. "Quite the experience, yes? In your hand is a representation of the magic you are best suited for, the type that resonates the most with your personality and soul." He walked over to a student on James' far left and began to make his way around the circle, calling out each magical affinity as he went.

"Water Elementalism!"

"Temporal Mage!"

"Arcane Engineer!"

He got to Lydia and when he went down to look at it, it exploded in his face. "No doubt about it. Weird!"

"Lightning Elementalism!" Ren looked pleased like he had expected this outcome all along.

He continued along, calling out different affinities as he went. James lost track of them all, especially because he didn't know what half of them entailed.

"Incredible!" James refocused on Eternius, who was more than halfway around already. "Celestial Mage!" This one was met with more than a few cheers, and James got the impression that it was quite a rare affinity. No other people had that same sigil. It made him wonder about his dragon's head. No one else had it. Did that mean it was very rare?

"Fire Elementalism!" Algon looked like he was going to faint under all the attention, but he smiled nonetheless.

Eventually, Eternius reached James and went he bent down to look at his symbol, he stopped in shock. "I thought there was something a bit special about you," he said, so quietly that only James could hear him. Raising his voice, he yelled, "Pure Elementalism!" There weren't many cheers, but whispers sprung up in the crowd. James looked nervously at Eternius, who winked.

"Don't worry. It's just a very, very rare affinity, that's all."

It must be ludicrously rare indeed, for James did not see a single other Pure Elementalist, even after he took his seat in the arena and watched the remainder. He couldn't find Algon or Lydia, so he sat alone and waited for it to be over, contemplating his magical affinity as he did so.

After, James managed to meet up with Lydia and Algon in the courtyard outside, and then spotted Delta leaning against an ice sculpture, waiting for him.

"Hey Delta! How'd it go?"

"James! I was looking all over, but I couldn't find you. I guess we were in different groups. Hey, who are these two?"

"This is Algon and this is Lydia. Guys, this is my friend Delta."

Lydia held out her hand, while Algon just kind of looked lost.

"Don't worry," James whispered. "Delta and I just met a week ago. He's super nice."

Seeing Algon hesitate, Delta stepped forward and greeted him, welcoming him into the group. "Hi, nice to meet you. The name's Delta!"

"I'm Algon."

"I'm sure we'll get along great, even though it's fire and water" Delta smiled jokingly. Algon just blinked

Seeing that Algon was still a bit shy, James turned to Delta. "So, what did you get for your affinity? I didn't see you onstage."

"Yeah, I went before you. I'm apparently meant to become an Aetherling!"

"What's that?"

"You don't know? Aetherlings are able to move at incredibly high speeds and can even travel past the speed of light in some cases! They're mostly used as messengers and couriers, but I think I want to fight stuff, not carry packages for a living. But speaking of affinities, how the hell did you end up with Pure Elementalist?"

"Why, is it rare?"

"Is it rare?!? It's the rarest affinity in the universe, topping even the Celestial Mages and Mythical Lords! When you held up that dragon's head, I almost couldn't believe my eyes!"

"So, what exactly does a Pure Elementalist do?"

Delta shook his head sheepishly. "I don't actually know. I just know that they're super rare."

"OH, I KNOW!"

"Holy crap you're loud!"

James punched Delta. "Stop it, idiot. She's from a very windy planet so she's used to being loud."

"It's still funny."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you have plenty of hilarious quirks that I'll take great pleasure sharing to the entire school."

"Hey!"

While Delta sulked, James turned back to Lydia. "So what is a Pure Elementalist anyway?"

"MY KNOWLEDGE IS PRETTY SCARCE, BUT I THINK YOU CAN USE EVERY ELEMENT INSTEAD OF JUST ONE."

"That sounds amazing!"

"I agree; it certainly sounds like you got a good affinity," Delta said.

Algon nodded.

"Well then, let's stick together in the future. We have a really good team here; I think we can handle anything that gets thrown at us."

"A team?"

"Didn't you hear about it on your tour? There are many things that require teamwork here and having friends you can rely on really helps. And after some teams leave the academy, they stay together for a long time."

"WELL THEN, TEAMMATES?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Sounds good to me."

"I like it."

The group teleported back to Synthesis, where they enjoyed a meal together, this time eating at a place that had some food from Delta's home. They also discussed their affinities, finding out that Lydia was a Weird. None of them knew what that meant, so they made her promise to explain it to them after the first day. As for Algon, Fire Elementalism didn't really need any explaining, but he didn't seem to mind.

Eventually, the eventful day came to a close, and they all felt quite tired. After pointing out where the Moonglade was, they were shown where Algon and Lydia were staying, in separate rooms of course.

As they were saying goodnight, Delta thought of something. "How are we going to meet up tomorrow? I assume you want to hang out before we start classes?"

"Hmm." Lydia thought about it for a second, then remembered what Master Altrius had said. "The amulets can be used as communicators!"

They all quickly figured out how to call each other, and then James and Delta hurried off to the Moonglade.

Since they had one more day till their classes began, Lydia suggested that they check out more of Synthesis. The city was enormous, and there were many areas that James and Delta hadn't been to, so they readily agreed. Algon said yes, but James wasn't really sure if he would argue with anything they did. He was simply too quiet.

The next day, James woke up bright and early, much to Delta's annoyance. When they put on their Arcian clothes, Deltas shifted into a much leaner and sleek look, although it still had the bone platings. "I guess this is the uniform for Aetherlings. Or at least a version of it. Yours hasn't changed though."

James looked down. He was still wearing his robe from his first true day here, but he didn't know why it hadn't changed into his uniform yet. "I'll ask my teacher about it."

James said goodbye to Delta outside the Moonglade. He followed his amulet's map to his first class, teleporting to the location that housed many of the science buildings, the massive dome under the ocean, Unsphere.

His first class was Chemistry, and he was very surprised to see that it was similar to Chemistry back on Earth. The elements were all translated due to the spell surrounding the planet, and they were the exact same names in the exact same order. They were organized differently, which made sense, and the only thing that made James really stop was that instead of 120 some elements, there were 200 instead.

"I guess we haven't discovered some of them yet, although we seem to be getting close."

The professor was an older slime creature, named Master Tho. He was nice enough, and although the class was in a strange place and with many more students, it preceded much like a first day on Earth would have.

James' other classes were the same, all almost identical to those taught on Earth, except with much wider fields of study. He went to a class studying different species of aliens, a class around universal politics, and a class on history, which was taught by a substitute, who said that their real teacher would be back within a couple of months.

The final class of his day was also the one he was looking forward to the most. He teleported to the Darkessia, the academy's indestructible training hall, stationed inside an entire mountain range up north. Kids learning magic tended to be a bit... explosive. As a result, almost all of the magic classes were taught there, where students could learn without the fear of leveling a city. The Pure Elementalism class was held in a smaller room near the heart of the tallest mountain.

When James walked inside, he was surprised by how few kids there were. There were 14 in total, all of varying ages, with him the youngest by far.

"Hey, guys! It's the newest Elementalist!"

"Finally! I was getting worried we would die out."

"Stop kidding around Ross. You'll give the new guy bad ideas. What's your name anyway?"

"James. What exactly did you mean by dying out?"

"He's just joking. You're looking all of the Pure Elementalists in Reality."

"That's it? There are no more of you guys?"

"Nope, we're a rare breed. And it's us, not you guys. You're one of us now."

James talked with the rest of them, learning their names and they came from. Apparently, the minute they were identified as Pure Elementalists they were given a scholarship to the Quintessium. Being rare had perks.

"Alright. Hello, guys. Glad to see you made it through the break without killing yourselves." A new man walked into the room. He was young, maybe in his 30s. "And it's so nice to have some new blood in here." He held out his hand. "My name's Master Rell, and I'm the only Pure Elementalist at this school who can teach these clowns."

"Nice to meet you."

"Hey!" He addresses the others in the room. "We're back in action. I assume you all practiced while you were away? Head off and work on your gathering and manipulation. I need to give James the first day lessons."

"Yes, sir."

Rell led James to the far side of the room, where he pulled out two chairs and set them down. "Take a seat."

"Thank you," James said as he sat.

"Now, the first-day lesson is always the easiest. Most likely you've never even heard of a Pure Elementalist, yes?"

"Yeah. Why is that?"

"We're quite rare. As the others have told you, the people in this room are the only Pure Elementalists in the entire universe. It's not every day I get another student, so all of us are very excited to have you."

James nodded.

"Now, this is the most you'll ever hear me talk in a single day. Most of our practice is individual work, so I'll usually only be giving advice, k?"

"Ok."

"Now, first things first. As you've noticed, the stand uniform for Pure Elementalists is a white robe engraved with gold. Do you know why you Arcian garb didn't change this morning?"

"No. It's been like this since I first put it on a couple weeks ago."

"Hmm. I'll consult Headmaster Sherru about that, but until I get an answer don't worry too much. Studies are more important than clothes anyway. What you wear shouldn't impact what you learn, I hope."

"No, sir." James smiled.

"Good. Now let's talk Elementalism. Lecture time!" Rell waved his hand and a board materialized on the nearby wall. He took out a pen from his robes and began to draw as he spoke.

"Elementalism is actually a broad term that defines many magical affinities and styles. It's one of the four main categories of magic, along with Celestial, Temporal, and Mythical."

"Mythical?" James interrupted.

"Manipulation of raw energy. Fun stuff. Anyway, Elementalism is divided into two categories: Composite and Pure. Composite Elementalism is the standard type and includes things like Fire Elementalism and Lightning Elementalism. Their spells make fire or earth appear from thin air, but they're limited to a single element, two if they're lucky. With me so far?"

"I think so. But then what's Pure Elementalism?"

"Think about it for a second. When we perform an Spell, we're manipulating the very elements themselves. For Composite Elementalists, the work is done for them. The hotheads don't need to think, they can just cast the spell and the hydrogen in the air mixes with a couple of things and BOOM! Fireball. But Pure Elementalists are different. We are the only mages in existence that can actually see and change the properties of atoms directly, the elements themselves. Why do you think you're studying Chemistry?"

"Hold on. What do you mean, manipulate elements directly?"

Rell thought about it for a second, then held out his hand. A fireball formed on his palm, swirling violently. "When I make this fireball, I'm not casting a spell. I'm actively combining hydrogen with oxygen, and then heating it using Ocelum. It's a bit more complicated, but that's the gist of it." He released the ball, and then sat down, sweat rolling down his face. "Our method of doing it requires much, much less energy, but is infinitely harder. So you're going to be working very hard while you're learning magic. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Now, let's unlock your Sense and then we can start."

"Sense? What's that?"

"Remember how you felt like you understood everything during the Quintessential Analysis? Pure Elementalists get at least a little help from the Gods. Upon becoming Pure Elementalists, we gain the ability to Sense all the elements surrounding us, which helps us manipulate them. Close your eyes."

Master Rell put his thumbs on James' eyelids and pushed lightly. Suddenly, James got hit with a splitting headache and fell to the ground.

"Holy CRAP! OW! OW! OW! OW!"

"Don't worry, it'll pass. It's like this for everyone's first time. Open your eyes."

James felt the pain fade and stood up, and then almost fell back over from shock. Everything around him was full of information, his brain processing it as fast as he could handle. He could tell that the air around them was mostly hydrogen, with a touch of nitrogen, oxygen, and several other gases. He looked at the walls of the room and derived their composition, even if he didn't understand what half of their elements were.

"Well, I can tell by your reaction that it worked."

"What exactly did you do? This is amazing!"

"All I did was just unlock your abilities. You've probably guessed this, but you now possess the ability to Sense elements. If you concentrate hard enough, you can even see individual atoms, but in general, you won't need that level of understanding. Now, let's go over some basic knowledge."

For the remainder of the day, James went over all 200 elements, learning their properties and how to Sense them. They were a continuation of the Periodic Table until 150, but the remaining elements defied all logic. They were non-physical, more like a concept than a thing he could hold. There was an element of gravity, of light, of heat, and many more. The last 5 on the list were grayed out. When asked, Master Rell said, "We know those elements exist. But none of us can Sense or manipulate them and we have no idea what they could be. It's a bit of an ongoing mystery."

James didn't actually learn any magic, but he wasn't worried. It was only his first day after all, and he had an entire year ahead of him. He didn't lose sight of his larger goal as well. Hopeful, Pure Elementalism would give him the ability to return home, and he resolved to work hard until he solved that problem.