[THAT EVENING — RIN'S DORMITORY ROOM]
I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling, hands behind my head.
The day had been... interesting.
After absolutely dismantling Princess Astrid in front of the entire academy, I'd spent the rest of the day being stared at even more than usual. Whispers following me through every hallway. Students literally parting like the sea whenever I walked past.
Some looked at me with awe.
Some with fear.
Some with both.
Being the strongest is weird, I thought. People either want to worship you or destroy you. There's no middle ground.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I sat up. "It's open."
The door swung inward, and to my surprise, five people filed into my room.
Selis and Cael I expected.
Princess Astrid I did not.
And the two others—Marcus Thornhill (the lightning user I'd fought in my first trial) and Lyara Nightshade (the illusion specialist whose mind I'd accidentally overloaded)—were completely unexpected.
"Uh." I blinked. "Is this an intervention? Because I promise I'm not trying to traumatize people. It just happens."
Astrid stepped forward first, and to my utter shock, she bowed.
Full ninety-degree bow.
"I apologize for my arrogance earlier. I came to this academy thinking I was special. That my Fifth—no, Sixth Circle power at my age made me exceptional." She straightened, her storm-gray eyes meeting mine. "You showed me how wrong I was."
"Okay, hold on—" I held up a hand. "You don't need to apologize for being confident. Confidence is good. You are exceptional. Just because I'm... you know, me... doesn't mean you're not impressive."
"That's exactly why I'm here," she said firmly. "I want to learn from you. Not magic—I know you don't use traditional magic. But the way you think. The way you see the world. The way you exist beyond limits."
Marcus stepped forward next. "She's not alone. After you beat me, I spent days trying to understand what you did. How you just... took my lightning. And I realized—I've been thinking about magic all wrong. Like it's something I possess rather than something that exists."
Lyara spoke quietly, still looking a bit pale. "You broke my mind for three minutes. I experienced infinity. I saw everything and nothing simultaneously. It was..." She paused. "...the most terrifying and enlightening experience of my life. And I need to understand it."
They all looked at me with the same expression.
Determination.
Not to defeat me. Not to surpass me.
To learn from me.
I looked at Selis and Cael. "Did you two organize this?"
Selis raised her hands defensively. "They came to us asking about you. We just... facilitated the meeting."
Cael nodded. "You're powerful, Rin. More powerful than anyone in this academy, maybe in this kingdom. But power like that attracts attention. And not all of it is hostile."
I scratched my head, genuinely unsure how to respond.
People wanting to follow me. To learn from me.
This is new.
"Look," I said finally. "I'm not a teacher. I barely understand what I do half the time. It just... happens."
"Then let us observe," Astrid said. "Let us train alongside you. Let us see how you approach problems, how you fight, how you exist."
"Why?" I asked bluntly. "Why do you want to follow someone who could erase you from existence without trying?"
Marcus smiled slightly. "Because you could erase us, but you don't. You held back against every opponent. You showed restraint even when you didn't have to. That's not just power—that's control. That's wisdom."
"Wisdom?" I snorted. "I'm six years old."
"Age is irrelevant when you see reality differently than everyone else," Lyara said softly.
I was quiet for a long moment, studying each of them.
They're serious. They actually want this.
The Infinite Mirror flickered in my mind.
A reflection appeared—this one surrounded by people, smiling, happy.
But as I watched, those people faded one by one, until the reflection stood alone.
"Be careful," he whispered. "The stronger you are, the more people will want to stand beside you. But strength creates distance. Eventually, they'll all fall behind. And you'll be alone again."
Maybe, I thought back. Or maybe this time I'll be strong enough to pull them up with me.
"That's not how it works—"
Then I'll make it work differently.
The reflection faded, looking sad.
I stood up, walking to the window, looking out at the academy grounds bathed in moonlight.
"Fine," I said finally. "But I have conditions."
They all straightened, listening intently.
"One: I'm not your master. I'm not your teacher. We're just... training together. As equals."
"You're not our equal—" Astrid started.
"Yes, I am." I turned to face them. "Power doesn't determine worth. Got it?"
She hesitated, then nodded.
"Two: If I tell you to back off during a fight or training, you back off immediately. No questions. Because when I push my limits, reality tends to get... unstable."
"Understood," Cael said.
"Three: No worship. No 'Master Rin' or 'Lord Valdris' or any of that crap. I'm just Rin. A kid who happens to be really good at breaking things."
Selis grinned. "That we can do."
I looked at each of them in turn. "You sure about this? Following someone like me is dangerous. The Church wants me dead. Secret organizations want me contained. I've made enemies I don't even know about yet."
"All the more reason to stand together," Marcus said firmly.
"Besides," Lyara added with a small smile, "if we're going to die horribly, might as well be alongside the strongest person alive."
I couldn't help it—I laughed.
"Alright then. Welcome to..." I paused. "Do we need a team name? That feels pretentious."
"The Limitless," Astrid suggested.
"Too on the nose."
"The Honored Guard?" Marcus tried.
"Makes me sound like royalty. Pass."
"The Infinite Circle," Lyara offered.
I considered it. "Actually... I kind of like that. It's ironic. We're a Circle that exists outside the Circle system."
Selis pumped her fist. "The Infinite Circle it is!"
[THREE DAYS LATER — PRIVATE TRAINING GROUND]
I'd reserved one of the academy's isolated training grounds—a massive open field surrounded by reinforced barriers, used typically for Fifth and Sixth Circle students to practice destructive techniques.
Perfect for what I had planned.
The six of us—me, Selis, Cael, Astrid, Marcus, and Lyara—stood in the center.
"Alright," I said, clapping my hands together. "Lesson one: forget everything you know about magic."
They blinked at me.
"I'm serious. Your entire understanding of magic is based on channeling mana through your Core, following divine pathways, working within established rules. That's fine for normal people. But if you want to truly grow stronger—if you want to approach even a fraction of what I do—you need to see magic differently."
"How?" Cael asked.
I gestured around us. "What do you see when you look at this field?"
"Grass," Selis said. "Trees. Sky."
"Wrong." I activated Perception Limit, and my eyes began to glow faintly. "I see energy. Structure. Relationships."
I walked forward, pointing at seemingly empty air. "Right here, there's a convergence of three different mana flows. Wind from the east, earth from below, residual fire from someone's training yesterday. They're not mixing—just existing in the same space."
I raised my hand, and blue light flickered around my fingers.
"But what if I made them relate differently?"
Blue Force: Precise Application.
The three mana flows attracted to each other, spiraling together, mixing in ways that shouldn't be possible according to traditional magic theory.
Fire, earth, and wind combining—
WHOOSH.
A small tornado of flame erupted, spinning gracefully before dissipating.
The group stared.
"You just... created a fusion spell," Astrid said slowly. "Without casting. Without a Core. Without trying."
"Because I didn't try to cast anything. I just changed how the existing energy related to itself." I let the blue light fade. "That's the first lesson. Stop trying to use magic. Start trying to understand it."
"Alright, your turn." I pointed at Marcus. "Summon lightning."
He nodded, channeling mana, golden electricity crackling around his hands.
"Good. Now, don't cast it. Just hold it. Feel it."
He concentrated, the lightning stabilizing into a sphere hovering above his palm.
"What do you feel?"
"Power. Energy. It wants to discharge, to find a target—"
"No. Why does it want to discharge?"
He frowned. "Because... electricity seeks to equalize potential difference?"
"Exactly!" I grinned. "It's not trying to do anything. It's following a rule—high energy flows toward low energy. So what if you changed that rule?"
"I... can't. That's fundamental physics—"
"For normal people, sure. But you've seen what I can do. I change fundamental rules constantly." I walked closer. "Try this: instead of letting the lightning flow outward, make it flow inward. Reverse the potential difference in your mind."
"That's impossible—"
"I do six impossible things before breakfast. Just try."
Marcus stared at the lightning sphere, his expression intensely focused.
Sweat beaded on his forehead.
The sphere flickered.
Trembled.
And then—
It collapsed inward.
Instead of exploding outward, the lightning compressed, becoming denser, brighter, smaller.
Until it was the size of a marble, containing the same power as the original sphere but in a fraction of the space.
Marcus gasped, nearly dropping it in shock.
"I... how did I..."
"You stopped thinking about what magic should do and started thinking about what you wanted it to do." I smiled. "That's the difference between a good mage and a great one. Good mages follow the rules. Great mages understand the rules well enough to bend them."
"And you?" Astrid asked quietly. "What do you do?"
I looked at her, my smile widening into that cocky grin.
"I don't bend rules, Princess. I delete them."
For the next two hours, I worked with each of them individually.
Selis, who had water affinity—I taught her to sense the moisture in the air itself, to pull water from nothing by attracting the hydrogen and oxygen molecules together.
Cael, who specialized in precision sword techniques—I showed him how to perceive the weak points in any structure, to see where force applied would have maximum effect.
Astrid—I helped her understand that storms weren't just weather phenomena, but manifestations of imbalance seeking equilibrium. Control the imbalance, control the storm.
Lyara—I guided her to see that illusions weren't about creating false images, but about manipulating the perception of reality itself. True mastery meant making the illusion more real than reality.
By the end, they were all exhausted, sweating, mentally drained.
But also excited.
"This is incredible," Astrid breathed. "I've learned more in two hours than in years of formal training."
"That's because formal training teaches you to use power," I said. "I'm teaching you to understand it. Once you understand something truly, using it becomes trivial."
"Is this how you got so strong?" Marcus asked. "Just... understanding everything?"
I was quiet for a moment.
"Partly," I said finally. "But also... I died once. Came back. And when I did, I saw the world differently. Like all the filters normal people have—the ones that let you ignore the overwhelming complexity of existence—were just... gone."
"That sounds horrible," Selis said softly.
"Sometimes it is." I smiled, but it didn't quite reach my eyes. "Seeing everything means you can't look away from anything. The beautiful and the terrible. The meaningful and the meaningless. All of it, all at once, all the time."
"Is that why you're always smiling?" Cael asked. "Because if you stopped, you'd have to actually process it all?"
Too perceptive, that one.
"Maybe," I admitted. "Or maybe I just have a really great sense of humor."
[THAT NIGHT — ROOFTOP]
I sat alone on my usual perch, legs dangling over the edge, staring at the stars.
I have followers now. People who look at me and see something worth learning from.
Is that good? Or am I just leading them into danger?
The Infinite Mirror appeared.
This time, dozens of reflections emerged—all the versions of me from different timelines, different possibilities.
One stepped forward—covered in scars, missing an eye, but still standing.
"You're trying to change the pattern," he said. "Every version of us ended up alone. So you're trying to build connections. Keep people close."
Is that wrong?
"No. But it's dangerous. Because the stronger you get, the more dangerous it becomes to stand near you. Eventually, you'll have to choose: limit yourself to protect them, or unleash your full power and risk losing them."
I'll find a third option.
"There isn't one—"
Then I'll create one. I looked at the reflection directly. That's what I do, remember? I rewrite the rules. So if the rule says I have to choose between power and connection, I'll just delete that rule.
The reflection smiled—genuinely, for the first time.
"Maybe you really are different from us."
The mirror faded.
I lay back on the roof, hands behind my head, grinning at the sky.
"I'm the Honored One," I said to the stars. "The strongest person in this world. And you know what?"
The wind carried my words away.
"I'm going to use that strength to protect the people dumb enough to follow me. Even if reality itself says I can't."
"Because rules don't apply to me."
"I'm infinite."