[Location: Arcana Antiques – Workshop, Early Morning]
The shop was quiet — just the hum of old lamps and the smell of dust, leather, and something faintly electric. Golden motes floated through the air, reacting to the faint pulse of mana still coiled under my skin.
Balthazar moved with the calm precision of someone who'd seen centuries pass without blinking. His coat hung from a chair, sleeves rolled up, runes etched faintly into the skin of his forearms like living tattoos.
It had been three years before he would ever meet Dave Stutler — before the chaos, before the apprentice who'd change his fate.
Right now, he was still in his prime — sharp, methodical, and endlessly patient.
And me? I was the anomaly in his workshop — the reincarnated physics student from another world, still figuring out why my blood glowed blue.
"Focus," he said, not looking up. "Your mind is faster than your mana. That's the problem."
I exhaled, palms hovering over the small bronze ring on the table. A faint glow flickered between my fingers — chaotic, blue, unstable. The ring shook.
"Too much," he added.
The glow sputtered and died.
I leaned back, groaning. "You make it look easy."
"That's because you think it's easy." He gestured toward the shelves — jars, relics, and a small floating sphere of light orbiting a book. "Magic is structure. It's not energy you force; it's energy you convince."
"Convince," I echoed. "So, physics with better manners."
He cracked a small smile. "Close enough."
[Location: Workshop – Training Space]
We'd been doing this for weeks — mornings spent stabilizing my quantum mana through meditation and geometric focus circles, afternoons sparring against enchanted constructs.
My body was adapting faster than Balthazar expected. The quantum mana flowed cleaner every day, resonating with the ambient mana of this world.
But there was always a tension — a flicker in my circuits. When I pushed too hard, the energy didn't bend the way his did; it folded through itself, distorting space in microbursts of static.
"Again," he said.
I lifted my hand. The pattern formed — six interlocking sigils glowing faint blue. Energy bled from my fingertips, connecting the lines.
For a heartbeat, it was perfect.
Then the air cracked like thunder, and the sigils collapsed into a shockwave that blew every loose object across the room.
Balthazar raised an eyebrow, utterly calm. "Congratulations. You just made a very expensive mess."
"Sorry," I coughed. "Still calibrating."
"You're not calibrating," he said, crouching beside the scattered fragments. "You're compensating. Your mana isn't this world's mana. It reacts differently."
That word — differently — stuck.
Later, as the workshop settled into silence again, I found myself staring at the faint blue light dancing over my palm.
Quantum mana.
That's what I'd started calling it — not because it sounded cool, but because it felt right. It wasn't like the energy Balthazar used. It wasn't drawn from the world around me; it was generated within.
An internal reactor. Self-contained. Self-fueling.
If his mana obeyed the laws of mysticism, mine obeyed the logic of physics.
And if I could find the bridge between the two… maybe I could control it completely.
[Location: Rooftop of Arcana Antiques – Night]
The city spread below like circuitry — streets glowing, rivers of light flowing through steel and glass.
I stood at the edge, the night air cool against my face, eyes closed as I felt the rhythm of the world.
Somewhere beneath all that chaos, I could sense it — the faint hum of mana threading through the earth, the air, even the heartbeat of the city itself.
Balthazar's voice broke the quiet. "You're still thinking too hard."
"Comes with the reincarnation package," I said. "Old habits die hard."
He joined me at the edge, his expression thoughtful. "You're adapting faster than I expected. But there's something… strange about the way your energy reacts to this world."
"Story of my life."
He gave a short laugh, then nodded toward the skyline. "Just remember — magic isn't about control. It's about understanding. The more you fight it, the more it fights back."
I looked down at my glowing hand — steady now, for once.
"Then I'll learn to understand it," I said quietly. "Completely."
[Fade Out → Leads into Chapter 5: "Crosscurrents"]