"Pffft!"

Once Rey finished reading the letter, he felt a myriad of emotions, but the most prevalent one was amusement.

'School? For real?' He chuckled to himself. 'Who would have thought that I'd be returning to that sort of space in a fantasy world like this?'

'I see. So, he decided to infiltrate the Empire as a student. Or rather, that is the best way he'll get integrated into the system and become accepted as part of the Empire.'

Rey had already suspected that Adrien's valiant efforts in the war against the Elves would be insufficient to earn him a spot among the Dragons—even if it happened to be recorded on tape.

'Was he being optimistic? Or did he also envision this situation? I'm not sure, but…'

One thing was for sure.

'He's currently stuck—or he appears to be. There's only one real way to verify, and while I'm a bit hesitant to do this… I need to take precautions in order to respond appropriately.' Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and called forth the name of the Skill he wanted to employ.

—His second SSS Tier Skill.

"[Clairvoyance]."

That instant, Rey's consciousness was transported to a much different landscape than what he had around him—or what could possibly exist in the world.

It felt like a blank space, within which there were several mirrors that displayed varying things.

'It never gets old.' He smiled to himself, recalling the first time he tried out the Skill and nearly got overwhelmed by the confusing cluster of information that was available for his consumption.

'With [Clairvoyance], I can see anything that is happening anywhere, at any point in time.'

It was an overpowered ability, but there were several limitations—not on the Skill, but on his current self—that made it difficult for him to use it.

For one, the further into the future or past he wanted to look into, the more Mana he would have to expend. This Skill took a lot of Mana just to function properly, so the exorbitant sum to look very far into the future was a luxury Rey could not yet afford.

The second, more important limitation, was the issue of "Memory."

The simplest way to put it was that Rey had limited cognitive abilities—including information storage—and so for every time he used [Clairvoyance] to take in information, a portion of that storage would be taken up.

This effect could not be undone, and the information gotten from [Clairvoyance] could not be taken back. Hence, it was a permanent effect of the Skill.

'Even The Oracle had a problem with this, so I have to use this Skill sparingly.' He sighed to himself.

Though, this was one of the times when he had to utilize it.

'If Adrien is lying about something, or luring me into a trap, I have to be prepared, don't I?'

With this rationale, he focused his thoughts on Adrien and the Dragon Academy—both the person and place—and found all the mirrors converging to form a rather large mirror that allowed him to view the current whereabouts of the boy in question.

Adrien Chase was actually in his dorm, and he was… STUDYING!

'Haha! Why is this funny to me?'

He was flipping his textbook and writing on the note—both of which were neatly placed on his rather exquisite-looking table. The whole setup resembled the modern world of Earth a little too much, and a single look at the dorm room confirmed this.

'It's all so modern…' His thoughts trailed.

This was his first real glimpse into the Dragon Continent, and he already found himself rather impressed and curious.

'Okay, let's not get sidetracked.'

Rey had figured out where Adrien was at the moment, but that wasn't enough to confirm if this was legitimate or not.

'For all I know, he could be there temporarily and lying about his inability to leave. Just to be safe, I'll look into both his past and future and see if he's being honest about things.'

Of course, these would be restricted to the Academy, since it was the only location that Rey was certain that Adrien was occupying.

'Let's go for a few days and see…'

Just as Adrien professed, he was constantly in the Academy, and he would continue to be there as well.

'Good! Looks like I can trust his words.'

There was the slim possibility that Adrien was putting up an act still, since he would think of Rey spying on him to test the legitimacy of his statement, but since there was no way Adrien could detect the spying power of an SSS Tier Skill, he found it highly unlikely.

'Plus, using [Clairvoyance] any further for this would be a waste.'

In the end, he had to take the bull by the horns and invest some measure of trust in Adrien's words. Or maybe…

"Ater." Rey canceled his [Clairvoyance], returning his mind to the regular plane of reality.

Once he opened his eyes, he already found Ater waiting for him, his head bowed as he made a gentlemanly pose.

"You called for me, Master?"

"Yes. I got this from Adrien. Why don't you read it and tell me what you think?"

The letter instantly floated from Rey's grasp and found its way to Ater within a second. The red-haired Familiar wasted no time in reading through its content.

Despite his expression showing how diligently he analyzed every word on the piece of paper, the speed at which he finished the letter made it seem like he skimmed through the content.

"I'm done, and… let's see…" Rubbing his chin, Ater sighed and told Rey the answer that the latter already predicted.

"... You should start getting ready to go to school."

"So you think it's legit?"

"I do." Ater nodded, maintaining his calm smile as he returned the letter to him.

"Why do you think so?"

"...." For a moment, he said nothing.

It almost felt like Ater was sorting through a lot of thoughts, but he finally spoke up.

"Well, for a host of reasons. Let me begin…"