Magic.
When did it become modern technology rather than a product of legend and fairy tale?
The first verifiable record of its use dates back to AD 1999.
An incident in which a police officer possessing special abilities stopped a nuclear terror attack by an extremist group trying to realize their prophecy of human extinction was the first confirmed example of magic in modern times.
At the time, the strange power was referred to as a supernatural ability. They believed that it was a purely inherent ability born out of a mutation and that the techniques couldn’t be shared, spread, or systematized.
They were mistaken.
As research on supernatural abilities advanced, both in the East and West, more and more people appeared on the public stage to talk about “magic.” Eventually, magic was able to reproduce those once supernatural powers.
Of course, one needed the talent. But it was the same as possessing skill in the arts or sciences—only those with a high predisposition could achieve professional levels of proficiency.
Supernatural abilities were systematized using magic, and magic became technology.
Those with supernatural abilities came to be called magic technicians.
These magic technicians were powerful enough to force even nuclear weapons to yield to them. To nations, they were both weapons and power itself.
At the end of the twenty-first century, in 2095, the nations of the world still have not shown signs of unification. They now compete with each other in the fostering of magic technicians.
The National Magic University Affiliated First High School.
It is known for being the most advanced institute of magical studies, which graduates the greatest number students to the National Magic University every year.
At the same time, it is an elite school that produces the greatest number of skilled magic technicians, who are known as “magicians.”
There is no official stance of equal-opportunity magical education.
This country does not have the luxury of such indulgence.
And because of the glaring gap between those who can use magic and those who cannot, any kind of mediation is but an optimistic ideal.
Those who are out-and-out believers in talent.
Those who are almost cruel in their demand for actual skill.
That is the world of magic.
Simply being accepted into this school marks students as elite. And from the moment they enroll, there is already a difference between the honors students and the inferior.
Though they may all be equally new, they are not equal.
Even if they are brother and sister by blood.