Gaius, the most powerful sage of his age, is held back by the magic crest he was born with and chooses to be reborn in pursuit of the close-combat crest he always wanted. He returns as Matthias Hildesheimer, a duke's third son, only to find that magic and swordsmanship have decayed so badly that his coveted crest is now dismissed as the weakest of all. Enrolling at the Second Royal Academy, Matthias upends what everyone there takes for granted about magic while spotting signs of dark forces moving against a far weaker humanity.