《Genius Seventh Prince》 1 Fall of the Ley Kingdom "Your Majesty, the queen just went into labor!" a servant came rushing in exclaiming. The stern man on the throne furrowed his brow ordering, "Let a servant take the child through the secret passageway to run away. As long as one heir survives there is hope. Make sure to have them all run in different directions so the chances are higher..." he paused then let out a long sigh. Was this how the Ley kingdom with a thousand years history would fall? He suddenly seemed to age ten years. "Your Majesty, should you not take this chance to run away as well?" the servant inquired. "No, I will fall with the kingdom. Otherwise my infamy as king would only be worse. What kind of ruler would I be if I ran away while my citizens and soldiers fought back the enemies with their life? Just take your orders and leave." The servant knelt down and saluted the king in reverence then quickly ran out with the orders. Upon seeing the servant get smaller and smaller, the king finally slumped down and cried. The disappointment of letting the kingdom fall in his hands was too great. How would he face his predecessors? ... "Your Majesty, it is a prince! Congratulations!" the old midwife shouted. "Let me see him." a clear, yet exhausted, voice ordered. The queen looked down to her dear newborn son with tears streaming down her face. Her heart broke knowing this was most likely the first and last time she could hug her son. "I''m sorry, my son. I hope, no matter what, you will be loved by whoever brings you up in my stead. Mother loves you with all my heart." she slowly whispered to the prince while kissing his forehead. Strong attachment still lingering in her eyes, the queen finally allowed her maidservant to take the prince away. "My lady, I will protect him with my life." the maidservant bowed down then quickly ran away down the prepared passageway. Quietly weeping, the beautiful queen looked towards the throne room. Determined to die with her beloved, she ordered a servant to help her change then take her to the king. ... The maidservant was the queen''s loyal guard and a decent magician. She quickly reached the exit far away from the kingdom and took one look back at the burning capital city. Quickly turning, she dove into the dense forest surrounding the city. The Snow Country was just like its name suggested; it was snowing all year round. The maid was not properly dressed, but, as a native resident and fire magician, she was naturally resistant towards the cold. She ran for 10 days through the forest crossing into the neighboring Edysa Kingdom''s land. Killing magical beasts along the way while barely resting, the maid was haggard and exhausted. She luckily had only run into low level magical beasts that she could fight off. Her only reason for living was the beautiful baby boy in her arms. Although she barely knew the child, his stunning features made it easy for her to adore him. He had beautiful white hair and ever-changing eyes. Such odd eyes caught her attention early on. One day they would be a deep blue, another day they would be an emerald green. Throughout the days she has seen blue, red, green, brown, purple, gold, and black. They fascinated her and she wondered what triggers his eye color changes. She began to relax the further she traveled and sat to rest midday instead of only at night. Unfortunately, her luck had run out as she heard a loud roar sound behind her. Her face draining of color, she looked behind her only to spot a large white tiger. It''s ice blue eyes locked onto her with magical power radiating from its large body. "A 4th level Frost Tiger?! Oh no, what should I do? I can''t escape too far with only my 2nd level fire magic." the maid quickly panicked at a loss and began to run away. But would the tiger let her escape? With a swipe of its paw, spikes of ice flew out. The maid quickly turned and while whispering the spell for Fire Shield. The shield managed to block most of the spikes, but one stabbed right through her side. Bleeding profusely, the maid took out her Wind Locket and activated it. The wind magic lightened her body allowing her to burst with high speeds as far away as she could. Calming down at the face of death, she knew that she would attract all sorts of beasts from the blood. Looking around, she found a tree with a large hole and placed the baby inside. "Seventh highness... I will probably be the only person to call you this... please live on for the rest of the Ley Kingdom." Crying, the maid quickly saluted and knelt before running far away from the tree. ... Silence pervaded throughout the forest. The next morning, a humble hunter came about. He was stalking a common Snow Deer when loud crying broke out. Alerted from the sound, the Snow Deer quickly ran away leaving the hunter behind. Cursing under his breath, the hunter began to look around for the culprit. He walked up to an unassuming tree and inside a hole saw two sparkling blue eyes. He reached in and pulled out the baby in confusion. He knew he could not afford to take care of this child, but at the same time his conscience was telling him not to leave the child in the wild to die. "Wait... Doesn''t that church take care of children like this? I''ll just leave him with them!" 2 Beautiful Orphan In front of a large yet rundown church, there was a boy quietly creating a snowman. He stood out due to his introverted nature. The other kids ran around while playing games as he quietly built things from the snow. If one looked closely, the snow creations were exquisite and detailed. Nothing like the normal random things that children would create. The young boy was concentrated and hard at work creating a snow replica of Sister Lily when a small foot came around and kicked down his snow. "Greyson, why don''t you play with us?! Stop creating these stupid things!" Another of the young boys playing had come over with the entire group following behind him. The quiet boy turned and glared over at the boy with his piercing blue eyes then got up and left. "Hey! Greyson! Don''t ignore me!" the boy''s temper flared and he stomped into the ground yelling. "Wolf, hey that enough... Just leave him alone," one of the quiet girls protested. "Hmph! He''s just weird and never talks. Sister Lily says to play with him, but it''s him who doesn''t play with us. He''s only 5 years old and like that. He must be dumb." Wolf sneered while glaring at the boy leaving. The little boy, Greyson, did not listen to their words and kept building his snow sculptures. As he was hard at work, another large shadow came from behind. Worried it was the same boy, he turned around and tried to block the small Sister Lily he made. Turning around, he saw the very nun he wascreating. Sister Lily was not especially pretty but she had a warm feeling that made everyone like her. She smiled down at the cute little boy, asking, "Is this me?" The boy blushed then nodded. Laughing, Sister Lily patted his head, "It is very well made. You are so talented!" Happiness quickly lit up the boy''s face as he smiled. Lily looked on almost in a daze. Greyson had beautiful white hair and sparkling blue eyes with very cute features. "You''re going to steal all the female hearts of the world when you grow up. Mark my words! You should smile more, who could deny any of your requests if you smiled?" Sister Lily joked with him. He quickly stopped smiling and went back to his serious and cold demeanor. Shaking his head, he wrote out on the ground "I only smile for Sister Lily!" She giggled reading his message and pinched his cheek. "I guess that''s okay too. You can''t be a player when you grow up or I won''t talk to you!" Greyson widened his eyes in terror at her words and quickly nodded his head seriously. "Alright, alright. Enough joking. I came over because I need to go into town to grab ingredients. How about you come along with me?" Sister Lily asked him while smiling. Greyson swiftly grabbed her hand and started walking to town without answering. Laughing again at his cute actions, Lily picked him up and started towards town. ... Willow Town was the closest populated area near the church. Sister Lily and Greyson quickly headed down. All eyes turned towards them and looked over. Feeling their eyes, Greyson quickly buried his head into Lily''s neck. He heard the murmurs feeling uncomfortable. "Hey, he''s that child right?" "Yeah, that beautiful orphan everyone in town talks about..." "From the church, huh?" Sister Lily quickly put Greyson on the ground and glared at the people on the road, "Yes, have you never seen a pretty child before? Keep your eyes to yourself. Otherwise I''ll assume your a pervert who likes children." With that everyone looked awkward and turned back to get on with their businesses. Greyson looked up at her in adoration. Feeling pleased, Lily ruffled his hair and continued to shop for fresh food. She seriously shopped while haggling with the owners while Greyson just quietly followed behind her. He quietly smiled looking at her and thinking of her sudden fierceness. After they finished shopping, they walked towards the church hand in hand while Lily carried the food in a basket on her back. Greyson happily skipped around while Sister Lily warmly smiled watching him. Suddenly, a rough hand grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back. Yelping in surprise, she turned to look and came face to face with an obviously drunk man. Looking worried, she tried to pull her arm from his grasp. "Sir, I would appreciate if you let go." "Whattaya mean pretty lady~, come hang out with me. Mmmm, a sister, huh? So that means your all chaste and stuff right? Let me show you a good time." He made a disgusting smile that sent goosebumps up her spine. "No! I need to get back to the church!" "Just for a minute, come on!" "No! Please just let..." Before she could finish, Greyson quickly came over and punched the man square in the balls. Grunting in pain, the man suddenly knelt in pain. Overcome with anger, he forgot the pain he was in and kicked Greyson. Shocked, Lily went to check on Greyson. "What kind of weak man bullies children?! Even if I needed a man, it most certainly wouldn''t be you! A disgusting coward who only knows how to pick on women and children and get drunk all the time." "What did you say to me?!" the man quickly walked over and grabbed onto Lily again giving her a hard slap. He started ripping her nun habit. Lily started to panic and tried to fight the man off. Greyson saw all of this in horror and felt the anger boiling inside him. He joined in the effort of pulling the man away but to no avail. Desperation hit him as he suddenly felt a pull towards the snow on the ground. Following instinct, he waved his arms violently as his blue eyes glowed. "NO!" he screamed. The snow suddenly exploded with strength and sent the man flying in shock. He hit the tree behind with a thud and passed out. Greyson''s eyes suddenly glowed brown and the tree branches grabbed the man and tied him up. Seeing all this was done, Greyson felt dizzy before the world turned black as he passed out. 3 You Can Speak? Greyson slowly felt his eyes opening and was trying to remember what happened before he fainted.He finally thought about Sister Lily as his eyes flung open. He quickly sat up and started to look around in a panic. He finally saw Lily at the edge of his bed resting her head. She felt his sudden movement and also woke up along with him. Looking into his eyes, she felt conflicted but also proud of him. Greyson saw the hesitation in her eyes and felt fear that she would abandon him as well. He quickly grabbed her hand and started to tear up, "Are you afraid of me?" Sister Lily looked immensely shocked to hear his voice and did not answer at first. She blanked out for a moment just looking at him. "You... you can speak?" she stuttered in surprise. Now it was Greyson''s turn to feel surprised by her unexpected question. He realized that this was her first time hearing his voice, so he quickly nodded his head. "Why didn''t you speak before?" "Everyone would always crowd around me saying stuff about my looks or that they pity me because I''m an orphan. Plus the other kids are so annoying..." "So you thought if you never spoke, they would just leave you alone?" "Well... yes..." "Myself included?" "Hmm... well I thought I would get caught if I spoke to you then everyone would realize I CAN speak and I was just ignoring them." At this moment he finally looked repentant when he thought of all the times Sister Lily would keep talking to him even though he would never respond. "Sister Lily is the only one I want to speak to..." Greyson looked worried and tried to quickly explain himself. "Oh well, then for a while you will just have to put up with me ignoring you. You should experience talking to someone who only nods or shakes his head. Hmph!" "Wait don''t do that... Please~... I''m really sorry..." He bowed his head while looking up with tears filling his eyes. Sister Lily looked on and couldn''t deny that face so she just laughed all of sudden saying, "I wouldn''t be able to keep up and remember to be silent all day anyways, I don''t have your patience. Just promise me you will keep talking now, okay?" Greyson suddenly smiled and laughed as well making Lily feel like she was fooled by his face. "But, Greyson, do you know what you did to that man today?" Sister Lily''s face got serious again as she asked him. "I''m not sure. I just felt so angry and helpless at that moment, so my body moved on instinct. What exactly happened?" Greyson looked scared of himself and started to shake. "It''s okay, it''s nothing bad. He was a bad man and you didn''t hurt him very badly. You just knocked him out. I checked before I left and carried you back to the church. But I think it was magic, right? Except people with magic are rather rare, especially with magic like yours. There''s a 1 in 100 chance of being born with the ability to use magic and usually everyone only has one element that they have an affinity with. You used water to move the snow and earth to move the tree branches. That''s already two, and you didn''t use any chants for a spell. It just moved with your thoughts... Greyson you should probably stay low-key with your magic and I will ask around town about what kids with magic should do. Maybe you could be given a better position later on if the nobles know that you can use magic." Lily quickly analyzed the situation only to realize that, as someone without magic and no prior experience, she didn''t know how to help Greyson. Greyson nodded his head with a serious face. Sister Lily looked at him acting like a little adult and felt that he was too cute. She ruffled his hair and smiled at him. "Well it''s not too serious. You can still try to play around and try to figure out your magic. I don''t know how this stuff works, but just try to remember what happened yesterday and pull from that!" Lily spoke with a sparkle in her eyes. She was curious about his abilities. Greyson was also very curious about testing it out so he nodded to her feeling very excited. 4 A Strange Ca Greyson felt excited to try out the new powers in him. The next morning, he ran outside into the surrounding woods while making sure that no one was following. Seeing that the coast was clear, Greyson''s eyes lit up as he thought back to yesterday''s episode. He couldn''t remember much, but Sister Lily said he moved the snow and made the tree tie up the man. Hmmmm... move the snow? Thinking about it, he moved his arms before and the snow just followed. Sitting down in the snow, Greyson tried to connect with the environment. Pushing out with arms, he screamed out, "GO!" To his disappointment, the snow stayed where it was with no sign of any movement. Suddenly, Greyson felt very thankful he found somewhere alone. Again and again, he moved his arms wildly trying to feel that same connection to the snow. Nothing, nothing, NOTHING! He felt frustrated with his uselessness and decided that maybe moving the tree would prove easier. Trying to move on from his previous failures, he started to stare intently at the tree in front him. In his head, Greyson begged the tree to move. He stared so hard that he felt he was going cross-eyed. Guessing that he could maybe feel the tree more if he touched it, Greyson came up to the tree and placed his hand on it. Nothing again. He waited and waited while touching, even hugging, the tree. Nothing. "ARGH... Ow!" Taking his frustration out on the tree, he kicked it with all his might only to grab his foot in pain right after. God, why was he becoming more and more like the idiotic children at the church? Kicking a tree like that was something Wolf would do if he threw one of his tantrums. "Are you one of those crazy humans I hear about?" A voice suddenly questioned. "Who are you?!" Greyson called out while looking around to find the owner of the voice. "Just a passerby who couldn''t help but feel curious about your antics. First you were waving your arms all around in the snow then you decided to start molesting a tree. So I couldn''t help but question you. Mother told me sometimes humans just snap when they are by themselves in the wild, yanno? But you seem to be a baby human, what happened to you that you turned out like this?" Just as Greyson felt speechless by the response of the voice, he heard the snow crunching beside him. Looking over, he felt shocked. In front of him stood a odd looking kitten. It was very cute with smooth and sleek looking silver fur, but the odd part was that the cat had two tails and different colored eyes. One was blue and one was green. "I thought I wasn''t crazy... but I''m suddenly not sure because I obviously think a cat is speaking to me." Greyson finally slowly responded feeling confused. "Well even if you aren''t crazy, you''re certainly not the brightest human." The cat then rolled its eyes, "Haven''t you heard that some magic beasts are very intelligent and can also speak the human language?" "Really? Well, no, this is the first time I''ve heard about this... Wait, I''m not dumb and I''m not crazy! I don''t know why I have to listen to you criticize me. I''m just trying to use magic!" Greyson suddenly realized he was getting insulted by a cat and felt offended. "There''s not a whole lot magic going on for someone who is trying to use magic," the cat responded sarcastically. "I can use magic! I did it yesterday! I moved the snow. I just... don''t remember how I did it." Greyson wanted to defend himself, but his voice got softer at the end in embarrassment. "Hm? Move the snow? Like this?" The cat''s attention was piqued as it lifted its paw. To Greyson''s surprise, the snow suddenly formed into a ball. Too busy fascinating over the ball that magically formed, Greyson didn''t notice the mischief in the cat''s eyes. With another wave of its paw, the cat caused the snowball to smash into Greyson''s face. "Hey! What was that for? No, more importantly, how did you do that?" Greyson was hungry for more knowledge and looked towards the cat earnestly while forgetting about the prank quickly. "Because I''m an all-powerful god... obviously I used magic." The cat mocked Greyson again, but feeling an odd sense of superiority that pleased him, he claimed, "You seem to be a rather pretty human. I guess the magnificent, I, can teach you how to use magic. No need for deep thanks, dumb human. I''m just feeling generous towards the pitiful." Although he was slightly tempted to strangle the cat, Greyson held back and looked towards it with hope sparkling in his eyes. "Hm... where to start... Pretty much there are tiny spirits for every element in the world. Light, dark, water, fire, earth, wind are the main elements. While there are also some more rare element conditions like lightning or spatial. Using magic, you need to attract these elements into your body. Once you can feel and communicate with the elements, you can move and control things of the elements. Most people are only sensitive to one element, some of the rarer geniuses can use multiple elements. There are also some people who are very sensitive to the elements and are favored by them. Magic beasts and elves tend to be more sensitive than humans." Although the cat made his explanation simplistic, the reality was that most people could never understand with just that much information. The cat was obviously a rare tier of a magical beast species so it was talented and just as intelligent as humans. Using magic was like breathing. Most humans also needed spells and chants to control the element, too. "Feel the elements? I guess I could try..." Feeling suspicious, Greyson still lied down in the snow and tried to feel the water element. He started to calm down and breathe slowly, almost like he was falling asleep. The impatience of earlier left him as he tried to picture the environment as living spirits. He suddenly snapped his eyes open while his blue eyes glowed. He looked around and saw the blue elements circling around him. He reached out his hands to touch them feeling comfortable in their company. "Will you help me?" He asked gently. All around he could hear their whispers. Greyson suddenly felt in control and looked towards the obviously shocked cat. Smirking as a devious thought crossed his mind, he asked a favor from the elements. The cat was not as distracted as the earlier Greyson and felt the movement of the elements, so he quickly dodged before the snow enveloped him. But the snow did not stop as it clung to the cat''s foot and froze. The cat realized it was caught and the snow froze all around it. He huffed angrily while looking towards his trapped leg. "Really biting the hand that fed you, huh? I just gave you wisdom, shouldn''t you be respecting me as your teacher? But you seem to be a pretty talented human, I didn''t say much and you already got it. Plus, the elements seem to love you. How unfair." The cat ignored the fact that he was as talented as Greyson and just felt annoyed. He quickly broke out of the snow as he was more powerful than Greyson. Ignoring the cat''s complaints, Greyson smiled and celebrated that he could use magic. He kept testing out his abilities. He formed snowballs like the cat earlier and threw them everywhere and formed snow sculptures of random animals and people. But before he could be too happy, Greyson felt dizzy and suddenly fainted into the ground. "Hmph, and he says he''s not dumb. Well you''re obviously only a novice level 1 magician, how could you use magic that often? Now you''ve gone and fainted... but... you''re pretty interesting and easy on the eyes. I guess I could follow you around." Thinking it through, the cat decided to hide and wait for the kid to wake up and leave or for someone to come get him. If Greyson could wake up, he would protest feeling wronged. The cat obviously didn''t tell him about the limits of magic power, so how was he supposed to know that it would make him faint. 5 Dalia Kingdom Magic Academy The cat was not disappointed during his wait and soon a nun came running around looking for Greyson. She was of course Sister Lily, and once Lily saw Greyson passed out in the snow she picked him up and carried him back to the church. The cat silently followed them back and even crept into Greyson''s bedroom. Greyson slowly started to wake up in a groggy state while trying to figure out where he was. Soon, after looking around, he realized he was back at the church in his room. "Looks like you''re awake?" An annoyingly familiar voice spoke out to him. "You''re that cat! You followed me back? What do you want?" Greyson felt shocked by the cat''s presence and suddenly felt the animal''s actions seemed suspicious. "I just found you rather interesting and decided to follow you around. It''s better than wandering around in the forest by myself." The cat lazily responded. "Well, I guess you have no reason to scheme against me anyways... what''s your name in that case? My name is Greyson. No last name because I''m not a noble as you could probably tell." "My mother would always call me ''child'' or ''son'' so I guess you could say I don''t have a name. Why don''t you give me one for convenience sake." "Really? Name you? Hmmm... well you have silver fur... so... how about Silvy?" Greyson seemed rather proud of his creativity. Rolling his eyes, the cat exasperatedly retorted, "Is that seriously the best you could come up with? You must really be a baby human. Let me think of one for myself. How about Lucius? I think that''s a pretty noble sounding name. A perfect fit for a wonderful being such as I." "Lucius? Well it''s fine I guess. Pretty similar to Silvy in my opinion. I''ll call you Lu!" Greyson seemingly refused to let the insult to his naming sense go unnoticed, but compromised anyways. Just as Greyson was about to question his new friend, he saw the door open to reveal the worried Sister Lily. "You''re awake! What happened? I was so worried when I saw you passed out in the snow like that!" Lily quickly ran up to the bed and interrogated him. "I''m not too sure myself, but, looking at the first time and this time, I think using magic tires me out and I don''t know my limit so I end up passing out." Greyson ended up correctly deducing the problem from his instinct which impressed Lucius. "So you can use magic? For sure?" Lily''s eyes lit up with wonder and happiness hearing the news. "Yes! I can. I think I have talent for it as well!" Greyson confirmed her thoughts with an excited grin. "I went into town and found out a few things. There wasn''t much info, but I did find out what people who are talented with magic do. Our Edysa Kingdom is too small for such things, but the Snow Country has different tiers of kingdoms while at the top lies the Moon Empire which controls the entire country. Edysa Kingdom is a tier three kingdom without any real power. But we are allies with a tier two kingdom called the Dalia Kingdom. They have the best known magical academy in the area where local talents will be tested then hopefully accepted. I hear you can choose different magical professions and be able to earn ranks of nobility! This is wonderful news for you Greyson. I would want you to try out right away, but you are still so young and you have to go to the capital of Edysa Kingdom to qualify to go to the Dalia Kingdom. They have tests every year in order to find new talent to send to the magic academy. I can''t go with you and there is no way I could let someone as young as you go by yourself. Who knows what could happen to you along the way. We will just have to wait until you get older." Greyson wanted to object to her thoughts, but he could not deny the fact that he had lived for only 5 years now and he did not know the world. He was weak, easy to prey on, and had no idea what he was getting himself into. Although reluctant, he obediently nodded his head and started making calculations for later into the future. Sister Lily saw his disappointment so she hugged him good night before leaving him alone to his thoughts. "You''re not actually going to listen to that ignorant human, are you?" Lucius came out of hiding and spoke with clear disdain for Lily. "Lucius, if we are going to be friends then I better not hear you disrespect Sister Lily again. My own birth parents abandoned me, but Sister Lily truly loved and cared for me all these years. She is my mother in every definition of the word excluding a biological connection. So don''t speak about her like that or we cannot be friends." Greyson could take the taunts and jokes about himself, but comments that disrespect Sister Lily could not be shrugged off. For once, Lucius looked like he felt sorry about his words and sincerely apologized, "Sorry, I didn''t mean to come off that way. She just doesn''t understand magic, but I can see she truly cares about your well-being." "I''ll forgive you this once. Going back to the prior subject, Lu, why shouldn''t I follow her advice? It seems pretty sound to me. I''m young, weak, and cute-looking. I literally scream victim. I would have to be stupid and arrogant to think I could make it to the capital by myself." Greyson calmed down because he could see the sincerity behind the apology and asked Lucius to explain his opinion. "Hm... well don''t put yourself down. You''re like what 5 or 6 years old? You are definitely very mature and intelligent for your age. However, you are at a disadvantage because you''re ignorant of the wider world. You are stuck in a tiny bubble with other ignorant commoners." "Exactly, that''s why I should..." "BUT I have all the knowledge you need. I can be your guardian during your trip. I don''t know everything obviously, but I have lived longer than you and my magic is stronger than yours. In this backwater area, I can at least protect you." Greyson rolled his eyes protesting, "You''re still a kitten, you look like a baby as well. You couldn''t be more than a couple years older than me." "And this is what I mean by ignorance! Magic beasts mature slowly, I might look like this but I have been alive for 20 years. I know much more about reading people and I have had more time to understand magic!" "20?! You could be my father... why are you so old? Now it feels weird that you''re my friend. I should just call you old man Lu." "O...OL...OLD?! You call 20 old? How dare you! My species could live for millennia. I am still a baby." "Whatever you say, Old Man Lu." Greyson smirked knowing he had one over the cat finally. Speechless, Lucius could only shake his head continuing, "What I want to say, though, is that I can lead you to the capital safely. You don''t seem to understand anything about magic, so let me give you a small breakdown. There are multiple levels to a magician''s strength: novice, intermediate, advanced, magister, great magister, magician king, magician emperor, Elemental God. The last stage is a myth and I''m not really sure it exists, but anyways that level is a dream for you at this point. Each level has 5 stages. You right now are a novice magician stage 1 because you only began using magic yesterday. Breaking through each level has different meanings. I will only inform you about the novice level 5 stage breakthroughs. You already passed the first stage which is to unlock the elemental sight. The first three stages have to do with the senses. Your senses have to be able to interact with the elemental spirits to be able to channel them. The last two stages are about absorption of mana. Mana is the energy produced by the spirits that allow you to control the elements. The next stage for you would be to unlock your ears to hear the spirits. Letting you know now, I am the equivalent to an intermediate stage 3 magician. Magic beast ranks are different though. This is only temporary because I will quickly get stronger through my bloodline." Greyson ignored the last part because he was stuck reflecting on a single point: "If the second stage is the ears, then if I could already hear the whispers of the spirits yesterday while I was using magic does that mean I''m at stage two already?" "What?! Are you sure you heard them?" Lucius realized he was always getting shocked by this boy. Greyson didn''t hide anything and simply nodded. "Hmmm... you are more talented than I thought. Well, I guess this means you''re already a novice stage 2 magician. You''re next step would be touch. You have to feel the elements and absorb them into your body. As you level up, you will be able to store more and more mana so you can use magic for longer periods of time and use larger attack and defense moves." Greyson felt like a whole new world was opened up to him and he had tons of new goals for himself. But, "this information is really amazing and useful, however, it doesn''t change the fact that I am weak and you are not THAT strong either. A lot could go wrong. Why should I risk everything now instead of waiting?" "In this kind of country, my level is very rare in comparison to my age, mind you. But, if you must know why I am pushing for this so much, it is because both you and Sister Lily do not understand how crucial of a time your youth is for you. Your chances of advancing are much less once you pass a certain age for each different level. Right now, you are full of potential for advancement. You have to take advantage of your youth!" Lucius finally came clean with the main point. Hearing his words, Greyson finally understood. He hesitated. Would he really be able to let go of his chances without any regrets? He yearned to understand more and to become a top existence that everyone respects. He could give a luxurious life to Sister Lily and prove that it doesn''t matter that he is an orphan. His thoughts were rather simple and pure. He didn''t want the title for greed and selfishness, he just wanted to provide the best for his loved ones and to prevent people from looking down on him and his upbringing. Steeling his determination, Greyson looked to Lucius and declared, "Let''s go to the capital! I will attend Dalia Magic Academy!" Lucius made a wide grin. He already anticipated the fun he would have on this adventure. 6 Leaving Willow Town After making up his mind, Greyson started to quietly pack his clothes and his little bit of savings from doing chores around the church. He decided that he would leave tomorrow morning while pretending to go out into the woods to practice magic again. Once his mind was made, Greyson did not hesitate. His only regret would be leaving without telling Sister Lily to her face. He didn''t want her to worry that he had disappeared, so he wrote her a letter explaining why he had to leave and that he would be back when he could help the other orphans and her live a better life. With all his preparations ready, Greyson finally fell asleep. Unbeknownst to Greyson who was fast asleep, Sister Lily had come back in to check on him. She came and tucked him in, but, just as she was leaving, she saw the letter on top of his desk. She quietly walked over and realized the letter was addressed to her. Curious of its contents, Lily quickly opened the folded paper and read his explanation. She first wanted to punish him for wanting to leave, however, after seeing the new information and his goals, she decided to let him go. Part of her worried immensely about what would happen to Greyson once he was not under her protection anymore. She was also suspicious to how he knew the information about magic. If he was correct, though, Lily wanted the best life for him. Against her better judgment, she quietly refolded the paper and went downstairs. She quickly came back with another small bag of bread and dried meat and a letter. After placing the stuff she brought in his travel bag, Lily kissed Greyson good night and walked out. Once Sister Lily closed the door behind her, Lucius eyes opened and stared at the door in deep thought before quickly closing again as he fell asleep. ... Early the next morning, Greyson jumped out of bed. Clearly excited, he quickly made his bed one last time then double-checked his room. Seeing everything in order, he ran downstairs to see Sister Lily baking bread for breakfast. Feeling slightly emotional, he ran up to her and gave her a tight hug. Sister Lily felt tears coming up so she tried to calm herself. "Going out again?" She tried to keep her voice steady without giving herself away. Greyson just nodded while continuing to hold onto her. "Well, just make sure to return safely, okay?" "Okay..." Finally letting go, Greyson quickly grabbed a piece of bread then ran for the door. "I''ll be back!" He yelled over to Sister Lily but did not look back towards her. He ran further and further away from the church until he suddenly stopped and turned back. Taking one last look, Greyson let one tear drop from his eyes before turning away. Determination reflecting in his eyes, he continued to run in the direction of the capital. Lily stopped her work for breakfast and walked over to the chapel. She knelt down and prayed for Greyson''s safety and prosperity in his ventures outside. Wiping away her tears, she went back to her daily chore routines as if nothing special happened. ... "Hey, you know, last night I saw Sister Lily come back into the room. I''m pretty sure she knew that you were leaving today. She read your letter last night." Lucius spoke up after they were far enough away from the church. "What?! And she didn''t stop me?" Greyson felt shocked at her silent approval. "I''m not sure about her exact thoughts, but she put some food and a letter into your bag. Why don''t you see what the letter says?" Heeding Lucius''s advice, Greyson put his bag down and searched around for the letter. Rummaging around, he found a small note addressed to him. Greyson, By the time you read this you will probably be on your way to the capital. Hmph, you thought you could just leave without telling me anything! I know you better than you know yourself! But because I do, I know that there are amazing things in store for your future. Much bigger things await you and I don''t want you to feel regret being stuck in the small, remote Willow Town. I can''t say I won''t worry nor can I guarantee that you will not suffer while exploring, but I believe that you will push through everything. No matter if you greatly succeed or make small accomplishments, I will always be proud of you. If life ever gets too hard for you, know that the church is always your home and we will always welcome you back. Stay safe, make lots of friends, and have tons of fun! I''ll be waiting for your return. Love, Sister Lily Reading her heartfelt words, Greyson could no longer continue acting tough. He hugged the letter and cried. Lucius was shocked by his sudden breakdown and could only silently sit next to Greyson until he was done. Around 10 minutes later, Greyson cries quieted down and he slowly stopped crying. "Are you finally done crying? My goodness, if I knew you were such a crybaby earlier, I wouldn''t have decided to follow you around. Maybe I should find someone else. I don''t deal well with children in the first place." Lucius sighed. Greyson rolled his eyes in response saying, "Did I ask you to follow? This was all your own decision not mine. It''s not like I could force you to stay." Wiping his eyes, Greyson finally put his bag back in order and got up off the ground. "Well, I convinced you to leave saying that I could protect you along the way so I can''t exactly abandon you now. Plus, I am a cat of my word." Lucius retorted. Greyson just smiled and started walking. He knew Lucius sounded grumpy and full of himself, but he could tell the cat was a friend and very caring underneath all that fur. Having let out all his emotions, Greyson felt relaxed and continued onward. Lucius jumped up onto Greyson''s shoulder and rested there as they left Willow Town behind them. 7 Were Bandits Always This Weak? In a snowy forest, a small white robed body sat in the snow with a cute silver kitten next to it. Greyson had made it halfway to the capital already and would soon arrive at another major city called Sirius City. He would stop every now and then to meditate and try to reach the next stage. "Hey, Grey, you said that you used earth magic as well before, right?" Lucius suddenly asked. "Hm? Yeah, what about it?" "Well, can you use any other element magic?" "I don''t know how to tell. How would I know?" "When you meditate this time, don''t try to concentrate only on the water element of the snow. Try to feel the entire environment around you. When you open your eyes, you should be able to see the different colors of the elements. The colors represent what elements you can use. Why don''t you try it out now?" Lucius suggested. Greyson quickly nodded and tried to meditate according to Lucius''s advice. Soon he felt very comfortable, as if he were no longer sitting in the cold snow but in a warm and gentle paradise. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a large amount of different colors. Blue, green, brown, gold, and black energy was everywhere. There was also hints of red and purple, but they were obviously more scarce than the others. "Lucius, I see blue, green, brown, gold, black, and a little bit of red and purple! What does this mean? Can I use seven different elements then? That doesn''t seem right." Greyson quickly questioned Lucius as he could not understand the myriad of colors around him. "WHAT?! YOU CAN SEE SEVEN? Are you sure? Like definitely, 100% sure? Oh my god. I''m just going to go cry now. What kind of monster are you? Are you sure you''re human, not another species in disguise? How could it be seven?" Lucius was beyond shocked and was almost hysterical. "What do they all represent?" Greyson asked. "Blue is obviously water. Red is fire, green is wind, brown is earth, gold is light, black is dark, and purple should be lightning." Lucius calmed down and answered seriously. "Why can I see so much of the other colors, but red and purple are faint? Does that mean I can use those elements just not well? I''m not as sensitive towards them?" Greyson continued asking in order to understand his situation. "No, it''s not that. Elements obviously exist everywhere, however, some places are more abundant of some elements than others. For example, Snow Country is far north so it is always cold and snowing here. Thus, the fire elements here are much less than the water elements. Similarly, there are some locations like near a volcano where the fire elements are extremely abundant while the water element is more scarce. This is why magicians who can use multiple elements usually have an advantage because even if one element is weak in an area they have another to back it up." Lucius again taught Greyson more of the basics of magic knowledge. "Ahhhh... wow that''s pretty neat. Hey, this means I''m a super awesome genius, right? You''re always bragging about your talent, but obviously you don''t measure up to me!" Greyson felt super proud of his talent and made sure to brag to Lucius to get under his skin. Lucius glared at him while retorting, "the amount of elements doesn''t directly correlate to power and talent. If anything, it could slow down your progress because you will have to meditate that much more than me. In the later stages, your elements will not advance together automatically. You will have to absorb all of them to break through otherwise your body will be unbalanced and you could cripple yourself." Lucius''s words were like cold water that woke Greyson up to the reality. His arrogance deflated at the thought of the extra work he would have to put into getting stronger. "Well, don''t get too discouraged. The elements seem to love you so you advance very quickly even with seven elements. Plus, having a plethora of elements to use will help you in the future. You will be very well-rounded and have less glaring weaknesses." Lucius felt like he was being too harsh, so he tried to console him. "Yeah! You''re right. I appreciate a challenge anyways." Greyson quickly smiled again with a new excitement for the future. ... After that shocking discovery, Greyson and Lucius soon returned to normal and continued on their way to Sirius. "Hey, Lu, didn''t that grandma in the last town say there were a lot of bandits on the way to the city? We haven''t run into any yet, though." Greyson looked towards Lucius on his shoulder. "Yeah, maybe we''re just lucky. Even if they did come, it wouldn''t be a big deal with me here." Lucius answered confidently while yawning. He stretched his limbs a little and closed his eyes for a nap. Greyson looked at him with doubt, but had no other choice but to believe in the lazy kitten. He kept his complaints towards the annoying cat in his heart while he kept doing all the walking. Grumbling to himself, he hoped that Lucius knew what he was doing. Just as the two both went back to silence, Lucius''s eyes opened as his ears twitched. He sighed lightly, "You just HAD to go and say something about bandits didn''t you?" Before Greyson could ask his meaning, a group of about 15 jumped out from the trees onto the path. Most of them were rather ugly-looking middle-aged men. There were a couple muscular women as well whose faces sent shivers down Greyson''s spine. The muscular man in front, who looked like the leader, loudly spoke to the others, "Darn, it''s just a little kid. He looks poor, too. Maybe we could sell the kid? Some of those nobles are perverts who like children. Hey, kid, pull back your hood and let us see your face!" Greyson was not stupid enough to show his face because he was well aware of his good looks. Instead he answered, "Mister, I don''t have any money with me and I was born disfigured. Could you just let me through? I won''t bring you any profit." "Hmmm... even an ugly girl could still be a maid or something. A lot of female nobles don''t like it when their servants are pretty anyways." Greyson''s young voice was high and clear and nice to listen to, thus the bandits assumed right away that he was female. Annoyed, he almost shouted to correct them, but decided against being disrespectful. "Sir, I''m actually a boy..." Before Greyson could finish, Lucius suddenly spoke out, "Why bother negotiating with these weaklings? I''ll just take care of them." The group was shocked by the second voice and started looking around. One of the men shouted, "who''s there?! Show yourself! Fight me in the open if you''re so strong." They all did not know that magic beasts could speak and thus completely ignored the kitten on Greyson''s shoulder. "Idiots..." After mumbling to himself, Lucius swept his paw and the snow grabbed onto the bandits and froze. The bandits were shocked and tried to break out of the ice. They started shouting to let them out, but Lucius ignored them and closed his eyes to take a nap again. Greyson looked on in shock and realized his worries were completely unnecessary. Magic was completely beyond what normal mortals could fight against. Although bandits would be scary to normal people, a decent magician could deal with them in the blink of an eye. He broke out of his daze and easily walked right past the trapped bandits. Once he easily passed by them, he looked back still slightly in wonder. Turning around and scratching his nose, he murmured, "Were bandits always this weak?" Although he said it rather quietly, the bandits could still here him. Overwhelming shame came over them as they felt completely speechless. The leader suddenly shouted, "If you''re a man, than fight with your fists!" Greyson rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Sorry, but I''m a boy not a man. I''m not dumb enough to try to physically win over you." With that answer, he ran off leaving the bandits far behind. 8 Misunderstanding As if his words were a jinx, Greyson ran into 4 more bandit groups on his way to Sirius. Of course Lucius easily took care of them, but when he ran into the last bandit group Greyson was about ready to scream in annoyance. It was like a terrible case of deja vu. They had the same goals, same starting words, even the same look. Somehow it felt that he was repeating the same part of his life over and over. Finally, after a long month of traveling, Greyson could see the large and imposing Sirius City in the distance. Just a little further and he could reach the entrance. Relief evident in his face, Greyson started running towards the city. Lucius, rudely awoken by the sudden movement, was going to complain before he too saw the city in the distance. Similarly excited, Lucius decided to swallow his complaints and looked towards the city while thinking of a warm and comfortable bed at an inn. ... "Halt!" After waiting in a long line with other villagers coming from different surrounding areas, Greyson reached the gate of the city at last. However, before he could walk through, a guard yelled out and stopped him. Looking confused, Greyson turned towards the guard who ordered him to stop. "What seems to be the problem, sir?" He politely inquired. "Take down the cowl and show us your face. It''s not that you seem that dangerous but it would be suspicious if you continued to cover your face." The guard clearly explained. Greyson grimaced and instead asked, "I have a disfigured face thus I normally cover it, is it possible for me not to show it? I''m really only a young villager who came out to see the world. I have no intention to harm the city and I really doubt I would be capable even if I wanted to." The guard heard his words and looked conflicted. The child didn''t seem threatening, but he should follow protocol... "How about this, I''ll take you to the side room and you can show me your face just so I won''t feel nervous later. That way if it is really as you say only I would see your face. Would that be okay?" Greyson could see that the guard just wanted to do his job and he thought the solution was very fair, so he nodded and followed him to the side room. Once they were inside the guard turned around and said, "We''re alone now, you can put your hood down." Greyson paused then explained, "Guard, sir, it''s not that I wanted to lie but I am in a tough situation. I''m not really disfigured, but... My looks tend to draw trouble towards me so I cover them normally." The guard seemed angry about the lie at first, but he wanted to give the kid a chance so he let it go saying, "Just show me your face already. I don''t understand what the big deal is..." Before he could finish his sentence, Greyson pulled down his hood showing his face. His silky white shoulder length hair and large deep blue eyes were suddenly out in the open. Greyson had clear pale skin, red lips, and pearly white teeth that only magnified his cute looks. The guard was shocked, but suddenly understood. Coughing in embarrassment after realizing he had been staring, the guard responded, "Uhhh... okay... I can understand why, young miss. You seem to not be suspicious. You can pull your hood back up. Young lady, your idea to cover your face is very intelligent. There are a lot of sick people in the world. You may go" Greyson clenched his teeth in anger at being mistaken for a girl again, but quietly put his hood back up and left. The guard went back out to join the rest at the gate again. His friend smirked at him asking, "so wasthe kid''s face so scary, you''re still in a daze now?" "Yeah... scary" Beautiful... But the guard swallowed the last word and left his words at that. ... Once they were out of earshot, Lucius couldn''t control his giggling anymore. "Yes, young LADY, you should not stay out too late either. Who know what perverts will come. Hahahahaha...." Greyson blushed while glaring at Lucius, "Shut up you stupid old cat! It''s because I''m young! When I''m older I''ll be an incomparably cool and manly adult. No one would make that mistake then." "I don''t know... You were blessed with such pretty features that maybe it would too creepy if you grew up to be a buff man. You would just look like a woman with too much muscle... Kakakakaka..." Lucius continued laughing when picturing a muscular Greyson. Finding his laugh grating, Greyson grabbed Lucius and dropped him off his shoulder then continued walking away. "Hey! Can''t you just take a joke? Hey, wait!" Lucius protested while still giggling away, but he quickly noticed Greyson wasn''t stopping so he chased after him. Still fuming from earlier, Greyson kept stomping away. He was just walking to blow off steam so he wasn''t paying attention to where he was going until he slammed right into another body. "OW!" Greyson heard a young voice shout out in pain as he slammed into the ground as well. The force from hitting the person made his hood fall back without him realizing. The voice continued, "Why don''t you watch where you''re going?! Daring to hit this young master, you''re... dead..." The young boy started trailing off as he looked upon Greyson''s face. Greyson was still rather distracted and did not notice the change in the boy''s eyes. He did know it was his fault though, so he quickly got up and apologized, "sorry, I wasn''t paying attention to what was in front of me. Are you okay?" The boy quickly recovered saying, "Of course I''m fine, I was just overreacting since I was surprised. It wasn''t that big a deal anyways. Are you okay?" Greyson was rather surprised by his answer and warmed up to the other boy thinking he was kind, "yes, I''m fine. Thanks for not blaming me." "Ah, no big deal, no big deal. You know, you seem to be a good person and I feel like we could be friends. I''m Claude Devereux, the young lord of Sirius City. What about you?" Claude blushed a little while he held out his hand looking friendly. Greyson smiled while shaking his hand, "I''m Greyson. I''m just an orphan from a village far away from here so I don''t have a last name. It''s nice to meet you. I don''t know if we can be friends since I have to leave here quickly tomorrow but maybe we could meet again later." He then smiled saying, "Nice to meet you, Grey. Oh you''re leaving? Where to? I''m also heading out tomorrow to the capital." Greyson''s eyes widened in surprise, "Capital? Wow, so am I..." "You are! Fantastic! You should travel with me! What are you going to the capital for?" "I''m going to try to get into Dalia Magic Academy." "Oh so you can use magic? We must really be fated. I''m going to get tested as well. I''m a water magician. What about you?" "Hmmm... I also use water magic..." For some reason, Greyson felt that for now it was better not to reveal how many elements he could use. Claude''s face brightened even more, "Yes, come with me tomorrow! I will meet you at the gate at sunrise!" After saying this he turned around and quickly ran off to get ready. "Wait! I didn''t even... say... yes. Hah?" Greyson tried to stop him but he was already gone. At this moment, Lucius jumped back up onto his shoulder. Greyson looked over at him and asked, "Lu, should I trust him? We only just met. He seems rather nice, though." Lucius smiled mysteriously, "Well he doesn''t mean any harm (yet), he''s like a cute puppy (in love). I think you should go with him. Plus, he''s rich so he can let us travel in comfort." Greyson didn''t notice the weird tone to Lucius''s voice and just nodded. He then walked to find the cheapest inn and paid for one night. ... The next morning, Greyson and Lucius walked over to the gate at sunrise. They quickly saw Claude waiting with an entire entourage of carriages and servants. Claude noticed them and quickly waved excitedly, "Grey~ you''re here! Come, come! This is our carriage." He grabbed Greyson''s hand and pulled him into the carriage. It was finally at this point that Greyson felt like something wasn''t right. He looked over to see Lucius laughing and then looked over to see Claude''s sparkling eyes. Something wasn''t... right... but he couldn''t put his finger on what was wrong just yet. 9 Bathe Together? As they traveled together, Greyson learned more about his new friend. Claude Devereux: 10 years old, water element, novice stage 3 magician, his father was the City Lord of Sirius. He was definitely nice, but a little spoiled and needy. Sadly, he wasn''t too talented as he was at the same level as Greyson but he was five years older. Yes, Greyson had quickly made his next breakthrough a little before arriving at Sirius so he was also a novice stage 3 magician. He also gave Greyson more information about using magic. Unlike Lucius, Claude was a human so he understood how humans used magic more clearly. Apparently, normal people needed to learn spell chants to use the element in certain ways and they needed to meditate on top of special magic runes which help them interact with the elements better. As Greyson learned more and more, he realized exactly what a miracle it was that he was able to learn magic through Lucius. All of Lucius''s explanations were severely lacking and a person without immense talent would have never been able to learn magic from him. Greyson started to realize there was something strange about him because he did not need as much aid as normal humans. He didn''t need the chants to use the elements nor did he need runes to meditate. Greyson was also feeling more and more uncomfortable with Claude. He kept trying to figure out what exactly it was about his new friend that bothered him. It wasn''t until they passed by a natural lake that he finally figured out the problem. Greyson saw the lake and was excited to finally clean himself. It had been a couple days since they left the city and he had yet to really bathe. It was a beautiful clear lake that was slightly frozen over, however, Claude had a fire magician servant who used a spell to heat up the water until it started steaming. Although Greyson didn''t really need the water to be warm, he still felt very happy with the thought of a hot bath. "Greyson why don''t you take a bath first? I''ll wait for you to be done." Claude suggested. "Hmm? We should take it together. Your servants should join in as well. The lake is definitely big enough for all of us. We''ll also save time." Greyson felt confused by Claude''s words. "Bathe...bathe together?! No, we cannot. This doesn''t seem right." "Right? What''s wrong with bathing together? Aren''t we friends?" "Men... men and women should not bathe together like this. I don''t know how it is in your village, but nobles are very strict about these sort of things." "Of course your maids can just bathe later, I wasn''t talking about them. I meant us, boys, could bathe first. You, me, and the guards." Greyson''s stomach had a sinking feeling as he continued speaking. "Boys... boys? You and me? Boys?" Claude''s brain seemed to suddenly overload. "Wait, wait, wait. Claude, you know that I. AM. A. BOY. Right?" "What?! You''re a boy?" "How could you not know? You even know my name. What kind of girl is named Greyson?" "I just thought you had a more masculine name. I don''t know. With your face, I couldn''t imagine you being a boy." Claude suddenly felt lost. Greyson felt so much rage at that statement that he quickly stripped off his clothes and walked up to Claude screaming, "Look! I am a boy!" After that he jumped into the lake and started swimming away. ... After that episode, Greyson finished bathing and stomped up to Lucius who was still cracking up inside the carriage. "Old Man Lu, you knew didn''t you?! I was wondering what put you in such a merry mood these days. Why didn''t you let me know earlier, stupid cat!" "Hahaha... I just did want to ruin that poor kid''s first love... hahahahahahaha...." Lucius could barely get his words out between his laughs. Before Greyson could yell more, he heard someone knocking on the carriage door. The door swung open to reveal Claude. The minute Claude saw Greyson''s face he blushed awkwardly then he walked in and sat down. "Sorry, Greyson, I didn''t realize you were a guy... I still want to be your friend, though. I didn''t just approach you because I thought you were a girl. It was a large part of the reason in the beginning, but after getting to know you I just liked you for your personality as well." He started fidgeting in his seat looking nervous. Greyson saw this and sighed, "whatever, I get this sort of misunderstanding a lot. It''s not that big a deal. It just hurts my pride a little." Claude looked up before finally laughing, "see! You can''t blame me for thinking you were a girl. Ah, my sad first love! Gone just like that! How traumatizing..." He dramatically pretended to be stabbed in the heart. Greyson kicked him, "Who''s your first love, you idiot?! You can''t even tell the difference between a boy and a girl. Who knows what stupid thing you might do in the future? You''re only 10 anyways, what do you know about love." "I just matured quickly, unlike you midget..." Claude murmured defensively. "I''m five and you''re ten. I''m not a midget, I have plenty of time to grow. Who knows, I might even grow taller than you!" Greyson kicked him again in mock anger before finally just laughing at this situation. Claude started laughing as well. After finally giggling enough, they stopped and looked over at each other. Greyson smiled and stretched out his hand saying, "Nice to meet you, I am Greyson. A five years old BOY from Willow Town. I think we can be good ''friends''." Claude smiled widely back and shook his hand replying, "Nice to meet you, I am Claude. I''d be honored to be friends with you." ... After clearing their misunderstanding, Claude and Greyson became much closer. As they continued on their journey, they meditated and practiced magic together. "Grey, you''re actually really talented. It''s like you were born for magic or something. You''ll definitely make it into the Academy at this rate! I''m just not sure about me... I''m not so great with this stuff. You''re so much younger than me, but you''re already this strong. There will probably be a bunch of other talented kids like you trying out." Claude felt happy for his new friend, but also bitter because he suddenly realized that he could not compare. "No, you''re talented, too, Claude! You put a lot of effort into learning magic. We''ll make it together! Plus even I feel like I''m a rather special case. I don''t think there will be a lot of others like me in the kingdom." Greyson could feel his friend''s depression growing lately, so he tried to cheer him up. "Yeah, you do have a point. If you were the norm, strong magicians wouldn''t be as rare as they are." Claude started to cheer up after hearing Greyson''s logic. "We''ll get in together! Let''s keep working hard. We''re almost at the capital, I''m getting really excited!" "Oh, right, you''ve never been to the capital before. It''s really big and cool. You will definitely be surprised the first time you go." 10 The Capital Travelling in a carriage cut the travel time in half since the horses could move faster for longer amounts of time. In just 10 days, the capital could be seen along with the castle. Greyson started feeling excited, but also nervous due to the exam coming up. The test to join the Dalia Magic Academy was given semiannually. There was one more week before the next exam, so Greyson was glad he met Claude or else he would have had to wait another half a year before he could take the next exam. Claude told Greyson some of the details of the exam which only served to make him more nervous. Apparently the standards for acceptance were very high and normally only 1 or 2 people will be accepted and sometimes none at all would pass. Although Claude and Lucius praised his talent, Greyson could not help but be nervous anyways. Nothing was set in stone so he didn''t want to get his hopes up too high and then fail. The carriages finally reached the city gates before they were stopped by the guards for identification. As a large city''s heir, Claude easily passed through the guards and they soon were inside of the city. Greyson felt excited and quickly exited from the carriages to look around. Forgetting to wait for Claude, he ran out with Lucius in tow. "Hey, Greyson! Wait for me! Hey!" Claude tried to shout out for him, but it was too late as he was left behind. He wanted to run after them, however, he had to be around for the carriages to be put away and so his servants could get into his house in the capital. ... "Lu, have you ever been to the capital before?" Greyson asked as he looked everywhere in wonder. Lucius rolled his eyes while snorting, "of course not, for what reason would I, a magical beast, need to enter a human city? I wouldn''t even know the directions, either." Greyson seemed to understand his question was stupid so he just ignored Lucius''s answer and continued looking around. Born in a small town, Greyson was shocked and impressed by the buildings and shops all around. There were even magic shops that sold all sorts of enchanted items and magic medicine shops. In Willow Town and even in Sirius City, the amount of magicians was small and such shops were not needed and not practical. He spotted a magic items shop and decided to go in for a peek. He opened the door to see all sorts of interesting looking items. Most of the store looked like a regular miscellaneous item shop. They sold jewelry, cooking items, toy trinkets, all daily items. Only these daily items were enchanted with magic, giving the owner a special ability. Some of the jewelry was linked to a specific spell that could serve as a life saver later or just an extra ability for comfort. The cooking items were enchanted, as well. The pots and pans had fire magic charms that allowed for the food to heat up without actual fire and storage containers had water magic charms to preserve food for longer or keep things cold. Greyson was completely fascinated by everything he saw to the point he felt that he was no longer in the same world. However, when he saw the price, he was no longer shocked because only the truly rich could afford items like this. Everything was priced in gold. All Greyson owned his entire life were coppers and only a couple hundred. His life savings could barely equate to one silver let alone gold. However, instead of feeling down about it, he just allowed this moment to inspire him to strive for more using his talent with magic. He would earn enough gold to help buy these items for the church and help make Sister Lily''s life easier. He remembered that she would get minor burns every now and then when she cooked because she had to stay close to the fire. These magic cooking items could make cooking so much easier for her. Greyson also thought back to Claude and realized that if he made enough money she would not need these items because he could just hire servants to do all the cooking for her. Clenching his fist, Greyson promised he would let her live a life a luxury like a Queen. Stuck in his thoughts, Greyson did not see the look of disdain that slowly arrived on the shopkeeper''s face. The shopkeeper looked at Greyson''s clothing and saw how poor the child looked. He right away knew that this poor kid would never be able to afford anything in his prestigious store. When he saw that Greyson showed no signs of leaving even after seeing the prices, he snorted and walked over to the store guards before pointing him out. "Hey, that beggar over there will disturb our real customers. He even brought some wild cat in with him. Go throw him out." The guards looked over and saw that it was just a small child and felt the shopkeeper was being too much. However, they knew they were paid by him, so they had no choice but to throw out the kid. They walked over behind him. Greyson felt people approaching him and turned around to see men in uniform. They looked like the store guards, but he felt confused as he had not done anything to warrant them coming for him. "Hey, kid, sorry but the shopkeeper wants you to leave. It''s not that we want to do this, but he''s a real jerk who like to kiss ass to rich people and bully the poor. He pays us no matter what, though, so we are going to have to throw you out. Could you cooperate? We won''t actually toss you. Once we are out the door we''ll just put you down." The older guard explained. Greyson glanced over at the shopkeeper and saw the mocking sneer on his face. He felt humiliated by the circumstances, but he didn''t want to make things difficult because he had no power in the city. He already felt thankful that the guards seemed to be kind people. Thinking it through, he nodded and let the man pick him up. The shopkeeper was satisfied by his actions and stopped paying attention. Once the guard was out the door, he placed Greyson down looking apologetic. "Sorry, kid, most of the people who own magic stores are nobles and they love to look down on commoners." "It''s alright. Thanks for not really throwing me out." Greyson smiled at the man and turned to leave. But before he could go, someone grabbed his shoulder. "Hey! I''ve been looking for you everywhere! What happened? I saw this guard carrying you out. Are you hurt?" Claude''s familiar voice rang out. Greyson looked over and just smiled saying, "it''s no big deal, the shopkeeper seemed to think I didn''t fit in at his store. He asked these gentlemen to escort me out." Claude could hear the hidden resentment in his voice and felt his own anger rising. He could pretty much infer what happened. Glaring at the guards, he pulled on Greyson''s arm and took him away. "Grey! We''re going to a clothing store. Right now!" He pulled him over to a well-known clothing store in the city and had the manager there dress Grey in new clothes. After waiting for a little while, he saw Grey walking out of the fitting room. The new Grey was wearing sapphire blue silk robes with white pants. His already stunning looks along with the clothes made him seem like a little prince. Claude nodded his head in satisfaction before telling his servant to pay for the clothes. He then pulled Grey back to that same store. "Hey, Claude, what are you doing? I didn''t need new clothes. Hey!" Grey continued to protest but couldn''t pull away from Claude''s grip. They entered the store and the shopkeeper looked over. He gasped with surprise and ran over before bowing slightly saying, "Young Lord Devereux, what brings you to my humble shop? Who is this noble young boy? Your friend?" Claude looked over at him and snorted angrily before replying, "Oh, my ''noble'' friend, is it? Why? Does he suddenly fit in with your store?" "Young Lord, I don''t quite follow what you''re saying..." the shopkeeper looked sincerely nonplussed. "My friend was here earlier, you don''t remember?" "Young Lord, your friend has stunning looks. I would definitely remember him if I saw him before. I have never seen him before today!" "Oh really? My friend here came in earlier in a plain white hooded robe. You probably didn''t see his face? Then you kicked him out because you thought he was poor and couldn''t afford anything in the store." Claude continued to grill the shopkeeper. The man thought for a second before he remembered the event earlier today when he kicked out a little beggar kid. He didn''t get a look at the face so he did not recognize Greyson when he walked in. "Young Lord, it was a misunderstanding. If I knew he was your friend, I definitely would never treat him so." The shopkeeper could only admit his mistakes while keeping his dissatisfaction locked away. "Hmph! I won''t forgive you unless I see you kneel and apologize to my friend. Otherwise I''ll tell all my noble friends that your shop is a scam and the things you sell are overpriced and flawed! I''ll see how you run business then!" "No! No, no, no, Young Lord, I''ll apologize, okay? I''ll apologize!" The shopkeeper panicked before turning to the little kid next to Claude. Gritting his teeth in anger, he swallow his pride before kneeling down and apologizing. "I''m sorry little friend. It was I who was blind and do not belong in this store." Greyson looked at the man in front of him. He did not mind as much as Claude, but he wouldn''t lie and say that seeing this man apologizing didn''t make him feel good. He felt great! Smirking, Greyson accepted his apology, "Oh, it''s okay. Everyone has moments of stupidity. I never took the incident to heart anyways." The shopkeeper kept looking down, but his eyes burned with resentment. Once he looked up, though, he smiled widely and nodded, "yes, yes, it was my idiocy. Did the Young Lords want to buy anything today?" "No, I wouldn''t want to shop in the low end store anyways." Claude quickly waved his hand lazily and started walking away. Greyson laughed nodding in agreement before following behind Claude. The shopkeeper looked at their backs before noticing the silver cat on Greyson''s shoulder looking back with mocking laughter in its eyes. Once they were gone, the shopkeeper grabbed one of the shop girls and threw her down. Venting his anger, he repeatedly kicked and stomped on the crying girl and wouldn''t stop no matter how much she plead. The girl fainted from her injuries before the shopkeeper finally stopped after he heard no response. Looking over to the guards, he ordered, "clean this up." Looking over at his trusted attendant, he grit his teeth and squeezed out, "I want to know who that boy is. I''ll make sure he will regret disrespecting me!" "But... sir... he seems to be good friends with Young Lord Devereux. Wouldn''t revenge be a bad idea?" "As long as he can''t trace it back to me and the event seems random, why would he think to get revenge on me? Plus, my store isn''t that weak. My family isn''t as strong as the Devereux family, but they have their own connections." The shopkeeper glared with rage at the door before walking back to his office. ... "Hey, Greyson, be careful. I don''t think that shopkeeper will let this go." Lucius whispered into Greyson''s ear. Greyson nodded and agreed that he should be cautious. However, he didn''t regret accepting Claude''s help. Glancing over, he finally spoke out, "hey, Claude, thanks for that... I really appreciate it." Claude smiled back, "We''re friends, right? It''s no big deal. Nobles like that disgust me anyways. They should be taught a lesson." Greyson smiled warmly at his comment and they continued walking towards the Devereux residence in the capital. 11 Crazy Girl Elysa Kingdom was of minor importance to the Dalia Kingdom Magic Academy in terms of the talent it could bring to the kingdom. Most of the real magical talent is inherited through superior genes, thus low tier kingdoms with mostly normal human nobles in power would not usually produce a startling magic genius. As such, the representative from the academy was a low-end teacher from the Water Department. His name was Harrison Eldred. He was the illegitimate 6th son of a branch of the Eldred Family. While the Eldred Family was a fairly powerful force in the Dalia Kingdom, Harrison was illegitimate and his father was the third son of the current Head. Sadly for Harrison, his talent was not outstanding and so the family did not support him. As much as that was true, he still was able to push himself to the advanced level third stage at his current age of 40. The Snow Country as a whole was cold and full of water element mana, thus the amount of water magicians in the country was the largest by far. Harrison''s presence, in such an enormous Water Department at the academy, was small. Therefore, he was always the first to volunteer for recruitment missions outside the academy since there was no shortage of families willing to bribe him. He would always gladly pocket their money for his personal funds and if the amount was enough he wouldn''t mind doing some favors as well. The shopkeeper read the information on Harrison while a smile grew larger and larger on his face. He began laughing loudly once he finished reading while a plan was already forming in his head. These types of men were the easiest to use as long as one had wealth. Harrison ended up arriving in the capital two days before the exam started. Per usual, many aristocratic families came and bribed him with all sorts of rare magic herbs they found or with gold. Harrison kept a genial smile in his face, but, if one looked close enough, they would be able to see the sharp disdain in his eyes. He accepted their money and made empty promises to help their children, however, he would never help them in reality. If their talent is inferior and he brought them back, the academy would be able to spot the discrepancy immediately. These families were all weak but they still made a lot of money as the local lords. Normally, magicians from higher tier kingdoms wouldn''t pay attention to the magic herbs and gold that the low tier kingdoms provided, but Harrison had no other way to receive more funding for himself. He just treated these foolish families as money bags and when he broke his promise later he would just use his identity to pressure them to not speak out about it. In reality, he wasn''t robbing them of too much money anyways so most of the families would just keep quiet about it and think of it as a gift to make connections. The night before the exam, Harrison received an invitation to that same magic items shop. He arrived on time, curious as to what the shopkeeper would want from him. As a store, they did not have children they wished to pass the exam so Harrison was confused as to why they would invite him. He was led into the meeting room and saw the shopkeeper waiting for him. Although Harrison wasn''t a fan of shady people like the shopkeeper, he still sat down to listen to the request. "Ah, you must be Lord Eldred, pleasure to make your acquaintance." The shopkeeper obviously lowered himself in front of Harrison. Harrison felt disdain for such people, but still cordially responded, "Yes, just call me Teacher Harrison. I''m not anyone important in the Eldred family. I don''t dare let myself be called Lord." The shopkeeper could sense his dislike, but continued anyways, "Teacher Harrison, you are too humble. As a powerful magician, you deserve anyone''s respect..." "Just get to the point. I don''t have time to listen to pointless flattery." Harrison firmly interrupted him as his ears were worn out from all the flattery he has listened to lately. The shopkeeper''s eyes flashed with anger slightly, but he reigned it in as he knew that Harrison could kill him in an instant. He widely smiled, "Ah, yes, you are very straightforward. I really admire this trait. Then I will be straight with you in return. I wish for you to definitely fail one of the exam participants. I''m not completely sure of his talent level, but I have found out that he''s from a rural area so it shouldn''t be too amazing. If his talent is pretty good, I hope you would still fail him. I''m sure it''s not that big a deal since Dalia Magic Academy has so many amazing geniuses." Harrison paused in thought before responding, "I guess I could accomplish this as it''s not a big deal. Plus, unless he is an amazing genius he would only suffer at the academy anyways. I would know best at how those with only above average talent are treated. They are a dime a dozen. Failing him would be doing him a favor." "Fantastic! Here is just a small token of my appreciation." The shopkeeper passed a storage bag to Harrison which contained a large amount of gold and magic items. Harrison peeked in using his magic and was very pleasantly surprised at the wealth this shop was in control of. "Hmmm... not bad. I hope we have a pleasant cooperation." Harrison smiled and shook the shopkeeper''s hand before leaving. The door shut behind him and there was silence until the attendant next the shopkeeper spoke out. "Sir, can we trust him? What if he just takes everything without doing anything?" "Hmm... I''m not sure, but he should follow through. It''s easy to fail someone, unlike those others who are bribing him to help their children pass. Anyways, this is just to make sure that he does not pass. Someone with his background probably would not be talented enough to join in the first place. Even without me meddling, his chances of passing are small. Once he doesn''t pass, he will probably head home and I can use that opening to kill that brat." The shopkeeper''s eyes squinted with viciousness as he thought to that day''s embarrassment. "Hmph, stupid brat. He will regret messing with me." ... The next day, the sun rose shining into a large bedroom. Sunlight brightly lit up the tiny sleeping face of a young boy. Feeling the warmth on his face, Greyson''s long white lashes twitched before fluttering open. His eyes came into focus only to see another face staring right at his only a couple inches away. His eyes widened in shock before jumping backwards in surprise. He sighed wearily before he rubbed his eyes while groggily yawning, "Catherine, I believe we have spoken about coming into my room without permission." The cute face on the little girl didn''t match her obviously arrogant attitude. She pouted and whined, "I told you to call me Cathy, plus you''re just so pretty and cute when you sleep so I can''t help but want to sneak a peek. You''ll also eventually be my husband, so why can''t I look at you?" This young girl, Catherine, was Claude''s cousin. She was 8 years old and the only girl born in Claude''s generation thus far in the Devereux family. As the only daughter, niece, and granddaughter, she was the apple of everyone''s eyes. With her cute looks added in, her family members couldn''t resist spoiling her rotten. Unfortunately for Greyson, she grew up extremely possessive and under the impression that anything she wants could belong to her. The moment she laid eyes on the pretty Greyson, she was obsessed with him. After finding out that he was talented at magic, she declared that she would marry him. She had been following him around and pestering him the entire week he had been waiting for the exam. Greyson was seriously irritated by her and helpless towards her unhealthy obsession for him. None of the Willow Town girls ever acted this crazy before, nor did they talk about marrying him. Why did this girl seem so stupid on one hand but on the other mature fast enough to already think about her future husband? He avoided her at every turn and even Lucius disliked even looking at her. She loved the beautiful kitten as well and would always try to smother the cat with kisses and cuddle with him. Lucius felt sick every time he saw her face and would run away whenever he heard her approaching. His exact words were: "I don''t want to catch her idiocy. It''s contagious. I feel like I''m losing brain cells just breathing the same air as her." Greyson furrowed his eyebrows before clarifying, "Catherine, we are not getting married. I do not like you. Please just leave me alone. Claude and I are friends so I don''t want to do anything to his cousin, but you are seriously bothering me and interrupting my magic meditation." "NO! My husband will be YOU! You have to marry me! You''re mine!" Catherine started throwing a tantrum and stomping her feet. At this point, Claude finally arrived at the room and heard his cousin screaming. He also felt annoyed and disgusted with her insistence. He used to think she was just a cute little girl who was a bit too willful, but after this situation started he realized that she had a serious issue. "Catherine! Stop this at once! You are bringing shame to Uncle, acting crazy like this. You are only 8 years old, there is still many years before you are betrothed to someone then officially marry. Cease this nonsense now." Claude walked in and loudly reprimanded her. Catherine was in shock that her cousin who had always treated her nicely would suddenly yell at her like this. She began to wail before running out of the room screaming, "Cousin, I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! You''re being so mean to me!" Claude covered his ears sighing, "sorry, Greyson. I don''t know what devil has possessed her lately that she is acting so crazily. Well, today is the day of the exam and once you pass it you''ll be headed to the Dalia Kingdom anyways. Then you won''t have to deal with her ever again. She doesn''t have any magic ability, so I doubt she will ever get the chance to leave this kingdom." Greyson waved his hand saying, "You don''t have to apologize. It''s definitely not your fault. I just don''t understand her obsession with marrying me. I have no interest in her or girls like her. She''ll probably quickly forget me once I am gone." "Hmmm... well you''ll definitely be a looker when you grow up. It''s just way too early for any of that. Forget it, let''s not talk about that girl anymore and bring down the mood. Today the exam starts in the morning, so let''s have a meal first before heading over!" "Yeah, okay!" Greyson quickly nodded as he finally started to feel jittery over the exam. He threw that crazy girl to the back of his mind and concentrated on bringing out the best of his ability later. 12 The Exam Greyson quickly ate his food then ran out with Claude to the city battle stadium where the exam was taking place. The stadium was surprisingly empty as only the family of the contestants showed up. Greyson thought the city would be excited for an event like this and felt puzzled. Claude saw his confusion and explained, "Most people fail so no one comes to watch anymore. The stadium used to be full of people for support, however, in the last 30 years or so, not many people have passed. The audience then slowly dwindled to family members." Greyson understood and nodded in agreement. Why would anyone want to come only to see their kingdom''s people be embarrassed? In the midst of his thoughts, the stadium suddenly quieted down. He looked up to see why only to see a middle-aged man standing on top of the stage. He wasn''t particularly charismatic or outstanding, yet he radiated a certain power that commanded respect. Greyson understood that this man must be the examiner and started to guess at his level. He felt more threatening than Lucius, so maybe advanced level? "Hello, I am Teacher Harrison Eldred. I teach novice level stage 1-3 water magicians at the academy. I am part of the Water Department. The exam is short and simple. I only want to see your talent level, thus things like experience do not matter to me. You have to be age 10 and below first of all. I have an age stone here. It uses light magic to test your bone age. It is extremely accurate, so if any of you are lying I would suggest leaving now before you embarrass yourself." Greyson didn''t worry at all for the first part of the exam, as he was truthfully only 5 years old. However, he did start to worry for Claude. He didn''t think Claude was lying about being 10, but since 10 was the upper limit would that mean Claude''s talent was not good enough? The children all lined up. Greyson looked around and realized there was only about 20 of them. They were all older than Greyson and looked to be 8-10 years old. Claude told him earlier that kids can only take the exam once, so a lot of them wait till they are older and their magic power is higher. Most of the kids passed, but one of the 20 ended up being 11 years old. He begged the examiner to let him try as he just turned 11 not too long ago. Teacher Harrison rejected him because after a child turns 12 and is still in the novice level, then his ability to become an intermediate magician is halved. Two years may still be enough for a change but less than a year would be almost impossible. Greyson was shocked to learn this, however, he was not worried as he was already on a good track to break through before 12. Instead his worry for Claude deepened as Claude''s level seemed a little too low. Claude seemed to also realize this fact and felt his hands start to sweat. "Hm? 5 years old, huh? You''re testing pretty early." Teacher Harrison''s interest was piqued when Greyson came up to test. He had noticed this little kid because the shopkeeper had already mentioned his features and a face like Greyson''s stood out automatically. The shopkeeper had not mentioned, though, that this boy was so young. However, he quickly lost interest because he believed that a kid this young from a small town would not be able to have a high magic level. "Next, I will test your magic power. This magic device is used to test novice level magicians. Just allow all your mana to flow into it and it will accurately reflect your current stage." He waved his hand and a new device was brought onto the stage. It had a round stone on top of stand and a gauge behind it that was numbered from 1 to 5. The kids followed his directions and one by one they poured their mana into the stone. The arrow on the gauge would move to whatever stage they were at. All the obviously poor children were all around the peak of the 1st stage and some had just broken into the 2nd stage. Harrison disdained to even look at them and quickly dismissed them saying they had failed. Most of the kids were devastated and tried to beg him for another chance. However, Harrison used his magic to quiet them and pressure them off the stage. Claude reflected the later end of the 3rd stage to which Harrison did not fail him yet. The other noble kids were not good either as they were at the peak of the 2nd stage or had just gotten to the third stage. They were also failed because their age and low magic level showed low talent. One noble child who was the same age as Claude was actually in the fourth stage. Harrison showed slight surprise, so that child became super proud and arrogant. Claude whispered over that the boy was the 3rd prince of the Elysa Kingdom. Greyson then understood his level. As royalty, how could the boy not get the best a low tier kingdom could offer? Greyson went up last. Harrison paid little attention to him because he had already estimated the boy''s stage in his mind. Greyson looked towards the stone in the front of him before placing his palm on top. The stone had a warm exterior that felt comfortable. He quickly allowed his mana to flow through the stone. The gauge then showed that Greyson was also in the 4th stage! Yes, Greyson had not slowed down at all. It had been about a month since he last broke through to the 3rd stage and elements were denser the closer he was to the capital. He was told that this was because bigger cities had arrays that would attract the magic elements and gather them. This help sped up his meditation and allowed him to break through to the 4th stage the night before the exam. Everyone was shocked including Claude. That 3rd prince who was so proud before looked to be in disbelief. "How could this be possible?!" He suddenly blurted out. Everyone was thinking the same thing as him, but did not vocalize their amazement. The crowd all looked to Harrison who was also surprised. He suddenly realized that this boy must be a genius. There were other kids who reached the fourth stage at five, however, most of them were the spoiled and pampered children of the top noble families or the royal family of the Dalia Kingdom. A poor town boy from a low tier kingdom managed to break through on his own meant his talent must be spectacular. The way he looked at Greyson changed and his eyes began to sparkle. He would definitely be rewarded if he brought back such a genius to the academy! He calmed himself down and hid his excitement away before looking to the three who passed the first two tests. "The third exam is pretty simple as well, however, all of you could end up failing. I want you to cast a spell for me as fast as you can. The faster you can control the elements, the better a person''s talents are for the future." He pointed to the third prince to go first. The 3rd prince was an earth magician and he decided to go with the easiest spell he knew. "Oh, majestic earth elements, lend me your strength and durability, build a wall to protect me. Earth Wall!" His chant was long and loud and the earth wall formed after about 1 minute. Harrison frowned. Talented magicians are able to shorten the original chants and novice magicians should be able to summon low level magic spells like Earth Wall in around 30 seconds or less. This boy had higher magic power but his actual capability was lacking. This probably meant his advancement was not natural but forced through special herbs. "Failed! You may step down now." "What?! I am at the fourth stage! How could I fail? I''m one of the only ones who managed to reach that level." The 3rd prince could not believe his ears and soon protested his failure. Harrison sneered, "You may have reached the fourth stage, but your obvious lack of control of the elements shows that you probably didn''t reach that stage through talent but resources. We, the Dalia Magic Academy, do not need useless magicians like you." "NO! I must get in! I''m just as talented as my brothers and they passed! I belong there!" The 3rd prince started screaming and shouting. Harrison finally looked annoyed at his antics and waved his hand indicating the guards to come. They pulled the 3rd prince away quickly. Greyson looked confused at the prince''s earlier words before Claude whispered over explaining. The 1st and 2nd princes had both passed the exam at 8. It seemed that they were talented magicians at the academy now. The competition between royalty had always been high. The 3rd prince was always being compared to his brothers, so the failure this time must have been that last thing that threw him over the edge. The exam continued and Claude went up. He used a low level easy spell as well. "Water elements, please attack. Water Ball!" After 15 seconds, the water ball formed and shot at a target. The straw target was destroyed from the blast. Harrison nodded slowly. This boy barely made the cut, but maybe he could be formed into something before he turns 12 with better guidance. "Alright. Pass!" Claude looked shocked before cheering. He ran over and gave Greyson a bear hug in his excitement. "I did it! I did it, Grey!" Greyson laughed and nodded in happiness for his friend. Next, Greyson stepped up for his turn. He didn''t actually know any spells so he thought about what he should do. He blue eyes suddenly glowed and an ice spike formed almost immediately before shooting out. The spike impaled the target. Harrison almost lost his composure. "You...you... How come you didn''t chant?" He stuttered. Greyson shrugged, "I just thought about what I wanted the water elements to do and then they do them. I don''t know any spells. I am too poor to afford to buy any." Harrison was speechless. The level of this genius was too much for him to handle. He had to quickly take him back to the academy for the higher ups to decide what to do. "Alright... you pass. The two of you be prepared to leave tomorrow to the Dalia Kingdom." He waved his hand and walked down the stage in a hurry. He had to notify the academy of this genius. Greyson and Claude looked surprised at the anti-climatic ending of the exam then looked at each other before shrugging. They suddenly smiled and each other and started laughing and cheering. They had both passed! They were going to the Dalia Magic Academy! 13 You Should Just Give Up After leaving the stage, Harrison rushed back to the inn he was staying at and took out the magic communication talisman. He couldn''t send a lot of information such a far distance, so he kept the information short and informed the school that he had recruited a rare magic genius this time. After finishing this, he finally calmed down while his eyes flashed with excitement. He could maybe get a promotion or resources as a reward for bringing back someone with high talent. This could allow his magic to increase a stage. He fantasized slightly what the future held in store for him once he got back. Feeling extremely grateful towards Greyson, he suddenly frowned as he remembered a certain spatial bag of bribes from the shopkeeper. As a decisive man, Harrison refused to keep something that was incriminating towards the genius he met. He got up quickly and rushed over to the shop. Not knowing Teacher Eldred''s thoughts, the shopkeeper was delighted to see him come over. He thought that the teacher was here to tell him that, although he didn''t fail the boy, he would make his life miserable. Or at least something negative and in that direction. Harrison seemed to see through his thoughts and scoffed inwardly, "you think everyone is as dumb as you. Who would go out of their way to torment a genius magician? I could just help him now and he would bring me enormous benefits in the future when he becomes someone important." Just as they sat down, the shopkeeper smiled, "Teacher Harrison, what brings you back to my humble shop?" Without answering, Harrison snorted and threw back the spatial bag. "Everything you gave me is still in there. Since I didn''t complete what you asked me and I don''t want anyone to get the wrong idea about my intentions, I''m giving it back to you." "Is it not enough? I can give you more as long as you make sure to give that brat a hard time later." Harrison sneered, "You seem to not understand the situation, so let me make it clear. With his background, Greyson has somehow reached the novice level fourth stage at 5 years old. Most people can only reach this level at double his age and, if they do reach it at the same age, those kids are all the direct descendants of huge families. When I say huge, I mean much bigger than my own as in the top 4 noble families in the Dalia Kingdom or the royal family itself. Those kids have amazing resources and of course high talent. Greyson would have to have that much more talent then them because he has yet to get any resources. He doesn''t even know a proper spell. With the right education, he will quickly become a magician more powerful than me and be given a high position most likely. He will be in a position higher than the current King of Elysa. You are asking me to be a bully to this sort of man? I have already reported to the higher-ups about him, so they will definitely protect him. Plus, I can get all sorts of benefits for bringing him to the school and if I treat him well I can continue to get benefits. Now, explain to me, what amount of money could you give me that would tempt me to make such a stupid decision?" The shopkeeper just sat with shock written all over his face. Getting lectured like this was humiliating but he also started to reflect on his actions. Maybe going against the kid for something like his pride wasn''t worth it? Wouldn''t it be much better to be friends with an upcoming genius? Suddenly, he was speechless and lost in thought. Harrison snickered and got up to leave. "I will give you one piece of sincere advice. You should just give up. Live your life and forget about the boy. I assure you, he will definitely forget all about some small city shopkeeper once he is gone to another kingdom with a higher position." ... Greyson and Claude could both barely sleep that night. After they got back to the Devereux manor, Claude''s family threw a party in celebration. Everyone while smiling ear to ear thinking of the future prospects of the family''s young master and his friend. Only one person could not smile, she spent the entire night brooding about Greyson leaving. Greyson noticed Catherine''s unhappiness, but decided to pay her no mind as he wanted to be happy and not get dragged into her drama anymore. Claude''s father could not come along to say goodbye as he had an important city to run so Claude decided to write him a letter to let him know the good news and to say goodbye. Greyson saw this and decided to ask Claude for a favor. He wanted to send Sister Lily a letter with the good news. Thus, that night two letters were sent out harboring the good news. The next morning, the two boys were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. One could see the dark circles showing lack of sleep, but that didn''t effect their excitement and energy levels. They ate one last meal in the manor before running off to the city gates where they were supposed to meet Teacher Harrison. They ran quickly and got to the gate fairly early. Not able to calm down, they chatted while continually glancing at the gate to see if Teacher Harrison had arrived yet. Just when they felt they could no longer handle waiting, Teacher Harrison showed up. He looked a little exhausted as if he hadn''t slept all night. Although the two wanted to ask, they didn''t feel close enough to him. Harrison saw them hesitate and smiled warmly, "you two should talk comfortably to me. We will be part of the same academy and from what I saw we will also be part of the same department." The two boys then looked at each other and smiled before turning back to him and nodding. Harrison nodded happily towards them and suddenly spoke out, "Argus, show yourself to them. We''ll be flying back at your highest speed this time." Grey and Claude looked confused before a flash of green blinded their eyes. When their vision cleared, a large blue bird manifested itself in front of them. The bird was strange as it wasn''t completely corporeal, it looked more like a spirit. They felt a little scared of the thought of a ghost and their discomfort was noticed by Teacher Harrison. He laughed loudly asking, "you guys don''t have a magic teacher right? When you reach the intermediate level your magic will manifest your partner beast. This partner will be pretty much a spirit until you reach the great magister level. After that level, the spirit will gain more and more life until it becomes a real living being. Of course, it will only be able to separate from you and live its own life if you reach the Elemental God level, but that is a legend so I''m not sure if it''s true or not. Argus, here, is my beast. Whoever is lucky will get a flying beast as their partner so they can travel faster. This is part of the reason that I am chosen to go to recruit people. Your beast will be a manifestation of your element. When you reach the intermediate level, your beast will still be pretty small and could not be kept out for very long as it uses to much mana. I should also mention that elves don''t manifest a beast, but human-like spirit. Dwarves manifest tools as their race primarily focuses on the blacksmith occupation. Real magic beasts usually gain some sort of feature that adds to their innate ability like wings, special claws, special fur, or an extra limb. It could be anything depending on the abilities of the magic beast." Claude and Greyson stared at Argus in fascination after hearing this information. They began to imagine their own beast that will manifest. Greyson suddenly remembered Lucius and looked towards the cat on his shoulder. He would ask about his special feature later. Harrison noticed Greyson looking towards the silver kitten on his shoulder. He asked, "Greyson, what is that cat? Your pet?" "Ahhh... it''s a friend who follows me around. His name is Lucius. He''s a magic beast." "Hm. I don''t recognize his species, but magic beast companions are common. For example, a lot of people bind a magic beast capable of flight if their partner beast cannot." "Bind?" "Oh, right, you wouldn''t know. There are a bunch of different contracts you can use with magic beasts. Magic beasts are ranked by stars according to their rarity and talent. The higher star beasts would probably never enter a master and slave contract with humans because they see it as beneath them and they have intelligence equal to humans. Sometimes they will enter a temporary contract if they owe a favor or an equal life contract if they become friendly with a human. I don''t know what star level your friend Lucius is at, but maybe he could enter a contract with you." Greyson looked towards Lucius who seemed to indicate they would talk about it later. He nodded towards Harrison and let the subject die for now. "Alright, well, I think that is enough of an introduction lesson for now. Let''s hop on and get going!" Greyson and Claude quickly nodded and climbed onto the back of Argus. Argus quickly took off from the ground and flew high up into the air. The boys were fascinated and fell in love with the feeling of flying. They both prayed their partner beast could fly as well. 14 Flying Harrison informed them that it will most likely take a week to get to the Dalia Kingdom. Flying was fast, however, there were limitations. Harrison was only an advanced level stage three magician so hecould not keep flying for extended amounts of time. He lasted about half a day before they had to land and camp out. Dalia Kingdom''s capital was also a long distance from the capital of Elysa. Since they had nothing better to do, Greyson and Claude decided to meditate and chat with Teacher Harrison along the way. He knew much more about magic then they did, so any questions they had about the basics were answered along the way. He imparted a basic meditation technique which everyone in the academy receives in the beginning. Although it was a common technique, Greyson had never gotten a meditation technique before. Following the directions of the technique his meditation speed almost doubled and he was already closing in on the novice level fifth stage. Harrison witnessed his talent and was even more excited to bring Greyson back to the academy. Claude''s advancement was mediocre in comparison, however, he was not jealous or narrow-minded. He continued to work hard at his own pace. Harrison also nodded in approval seeing Claude''s attitude. He knew of a lot of young magicians who give up or start to have sinister thoughts after witnessing other kids with more talent then themselves. They have too much pride and haven''t struggled enough so they are quick to veer off the correct path. ... After flying for around 4 days, Greyson and Claude were still assiduously meditating and tried to advance their stage. Harrison really appreciated their perseverance and patience at a young age. He felt their attitude was a more important factor towards success than their talent. Most noble kids only knew about playing around and had a hard time with meditating for long periods of time. Even if they had amazing talent, it would take a longer time for them to realize they should try to take advantage of their youth since their families would take care of their struggles for them. He guessed that geniuses from a poor background have huge achievements because of the difference in experience. Those who were poor knew the struggles of commoners and appreciate gaining power and working hard more. The atmosphere had been peaceful throughout the entire journey, they had yet to meet any troubles thus far. However, the fact there had been no issues bothered Harrison. He almost felt it was too quiet. There were usually bandits everywhere. He felt there was something coming and the sense of foreboding was extremely uncomfortable. Since the boys were so well-behaved, Harrison tried not to bother them with his faint suspicions based on instinct. He only slowly continued their journey waiting to see if his feeling was correct or if he was worrying too much. Suddenly, Claude spotted something from far away. "What is that black cloud coming this way? Is it going to rain?" Harrison followed his line of sight and saw the black ominous looking "cloud" and his face immediately turned pale. He ordered Argus to speed up and the bird started flying much faster trying to escape from the cloud. "Teacher, what is going on?" Greyson seemed to notice his fear. "It''s not a cloud! It''s a flying beast horde. They attack in groups and, although they are usually not strong individually, they cause a lot of grief in a group." Harrison''s tone was very grave as he informed them. Both the boys suddenly understood the danger they were in and prepared to fight. Although Argus sped up, it was not in time. The beasts had already spotted their group of three and headed in their direction. As they came closer, Harrison informed them that it was a group of Wind Blade Birds. They were all of the wind element, but they were not very strong or intelligent. However, as a group, they worked really well together on instinct. The flock of birds finally caught up and began attacking. Harrison whispered a spell and a round water shield was produced around them. It was much sturdier then the ones Greyson had seen before and kept the bird out. Argus then screeched and let out a bunch of water spikes all around. The spikes went right through the shield and started to take down a bunch of the birds. Greyson and Claude saw this and began to feel much better about their chances. However, they forgot that it was already midday and Harrison had been flying for a while now. His face started losing color as his mana was running out. He continued the same defense and offense trick until half the flock was gone. At this point, Argus was starting to fade out and even the boys were realizing their teacher was reaching his limit. "Teacher, should we start to try to land?" Greyson started to worry about the altitude more than the birds. "I''m trying to lower us. It''s just hard to concentrate on defending you guys and attacking the birds while also thinking of where to land." Harrison seemed to be exhausted at this point. "Could we help attack them? I know we''re not that powerful but we could at least try to distract them." Claude suggested. "Ah... I guess that''s all we can do. You two start attacking them!" The boys nodded and started to send out their magic. Claude was significantly slower since he had to keep chanting the spell, but Greyson kept firing out water spikes like Argus did earlier. Although they couldn''t take down the birds with their power, they successfully distracted them while they felt Argus lowering to the ground. "Oh no, get down!" Just as they felt they could succeed, Harrison screamed out to warn them. They looked up and saw the group of birds create a group spell. A large wind blade came hitting down onto the shield. The shield shattered and Harrison spat blood and passed out. Argus completely disappeared and the boys, Harrison, and Lucius all started to free fall from the air. Not knowing what to do Greyson panicked while looking at his friends. A similar feeling started to come over him, similar to when Sister Lily was attacked by the drunk man. He couldn''t understand the pull of instinct so his body just moved on its own. He couldn''t see it, but his eyes changed to a beautiful emerald green and began to glow. He grabbed onto everyone before he closed his eyes as he saw the ground coming closer. However, the expected pain of impact never came. He slowly opened his eyes and peeked down only to see his body and everyone else stopped in mid-air. The wind was cushioning them so they wouldn''t hit the ground. However, just as he was surprised, the wind stopped holding them up and they crashed onto the ground. This time the ground was much closer so other then some bruising the fall did not do any serious damage. Greyson saw everyone was okay before he fainted yet again. 15 Who Saved Us? Greyson felt someone shaking his body as he slowly opened his eyes. His vision cleared and Lucius''s face appeared in front of him. He bolted up and quickly looked around himself and realized that everyone was still passed out. "Is everyone okay?" He quickly asked. "Yeah, I checked. Everyone is fine." Lucius whispered towards him. "I just thought I should take this chance to discuss things with you before they woke up. I''ve had to fake being a stupid kitten for so long I thought I was really devolving into an idiot." "Why couldn''t you just reveal that you could talk then?" Greyson finally asked what had been weighing on his mind. He couldn''t understand why Lucius hadn''t been speaking, but he took the hint and played along. "You''re ignorant and so you don''t understand. I have to admit that I might have unfairly made fun of you when you were shocked I could speak. Honestly, not many magic beasts can speak when they are as young and weak as I am. If people could see that I was this intelligent and could speak then they would realize that I am a rare and talented magic beast. They would target you and me to capture me then either sell me or enslave me. Therefore, to keep away from those kinds of issues, I have been pretending to be a normal young magic beast with no particular extra intelligence. They would just think I am a rare, but weak, species. I guess I can tell you now but my species are known as Destiny Cats and we are super rare, talented, and, once we mature, powerful. Earlier, Harrison told you that magic beasts'' magic manifests as a special feature. Well my magic manifests as a third eye which can glimpse into destiny or fate. Although I cannot completely see the future, I can make predictions and usually could lead people on a lucky path. Whether the luck is for life decisions or luck in finding treasures. After learning this, humans always want us Destiny Cats and we were hunted to near extinction because my race is really proud and would rather die than be enslaved. We will not be recognized unless our third eye is used, which is why you have never seen me use it. We also all have three elements: spatial, water, and wind. I haven''t known you very long and revealing my identity to you may be the most stupid and riskiest thing I have ever done, but I believe that you are trustworthy. Maybe because you are so young and not yet mature enough to hide yourself deeply, plus you''re ignorant and weak so what could you really do to me. That teacher mentioned contracts, right? I will allow you to form a contract with me so just know that you have hit the jackpot and you are super blessed. An equal contract, by the way, I know how much you must wish to be my slave but I would feel bad if my friend suddenly became lower than me. It will be easier this way because people in a contract can communicate mentally, so I can talk to you without revealing myself." Greyson was speechless at the sudden overload of new information from Lucius, but he understood the gist. He felt touched that the cat trusted him after knowing him only a few months. Still confused at the sudden offer, he blanked out a bit before nodding in assent to a contract. "How do we do this contract?" "It''s called a shared life contract. Pretty much, if you die then I will die. If I die, then you die. It''s a pretty serious commitment. Would you be okay with that? Think carefully." Greyson understood the severity and he started to think it through. It would be really scary to just die one day without knowing why because he wasn''t the one hurt. But, Lucius is in the same position and he doesn''t mind... thinking of Lucius, Greyson suddenly remembered something Lucius had told him. "Wait, Lucius, isn''t your lifespan as a magic beast really long? What if I die of old age, won''t you die with me?" "Oh? I guess you have a good memory being able to think of this. Yes, well, if I am being honest I could probably live till I''m nearly 100,000 even if I continue staying an intermediate level beast and my lifespan increases as my power does. Beasts with a powerful bloodline have an extremely low birth rate so I guess we are instead blessed with extremely long lives to have as many chances as possible to reproduce. However, you are wrong if you think you will die from old age before me because the contract gives half my lifespan to you. I get the short end while you are blessed with a much longer lifespan than normal humans. However, as I mature, more and more powerful people will be able to conclude my identity from my normal features so even if I have a long lifespan I might not be able to live as long as a normal human. As a young kitten, I look like any other cat magic beast, but more specific features will grow as I do. You are a talented and interesting human, and I think my life will be much more fulfilling traveling alongside you then always trying to hide by myself. I''m also betting on your future, because I believe you will grow powerful enough to protect me. Anyways, if you become powerful, your lifespan will also increase so I am not losing out if you work hard." Hearing his words, Greyson had quickly made up his mind. Although it was risky, sharing his life with Lucius is not necessarily a bad thing. He would gain a long lifespan without doing anything and having this risk will continue to push him to improve his power. He can''t get lazy if there is always a chance of losing his life along with Lucius due to his special identity. "Alright, let''s do this!" Greyson nodded. Lucius grinned and nodded back, "Okay! I knew I didn''t pick the wrong person. Repeat what I say, only replace my name with yours. Prick your hand so that blood will flow out from the palm and then I will place my own paw over your hand." Greyson nodded and quickly followed the directions. They sat across each other with the paw and hand together while their blood flowed freely. Lucius spoke out first, "I, Lucius, agree to form a pact with Greyson. His life will be mine and my life will be his. We shall share life and death from now until our passing." Their blood began to glow and formed patterns around their body. "I, Greyson, agree to form a pact with Lucius. His life will be mine and my life will be his. We shall share life and death from now until our passing." After he finished his oath, Greyson felt his wrist burn until a red rope tattoo was branded into his skin. It looked like a bracelet and the same sign could be seen around Lucius''s front leg. "This is the sign of our pact, it also can show the state of the other person. If your red rope starts to fade, it means I am wounded. The more faded it becomes, the closer to death I am." Lucius''s voice suddenly rang out inside Greyson''s head. "Ohhhh so this is how we can talk? If I want to talk to you my thoughts will get transferred over?" Greyson looked over at Lucius. The cat rolled his eyes, "Yes, this is how it''s done. Now if you''re done overreacting, why don''t you wake up your friends." ... Claude and Harrison were soon woken up. Once they opened their eyes, the both shot up looking around ready to burst into action. Seeing they were safely on the ground, they suddenly looked over to the calm child and cat. "We''re okay?" Claude suddenly asked in confusion. Harrison nodded while also asking, "who saved us?" Greyson scratched his head shyly while shooting a look at Lucius, "should I tell them about my 7 elements?" "Yeah, go ahead. It is a little dangerous if people know about your talent, however, as long as you are cautious, there is nothing wrong with letting people know that they should treasure you. There are always sinister people who like to kill people who are more talented than them from jealousy or fear, and the best way to protect yourself is to also allow other powerful people to protect you. Kingdoms always need new talent to help protect their rule. It''s better to have the best resources given to you. Why take the hard route of always hiding yourself?" Greyson nodded inwardly before looking at them, "actually I was the one who saved you." Harrison and Claude both looked to him in shock, "you did? How did you protect us from falling?" "Actually, I haven''t told either of you, but I am a multi-element magician. I can use 7 and wind is one of them. I saved us by having the wind cushion our fall." "Wind, huh. Wait... SEVEN?!" Claude nodded before he suddenly realized the key word in Greyson''s confession. Harrison also looked at him in disbelief. Greyson nodded, "I can''t really prove it because I don''t know how to control all of them, though." Harrison waved his hand, "it can easily be proven when we get to the academy. They have a element tester that allows for hidden talent to be revealed. Sometimes children don''t know they can use another element in the beginning, so they are tested to see what elements they have affinity towards. If you are telling the truth, this is amazing news! Greyson, even the principal himself might decide to teach you! What an honor! You would definitely be able to improve leaps and bounds with a powerful teacher." "Wow, you''re so awesome, Greyson! But, hey... your eyes... weren''t they blue? I just realized now that they are green." "Hm? My eyes? They aren''t blue?" Greyson looked confused as he didn''t understand. His eyes had always been blue since birth. "Oh, you''re right, Claude. Greyson, your eyes are like an emerald green now. How strange... Could it be since you used wind magic? The first magic you used was water whose element is blue and you just used wind magic whose element is green. I''ve never heard of multi-element people having their eyes change colors, but maybe it''s because you have so many. It could just be a special case, I guess." Harrison analyzed. Claude and Greyson agreed with his thoughts and also did not think more about it since his eyes changing color does not cause any harm. "Well, no matter, thanks for saving us Greyson. We should all take this moment to meditate and rest before heading on our way again to the academy. We are about a 2 days ride away now." Greyson and Claude complied with his advice and sat down to meditate, while waiting for Harrison to recover so he could summon out Argus. 16 Arrived at the Academy They continued flying for a little more than days before they finally arrived at the academy. Claude and Greyson thought the academy was in the capital, but they had underestimated the size of the school. The academy was outside the capital not too far away, but it operated like its own city. Other then students joining departments to learn spells, meditation, and how to advance levels, they also pick secondary occupations where they can learn how to apply their magic to healing, cooking, music, gardening, etc. Greyson had to start giving a lot of thought towards his secondary occupation. He could pick more than one, but he wasn''t sure if he should split his attention. Harrison also had a hard time advising him because he could control so many different elements. All the occupations had certain elements that were required, however, he had almost all of them. As long as he had the mind and heart to learn, he could pick any of them. He thought he should pick one practical occupation and one leisure occupation. Maybe gardening and healing? They went together because healers need magic herbs that the gardeners grow. I could heal wounds and grow food. Hmmm... very self-sustaining. But there were also cool and more "manly" occupations like being a blacksmith or becoming a soldier in the Dalia Kingdom Magic Knights Order. He was not sure how he felt about war and fighting, but they were definitely exciting things that could happen if he chose that route. It could also end up being a shortcut towards gaining a noble title and last name. If he had enough achievements in battle, he could also be gifted land and money as prizes. Blacksmiths also make an absorbent amount of money from all the tools and weapons they build. There is never a shortage of people who require their services so it could be safe bet for the future. Greyson felt frustrated by all these choices. He decided to wait until he had a teacher and then would ask his teacher about his secondary occupation. Argus arrived at the Academy City and Greyson and Claude looked down to see the city from above. Their eyes couldn''t help but widen with wonder at the city. It was a beautiful place. There was an enormous magic array underneath the city that attracted magic elements which made the city light up and shine from the excess mana. The vegetation was plentiful and exotic. Harrison felt proud when looking at their expressions. "Amazing, right? Although Dalia Kingdom is only a tier two kingdom, our academy is the best one out of all of the tier two kingdoms. We can''t compare to the couple tier one kingdoms or the empire, but those places are crawling with geniuses and powerful magicians. This Academy is the best place for young children like you guys to start your journey." The boys nodded seriously as Argus began to land at the front gate. They landed and walked up to the gate guards to be allowed entrance. Harrison brought out his identification and they were let through. Once they walked through the gate, Greyson and Claude found themselves in front of a large marketplace. People were everywhere purchasing all sorts of items. They started running up and checking out the different stores and stands. All sorts of items were sold here: magic clothes, magic beast cores, charms, even slaves. When their eyes found the slave market filled with commoners and magic beasts, Greyson felt very uncomfortable by the sight while Claude didn''t find anything wrong. "Everything here is run by the Academy, some of the stands and stores are even run by the students who attend here. Once you are experienced enough in one of the occupations you can join in. Greyson, I know your background so I know seeing those slaves and servants makes you uncomfortable. However, you have to know now, a lot of the people who attend this academy are children from a noble family or wealthy merchant family. They are all used to others serving them and some are violent and sinister towards their servants. You cannot save them all. I do not mean to force you to like the idea, but I don''t want you to get into any trouble later on when you see these things happening. The world is an unfair place, so don''t stick your nose into other people''s business." Claude may not have noticed, but Harrison saw Greyson''s expression when he saw the slave market. His words were rather harsh and cynical, but he believed that the real world was no place for saints. If Greyson couldn''t learn to accept the unfair treatment of the lower class, he probably would not be able to survive later. Greyson understood Harrison''s meaning, but he could not accept it easily. The slaves looked miserable and mistreated and it was hard for him to just look on. However, he knew there was nothing he could do. He could not purchase all of them, and he most definitely couldn''t destroy the market. He continued walking through the market trying to not think about the situation earlier. Eventually the three reached the front of the academy and saw a group of other children waiting inside the open area of the school. They were the other admitted students. Harrison told them to wait with the other children before waving goodbye. The other new students kept peeking over at Greyson while they were waiting. Claude grimaced noticing their glances, "I become invisible next to you. Everyone always said I was good-looking, but somehow when I stand with you I become ugly in everyone''s eyes. It''s really a blow to my confidence." Greyson snorted at his show of sadness, "As if something small like this would be able to deflate your confidence. Plus, it could just be because my features are rare not that I am particularly good-looking." He was not completely wrong. Greyson''s white hair and now green eyes were definitely not as common. Most people had brown hair and brown eyes, but there were a lot of noble families with interesting physical traits passed down like pink hair and green eyes or black hair and purple eyes. So even though he stuck out a lot in his town and even in Elysa city, here at the academy, where there were tons of noble family offspring, he did not stand out as much. "No, I am positive it''s because of your looks. For your information, though, most of the people looking over are guys. So I''m going to go out on a limb and claim they are looking at you because you''re so pretty and cute not handsome." Greyson scowled after hearing his words, but he couldn''t refute the truth. It really was mostly the other young boys peeking over. In the midst of his bad mood, a young boy followed by a group of others walked over. The boy in front looked to be around 8 years old and fairly good-looking, but the haughty look on his face invited dislike. He walked up in front of Greyson with his nose held up high and eyes looking down. "Nice to meet you, young miss. I am Arwen Godfey. I believe someone of your stature qualifies to hang out in my group. Why don''t you join us? What is your name? Whose family are you from? I don''t remember seeing you before." Greyson''s face turned dark and decided to just ignore the boy. He grabbed onto Claude''s arm and pulled him away while walking around the group of kids. The noble boy, Arwen, was left in shock at being ignored before his anger exploded. "Hold it right there! Where are you going?! Did you not hear me speaking to you? You should be honored I even walked over and invited you. Don''t ignore me!" He started chasing after Greyson before reaching out and grabbing Greyson''s hand. Greyson wrenched his hand away with disgust clearly showing on his face. "I don''t communicate with idiots. Go find someone else who wants your so-called ''honor.''" Greyson spat out through gritted teeth. He then continued walking away. Arwen felt humiliated with his face turning red, but this time he did not chase after Greyson again to avoid inviting more embarrassment onto himself. "Young Master Arwen, don''t worry about it. That little girl obviously is just a country bumpkin who doesn''t know who you are. That''s why she didn''t realize the great honor you were bestowing upon her." One of the older kids behind him spoke out. He was clearly trying to flatter Arwen and get on his good side. "Whatever. I''ll show her later what kind of amazing person I am. She''ll come begging to hang out with me later once I prove my talent to the Academy. She will pay for today''s embarrassment." ... Once they were on the other side of the space, Claude finally spoke up. "Hey, Greyson, shouldn''t we try to be a bit more forgiving? You can''t blame people for misunderstanding with your looks. If you''re going to get angry at every single person who comes up to you thinking you are a girl, then you always be angry. You should have just told that Arwen person that you are a boy." "You think I''m that petty? That I would embarrass him like that because he thought I was a girl? You thought I was a girl, too, but I am friend with you. It bothers me, but not that much. I know it''s only because I am young. I didn''t like him and didn''t speak with him because he was stuck-up. He was looking down on both of us from the start. He didn''t even look at you. Didn''t you notice? He wasn''t inviting both of us, he wanted me to ditch you. People like that disgust me." Hearing his words, Claude looked down bitterly. Did he notice? Of course he noticed! But he could tell that Arwen wasn''t a simple character and he didn''t want to cause trouble when his talent is not high compared to the other students. He felt touched but he was also worried about Greyson creating enemies so early on. "I''m thankful that you were also thinking of me and I''m not trying to say we should be friends with him because I don''t like him either. I just felt like we could have rejected him a little better. We shouldn''t go creating enemies out of everyone since we have only just arrived at the Academy." Claude reasoned. Greyson also started to think about his actions and regretted. He was too harsh back then, he could have handled the situation better. He realized that his temper was not good and he should learn to tolerate more before he becomes unfriendly with everyone. It was okay to ignore everyone at the church because he originally enjoyed being alone, but here he had no background and a lot of the rich kids could antagonize him and Claude. "You''re right..." He reluctantly admitted. Claude smiled and ruffled his hair in response. "It''s okay, it''s not that big a deal. You''ll also probably have quite the following later when they see your talent." Greyson then smiled, feeling better. He and Claude sat down on the ground and waited for the Academy teachers to come and test them before putting them in different departments. 17 Shocking Everybody After waiting until midday, head teachers of each department finally walked out into the large courtyard. All of the new students had already arrived, Greyson glanced around and estimated that there were around 30 kids in total. Since the exam happened semi-annually this amount was not too large because there would not be too many new kids every 6 months who could join the Academy. One of the teachers walked out in front, he was a clean-cut middle-aged man with black hair and light blue eyes in a blue robe. He radiated authority and looked down through his silver rimmed glasses with his icy blue eyes. He cleared his throat softly, however, the power echoed through the courtyard and silenced all the children. "I am Elendil Hargrave. I am the Head Teacher of the Water Department. All of the Head Teachers of each element department are present here and we will test each new student for their element affinity and those people will join their respective departments. We will call each of you in and test your element. In the rare event there is someone in your group who is a multi-element magician they will be a co-member of whatever corresponding departments." With that ending statement, he turned heel and the other teachers followed behind. Greyson felt his nerves build up. Although he decided to show that he could use seven elements, he was very worried of the enemies he might receive and the threats of jealousy. Even at 5 years old, he understood the concept that the tallest tree gets chopped down the fastest. Showing off his talents was a risk since he had no background or powerful family, but if he didn''t show his talents there would be no way to advance. He would never get the best resources. He was not sure that he was making the correct decision, but he trusted Lucius''s judgment. He just hardened his will to become as powerful as he could as quickly as he could. Greyson felt the best solution would be for his personal strength to be his biggest backup. ... The children were lined up by age and Greyson happened to the youngest while Claude was one of the oldest as having just turned 10, so they were separated. Unfortunately, most of the kids were 10 and took this past exam as their last chance. Therefore, he ended up near the stuck-up Arwen. It also looked like he purposely lined up at the back of the 7 year olds. Arwen turned back and smirked over at Greyson. "Hey, little girl. You''ll see what you missed out on. It would have been an honor to be a follower and friend. I am the most talented magician of the Godfey family. I am a double element magician. Hear that? Wind and fire. They compliment each other and that only makes my magic more powerful. You''ll only ever be below me, you would beg for me to help you out in the academy later!" He turned his nose up at Greyson and bragged. Greyson just rolled his eyes and didn''t look at him. He felt the stupidity would be contagious. Double element? What about seven? Looks like this idiot would be embarrassing himself later if he continues bragging. Greyson could tell the eyes of the others were glowing while looking at Arwen and they were looking to kiss up to him and join under his umbrella. When Greyson''s talent was revealed, would he have to deal with people like that too? He couldn''t help but feel helpless and annoyed. Sensing his uneasiness, Lucius assured him. "Yeah, there will always be weak suck-ups who want to use your talent to benefit themselves. You can just ignore them it''s not a big deal. You will be able to pick out the real friends." Greyson nodded. As he had his mental conversation with Lucius, Arwen felt his temper flare again seeing Greyson completely ignore him. He gritted his teeth while promising himself that he would embarrass this stupid girl. This lowly girl was probably some commoner with a little bit a talent, plus she looked so young. How could she be that powerful? "Sure, keep putting on airs. Self-important little children will only be embarrassed later when they see real talent. You''re probably the weakest one here." Following along with his words, the rest of the children sneered in Greyson''s direction and snickered under their breath at the stupid girl who didn''t understand the power and rarity of multiple element magicians. Greyson glanced at their faces and was determined to remember them for later. They were just mindless people who followed the powerful. Surprisingly, as he was analyzing the crowd, he saw a face that looked toward Arwen in derision. His interest piqued he analyzed the face a bit more. He was at the back of the 8 year old group with dark blue hair and dark blue eyes. He accidentally locked eyes with the boy and the boy sent Greyson a knowing smile. Puzzled by the smile, he seemed to question the boy with his eyes but the boy turned away and didn''t continue looking. Greyson felt the boy was different and kept a mental not of him. Every single child kept filing in then standing under one of the department flags. Claude had gone in early and was already standing underneath the Water Department flag. Arwen had also filed out but was standing to the side because he was a multi-element magician and he was joined by that same mysterious dark blue haired boy. The blue haired boy was a water and lightning magician. His name was Lyle but no last name. He was also a commoner like Greyson. The sun slowly started to set until it was finally Greyson''s turn. He was the last one in, the runt of the group. He slowly walked into the large room for the test, wondering how it worked. When he entered the room, it was dimly lit with the Head Teachers all standing in a circle. "Greyson, correct? We have heard of you from Teacher Harrison. He reported of your high talent. Come sit in the middle of the circle. Begin meditating and the Head Teachers will direct the elements in your direction. We will be able to sense what elements you can absorb and then assign you to a department." Teacher Elendil''s cold voice echoed. Greyson nodded and quickly walked into the middle of the circle. He sat down and breathed slowly trying to calm down. He soon entered a state a meditation trying to feel the elements. The Head Teachers felt he entered meditation and took action. Their mana started flowing towards Greyson as they waited to whose element could be absorbed. Greyson felt the mana surround him and a warm feeling rushed over him. He smiled comfortably and allowed the elements to come into his body. The Head Teachers began to raise their hand if their element was absorbed by Greyson. It started with Elendil, then the Wind Department Head Teacher, then the Earth Department Head Teacher, all of a sudden, the eyes of the teachers finally changed. The seventh hand of the Lightning Department Head Teacher went up last and the Head Teachers looked around at each other in surprise. Seven! What did this mean? How could it be? Teacher Elendil signaled for them to stop and Greyson felt the inflow of mana stop so he ended his meditation. He opened his eyes and looked towards them in question. "Were you aware that you could use seven elements?" Teacher Elendil once again spoke up. His icy voice suddenly showing a hint of surprise. Greyson slowly nodded his head. "Why didn''t you indicate to Teacher Harrison earlier?" "I was worried about what my talents would indicate to others. I am still weak and with no background." The Head Teachers nodded their heads in understanding. They appreciated that a 5 year old was able to think that far. "We shall discuss with the Principal what you shall do later. Belonging to seven departments may be too much." After Teacher Elendil spoke up, he and the other Head Teachers led Greyson over to the flags where the others were waiting. Arwen looked over and smirked at Greyson waiting for him to walk over to whatever flag as he stood out among the others. But his smile faded as Greyson stayed with the Head Teacher. "What you were so weak you couldn''t even absorb the mana of one element?" He suddenly snorted. Greyson rolled his eyes wondering how someone could be so thoughtless. If he couldn''t even absorb the mana of an element how would he ever be accepted. Obviously, he was special. He didn''t even bother to refute and waited for the Head Teachers to say something. Teacher Elendil''s blue eyes slid over to look at Arwen without any emotion, "Greyson is a seven element magician, so we cannot determine how his situation will proceed." Seven... Everyone suddenly froze in shock. Elendil said the words quite easily without any emotion, but the reaction to those words was completely different. How could he be so nonchalant? All the children who looked down on Greyson suddenly blushed with shame and averted their eyes. While Arwen suddenly looked like he swallowed a fly. How? HOW?! How could the little girl be so talented? He clenched his fists until his nails dug straight into his skin. Greyson suddenly glanced over in his direction and finally met Arwen''s eyes for once. He grinned with obvious mocking laughter in his eyes. Arwen put his head down and tried to avoid looking in the direction. He swore to himself that he would avenge this humiliation. The students were dismissed as teachers of each department separated them by level and stage and brought them to the dormitories. Greyson followed the Head Teachers as they walked further into the school to the Principal''s office. 18 The Principal The Head Teachers led Greyson to the center tower of the academy where the most powerful members reside. At the top floor was the space of the principal. The bottom of the tower had a teleportation circle which used spatial magic that transported people straight to whatever floor they wished. The tower was enormous and contained 75 floors. Head Teacher Elendil requested from the spatial magician at the circle that they were going to floor 75 to see the principal. The magician nodded and the circle began to activate. Greyson looked around in wonder as he was experiencing this kind of spatial magic transportation for the first time. Opposite to his prior expectation that he would feel his body rising, a spatial channel opened underneath his feet and he fell downward. He reached the 75th floor however the channel opened on the ceiling. The Head Teachers were obviously used to this occurrence so they landed on their feet easily while Greyson fell hard onto the floor. He saw them looking down at him and blushed. The woman dressed in green covered her mouth and giggled. "You are such a cute little one, aren''t you? You look just like a doll." She had light pink hair and green eyes. She looked younger than the rest with cute features. She was extremely petite and looked about as tall as a preteen. Greyson couldn''t help but be confused by her youth because after her the middle-aged Elendil looked the youngest. He thought she must be new. "Hahahaha, looking at your expression boy, you are probably wondering why she looks so young." The heavyset brown clothed man said. His brown hair was starting to gray and his face was rugged and hairy but his amber eyes still glittered with youthful mischief. His laugh and voice were as big as his body as he spoke. Greyson jumped in surprise by his booming voice. "Leilena is indeed the youngest. She is not as young as she looks, though, and neither are we. Your aging slows down as you advance levels. Your youthful looks depend on what age you reach the magister level because that is when your aging noticeably slows down. Leilena was a startling genius so she still looks young. Some of us look old because they have been stuck at a certain level of magic for an extended amount of time. They are also older than you would believe. The more powerful you become, the less you should assume a person''s age from their looks." One of the old men in black clothes spoke out. He seemed to be the most senior of all the Head Teachers and looked to be 70 or so, however, Greyson now knew that he was probably much older than he believed possible for humans. "Let''s continue on." Elendil''s cold voice rang out and stopped all the conversation. "Oh, Elendil, don''t be such a bore all the time. We have all been silent like this entire time to portray an appropriate ''head teacher'' aura. But, I''m dying! Not everyone has the EQ of a rock and can tolerate silence at all points of the day." The red-robed man spoke out. Greyson had noticed this man from the beginning due to his golden hair and deep blue eyes. He was a very handsome middle-aged man, but his stellar looks were not what attracted Greyson''s curiosity. It was the fact that this Head Teacher and Teacher Elendil looked eerily similar but with different hair and eye color. Related? "Ah, boy. Let me introduce some of the people who spoke. That little girl is Leilena Holland and she is the Head Teacher of the Wind Department. That grizzly bear looking one is Keenan Sagar, the Head Teacher of the Earth Department. The old man in black is Gaius Hume, the Head Teacher of the Dark Department. He did not have a last name because he was a commoner just like you in the beginning, but he was gifted a last name from the King of Dalia through military achievement. His family are now nobles because of him. Pretty amazing, right? You should aim high as well. I am Edwin Hargrave, the amazing and handsome Head Teacher of the Fire Department. As you might suspect, mister ice face over here and I are brothers. Twins, actually. Shocking, I know. How did such a warm and lovable man such as I be born a twin with such a boring and apathetic man. It''s the miracle of genes I suppose. We''re even opposite elements." The man continued babbling along happily and Greyson just looked at him and nodded. He felt his fantasy of these powerful Head Teachers was breaking. Elendil rubbed his temple feeling frustrated by the noise. Pushing up his glasses, he finally couldn''t take his brother''s incessant chatter. "Edwin, enough." At his words, the fire magician rolled his eyes but kept quiet. He knew how scary his brother could be when he was angry. After Elendil''s warning, they walked up to the large door on the 75th floor. Elendil lightly knocked on the door and a commanding voice echoed back. "Enter." Greyson felt his heart beating and his hands shaking. He knew he was meeting a very important and powerful person. He didn''t know the proper etiquette so he was quite nervous and he left Lucius with Claude so he felt vulnerable without any backup. The double doors creaked open slowly and revealed a large room. It had the smell of old books and looked similar to an old library except in the center was a desk where a surprisingly young man sat. There was nothing particularly special about the man. He had dark brown messy hair and brown eyes and wore a plain white robe that looked stained by something he ate. Greyson had the impression that he was like an airy bookworm who looked friendly and week. The voice had sounded dignified, but it didn''t quite match how he looked. Greyson glanced over at Elendil who had his eyebrows furrowed before heaving a deep sigh. "Principal, could you at least try to upkeep your image? What would the students think?" Elendil''s stern voice rang out. The man let an easygoing smile spread across his face and shrugged. "Mother Elendil, this is me putting my best effort in." Hearing how the Principal addressed the serious teacher, the Head Teachers tried their best to hold in their laughter. Teacher Keenan and Teacher Leilena didn''t even bother hiding as giggling and booming laughter echoed throughout the room. "Yes, yes, Principal only you understand my suffering. He''s such an uptight worrywart that can''t even stand a speck of dust. I really worry for him, how is he ever going to find a girl who could put up with him? What if he dies early from all this stress?" Edwin joined in while dramatically sighing. Elendil scowled and glared coldly at his brother before turning his head towards the principal again. "Hahaha, Edwin I do agree that he''s too much of a worrier. But without your brother, this academy would be run into the ground. Alright, enough joking. Elendil, what seems to be the issue? I see you brought along a young friend. Who are you, little lady?" The principal let out a good-natured chuckle before finally getting down to business. He finally glanced over at Greyson and gave a welcoming smile. Greyson felt nervous again when the attention switched back to himself before pouting at how the principal addressed him. He was still 5, okay?! He would definitely become a manly man in the future. Elendil coughed awkwardly at the misunderstanding. "Principal, first of all, Greyson is a boy. I brought him here because he can use seven elements. There has been no precedent, the most we have seen is four before and even that was super rare. He can use so many that I and the other Head Teachers did not know how to organize his future schooling. It would be difficult for him to be apart of all seven departments." The principal finally changed from his relaxed position and sat straight up while staring at Greyson in disbelief. "Seven? Wow, that''s unheard of. What seven exactly?" "After testing him, we concluded that the seven elements were: Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark, and Lightning." Elendil reported. "Wow, just wow. Greyson, was it? Come over here and hold my hand." The principal motioned for Greyson to approach while holding out his hand. Greyson hesitated and glanced over at Elendil, who nodded at him. He walked over and held the principal''s hand. He felt a surge of mana enter his body and he relaxed at the warm feeling of it. His body absorbed the mana quickly as the principal nodded in approval. "His mana channels are very open and he absorbs quickly. Even with his multiple elements he will be able to meditate and rise in power quickly. To have a student like this is a miracle. He will probably leave us and transfer to a tier one kingdom school quicker than we think." The principal began whispering in thought as Greyson felt surprised by his words. Transfer? Tier one kingdom? "Our school is connected to one of the four tier one kingdoms in the Snow Country, the Idris Kingdom. They have a prestigious magic academy, as well. It is more powerful with better schooling. It is much more elite and harder to get into and you have to get in before age 10. Most of the kids at our school do not have enough talent or they wait too long. If you can reach the intermediate level stage 5 before ten, you have a good chance of passing the admission exam." Noticing Greyson was confused, the principal explained the circumstances. Greyson nodded eagerly while creating a new goal for himself. He wanted to reach as high up as he could. "Hm... I understand your worries about seven departments being too much, however, there is exactly seven days in a week which makes this perfect. Everyday he will rotate between the departments. He will not join a normal class but have a private teacher for each day so they can adapt the learning schedule to him. He needs to learn all the elements equally or he will not be able to advance. You all can choose who will teach him from each department." The Head Teachers all nodded in acceptance. "Alright, Elendil. Show him to the multi-element residence where he will be living. You guys are dismissed." The teachers raised their right hand to their chest and slightly bowed to the principal before turning around and leaving. Greyson clumsily copied their motion before rushing to follow the teachers out. Watching them leave, the principal chuckled while his eyes glistened with excitement. "I look forward to that little pipsqueak''s future. I wonder how far he will go." 19 Roommate The Head Teachers all started back in different directions to get ready for the first day of classes while Elendil escorted Greyson to his dorm. The multi-element magicians all lived together because they did not belong to one specific department and the experienced magicians could give tips to the new ones. Having multiple elements was an advantage over normal one element magicians, however, if not used properly having multiple elements will only slow down the magician''s progress. For example, Arwen is wind and fire. As long as he can understand spells that would support one another in cohesion, then his progress speed would be no slower than other geniuses and his attack power would be higher. In contrast, if he tries to learn powerful spells for each element without looking to combine them, he would waste a lot more time trying to advance his mana in both elements because he would be practicing them separately. Practicing all his elements at the same time so his progress doesn''t slow down is Greyson''s biggest concern. Elendil walked at a brisk pace and Greyson had to almost jog to keep up with him. The walk was not too far as the dorm was the closest to the center of the academy. This made the location very desirable because it was the same distance from everything. Nothing was too far away. Usually multi-element magicians are favored by nature, thus allowing for their magic to advance quickly and for it to be more powerful than normal. This talent makes the academy give these students favorable treatment which in turn resulted in the key location of the dormitory. Soon, they reached a newer building. The dormitory had four floors: the bottom two were for girls while the top two were for boys. Greyson was told his room is on the fourth floor, room 403. Elendil handed him the key then turned around and left without a word. Greyson felt a little helpless trying to communicate with this block of ice teacher, but he just sighed and started making his way to his room. He thought he would have to use the key, but the room was already unlocked. Excited to meet his roommate, he quickly opened the door and peeked inside. In front of him was a living room with a sitting area and then there were two doors. One was partially opened so Greyson first opened that one and saw an empty room. There was one bed, one wardrobe, and a desk with a chair. It was very simple, but he could tell the furniture quality was much higher than the ones he used before. He tried jumping on the mattress and he sunk right in. Comfortable, he finally breathed out and felt relaxed. He was thrilled to start living here and wondered about his roommate. Thinking of the other closed door, Greyson jumped up from his bed and went to knock on the door. Slightly hesitating, he gently knocked on the door. He waited wondering if his roommate was asleep, but soon a cold voice rang out, "Come in." Greyson took a breath before opening the door and looking in. He paused in surprise when he saw his roommate. It was Lyle! After thinking about it, though, he became excited since he believed they could get along well especially because they were both commoners. Before he came, he was worried about having a stuck-up and spoiled rich noble kid as his roommate. Some of them are good people like Claude, but they just come from a different world than him. He could never really understand parts of their mindset and personality. Ordering slaves and servants around was a large example of something he could not get used to. As someone used to having to do things himself, he felt uncomfortable even with Claude when he kept ordering around his servants to do tasks. Lyle was from the same background and was also very talented, so he felt an automatic connection with him. The dark blue haired boy was someone he distinctly remembered because he didn''t laugh at Greyson, but at Arwen and that made Greyson feel he was worth befriending. "Uh, hello, I am your roommate, Greyson. You''re Lyle, right? I saw you at the orientation earlier. I remember than you were also a multi-element magician. Water and lightning must make a great combination. I hope that we can get along the time we live together!" Greyson decided to be the first to approach and greet in a friendly manner. He smiled brightly and stuck out his hand to Lyle. Lyle suddenly looked confused and didn''t shake Greyson''s hand. "Uh... yes, I am Lyle... But, weren''t you a girl? Shouldn''t you be on the first or second floor?" "Not you, too! I am a boy, alright? I am only five so my features are still a bit feminine, but I''ll grow out of it soon. That dumb noble was the one assuming things about me, he didn''t even to bother to ask if I am male or not." "Hahaha, well I can''t say I exactly blame him for not knowing your gender. But, it is nice to meet you, I believe we will get along great during the year." Lyle finally grasped Greyson''s hand while smiling faintly back at him. Greyson could tell that Lyle was similar to himself. Greyson was only forcing himself to be friendly, but normally he was an introvert. At the orphanage, he ignored all the other children and pretended to be mute so he wouldn''t have to talk to them. However, he still had Sister Lily at that time. But in a strange and far away place, he wanted to make new friends because Claude was not the same as him and most likely they would not have a lot of intersection at the school or in class. Greyson felt the need to make a friend who would be in a similar situation like Lyle. They walked out of his room into the living area and sat down. Though they both smiled, the atmosphere was slightly awkward. They were not really sure how to start a conversation. Greyson finally cleared his throat and spoke out first. "Lyle, where are you from?" "Ah yes, I am originally from the Angia Kingdom. It is a tier three kingdom that is allied to Dalia Kingdom. I am from a town right on the border of the Angia and Dalia called Wintervale. It''s a small town with not many residents. My father is a tavern owner while my mother is a waitress. I have two younger sisters, as well. One is your age and the other is three. I''m eight, by the way. How about you, Greyson?" "Me? I am also from a tier three kingdom, Edysa Kingdom. I am from Willow Town which is on the outskirts of the kingdom. I don''t live directly in the town, though, the church I live in is outside the town. I am an orphan, so I don''t have any siblings." Greyson slightly glanced over as he spoke to see Lyle''s reaction to him being an orphan. Pleasantly surprised, Greyson saw that his eyes did not reflect the usual pity and disdain just pure surprise by the news. He just nodded and asked, "oh wow. You must have a lot of siblings. Not the blood-related ones, but the other kids who stay at the church. You guys must be family, right? Who takes care of you all?" Greyson paused for a second not knowing how to respond. Family? He never had that thought before, but now that it was brought up he couldn''t help but feel a little emotional. Even that stupid kid Wolf is just like an annoying brother, Greyson never truly hated him. Maybe he didn''t even realize how much his orphan status had bothered him. However, listening to Lyle speak, he felt more confident. Who says he''s an orphan? Who says he doesn''t have a family? Does a family have to be blood-related to be one? Suddenly, he felt like something weighing down on his heart was removed. "Greyson?" Greyson snapped out of his thoughts and realized he had been spacing out. He smiled widely before responding. "Please, call me Grey. Yeah, you''re right I have a bunch of siblings. They''re a real annoying bunch, but they make the house feel loud and happy. Sister Lily takes care of all us like she''s our mother. Speaking about them suddenly made me miss them so I just paused a little." Lyle felt that Greyson became a lot more comfortable and warm. He was slightly confused by the transformation, but he slowly opened up to the younger boy. The boys spoke late into the night getting to know each other before finally going into their respective rooms. Although they were both introverted and rather cold boys, they felt a great connection with each other. 20 The First Lesson Greyson felt the morning sun shine down on his face. He slowly opened his eyes before looking around. He would have to get used to this new room of his now that he was finally settled down somewhere. His feet swung over the edge of his bed as he quickly rose up. Rubbing his eyes, he walked over to his wardrobe and opened it. Inside the wardrobe was surprisingly a whole set of clothes. They were all the same robe that indicated his status as a student of Dalia Academy. It was white and hooded with the silver eagle crest of the Dalia Kingdom sewn onto the left breast. Greyson dressed up before heading out his door. On his way out of his bedroom, Greyson ran into Lyle who was also leaving. Lyle looked stunned by Greyson before shaking his head. "You know, you really match that white robe. It''s blinding. Honestly, your looks are so exaggerated that even I can''t help but be envious." Lyle also looked good in the white robes that accentuated his dark blue hair and eyes, but even he knew that he was just easy on the eyes not particularly good-looking. However, Greyson looked like he was glowing. The white robe only emphasized his white hair, pale skin, pink lips, and emerald green eyes. Hearing his words, Greyson rolled his eyes and just shrugged. He never knew how to respond to compliments about his looks. He couldn''t even thank his parents because he didn''t know who they were and what they looked like. "Where are you headed today?" Lyle looked over at him responding, "Water Department, you?" "Oh, I''m going to the Water Department today too! Head Teacher Elendil told me to report to his office today and that he will inform me then of where I will go for the rest of the week." "That''s right. You said last night that you will be learning from a different element teacher every day. That''s going to be crazy. You''ll definitely be working hard, I guess." Greyson just shrugged, "It should be fine. Having a lot to do makes the days go by with more excitement anyways. I will always have something to do." "Let''s walk over together then!" "Okay!" Greyson followed Lyle out the door as the navigated their way towards the Water Department. The dorm room had contained basic materials for new students and a map was included in those things. They looked at the map last night to figure out the academy''s structure. Before long they came up to magnificent looking building with two large double doors. The word "WATER" was carved onto the top of the building. They walked in together before separating because the Head Teacher''s office was on the top floor while Lyle''s class was on the first. This time the building did not contain a teleportation circle since there were only four floors, so Greyson just walked up the steps. The top floor was very open and only contained one room. Greyson walked up to the door of the office and knocked. "Enter." Elendil''s cold voice rang out. Greyson opened the door and walked in nervously. He glanced around quickly at the room only to realize it reflected the owner''s personality to a T. It was very spartan and minimalist. There was one large desk with two couches and a table in front of the desk that looked to be for guests. Everything was extremely clean and empty. Greyson involuntarily shuddered at the cold atmosphere of the room. Elendil rose up and sat down on one of the couches while gesturing for Greyson to sit on the one across. Once they were both sitting, Elendil finally spoke. "Welcome. I will keep the introduction short. Your seven teachers will be the Head Teachers of each department. The principal has high hopes for you and only the Head Teachers could give you the best guidance. We are also the only teachers with such a flexible schedule and extra time to focus on a specific student. Normally, we are just overseers and do not teach anybody. Today, you will be studying with me. The order from here on shall be: water, fire, earth, wind, light, dark, lightning. Understood? You will continue cycling between teachers in this order." Greyson nodded while feelingpressured by the special treatment. He thought they would just assign any teacher, but to have all the Head Teachers personally teach him made him feel the reality of their expectations. He would definitely have to work hard to pass the entrance exam for the Idris Kingdom''s Magic Academy. "Alright. I can see you have understood. We will begin our lesson now then. Follow me to the training ground." ... They walked to an open field before Elendil stopped walking and turned around to face Greyson. "What water spells do you know?" Elendil questioned. "Uh... none. I never had access or money to make purchases like that." Greyson scratched his head in embarrassment. "But I seem to remember Teacher Harrison reporting that your element was water and that you could attack the target well. Did you not use a spell then?" Elendil''s facial expression had not shown any contempt towards Greyson''s low level of knowledge, but instead calmly questioned him. "I just will the water to do something and it will copy my thoughts. I have never learned any spells..." "It follows your thoughts? Show me. Hit that tree over there." Elendil pointed to a large tree around 50 meters away from the pair. Greyson nodded and activated his mana. A water ball formed before shooting out towards the tree and hitting the trunk. To his surprise, his water ball did not do any damage to the tree. He felt this was rather unexpected because his spells normally make trees splinter or completely break apart. "The tree is enchanted. Only advanced level magicians could do damage to it, but they have a different training ground. However, back to the point, your magic control is very impressive. It seems that you really do not need to learn spells, but you are still limited by your imagination and level. You could probably copy any spell as long you know it, but sometimes the creative ways to use the elements are hard to think of. The spells you copy are all novice level spells as well, so I''m guessing this means you are limited by your level and stage." Greyson listened to his words and realized his teacher was correct on both weaknesses. He only used the spells he had seen before and never tried to come up with his own and the strength of the spell was connected to his level and stage. Other then when his magic acts out instinctively, he never used a super strong spell that drained his mana. "This will probably completely change your schedule. Normally your teachers would help you understand spell structure and how to decrease the spell activation time, however, you are not in need for this kind of help. I will speak with the other Head Teachers and let you know what your future plans will be tomorrow. Why don''t you head back to your dorm room and meditate the rest of the day?" Greyson nodded and, seeing his approval, Elendil quickly turned and walked back to the Water Department Hall. Seeing the teacher leaving so quickly, Greyson heaved a sigh before walking back the way he came. He would be lying if he said that he wasn''t disappointed. He had so many imaginations of how his first magic lesson would go and how much he would learn. Having the lesson last less than 5 minutes before it being cut short was very anti-climatic. Although he was slightly upset, he still obediently went back into his dorm room. There was a third door in the dorm and this door led to the meditation room. There were two spots to sit that had magic arrays in place that would make the room dense with elemental mana. These arrays helped to speed up the rate of meditation and the absorption of mana. Sighing yet again, he sat down and began to meditate. He just hoped that tomorrow''s news would make the next lesson exciting. 21 Read? His meditation was going smoothly as he continued sitting for the entire day. He only stopped because Lyle walked in and told him that it was dinner time. Dinner? Greyson was not informed of how meals work at the Academy so he just followed Lyle out. "How long have you been meditating?" "Pretty much since you started your lessons today. A problem occurred during my first lesson so my teacher told me to just head home and meditate today and that he would tell what''s going on later tomorrow." "Really? That''s too bad, you were probably looking forward to it." Lyle looked over with a rare expression of sympathy. Greyson hadn''t seen his expression change much at all in the time he had known him. In that way, he was very similar to Head Teacher Elendil. "So how do meals work at the academy? I was never told. I didn''t really get a good introduction to the school yet." "I can let you know what I was told. There are three meals a day served at the dorms. Every basement floor has a large dining hall where the meals are served. There are different options and normally the food at the other department dorms has some way of helping their students absorb more of their element. They would serve specific element magic beast meat at the dorms and magic herbs of the different corresponding elements are served as well. It''s not too exaggerated as that would cost too much. The magic food is added in among the normal food. It''s surprisingly effective, though, at helping meditation work smoothly. Our meals are similar, except the cooks know each of our elements and prepare our meals using that as a benchmark. There are a lot less members of our dorm, so it''s not too much for the cooks to care for us each individually." "Wow, really? I only had the magic beast meat which I hunted for myself every now and then, but now I could have it everyday and it would according to my elements." "Well, with your capabilities, who knows if you''ll get too much food. They have to use all seven elements, right? Even if they try to lessen the amount for each element, your food will still be a lot. You look so small and dainty like you don''t eat much." "Hmph! Who''s small and dainty? You are just older than me, most kids my age look like this! And I''ll have you know that I eat the most at my orphanage, even more than adults. I just don''t gain any weight, probably because I need a lot of energy to use all the elements I have." Greyson was not exaggerating about his appetite. Back at the orphanage, he sincerely amazed everyone with his appetite. He would regularly eat more than a grown man and yet he would still stay as small and skinny as he was. Lyle gave Greyson a quick up and down glance with the doubt clearly showing in his eyes. Greyson felt his competitive streak ignite and was determined to make that icy face crack in disbelief. He would make his jaw drop to the floor. He wasn''t lying anyways so he just would have to eat per his normal appetite. They both walked down to the dining hall and were amazed by the clean and orderly sight of it. The wood tables were round with around 6 chairs for each. It was not too big and looked to fit 36 since there were only six tables. The largest portion of the hall was the kitchen which was hidden behind a wall. There was a large service window where the students would pick up their personal meals. Lyle and Greyson walked up and grabbed their meals before picking an empty table. No one was present at the hall which surprised Greyson as he asked Lyle if there were not set eating times. "There are, but the times are flexible. You are supposed to be here in a two hour time period for any of the meals. We are here rather late since I got back late, so probably everyone has come and eaten." "Ahh... I see." Right after they finished speaking, the doors to the hall swung open once again. They quickly glanced over, curious to see who it was. However, to the disappointment of Greyson, it was his favorite noble, Arwen. Greyson accidentally made eye contact with him and Arwen ended up glaring back. Greyson inwardly sighed feeling a headache coming on. Why must he always meet with idiots like this? Was ''target'' just spelled out on his face? Why couldn''t they leave him alone? Arwen was followed in by another boy who was probably an older student. He looked to be around 15-16 years old and had similarities to Arwen. They had similar eyes and nose and the same hair color. Seeing their similarities, Greyson had a sinking feeling they were definitely related somehow if not brothers. He was surprised that another member of Arwen''s family was a multi-element magician, as well, since it seemed to be random and rare. The older boy looked confused by Arwen''s sudden hostility so Arwen gestured and whispered to him while angrily glancing at Greyson. However, to Greyson''s surprise, the older boy then slapped the back of Arwen''s head and looked at him angrily. Then he looked over to Greyson, who still had a shocked look on his face, and he smiled apologetically. He then picked up the food and forced his brother over to their table. "Hello, I believe you have had the displeasure of meeting my younger brother, Arwen. I am his second older brother, Roland Godfey. I am really sorry about my brother, he is the fifth child and the youngest in our family so he is spoiled greatly. I always tell him to be more accepting and friendly, but my siblings and parents always treat him like their little prince and he thinks everyone should attend to him." The older boy looked sincerely stressed out and annoyed by his younger brother''s lack of EQ. Greyson could feel that Roland was much better than Arwen. He smiled and gestured for them to sit. "Haha, it''s actually not a big deal. I was mostly just angry that your brother thought I was a girl. Normally, I would reign my temper in more." Although it was a lie, Greyson felt there was no reason to hold a grudge, it would be better if Arwen just never bothered him again. They didn''t have to be friends, but having enemies was too exhausting. "Oh...oh, so you''re not a girl. I am sorry I couldn''t tell, either. However, regardless of gender, he shouldn''t have been picking on you. Right, Arwen?" "Wait! You''re a boy?! You must be lying!" Arwen reacted differently then expected so Roland slapped the back of his head again. "Ow! Brother, what are you doing?! Why do you keep hitting me? I''ll tell mother and father!" Arwen held his head pouting and shouted indignantly. Greyson saw this and held in his laughter. He had to admit that watching Arwen continuously getting slapped in the back of the head like that felt good. "Yes, I am a boy. I could go to the fourth floor bathroom and prove it to you. We are all boys, so I''m not embarrassed. It''s a public bathroom for the entire floor anyways." Greyson smiled looking amused. "Who would want to bathe with you?!" Arwen angrily snapped. Greyson just shrugged nonchalantly. "Hmph! I held back due to feeling mercy for the fairer gender earlier. If you are really a boy, you better watch yourself. I am leaving, eating with you guys would just make me lost my appetite. Brother, I''ll tell mother and father later that you bullied me!" With that, Arwen gave his food back and stomped out. Roland sighed feeling helpless. "Sorry, guys. I swear when he was younger, he was a really sweet kid. He was just raised wrongly so he doesn''t have good self-awareness. He''s become so narrow-minded and arrogant. I just don''t know how to fix it anymore. My older brother and third younger sister also spoil him like our parents and they always back him up no matter the bad things he does. The only ones who don''t are my fourth younger sister and I. We try to fix his attitude all the time." Looking at this distraught brother, Greyson couldn''t help but feel sorry for him. Arwen was definitely family and Greyson could tell that Roland loved his brother which is all the more reason that he wished to fix his personality. He inwardly sighed almost feeling grateful he was not connected by blood to some arrogant idiot like Roland. Maybe being an orphan is not that bad? "It''s okay. I don''t think much of him. I used to get bullied a lot for being an orphan and being poor. His threats and insults don''t really affect me much anymore." "Hahaha well those people were obviously short-sighted. Look at where you are and think of your probable future! They soon regret treating you with disdain. They all be slapped in the face later when you succeed, isn''t that right?" Roland laughed and encouraged Greyson. Greyson felt warmth from his words and smiled at him. "Roland''s right! We can do anything those nobles can do! We will show them." Lyle added. His normally expressionless face was filled with determination. The three boys continued talking and getting to know each other. Roland was surprisingly fire and water. Opposite elements like fire and water or light and dark were rare in one person and harder to combine. However, once they were, it was more powerful than combining other elements. He was at the intermediate level stage 4 and was 15 years old. Greyson and Lyle continued listening to his stories about academy life while talking about themselves every now and then. The boys really hit it off while the younger two felt they had met an older brother figure. Both of them were missing this sort of figure in their lives and felt really happy to have met a reliable and kind older student. They finished their meals slowly and, when they were finally done, the younger boys felt reluctant to part. Roland seem to notice this and he chuckled and ruffled both their hair. "I feel like I''ve met two cute and well-behaved younger brothers. Later on when you see me just call me Big Brother! I''ve got to get back to meditate before sleeping. I''ll definitely see you two little ones around!" Greyson and Lyle blushed realizing how childish they must have looked. They nodded before separating with him as they walked up to the fourth floor. Roland was on the third floor with other older boys. They both walked into the dorms before looking at each other and smiling. "Roland seems like a really nice older brother." "Yeah." They felt happy at making another friend in the Academy. ... The next day, Greyson woke up and went down with Lyle to eat breakfast. Roland wasn''t there this time to their disappointment. They did see Arwen, but just ignored him and picked an empty table. This time, Lyle wasn''t distracted by anyone so he realized that Greyson was not lying about his appetite. His jaw dropped looking at the rate the younger boy was eating. Greyson smirked feeling smug for proving Lyle wrong. They spent the morning nicely and chatted while walking over to the Water Department Hall. They separated again as Lyle went to his class and Greyson walked up to the fourth floor. As if repeating the day before, he found himself sitting across from Teacher Elendil once again on the couches. "I have spoke with the other teachers and they agree that with your talent that there is not much we can do. Usually it is hard for younger children to understand the spells as they are old and sometimes wordy and understanding spell circle structure is hard. You probably are not aware, but each spell has a circle pattern that the user must memorize and comprehend. He will imagine this pattern while saying a chant and the spell will occur. Your amazing talent allow you to skip all these difficult steps, so I guess the first step to improving yourself is to read the spell books we have available. Once you read these spell books for your elements, you can understand all the ways to apply your elements." "Read?" "Yes, everyday from now on you will report to our Magic Library and you have access to the entire level one. Usually you need to do tasks and be rewarded with a spell book, however, in order to give you the best learning environment we decided to let you read as many spell books as you want. You are to learn one spell for every element and at the end of the week the seven Head Teachers will test you. If you are able to copy the spell successfully and we approve, you can move on to different spells. This is to allow your imagination to expand and to use your elements in a well-thought out fashion." Greyson felt shocked by the favorable treatment he was receiving, so he could only nod in shock while listening to his responsibilities. "Alright, that is all I have to say. You will have until the end of this week to try to learn seven spells. You many head to the Library now and try to pick out a spell. Think very carefully about what you want each spell for and what they will help you with." Greyson nodded and walked out. But once he set foot outside the hall, he realized he did not know how to get to the library. He was still surprised earlier that he forgot to ask. Feeling helpless, he decided to walk back to his dorm room to look at the map once again and find his way to the library. 22 Bitter Ca Greyson got back to the dorm and looked through the map. He quickly found the large Magic Library. It was an ancient looking marble building with large white columns in the front. There were no guards on the outside surprisingly since inside the library were the most important parts of the academy. They are prestigious and attract students due to the spells that they can give. Obviously the teachers are a large part as well, but the spells were part of the long history of the Academy. However, once Greyson walked in he realized he spoke too soon. Inside on the first floor was an ancient looking old man. He looked like a normal, fragile old man, but Greyson could feel the immense magic power that radiated from him. It made Greyson''s body shudder and his body release cold sweat. He thought it was a misconception, though, because the power receded after only a couple of seconds. Body stiff, Greyson slowly walked over to the old man. "Who?" A hoarse and old voice rang out. Greyson was still rather frozen from shock, so it took him a moment to realize that the man was speaking to him. "I...I, I''m Greyson. I am a new student here. I was informed that I could pick out any spell books from the first floor to begin my training." He stuttered while quickly reporting his purpose. "Ahhh... That boy, Elendil, spoke to me about you. Go in, then. Do not try to sneak to the second floor, I control the magic restrictions so I will know." The old man''s hard black eyes stared Greyson down while warning him. Greyson nodded quickly before walking away nervously. "What a scary old man..." He whispered quietly to himself. His attention was soon taken off the old man when he stepped through the library door. In front of him was a humongous collection of books. The library was extremely wide so although it was only one floor there must have been thousands of books. Greyson held his head in distress wondering how he would be able to pick seven spell books from so many choices. Shaking his head, he decided to start looking through the books anyways. Once he started, he realized the sections were labeled by element and use and that the first floor was not only spell books but history books as well. Sighing in relief, he realized that there were not as many spell books as he thought and they were organized well. He decided to walk up to the water element section first as it was the element most familiar to him. Once he was there, Greyson was stumped as to what route he wanted to take. He decided he would have to glance through most of the spells to finally decide on a course of action. He spent the entire day reading through the water element spell books. He only glanced through at the name and description of the ability. The next six days passed by quickly as he continued going back and forth between his dorm and the library. By the end of the week, he had read through most of the spell books and chose his first seven that he wished to learn. Excited over finally making his decision, Greyson wanted to quickly take these books out and practice copying the spell but he noticed that it was the end of the week and he had to meet with Teacher Elendil again. ... "You''ve learned none of them?" He asked calmly. Greyson felt a little embarrassed and blushed while nodding. "I''m sorry... Now that I''ve read through most of them I will be able to choose faster in the future." Elendil shook his head, "No, it''s nothing you need to be sorry for. I was the one who was in too much of a rush. Choosing should normally take a while and it shows that you took the selection seriously. I think I will change the meet up to once a month instead. This will give you tons of time to pick the spells and to practice them." Hearing no disappointment in the teacher''s voice, Greyson quickly grinned while feeling relieved. "Yes! I will practice them really hard so I can impress everyone after the month is over." Elendil nodded and Greyson could have sworn he saw a hint of a smile on the corners of his lips. The teacher then gestured for him to leave and begin practicing. Greyson jumped off the couch and saluted his teacher before running out in excitement. He was really looking forward to trying his new spells, plus he had never consciously used any of his elements other then water. A wide grin spread across his face as he walked back to his dorm. He opened his dorm door then walked into his bedroom to grab the spell books. "Something good must have happened based on the stupid grin on your face." A familiar voice spoke. Greyson was surprised for a second, but he quickly recognized the voice. He glanced over and saw a soft silver-haired kitten on his bed. "Lucius, it''s you!" He smiled, realizing he had not seen the cat around. "Oh, great genius, it seems you still remember this unknown feline and here I was misunderstanding that you had forgotten me. It''s not like I helped and accompanied you for 3 months on your travels or anything. You definitely don''t owe me for giving you half my lifespan, too. I''m not bitter. AT. ALL." The cat''s eyes narrowed and his head turned in anger. Hearing his words, Greyson wanted to quickly defend himself but he realized that he really was in the wrong. He had left Lucius with Claude before heading in to test his elements, but afterwards he had to meet the principal then from then on everyday was a rush. He had completely forgotten about Lucius. Guilt stabbed at his heart. "Sorry, Lucius. I was just so overwhelmed by everything. I really forgot. It''s my bad." Greyson''s face looked remorseful. Lucius wasn''t going to go easy on him, but looking at the young boy in front of him, he felt like he was the bad guy. Greyson looked like a little puppy who had done wrong and made Lucius look like the petty friend who couldn''t understand the situation. Lucius''s eye twitched as he felt seriously wronged. Why does this boy have to have such a pretty face? Making people feel guilty for no reason. I was the one wronged! Why do you look like that! He sighed, "Alright, I understand. It''s been a tough week for you. I guess I''ll forgive you this once. But if you ever leave me with someone like that again, I won''t come to find you. I''m just going to leave and ''forget'' about you too!" "I won''t do it ever again. How could I forget you again? Oh, that''s right, how DID you find me?" Lucius rolled his eyes, "Your intelligence on one hand impresses me and on the other completely dumbfounds me. Of course through our contract! Our lives are connected now, did you really think I can''t even locate you? Can''t you feel the connection to me, as well?" After he mentioned it, Greyson did realize there was some kind of pull he felt towards the cat. I guess this feeling was how Lucius found him. "I actually found you and followed you back to your room days ago. I was just wondering how long it would take you to remember that I was not with you, but I got impatient and just appeared myself. So what are you going to do now?" Lucius still sounded bitter, but he tried to ignore his annoyance. "Ah, I''m going to go to the Black Hollow Forest that is outside the Academy. I hear there are a lot of magic beasts and space to practice. Many students go there to train if they do not have class. You can also sell the magic beast cores for academy points." After being here a week, Greyson had finally learned more about how the Academy runs. One of the largest things in the academy were points. By completing missions, committing generally good deeds for the academy, or bringing treasures in, students can gain academy points. These points are similar to money in the way that they can be traded for things within the academy. These things are like magic weapons, special armor/clothing, charms, arrays, information, spells, etc. They are the most important things to have at the Academy. Lucius''s eyes lit up, "Ohhh, that sounds fun. I''ll come with you!" Seeing how quickly he got over his depression, Greyson did not know whether to laugh or to cry. Were you not super upset earlier? Well, not that he was complaining. 23 Black Hollow Fores Seeing that Lucius agreed with him, Greyson brought his spell books in a sack and brought them with him. Black Hollow Forest was a humongous forest that stretched hundreds of thousands of miles and was filled to the brim with magic beasts. Other students say that the closer to the center of the forest you get, the stronger the beasts. There were many legends about how powerful the beasts in the forest were. On the other side of the forest was the Idris Kingdom that the principal had mentioned before so they also come and train. However, their starting point was far away and they had to go through the center of the forest to reach Dalia Kingdom''s side of the forest, thus the two kingdom''s people rarely ever meet. The edge of the forest was only a couple miles east of the Academy so it took Greyson around an hour to reach it. He walked up to where the trees began and stopped to look at the looming trees and rather threatening atmosphere. He glanced over at Lucius who looked extremely excited to get out into the wild again, Greyson assumed it was his animal instinct. He started traveling further in to the forest before he found a relatively open area. He looked around and asked Lucius if he could sense anything. Lucius took a circle around in a small radius and came back shaking his head indicating the coast was clear. Greyson relaxed then sat down and started to take out his books. Greyson thought through the process of picking his spells carefully. He knew that with seven elements he could be the ultimate all-rounder. He could attack, defend, escape, and heal. All these would help increase his chances of living. All the elements could potentially be offensive or defensive, however, they would obviously have their own specialties. The spells he chose were: Shadow Escape, Heal, Earth Wall, Air Steps, Paralyze, Water Cage, and Fire Arrow. Shadow Escape was a Dark spell that allows you to escape through any shadow on the ground. The stronger your magic the further you can transport yourself. He was only a novice level stage four so he could transport himself around five meters. Pretty much he would disappear into a shadow then pop up again from another shadow five meter away in a random direction. The downside of this spell is that he can''t escape a very far distance at this point and that the direction he escapes in is very random. Heal was very self-explanatory. It was a rather weak beginner light spell. Although the name sounded very encompassing, the spell could only heal cuts and bruises. The stronger light spells were more amazing and could potentially save a person on the brink of death or regrow cut off limbs. He would need to be much stronger for those kinds of spells though. Earth Wall was what the third prince back in Edysa kingdom had used. Although the wall at his level was still weak, it could eventually be his best form of defense. Air Steps was a great escape skill as well. It was a wind spell that propels your legs while running. He could also step on the air while escaping. It increases his agility and lightens his body. Paralyze was a lightning spells that does exactly what the name suggests. He could paralyze his enemies with the spell. The downside was that he had to make body contact with them and the amount of time they are paralyzed depends on their level of strength. If the enemy is much stronger then they will only be paralyzed for a couple seconds. Water Cage was a trapping spell. He could trap his opponent inside a ball of water and could potentially drown them, however, with his magic power could not keep the ball for very long. Lastly, Fire Arrow was his offensive fire spell. It generates a fire bow and arrow and he can continue shooting fire arrows until he runs out of mana. It works like a normal arrow except it would set whatever it comes in contact with on fire and he just need to look at his target and draw the arrow and it would hit. Looking through all his spells, Greyson knew that it would take him many days to get used to all of them. He didn''t know, however, that copying his new spells would be so difficult. He realized that the more potential for growth the spell had, the more advanced it was and the harder it was to learn. All of his spells could evolve with his power except for Heal. He did this on purpose because he didn''t want to waste his time learning spells that would become obsolete quickly as that felt like a waste of time. Normally, people are not treated as well as he is and they do not have as much choice in the spells that they end up learning because spells are expensive for outsiders and for students they are hard to earn. He had the ability to learn as many spell as he wanted, so of course he would try to become as powerful as he could. He stayed in the forest for 7 days without coming back. During this time of practice, he became Lucius''s personal joke that kept him laughing all seven days. Most of his spells wouldn''t make him look too silly if he messed up, but Shadow Escape and Air Steps were the worst. He first began with Shadow Escape but he realized that it took a lot of concentration to get his entire body to transfer. It was quite frightening as well, half his leg would sink in but then he could not control it so he was stuck with half his leg in the ground with the other half sticking out of some random shadow. He had scared the living daylights out of many other students and adventurers in the forest. They would be walking through and spot a random calf and foot sticking out from the ground. Later on it would be half his body, or his whole body without his head. It took him three days to finally have his whole body be transported five meters away. Lucius just sat around and incessantly giggled while looking at Greyson trapped in the ground and when he heard the screams of fright when someone had obviously discovered the other half of his body. This was the first episode. Next came the Air Steps spell. The reason he became proficient with Heal was all because of practicing this wind spell. First, he practiced on the ground which seemed easy enough. However, the boost in speed and strength to his legs while he was running was really difficult to get used to and he would constantly slam into tree trunks and branches because he would burst out harder than he expected. He would end up bruising all over his body. Lucius almost fell over laughing and he even ended up crying because he couldn''t stop. He would constantly replay the scenes of Greyson slamming into the trees. After he used around a day getting used to the spell on the ground, he tried using it to hop around from tree to tree and step on the air like the spell said he could. However, it was easy to imagine how the spell would work, but another to actually apply it. He used a lot of concentration to look around from tree to tree and make sure to maneuver his body correctly, therefore it was hard for him to concentrate enough on using the air to cushion his foot and allow him to use the air as a step. For almost half the day, Greyson would fall from the air and crash into the ground or he would concentrate too much on the air and not enough to his surrounding and would run into things again. The two days he spent on this spell left his scratched and bruised all the time, so he became very proficient with his Heal spell. The last two days were spent getting used to the rest of the spells. Earth Wall and Fire Arrow were rather easy to imagine and he quickly got used to them. Water Cage was not too bad, but the amount of mana it used was too much for Greyson. He would try to prank Lucius when he kept laughing, however, he could not keep Lucius in the cage for long at all. He barely passed 10 seconds, especially because Lucius was more powerful. Paralyze was not yet perfected either because he could only radiate the spell from his hands. It was hard for him to transfer the spell to other parts of his body. Since his mana was low, he could not yet radiate the spell from his entire body which meant he had to perfect the timing if he wanted to use it flexibly during a fight. The seven days passed extremely quickly and he would hunt a magic beast every now and then to eat, but he was worried if he didn''t head back that Lyle would worry. He had forgotten to let anyone know of his departure other than Teacher Elendil. Greyson decided it was around time to head back for a little just to let Lyle know of the circumstances then leave again to continue practicing. He had not mastered the spells yet and he could only use them one and a time slowly while using all his concentration. He wanted to continue practicing so that he could use them the minute he thought of them. Using Air Steps, Greyson tried his best to weave through the trees. He fell every now and then, but he was definitely much better then before. The biggest issue is that he only brought two pairs of clothes which were both cut up all around. They were his only clothes other than his school uniform, so he decided to use the magic beast cores to buy new clothes in the city market. It took him half a day to make it back to the edge of the forest then to the entrance of Academy City. He was able to quickly walk in after showing his student ID necklace. It was a common metal necklace with his name and the insignia of the Academy, but it was enchanted so that it was almost impossible to break under normal circumstances. He received it at the beginning and had been wearing it on him ever since. Walking through the entrance, he saw the familiar market from when he first arrived. Searching around a while, he finally found a store that trades money for magic beast cores. He knew most students traded directly with the Academy, but Greyson only needed regular clothes so he thought that money was the best exchange. He didn''t have higher level cores, only novice level beasts, so he only received 20 silver coins. But as someone who only own a couple tens of copper coins in his 5 years of living, he felt that he was suddenly rich. He walked to the nearest clothing store which did not look too expensive. He picked a normal cotton shirt and pants. Greyson loved the color white, but for efficiency''s sake he picked out a bunch of black and brown clothes. In that way they would not be stained as easily, plus his robe was white. He used 5 silver coins to purchase the clothes leaving him with leftover for later. He decided to start saving his money and storing it in his extra bag in his room. ... After his little shopping excursion, he made it back to his room by evening and saw Lyle sitting on the couch in the living room. When Lyle saw Greyson, he sat up in relief. Greyson didn''t know, but Lyle had been worried after the second day so he requested an audience with Head Teacher Elendil to ask about Greyson''s situation and was told that he was training in the forest. He relaxed when he at least knew Greyson was not in trouble, but after seven days passed with no word he began to feel anxious. Bad thoughts ran through his head all day and he could hardly concentrate. Once Greyson walked in, he felt much better. "You were in the forest this whole time?" "Oh, how did you know?" "Of course I went and asked. What? Did you think I wouldn''t get worried if you disappeared for SEVEN days?" Greyson heard the worry in his voice and saw the dark circles under his stern eyes. He suddenly realized that, although Lyle looked rather cold and apathetic, he was soft and caring on the inside. "Sorry, I didn''t mean to worry you. I didn''t know if you would even notice, since you tend to get really absorbed in class and meditation." Lyle rolled his eyes and huffed in frustration, "I forget the little things, I obviously wouldn''t forget about a whole person. I get absorbed and distracted, I''m not stupid and blind." "Well, I am sorry. You''re the reason I came back. I totally forgot about the time when I was practicing. I''ll be heading out again tomorrow morning, I just wanted to tell you this time. You shouldn''t worry too much, the forest is really not that dangerous on the outskirts. I hadn''t run into a single intermediate beast and even if I had Lucius here would beat them." He raised his shoulder at these words and Lyle finally realized there was an extra body in the room. "Lucius?" He looked over at the cute silver kitten in disbelief. "You might not be able to see it, but Lucius is at the intermediate level stage 5!" That''s right. Lucius had broken through to the fourth stage around the same time that Greyson arrived at Sirius and, in the time that Greyson forgot about him, he had broken through again to the fifth stage. "This kitten is that powerful?" Hearing Lyle''s words full of doubt, Lucius glared at him and hissed. "Okay, okay. My bad. I didn''t mean to underestimate you." He was not surprised that Lucius understood him as many of the more intelligent magic beasts could understand the human language, they just could not speak it back normally. "Well, seeing that you have backup makes me relieved. I''m going to go to bed now. I haven''t been sleeping well lately. I''ll say bye again in the morning." Feeling too exhausted to be angry, once the source of his anxiety was gone, Lyle felt a wave of sleepiness crash onto him. He dragged his feet to the bedroom and quickly fell asleep. Greyson grinned watching him, knowing he felt too embarrassed to mention that he was not getting sleep because he was too worried. He walked into his own bedroom and decided to go to the bathroom and shower. Lucius followed him and they both took a warm bath for the first time in a week and were extremely glad to rub the stink off of themselves. Lucius jumped into the bath quickly and let out a relaxed sigh. "I though cats hated getting wet?" Greyson glanced at the cat in wonder. "Hmph, how can you compare me, a intelligent and majestic magic beast, to normal dumb animals? Of course any civilized being enjoys staying clean. Did you think I would just wallow in dirtiness? That''s absolutely revolting." "Well, okay then. I didn''t mean to offend you." Greyson rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. They finished their bath quickly and dried off. Greyson quickly got changed and passed out on his bed without saying a word. Lucius glanced over at the little boy sleeping away and sighed. He used his teeth to grab at the edge of the blanket and pull it over him. "I guess you''re still a child after all." 24 Weird Girl Greyson woke up fairly early in the morning feeling refreshed after a good night''s rest in a warm bed. He got up and went to the bathroom at the end of the hall to wash his face and brush his teeth.He walked back to the room and saw Lucius yawning while stretching. "Morning, Lucius." Greyson greeted. The cat was still slightly confused as he had just woken up so he only nodded his head in response. Greyson started preparing his clothes and supplies for the forest again. Right as he was leaving, Lyle was also awake and walking out of his bedroom. Lyle looked up and faintly smiled. "Be careful in the forest! I''ll see you when you get back!" Greyson smiled in response while nodding his head as he left. He walked down the steps and was walking out of the dorm when his least favorite voice chirped up. "Hey, Greyson, wait!" Greyson turned around to look and sighed when he saw the face he was expecting. It was the annoying Arwen who just could not seem to let go. Greyson was happy for awhile because he was busy all the time, thus he did not see other students often including this unfriendly face. "Arwen, hello. I''m kind of in a rush maybe I''ll catch you later?" Greyson responded coldly with his face completely showing that he was hoping to never catch himself meeting Arwen again. With those words spoken, Greyson turned back around quickly and continued walking. When he turned around a menacing glint flashed through Arwen''s eyes, but he quickly controlled himself and grabbed Greyson''s arm to stop the younger boy. "No, wait. I know you have been training in the forest, so I wanted to give you a gift as an apology." Arwen tried his best to sound guilty and look like child who had done wrong. Greyson looked over at him in impatience and inwardly rolled his eyes at the completely obvious lie. "What gift?" Greyson decided to play along. "Oh, it''s super useful for keeping your surroundings quiet in magic beast forests like Black Hollow. This is a pouch that contains a mixture of herbs which disgust most magic beasts and will cause them to avoid you. It will keep you safe in the forest as you train." Arwen earnestly explained as if he were not the spoiled young master who hated Greyson''s guts. Greyson heard his words and only half-believed, but he decided to take it anyway in case it was real. He turned to walk away again after receiving the gift before he realized he was forgetting something. "Ah, that''s right. Thanks I guess. It might be useful." He nonchalantly waved his hand without turning around. Arwen saw that he was not showing his gratefulness at all and grit his teeth in anger. However, thinking of the pouch that he had just given, he smirked in anticipation. "Hey, you should throw that pouch away now." Lucius whispered into Greyson''s ear. "Hm? You know there''s something wrong with it?" Greyson looked over. "Well I don''t know specifically what this pouch is supposed to do, but I definitely know he is lying to you about its supposed effects. The smell is extremely appealing to me so I imagine that instead of making magic beasts avoid you it would attract them towards you. That boy with a stupid look on his face is obviously trying to set you up and have the magic beasts prey on you until there is nothing left. That way people will think it was an accident and, even if they suspected, he would be nowhere near you. Pretty good plan for a boy of his intelligence. It''s too bad he didn''t know that you had me. Now aren''t you so thankful I''m around?" Greyson heard his words and felt cold sweat form on his back before rolling his eyes at Lucius''s words at the end. While he was grateful that he discovered the plot, would it kill Lucius to speak without bragging about himself? He coldly glanced at the pouch. He held onto it as he traveled to the forest, then dumped in into the stream that ran through the dense woods. Looking around for a shadow, he quickly used Shadow Escape to get away from the smell. Thankfully, the smell was very contained inside the pouch and didn''t rub off on Greyson''s clothes so he soon forgot about the pouch as he ran to his practice spot. Four days passed by in the blink of an eye and Greyson finally had a good handle on his spells. It was not yet perfect, but he could at least use them interchangeably without too much difficulty. He could move the paralyze function to any spot of his body, only he had to do it while standing still. he could not move it freely on his body while moving. Feeling that his spell usage has gotten smoother, Greyson felt the need to look for a challenge. Lucius was too powerful, but maybe he could find a novice level stage 5 magic beast if he was lucky. Although he had many elements, he could not suddenly overpower an intermediate level magician or beast because after their mana manifests into form, their power increases by a large margin. Excited to test his fighting power, Greyson started hopping around in the trees using Air Steps trying to find an opponent. He ran into a couple of magic beasts that were his level and many that were below, but he wasn''t having any luck finding an opponent that was just a little stronger. One entire day was spent uneventfully and Greyson felt annoyed that he had such bad luck. He only had two more days before he had to go back and show the Head Teachers his progress on his spells. Holding in his dissatisfaction, he forced himself to sleep so he could get an early start the next morning. Spending another half a day jumping around, he managed to get 20 magic beast cores from weaker magical beasts before he felt exhausted and had to take a break to meditate. Choosing a large tree, he sat down on a thick branch and began to meditate to replenish his energy. Half way through, however, his meditation was cut short by a loud roar from a beast. Feeling curious, Greyson opened his eyes and tried to follow in the direction of the noise. He finally reached an opening and saw a battle occurring before him. Looking around, Greyson quickly understood the gist of the situation. There was a little girl, probably no older than himself, that was fighting with an agitated Fire Mountain Bear. The bears were normally a violent species with the fire element to attack and the earth element to defend. Their bodies were also extremely sturdy and hard to penetrate. Behind the young girl was an injured bear cub locked inside a cage, and the angry adult bear seemed to be cub''s mother. Understanding the situation, Greyson was torn between helping the young girl or the cub because he could feel sympathy for the mother bear. While he hesitated, the little girl was starting to lose the battle. "Lucius, should I help her? I feel like I should let the cub go, though. It''s just a kid who wants to stay with his mother. I can understand the loneliness of being without parents. But, the girl is a human and she looks as young as me. I feel like it would be against my conscience to just let her die." "Well, the bear is an intermediate level stage one beast while the girl is a stage stronger than you. I don''t really see how you can help." "What? Even the girl is stronger than me? Well, no matter, isn''t there anything I can do?" "Hmmmm... well how about you start shooting fire arrows to distract the bear and the girl, then I''ll set the cub free while no one is paying attention. Once the bear is free, I''ll help you drive off the mother. She will probably back down once her cub is free anyways." Greyson agreed with the plan and finally decided to take action. When the first fire arrow hit, the girl was already almost about to take a fatal hit. The arrow did not do much damage to the bear and only served to irritate it more. Its bloodshot eyes turned to glare over into the trees and made eye contact with Greyson. He felt its hatred at that moment and decided to just keep shooting at the bear to slow it down. Maybe the girl would help as well? Arrow after arrow rammed into the side of the bear before it let loose another loud roar and started charging towards the tree that Greyson was perched on top of. At that point, Greyson stopped shooting his arrows and used Air Steps to leap from his tree to the opposite side. Once he landed on that tree, he continued shooting his arrows. "Hey, aren''t you going to help?!" In his frustration, he finally shouted at the young girl who was still frozen in surprise. The girl snapped out of her daze and through a nasty glare at Greyson before summoning a large wind blade. The blade shot out towards the bear and managed to make a cut into its thick hide. The bear continued howling only to suddenly hear a weak cry that made it stop and turn. To its surprise, the mother saw her cub limping over to her. Her anger quickly diminished and she ran over and began licking her injured cub. She thought about turning and hurting those kids anyways, however, a small silver kitten had laid itself on the boy''s shoulder while releasing a menacing aura. Bloodline suppression! The bear felt instinctive fear and the urge to bow before the cat. She quickly picked up the cub with her teeth and started to run far away. Seeing the fight was over, Greyson sighed loudly and slumped onto the ground. His mana levels hadn''t completely recovered before he helped so he was once again empty. Before he could start meditating, though, the little girl suddenly turned around and glared at him. "Why did you butt in?! You ruined everything!" The little girl suddenly screeched. Greyson looked at the girl wide-eyed in disbelief. Now that he could calmly look at her, the girl was red-haired with light brown eyes. She had a cute and small face and was dressed like a little doll. Although she was a little distressed looking from her fight, it could not hide the noble air around her. However, he could not appreciate this girl at all because her arrogance reminded him of Arwen. "I HELPED you. That''s what that was. You were about to the lose the fight." Greyson spit through his clenched teeth. "Maybe you did, but you also let the cub go! The whole reason I went through all that effort of fighting was for the cub and you just let it go!" She ignored his words and continued accusing him. "You shouldn''t have hunted a young bear like that anyways and break up the family." Greyson looked at her with disgust showing in his eyes. "Hmph, you''re such a weakling. You actually care about stupid beasts like that." She sneered at him. "You know what, I obviously made a mistake. I should have just let you die." He looked at her and felt regret. He got up and quickly turned around to leave. What he didn''t expect, though, was that this annoying girl would continue to follow him. "What do you want?" He asked in impatience. "Were you just going to leave a defenseless and battered little girl like me in the forest by myself. I''m obviously beaten up and bleeding and will attract magic beasts. You could just leave me?" She humphed and lectured him. Defenseless? Greyson felt his lips twitch. "You are stronger than me! How could I be any less defenseless than you! I''m all out of mana, too." He could not believe the thick skin of this girl. "Well you have to make it up to me for letting the cub go and making all my earlier fighting pointless. So guard me while I meditate and recover!" She didn''t listen and commanded him. Listening to her, Greyson felt exasperated but he was too exhausted to fight. He plopped down on the ground and began meditating. Lucius would help guard him, so he ignored the girl and continued to recover his mana. The girl frowned at him and was annoyed that she was ignored, but she also knew that she should take this time to recover. She sat down a couple feet away from Greyson and meditated as well. The sun slowly set and the forest became dark. Greyson and the little girl had both recovered their mana. Greyson had less mana to recover so he opened his eyes first and glanced over at the girl near him. He saw her bruises and cuts that had dried blood over them. Although he was not really feeling that guilty because he felt he was right, he did see why she might be upset because she went through all that effort of catching that cub only for him to let it go. In order to make it up to her, he got up and started to walk over. The girl heard him approaching and opened her eyes. Her eyes reflected her confusion. "What do you want?" "Let me heal you. I can use light magic, I have a spell called Heal and it works for more surface level injuries." "Hmm... okay, you owe me anyways." She sniffed. Greyson decided to ignore her because it would only anger him. He reached over her and a light shimmered and enveloped her. All her injuries began to slowly heal. It took around an hour for her injuries to recover and half of Greyson''s recovered mana disappeared. He huffed out and sat down again to meditate. Since he was ignoring her, he didn''t realize that after he closed his eyes again that she looked over and smiled. She appreciated his effort, but she just felt awkward and didn''t know how to say it. Even she felt kind of ridiculous. At night, she realized that he had fallen asleep after his meditation so she took out a blanket from her spatial necklace and laid it on top of him. "Thank you." She whispered softly. Lucius''s ears twitched as he was woken up by her, and his eyes narrowed. He still felt that she was a brat, but maybe she wasn''t that bad. But that necklace... 25 Just Ditch Her Greyson woke up when the sun rose only to notice a warm blanket lying on top of him. Due to his fire element, he does not really get cold but he still appreciated the thought. Knowing exactly who must have laid it on him, he sneaked a glance at the girl across from him. However, he had to rub his eyes in shock once he looked over. Just a couple feet away from him was a huge bed fit for a princess! "What..." "That little girl must have a pretty rich family, not just anyone can have a spatial necklace like hers. Spatial magicians can add a space inside most types of objects like jewelry, bags, or books. However, to create even the tiniest of spaces, the spatial magician must be of the Grand Magister level to create these items. They are rather expensive in areas like this where a Grand Magister level magician is rare in general, let alone a spatial element one which are rare within the Grand Magister level population. Her necklace must have a lot of space seeing that she is perfectly fine with carrying around this humongous bed with her." Lucius spoke up just as he was observing the bed in shock. Hearing his words, Greyson shook his head thinking there were still many things in this world he was not aware of. He looked over the bed which was large and clean with warm bedding and a pink bug net surrounding it. He couldn''t help but feel speechless over the girl''s apparent extravagance. Who brings around a bed like this for a trip in the woods? Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to try to leave her behind while she was still sleeping. The week was coming to an end so he had to start heading back towards the Academy. Lucius jumped up onto his shoulder and Greyson began to use Air Steps to run back to the end of the forest. He was running for around 5 minutes when he suddenly heard a voice come from behind. "Where do you think you''re going?! Why would you leave without me?" Greyson inwardly stomped his foot in frustration as he turned around and saw that same little girl he thought he left behind. "I have to head back. We have nothing to do with each other, I don''t even know your name, so I thought I would just leave. It''s not like you''re actually weak and need my protection. Plus, why should I protect you anyways? Because you''re a girl?" "Of course you should protect me! I am... am..." She started confidently but suddenly looked hesitant to complete her sentence. "What?" "A pretty girl!" She completed. Hearing her words, Greyson just ignored her and turned around to continue running. "My name is Natalia, Natalia Ivywood. Now that you know my name we know each other right? What''s your name?" She followed him along with her own wind spell. Greyson tried his best to ignore her, but she kept pestering until he finally caved in. "Greyson." He finally told her. "Last name?" "I don''t have one. I''m an orphan and a commoner." "Oh... sorry... A last name is not a big deal anyways." Natalia suddenly backtracked feeling guilty. Greyson glanced back at her when he heard the genuine apology in her voice. "It''s no big deal. I don''t pity myself so you don''t need to pity me." He sighed. "Hey, so I was bored this entire time so can''t I just follow you?" "Not unless you want to go to the Dalia Magic Academy." "That place? No, I don''t want to. Can''t you just stay in the forest awhile longer?" "No." With that Greyson continued running, but he turned around when he no longer heard another pair of footsteps behind him. To his surprise, the girl actually left. He thanked his lucky stars to finally have Natalia leave. However, just when he felt happy about he leaving, he hear the loud thundering footsteps of magic beasts coming near. "Hey~ help me! I ran into a beast horde!" Natalia waved to him nonchalantly. At this moment, Greyson wanted to strangle her because he could obviously see that she was having no troubles at all outrunning the beasts. She purposefully led them to him. "Just use Shadow Escape and ditch her. You can control the direction these days. So keep shadow escaping until you reach the end of the forest. We''re already halfway there." Lucius''s voice advised. Greyson''s eyes lit up at the suggestion and he turned his face to smirk at that brat of a girl. Natalia could see his mocking expression and felt confusion. Then, he disappeared. He sank right down into the ground and escaped to who knows where. ... "Dark element? That''s been four elements so far. He used fire arrows, wind for his movement, light to heal, and dark just now to escape. He''s rather talented, isn''t he?" She whispered to herself. However, quickly after this contemplation she felt anger that he completely ran away from her. She hated when things didn''t go her way. Pouting, she ran away from the beasts quickly proving she really was in no danger at all. Once she landed, she heard a cold voice ring out behind her. "My lady, it is time to go back. You cannot run off this time or I will knock you out and carry you back. Master has given me permission." She jumped in fright before throwing a tantrum. "Cassius, I haven''t played enough. I don''t want to go back to that boring mansion. All you guys let me do is practice." "You don''t have a choice, my lady. Master has orders." With that, he waved his arm and a huge green bird appeared. Natalia humphed with frustration, but still obediently got onto the bird''s back. She knew all to well how scary her father could be. She glanced in the direction of the Dalia Kingdom as she flew away. Greyson, huh? This young lady will remember you! 26 Teacher Evaluation The Greyson in question had, however, quickly forgotten about the little girl and continued on his way leisurely. He felt rather nervous by the test tomorrow with the Head Teachers. He wasn''t sure he would pass. Even he felt that he had yet to master the spells. Maybe he should suggest to be given more time? Greyson felt that it would be better to completely master the spells he already has then to keep heaping new spells into his memory. What would it matter if he had 100 spells if he couldn''t use any of them properly. It would just be a waste of mana. Lucius also agreed with his thoughts after he consulted with him. With these thoughts in mind, he finally reached the gates. He stopped at the same exchange shop and this time he received 30 silver coins since he had more beast cores. Rushing to his dorm room, he peeked into Lyle''s bedroom and the meditation room but his roommate was not back yet. A little disappointed, Greyson sighed and went into his room to store his coins away. He decided to go to bed early so he could be refreshed for the next day''s endeavors with the Head Teachers. Teacher Elendil had told him that the teachers would all meet him at the same practice field he was at before. Getting undressed, he took a quick bath then went to bed. He woke up bright and early with the sun and felt refreshed after a good night''s rest. He neatly dressed in his school uniform. His eyes were a dark black now as the last time he used magic, it was the dark element. Throughout his practice in the woods, Lucius confirmed that his eyes change colors when he uses a different element. Feeling that his black eyes were rather frightening, he used his light element so that they would turn a beautiful golden color. His white hair along with his golden eyes was quite a combination that made his entire face shine. Lucius looked over and couldn''t help but think that Greyson''s bloodline might not be completely human. He didn''t mention this to Greyson because he didn''t want to freak him out, but normal humans do not have strange features like his. Walking out in his clean white robe, Greyson straightened everything out before heading out the door. Lyle had yet to get up, so Greyson did not wake him up. He walked to the bottom floor and grabbed breakfast for himself. Yet again, the food was delicious and he felt that he should stay at the Academy more just so that he could eat the food here. The unflavored cooked beast meat in the forest was getting old. Thanking the chefs after a good meal, he made his way towards the practice field of the Water Department. The teachers had yet to arrive so Greyson patiently sat down and began to meditate. After meditating for a little while, a female voice called out to him breaking his concentration. "Grey grey~ It''s me~. Hmph, Elendil is so selfish. He was the only one who met with you while the rest of us had to wait. Well today we all get to see you!" The whining voice gave him chills as he looked over to the owner. He saw familiar light pink locks of hair and bright green eyes with a mischievous glint staring at him. Wind Department''s Head Teacher Leilena was standing behind him. She was definitely cute and young-looking, but the actually young Greyson felt put off by her act. "Hello, Teacher Leilena." He greeted politely. "Oh no, you are becoming a little Elendil. How tragic!" She dramatically complained. After only interacting with Teacher Elendil for a while, Greyson felt at a loss at how to treat this trouble-making outspoken teacher. "Cease your jokes, Leilena. His attitude is much better than yours. He will obviously see more success." A militant voice ordered. Greyson felt unfamiliar with this voice so he looked over to see a raven-haired woman with dark brown eyes to match. Her hair cut very short and a serious expression on her face, she exuded a disciplined and steady presence like a seasoned soldier. Majestic purple robes were donned on her tall and lean body which indicated her element. She must be the Lightning Department''s Head Teacher. "Boo, Vivie, your no fun, either." Leilena pouted her lips. The other woman''s eyebrows scrunched together as she clearly enunciated, "My. Name. Is. Vivienne." Greyson ignored Teacher Leilena and turned towards the other woman, "Nice to make your acquaintance, Teacher Vivienne." He saluted politely as Teacher Vivienne inclined her head towards him in response. "Ohh... beautiful women and a cute little boy. What a feast for the eyes~" A flirtatious voice rang out as he walked over. "HAHAHA, Edwin, if you want to keep your pretty head on your shoulders you better take back any words about Vivienne. You know she hates your flippant comments the most." Another loud voice boomed. Greyson knew the two before he even looked over. Who else could it be if not Head Teacher Edwin and Head Teacher Keenan? A handsome face with a lazy smile soon came into his view along with a grizzly rugged looking man. "Teacher Edwin, Teacher Keenan, nice to see you again." Greyson greeted. "Loosen up, boy! It''s okay." A hard slap on the back that almost knocked Greyson flying came from Keenan. He coughed a little after the impact. "For once, Keenan has said something right. You don''t need to be too uptight like Elendil." Edwin chimed in. "Like who?" A icy voice echoed. Everyone''s head turned at this voice. Dressed in clean blue robes looking cold as always was Head Teacher Elendil. Next to him on the left side was the old man dressed in black, Teacher Gaius. On the right side was a younger man dressed in golden robes. He had warm brown eyes and matching brown hair with a good-natured smile. He seemed to radiate a comfortable air. Greyson could quickly assume that this man was the Light Department''s Head Teacher. "Teacher Elendil, Teacher Gaius, Teacher..." He looked over at the last teacher searching for a name. "I am Nicholas Whitehall." He smiled. "And Teacher Nicholas, nice to see you." Greyson finished while also smiling politely. "How is your progress with your seven spells? Which seven did you choose?" Elendil quickly cut right to the point. "I can use them all fairly well, but I wouldn''t go as far to say that I have mastered them. I actually wanted to mention extending the time with you. I feel that I should completely master these seven spells and allow them to grow with me. I do not really see the advantage to learning as many spells as I can without really mastering any of them. It seems like a waste of memory and mana." Greyson laid out his opinion clearly, hoping that his teacher would not be angry that he was trying to correct his practice plan. To his surprise, all the teachers just smiled at each other before looking back at him with appreciation showing in their eyes. "Hmm... we have definitely picked a good one this time." Gaius reflected. All the other teachers nodded happily while Greyson just looked at them feeling lost. Vivienne cleared her throat and explained, "this was a test, Greyson. A lot of children just want shortcuts to becoming powerful. They ignore the basic and easier spells because they believe they are weak and have no potential. But they don''t understand that you can only be powerful through hard work with long term goals. The best spells are not always the powerful ancient spells for high level magicians, but could also be the ''easy'' spells for novice magicians that a person has completely mastered and used from a young age. Those spells become more powerful and useful the more a magician''s mana grows. We were hoping you would realize these things on your own without us teaching you about it. We wanted to test your patience and attitude towards practice and improvement. Obviously, you have a passed and we are all very pleased with you." She allowed herself a small smile at this point. At this point, Greyson completely understood their concerns. He nodded and felt proud of himself for thinking everything through. ... "Why don''t you tell us the spells that you chose?" Nicholas smiled and requested. "I chose Shadow Escape, Air Steps, Water Cage, Fire Arrow, Earth Wall, Heal, and Paralyze." Greyson quickly listed out the spells. The teachers listened to the spells and thought of the effects of each one. After thinking about his chosen spells, they all nodded approving his choices. The spells were not flashy at all, but they were all extremely useful and diverse if used correctly. "Show us your spells one by one. Start with Water Cage. Trap this rabbit inside for as long as you can." Elendil spoke out first and held up a rabbit he had quickly caught running by. Greyson nodded and soon conjured up a large water ball covering the rabbit. He was able to keep it trapped in the water for 5 minutes since the it was a normal rabbit and could not resist at all. "Not bad." Elendil evaluated. "Hey, Grey, your eyes..." Leilena spoke out this time and all the other teachers looked as well. "Oh, they''re a different color. Weren''t they green before and now that I think about it, they were gold earlier today." Edwin chimed in. "Oh, I only realized this recently. When I use a certain element, my eyes change to the corresponding color. Since I used water just now, they are blue." Hearing his words, all the teachers seemed to pause in thought. They all came to the similar conclusion as Lucius, but they were not sure if they should inform him or not. They looked at each other and decided to not say anything. It was most likely not that important anyways since only his eyes showed a difference, plus he had no idea who his parents were so it was not like they could confirm anything. Elendil nodded in understanding and gestured for him to continue. "Why don''t you show me your Air Steps next?" Leilena walked up, looking serious for once. Greyson then quickly went into action and burst out with speed. He ran around in the air precisely controlling the air underneath him. "Eh~ not bad~ but I can tell that you are still a little unstable with some of your steps. You can''t completely control the power boost from the wind." She easily pointed out. Greyson felt much more respect towards her after her words. Although she acted immature and childish, she was definitely powerful and very experience with her element. "Show me your Shadow Escape." Gaius stepped out this time. Greyson looked around and found a shadow from one of the practice trees and walked into it. He sank down and disappeared and quickly reappeared five meters away on the opposite side of the field. He tried to take the same shadow back to where he was before but he ended up going five meters sideways. It took him two more tries before he was back in front of the teachers. "You obviously can''t control the location well yet, but that kind of feeling comes with practice. It is hard to tell directions in the dark because you feel disoriented." Gaius explained seeing that Greyson looked down about his mess up. Greyson nodded at him and tried to forget about it. "Well I want to see your Fire Arrows! Let''s see them~" Edwin suddenly suggested. Greyson followed his words and lined up with one of the large enchanted trees. He summoned his fire bow and arrow and let loose 5 arrows. They all hit the tree in the middle where he was aiming. Edwin looked impressed and clapped his hands. "Looks like you have the basics down. How far can you fire the arrow right now?" "About 150 meters?" Greyson answered. "Hm... still a little short, but if you continue practicing and your mana level increases the distance will naturally increase as well." "Alright! It''s my turn then! Greyson block my fist!" Keenan suddenly shouted out while running towards Greyson. Greyson quickly responded by summoning an earth wall in front of him. The wall rumbled after the fist hit. It cracked and crumbled from the impact. Jaw dropped, Greyson felt a shiver down his spine at the strength of Keenan. "Still too weak! You are just letting the earth come up to block you, but you really have to think about what''s going on and how to make it harder. It''s not just dirt and mud, but stone and metal. Your wall can be much harder, it is only limited by your understanding of everything the earth encompasses!" Greyson felt ashamed of how little his earth wall worked. Of all the spells he used in the forest, he definitely neglected this one the most. Hearing Teacher Keenan''s words really woke him up towards all the possibilities of his wall. He nodded seriously and promised to practice harder. "Alright, I am next. Use your paralyze on me. Try to use it as you fight with me!" Vivienne valiantly walked forward. Slightly afraid, Greyson nodded and stepped forward as well. He activated Air Steps and dodged all around her trying to get a touch in. However, Vivienne continued to block easily. The heavy sword on her back still unsheathed, she easily dodged around him. Greyson took a bunch of hits before he tried to move his Paralyze to his shin and kicked at her suddenly. The kick glanced off her arm, but still made contact. Feeling it hit, Greyson stopped while breathing hard from the exercise. "Not bad. But it doesn''t move freely enough around your body. You have to think too hard about it. You should also learn some close combat skills. Magicians are great, but they are weak at close range normally because they depend on magic. You should learn how to fight with a weapon or bare-handed. It will come in handy if you ever find yourself without any mana left. Self-defense is never useless." Spoken like a true soldier, Vivienne lectured him seriously about the weakness of magicians. Greyson understood her point. His mana was not endless and when he runs out, he is a normal 5 year old kid. If he never learns how to defend himself without magic that could end up his biggest weakness. "Alright, alright Vivienne let the boy heal his injuries now. You''ve beaten him up enough." The sunny voice of Nicholas spoke. "Show me your Heal." He smiled at Greyson. Nodding, Greyson''s body was enveloped with light as his bruises and cuts slowly healed and disappeared. After his body was healed, he heaved a sigh of relief and sat on the floor exhausted. After this little performance, his mana had run out. ... "Your magic control and endurance is not bad. I believe you should continue practicing like this. I do not believe that we need to have meetings like this anymore as you seem to understand yourself well. However, if you have any questions about the spells you can always ask any of us. I think you should start concentrating on advancing your stage and reaching the intermediate level. Once your partner beast manifests, your power increases exponentially." Elendil was as always the last to speak to summarize the plan from thereafter. Understanding his point, Greyson saluted and began to meditate in order to recover. The Head Teachers all smiled at his perseverance and left one by one. He was excited thinking of his future partner. He wondered what kind of beast it would be. 27 Secondary Occupation? After a long day, Greyson finally made his way back to the dorm and flopped onto his bed. He knew he had to bathe, but the exhaustion crashed into him and he quickly fell asleep. Lucius shook his head and pulled the blanket up again then curled up next to him to sleep. The next morning Greyson felt the sunlight pour through his window and his eyes flickered open. Stretching and yawning, he slowly got out of bed when he realized how much he smelled. Remembering he skipped a bath yesterday after all that sweating, he quickly got undressed and headed over to the bathroom. Lucius followed along and they both washed off the stench. When he got back, he decided to wash his bed sheets and clothes. There was a place in the back of the dorm to do laundry, so he went there and cleaned off his dirty clothes and sheets before hanging them up on the rope left out for drying. Heaving a sigh and dusting off his hands, Greyson went back to his dorm to start meditating. After using up all his magic yesterday, he felt that his mana was close to a breaking point. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Lyle coming out of his room. Thinking back, he had not seen his roommate for days now even the two days he has been back. This time Lyle was not wearing his white robe, but instead he donned a black and blue Dalia Kingdom soldier uniform. "Are you leaving school for the military?" Greyson asked confused. "Huh? No, of course not. Grey, don''t you remember that we all can pick secondary occupations? I have always wanted to be a soldier, if I have an outstanding achievement later I could be granted a last name and my family would be nobles. Although it would be the lowest level noble, it still means a lot. Plus, defending the kingdom is a noble occupation I think. Have you thought about what occupations you want to take up?" Lyle explained. Secondary occupation? Greyson realized that Teacher Harrison had mentioned this to him before. He had been so preoccupied that he hadn''t given his choice any thought. "Why don''t you go to the Occupation Registry Building? They have all the options, descriptions of each job, and qualifications. You could probably make your decision if you know everything." Lyle suggested when he saw Greyson''s lost face. "Oh, there is a building like that?" Listening to Lyle, Greyson decided to check out that place first then make his decision. ... After spending all of yesterday meditating, Greyson smoothly broke through to the fifth stage. It did not take too much effort which surprised Greyson, but Lucius told him that breaking through the stages gets more difficult the higher the level. With his talent, breaking through a stage at the novice level is a matter of time so he wouldn''t feel any resistance. As easy as it might have seemed, Greyson was still excited by advancing a stage because he was that much closer to breaking through the intermediate level which would mean his partner beast finally appearing! As he woke up the next day, he jumped out of bed humming and feeling cheerful. He decided to ride this good mood to the Occupation Registry Building so that his choice might come easier. Looking at the map, he realized the building was close to the huge tower where he met the principal. Saying goodbye to Lyle, Greyson walked out with Lucius in tow towards the building. Once he got there, he was met with a small one floor building. After seeing so many grand places, he felt that this registry building was quite underwhelming. He entered to see a busy crowded room. There was a huge desk in the middle with attendants all around helping people. He continued to look around until he spotted a station with 3 large books on stands. The label was "Information Station" so he assumed that was what he was looking for. Going to one of the open stands, Greyson took down the book because he was too short. He opened the book to the first page and it read "Job Descriptions." Sitting down on a nearby couch, he started reading through the entire book. Reading through took him around three hours and when he finally looked up his eyes still showed indecision. Maybe it was not good knowing all his choices? Now he just has more to think about... He scrunched his brows in frustration as he put the book back onto the stand. Taking one last look at the building, he started a slow walk home. Not paying attention to the road, he continued contemplating about what choice to make. He wished he could be good at everything, but he knew that was impossible for him. He could only pick three at most if he wanted to be able to dedicate his time to learning. Admittedly, he agreed with Lyle that being a soldier was really tempting and those with mana are given a special position called war magicians. However, he really did not have the heart to go down that route. Maybe because he was brought up in the church and taught by Sister Lily, he could not see himself killing anyone. Even if those people were the so-called enemies, murdering was a hard obstacle to overcome. The most he could do was hunt magic beasts, but he still had a line. He had a soft heart and he knew it. Lucius could feel it, too, and he continually told Greyson that mercy was a weakness in such an unfeeling world. In his head, he could understand but in his heart he could not overcome his disgust for killing. After awhile he had crossed out that choice when he thought of Teacher Vivienne. Teacher Elendil had said he could go to them for teaching and help, so if he really wanted to learn how to fight, he would ask Teacher Vivienne to teach him. Walking on, he continued to toss out some occupations while keeping others. Filtering after filtering finally left him with five choices: physician, blacksmith, musician, chef, or painter. He was personally interested in music and cooking after helping out at the church. He would help Sister Lily cook and always listen to Sister Lily play the organ and sing hymns. A physician and blacksmith both were extremely useful skills to have as one could help heal people and the other would mean he could craft items specifically for himself. It would also cost him less money to create his own magic weapon. They would also bring in a large amount of money later for funding. Painting honestly had no real use other than as a hobby or an outlet, but the art itself really attracted him. He was tempted because it did not use magic and he felt that he should keep at least a part of himself normal. By the time he made it back to his dorm, he decided on three. He would choose blacksmith, musician, and painter! After deciding he felt like rock pressing down on his heart had been removed and felt much more relaxed. He would go back to the building tomorrow and register for those three occupations then he could start attending the classes. Feeling excited to learn new things, Greyson could hardly calm down for his meditation. ... He woke up early the next day and started swiftly walking over to registry building. He was fairly early this time so not many people were in the building. An attendant motioned for him to come over so he walked over to them for help. "Hello, how can I help you?" The man smiled. "Hello, sir, I wish to register for three occupations: blacksmith, musician, and painter. How do I go about the process?" "Oh, wow, you will have your hands full learning all that at your age. Are you sure you don''t want to pick one or two?" "Yes, I am sure. I thought about it a lot." "Okay, well the process is not too hard. First, for the blacksmith registration, you have to show me your academy ID and that you can use the fire element. I will get you registered then and give you an apprentice badge. You would then go to the blacksmith association and begin your training. The other two do not require magic so I can quickly have you registered and give you the pertaining apprentice badges as well. It''s a pretty simple process." Just a little while later, Greyson walked out of the building with three new badges pinned to the left side of his chest. Following the attendant''s directions, he walked over to the blacksmith association first. He walked over to a rather large red and black building that had the blacksmith crest on the top. After he was through the entrance, he walked to another front desk where this time a young woman spoke to him. "Hello, little one, what are you here for?" She looked over warmly the cute child in front of her. "I just registered to be a blacksmith and came over after getting my badge." Greyson then indicated at his left chest. The lady then looked at the badge feeling surprised, but she realized he was a student at the Academy from his robe so it made sense. There were a lot of very young students who started training in their occupations early. "Ahhh... okay! Then I will see if any of our blacksmiths are available to teach an apprentice." She started looking through the list, but her smile slowly faded away. At the end, she could only frown at the boy''s luck. "Would you maybe want to wait a year?" She suddenly asked. "Ah? A year? Why, is there no available blacksmiths?" He asked feeling depressed. "No, no, there is one..." "Then I''ll learn from him!" "Ah, that''s... Are you sure? He''s known for being the devil towards his apprentices. Most of them quit and waited for another teacher after only a weeks or so. I think the longest an apprentice has ever lasted was one month." "Why? Is he a bad blacksmith?" "No! Actually he is almost as good as the chief. He is the best 3-star blacksmith we have!" Hearing this, Greyson was shocked. The star ranking correlated with the level tool they can forge. 1-star blacksmiths can only forge things for novice level magicians because their tools can only handle that level of mana. Dalia Kingdom was still small in terms of the world, so the kingdom only had one 4-star blacksmith and he was the chief. The next highest would be 3-star and Greyson had read there were only a couple in the kingdom. Knowing his level, Greyson became determined to be his apprentice. "Then I will be his apprentice! I won''t quit easily!" He said with determination. "Well... If you''re sure..." The lady looked at him with doubt while shaking her head. How many people had said the same thing but quit? Plus this was a child. He would give up quickly. She finished the paperwork and sent him to his teacher''s workshop in the building. His teacher was on the third floor. Feeling anticipation, Greyson walked up the steps to find his new teacher. 28 Grumpy Blacksmith, Mute Painter, Two-Faced Musician? His teacher''s room was at the end of the 3rd floor hall. All the rooms were shut with a fortified metal door. He saw on the side of the door there was a string to pull so a bell would ring on the other side. Yanking on the bell, he tried to get his teacher''s attention. After a loud bell sounded on the other side, Greyson was immediately scolded. "Who in the hell is it?! Do you know what you have done?! Now you have ruined this sword and I will have to make it again!" The angry voice continued speaking as the metal door was opened. First, Greyson noticed the strong wave of heat coming from the room, then he looked at the gruff looking middle-aged man straight in the face. He had black messy hair that was pulled back and tied, with his facial hair all grown out, and piercing amber eyes. Wait... Straight? Suddenly he realized that although this was a middle-aged man, his teacher was only a little taller than he was at around a ten-year old''s height. He felt very confused for a second before Lucius''s voice echoed in his mind, "a dwarf?" A dwarf? He then remembered this race was mentioned while he was speaking with Lucius. They were another race which lived peacefully with humans that specialized in creating amazing blacksmiths. Obviously, not all dwarves were blacksmiths, however a majority are born with the fire element and their ancestors were the first blacksmiths. They had a long history and experience in the field, so their race ended up with an amazing number of blacksmiths and all the high level blacksmiths almost solely belonging to their race. Humans had a couple really accomplished blacksmiths, but they were much rarer. ''Peacefully'' was of course a matter of perspective. As different races, it was very difficult to get rid of prejudice and hate. Humans mocked dwarves for their height and looks, while dwarves looked down on how weak humans were. Dwarves were born with supernatural strength and endurance, maybe to make up for their lack of height? Petty things, really. However, it was enough to create subtle hostility. There used to be wars between dwarf countries and human countries, but, a couple centuries ago, there was a peace treaty and they have not fought. Greyson felt shocked to see a dwarf here. According to Lucius, you could see human blacksmiths working with dwarf blacksmiths in dwarf countries all the time, however, dwarves working with human blacksmiths in human countries was almost unheard of. Dwarves normally held human blacksmiths in disdain and anyone who worked with them was a "disgrace." Due to his surprise, even after his teacher walked out, he forgot to answer back for a long time. Seeing his silence, the dwarf was even more angered. "Well? Are you stupid? Never seen a dwarf before? Out with it, what did you need that you rang the bell?" "Ah, sorry, sir. It truly is the first time I have seen a dwarf so I was a little surprised. I was rude to stare like that. I was sent here by the front desk to be your apprentice." Snapped out his daze, Greyson finally answered. "Apprentice? A weak little girl like you? Have they grown stupid in the head?! You would not even be able to lift the hammer, let alone be a blacksmith." He grumbled with dissatisfaction as he gave Greyson quick look up and down. "I am a boy! I am stronger than I look..." Greyson could not help but speak back indignantly. "Hmph! Whatever. I will teach you seriously if you seriously want to learn. If you give up and go crying that you want a different teacher, that is not on me." Greyson heard his words and felt determined to not quit. He would work through everything and prove this annoy dwarf wrong! "I won''t give up easily, teacher!" "We''ll see. Come back tomorrow early morning. You will report here everyday. I have nothing prepared for you today." "Wait, teacher, could I come every three days? I have two other occupations to learn." "What?! Blacksmith isn''t your only occupation?! How could they send me such an annoying brat! You don''t even take the job seriously. Hmph! I shall see how you will succeed later. Being a blacksmith takes all of your concentration, you can just halfheartedly learn." He lectured. Greyson heard his complaints, but realized he didn''t say no. He just saluted while saying, "thank you teacher for your understanding. I will come tomorrow and show you that I am absolutely serious about being a blacksmith." "Just call me Old Man Thraec. I dislike all those human niceties. I won''t be your teacher for long anyways." He waved his hand and closed the metal door behind him. Greyson felt his teacher was an odd one, but he took teaching seriously so that was good. He turned around and left the blacksmith association and walked over to the the painting association. It was still morning so he had plenty of time to visit the musician association as well. ... The painting association was much less busy and less grand than the blacksmith association. However, one could still see the artistic flare of the building. He walked in and was met with the only person behind the front desk. He was a kind-looking old man with a warm smile. "Hello, little boy, how can I help you?" "Oh? How did you know I was a boy?" Greyson felt surprised. Not that many people got it right. "Hahaha, as an artist, I guess you could say I have a good eyes for things." He laughed happily. The old man made Greyson automatically feel close to him, he just had a very inviting atmosphere. "I am here to be assigned a teacher. I registered to be a painting apprentice. My name is Greyson, I am a new student at Dalia Magic Academy." Greyson smiled. "Ahhh, another budding painter, how wonderful! Nice to meet you, Greyson. I will see who is available." The old man began rustling through his paperwork. Having a feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, Greyson saw as the man''s smile disappeared and he began to look conflicted. "Is there no available teacher?" He asked the old man. "No, no it isn''t that. There is one. I just don''t know if you would want him. He is a rather odd character. Usually students register early so he is the only one left." "Is he a bad painter or a bad teacher?" "Hmmm... neither? He is mute. All his students felt frustrated by the lack of communication." Mute? As someone who once pretended to be mute, Greyson felt no concern with this issue. He preferred silence anyways. "That''s okay! I will be his student." "Okay, if you''re sure you are okay, I will put you down as his apprentice. This is the way to his workshop." The old man smiled and handed him a map. Greyson walked out of the association with the map and made his was to a clean little house. It had an air of simplicity and peacefulness that made Greyson comfortable. He lightly knocked on the door and after a little bit heard footsteps walking towards him. The door slowly opened and revealed a young man looking to be in his mid-20s. He was handsome man with chestnut hair and eyes. His hair was tied up neatly while he wore comfortable loose clothes and a smock covered in paint. He looked at Greyson with obvious confusion. Greyson took this as a cue to introduce himself. "Hello, I was assigned to be your painting apprentice. My name is Greyson." He politely saluted. The teacher showed understanding as he nodded his head. "I know you are mute, but that does not bother me. I hope I can learn a lot from you." Hearing his words, the painter smiled and patted Greyson''s head. But then he looked worried and unsure. "Did you not prepare anything today?" Greyson asked while smiling. The man looked surprise that Greyson understood. As someone who had not spoken for such a long time, Greyson got much better at making and reading expressions. He also just came from Old Man Thaec''s place so he could infer what the problem was. "I have 2 other occupations. So, I was thinking of coming to you every three days starting the day after tomorrow. Would that be okay?" He asked. The man smiled warmly while nodding. He went back into his house and came back with a key. He gestured for Greyson to take it. Greyson could tell it was the key to his workshop, so he received it. "Thank you, teacher. I will back in two days then!" Greyson left first while waving. He felt very happy with this teacher. The young man was gentle and kind. He had a kind of grace that should follow an painter. He began to make his way towards the musician association next with excitement to meet his next teacher. ... The musician association was bigger than the painting association but smaller than the blacksmith association. It was a normal looking building but there were a bunch of street performers in the front as if signaling that this was a place of music. He walked in to see many people buzzing about trying to register their music. He noticed that this music association was in charge of patents for songs and a way for budding musicians to perform in front of nobles and get their name known. However, he saw as person after person was rejected and sent away. Their music did not pass judgment. Greyson looked around for where he should go and saw a sign for registration. He walked up to the pretty young lady attendant. "Aw, well aren''t you adorable? Are you here to learn?" She asked while patting his head smiling. Greyson felt a little uncomfortable being treated like a baby, but then he realized he really was young so there was nothing to do about it. He smiled back and nodded. "I am, my name is Greyson. I''m a new student at Dalia Magic Academy." "Well, nice to meet you, Greyson. What instrument are you looking to learn?" Prepared for this question, he quickly replied. "The flute." "The flute? Hmmm... well it certainly matches your pretty face." She said smiling. Greyson felt his lip twitch. His face? That certainly wasn''t why he chose the flute. He like the peaceful sound it made and the fact is was easily portable. He would probably be moving around and adventuring so he would want to be able to take his instrument around with him. "Well I''ll see if we have any of our famous flute players available to teach." She quickly began sifting through her files. Yet again, the smile faded. Greyson saw her expression and felt speechless. "Let me guess, there is one teacher left, but he is very weird and people don''t like to be his student." Her eyes widened in shock, "how did you know?" Greyson just looked at her with a feeling of wanting to slam his head against the wall. Now just what was wrong with this teacher? What was with his luck today? "I''m guessing he is very good with the flute, so what exactly is wrong with him?" "Hmmm... the public isn''t aware of this, but his personality is pretty terrible. He acts like a dignified man not affected by the world when he plays his flute and when he''s in front of strangers, however, with those he is close to he is extremely unreasonable and hard to get along with." Greyson sighed inwardly, "It''s fine. I will take him on as my teacher." "Are you..." "I''m sure." "Okay, I will put down you down as his apprentice. His practice room is on the fourth floor. You will see his name on the door. His name is Carlyle." Greyson felt exasperated. Quickly he walked up the stairs to the fourth floor and began to look for the door with Carlyle labeled on it. He soon found the door before he heard a loud crash of glass breaking and shouting. "I told you to get out of my face, you clown-faced troll! Your perfume reeks cheap prostitute and your face is so caked with make-up it has to make me wonder what kind of a monster face you are trying to hide. It disgusts me!" The door then swung open and a pretty woman went running out while crying. Greyson froze a little in surprise and felt this teacher definitely had some personality issues... He walked into the room and saw a blonde haired and blue eyed man who looked to be in his late-20s or early-30s. He was good-looking, but he had an obvious arrogance that radiated from his face and body language. Greyson''s movement had caught his attention as the man''s clear blue eyes looked over with annoyance. "And now who are you?" "Uh... hello, teacher, I have been assigned as your apprentice." Greyson swallowed his doubts about his teacher and introduced himself. "Well, your face at least passes so I won''t get sick of seeing you everyday. I will allow it." He said flippantly after looking over Greyson. Greyson felt was speechless. He chose his apprentices based on looks? "Teacher, I actually have two other occupations. I have decided to rotate with each one. I am going to the first one tomorrow, the second one the day after, and then I was hoping to meet you after that. Then I would continue rotating as such. Would that be okay?" The man''s face suddenly hardened. "Are you looking down on music and on the flute? It takes hard work to be good. I won''t accept people who are not serious." Greyson was taken aback by the man''s sudden change. But then his face also turned serious as he explained, "do not worry, teacher. I am completely serious about trying hard and learning. I am not looking down on each occupation. I know that I am spreading myself rather thin, but I believe I can do it. I am honestly really interested in all my occupations so I could not just choose one. I will work hard." "Hmmmm..." Carlyle squinted his eyes as the little boy in front of him while contemplating. "I will allow it this once. But if your progress does not satisfy me then I will drop you." Greyson then smiled and saluted. "I won''t disappoint you, teacher!" "Hmmm, we''ll see. You may go then." He waved his hand dismissively. "Okay! I will be leaving then. See you in three days." Greyson then closed the door behind him and left the musician association building. A grumpy dwarf blacksmith, mute painter, and a two-faced musician. He had his hands full it seemed. However, instead of feeling down, he felt very excited for the future. He would work hard and show them that he could have three occupations but still be good at them all! 29 Nearing the Intermediate Level Innocent Greyson had no idea that when he began his lessons, the nightmare was only beginning. Even sleeping, he could hear his teachers repeating the same words. "AGAIN." It was the horror of repetition. For two months now, he repeated the same actions over and over again. Old Man Thraec made him learn to identify as many metals as possible for the first half a month. He gave him an enormous book of metals to memorize then began testing him from sight, then blindfolded him to identify just from touch or smell. Memorizing was easy for Greyson, so this part was not as large of a challenge and learning new information was interesting. The hard part was after learning the metals. He spent the next month and a half smelting metal ore. It was hard work that he still had not mastered. Each ore had a different temperature needed and the old man wanted him to be comfortable using his flame at different temperatures. If he finished melting down ore for his teacher, then he would stand around watching the blacksmith do all the actual work. It was rather disheartening that he had yet to learn any real blacksmith skills. However, he knew that he was getting impatient. Blacksmith skills are intricate and difficult to learn, so he could not expect to only take two months to learn everything that is needed. He had to slow down and really focus and making his basic skills strong. Old Man Thraec was obviously making him repeat the same boring preparation steps so that his foundation is strong and set for him to be able to go further in the occupation. Seeing his slight impatience, Thraec had let him know that even to reach the most basic 1-star level would take at least a year if not more. Maybe because he had only lived five years, one year felt extremely long. It was 1/5 of his life. Painting was not any better. His teacher''s name, he had finally found out to be Castiel. This warm smiling teacher who looked like a gentle scholar was actually the devil in disguise. The first month, he was stuck creating paint. He learned the entire process from scratch. Again and again, he came to the workshop and went straight to the paint room. By the second month, he had begun to paint. However, it was not pictures or shapes. He would take practice paper and teach himself how the colors interact. How to get certain colors by mixing others or to get different shades of the same color. Castiel had him work for hours just learning about how the colors blend together and how they interact. One day would end, then the next time he came around Castiel would just smile warmly and indicate for him to practice with the colors again. He would sigh quietly and keep learning and mastering the basics. His worst headache was from his flute teacher, Carlyle. The man had scary highs and lows. His moods changed at the flip of a switch and he was constantly throwing Greyson in for a loop. One moment he would be a dignified teacher that looked extremely calm and peaceful when he played the flute, another he would screaming at the top of his lungs at some small mistake. When he performed, he was a gentleman like no other. But when he was offstage, he would insult and badmouth almost everyone he spoke with. Even Greyson felt speechless looking at his obviously fake and two-faced teacher. One thing was for sure, though, Carlyle was extremely passionate about his instrument. Hours upon hours was spent just learning the correct posture for playing the flute. The two months thus far were spent learning the fingering for the notes and the scales. He had a little stick he carried around that would whip Greyson''s arms or back when his posture slumped and he would make Greyson practice one note without end if Greyson played it wrong or out of tune. Greyson''s was the most shocked that Carlyle himself did not get tire of listening to him play the same note over and over. Everyday of practice was the same practice scales and warm-ups. Carlyle had perfect pitch, as well, so he was always giving Greyson a hard time about finding the correct notes and being in tune. Obviously not as amazing as his teacher, Greyson could still recognize all the basic notes now. Greyson was excited, though, because Carlyle had informed him that he would be learning his first song soon. It was easy, but it was still a song so Greyson was satisfied. What Greyson didn''t know was that his teachers might seem hard on him, but they were more impressed than anyone. In the first place, Greyson was the only student of theirs to last more than one month. Second, he was extremely talented. But most importantly, he was hard-working and obedient. It was not unheard of for children to start training in their occupations early, however, their age made them impatient and quick to give up especially noble children. Greyson was calm and listened closely to all their advice. They also were happy that even if Greyson had complaints, he kept them in his heart. All of the teachers knew they had no patience for whining children. For once, they felt lucky for being the only teachers open for an apprentice. ... Learning his new occupations did not mean that Greyson suddenly stopped his magic training. He knew he could not get lazy and that power was everything in this world. He could not protect anything if he did not have power. Occupations were fantastic, but to really be safe he need to have a power over others. The important and wealthy occupations like blacksmiths and physicians were all occupations that required magic. Even the most important positions in the military were normally given to magicians no matter how talented and intelligent a normal soldier may be. Magic had to be his main focus. The reason he could split his attention was because at this time the most important thing for him is to meditate. Breaking through to the intermediate level was a major change so the accumulation took much more time than just breaking through a stage. These days he would meditate every night and he could feel his mana accumulating into an egg. He could feel that the egg would hatch in a week. Reading up on the levels, Greyson recognized this egg as his partner beast created from part of his soul and mana. There was an inexplicable connection with this beast and he could feel the life force growing stronger. He continued to count down the days until he would finally get to meet his beast. Lyle, being older, had already reached the intermediate level almost right after Greyson''s first day as an apprentice. It was a cute lizard like creature that was dark blue with a purple stripe. It could use the same elements as Lyle so water and lightning and at this point was still a spirit without much intelligence. Lyle named him Kallix. Although Kallix was almost like a puppet at this point, as Lyle continued to increase his power, Kallix would become more and more like a real life beast. The teachers explained that this beast would be their partner in fighting and could cast certain spells instantly. Kallix''s innate spells were two thus far. One was similar to Paralyze where he could radiate electricity from his entire body. The second one was a combined water and lightning ball that could blast out of its mouth. As Kallix was still small, this ball was small and could not do much damage. Unfortunately, Lyle did not get a flying beast, however, Kallix would eventually grow from it''s current palm size to a horse''s size. Kallix could travel very quickly, so although Lyle wouldn''t be flying anywhere literally he could still "fly" around on the ground. Lyle would practice 2 hours a day with Kallix to learn how to coordinate their tag team fighting as he could only allow Kallix to appear for that amount of time. Witnessing Kallix''s and Lyle''s constant interaction made him slightly envious and Greyson continued pushing himself to quickly break through. However, even geniuses could not break through that quickly as all levels were a matter of accumulation of mana that could help your partner beast to evolve. Novice level was all about nurturing an egg while after the intermediate level is about accumulating mana to help your beast evolve and grow. As the beast grows powerful, so does the magician''s mana level. Greyson silently lamented on when it would be his turn... 30 Not Human? Greyson continued his schedule for another month before he felt a breaking point. Nothing actually appeared different, however, he could feel the egg within him shake. This particular night, Greyson''s eyes lit up feeling the difference. He continued to meditate and allowed the mana to run through his body. The shaking sped up and became more frequent. *Crack* Greyson''s ears perked up as he looked within at the egg and saw the first signs of it cracking. Forgetting the time, Greyson continued meditating. Time flew by in an instant as he sat in the same position while letting the mana be sucked in. Greyson was not aware, however, his transformation was causing a huge commotion. He had not stepped out of the room for three days and each day the suction of mana into his room was becoming stronger and stronger. The seven Head Teachers had already arrived and were blocking off the area so no one could disturb his breakthrough. They were just as confused as the students, though, as such a situation had never occurred before. Assuming it had to do with his elements, they continued standing guard waiting for the event to end. Inside the room, Greyson had no feel for time and just allowed the process to continue. Crack by crack, the egg slowly opened within him. *BANG!* The fifth day of meditation, the mana amount had finally reached the correct amount and the beast within the egg exploded outside. "Young boy, hear and remember my name, Zephyr." A deep and powerful voice echoed within his mind. All the mana he had stored within him was suddenly sucked away by this same beast. Panicking, he tried to receive the mana back but this action continued until he was sucked dry. What was going on? Was the last thought in his head until he passed out. ... "Hey, it''s been another 2 days. Is he okay?" A concerned voice rang out. "He should be fine?" An unsure voice answered. "Should we just barge in? The mana movement has already stopped. Doesn''t that mean he is done?" Another voice questioned. Hearing the noise brought Greyson slowly back to reality. Groaning, he squinted his eyes against the light. What had happened? Did he succeed? Looking around, he realized he was still within the same meditation room. Thinking back to his last moment of consciousness, he suddenly looked inside him to see the egg was no longer present. In its stead was a beautiful silver dragon. The dragon was sleeping curled up, so instead of a majestic look, it had more of a lazy and cute look. As he looked at the beast, he felt elated. Feeling his mana, he also realized that his body''s mana channels were thriving with much more mana than before. He felt unprecedentedly full and powerful. Clenching his fist, he felt his magic power. Intermediate level! He had broken through. Grinning ear to ear, he felt really proud of himself. He had only just turned six! Without telling anyone, even Lyle, he had quietly passed his birthday. He wasn''t a huge fan of making a big deal about it since it only reminded him of the day he was abandoned. That''s right, my beast! He looked within himself at the silver dragon resting. Since Greyson was still only at the Intermediate level, the dragon looked more like a thin lizard with wings. However, it''s shape was definitely a dragon. Reading up on partner beasts when he was still looking forward to his own, he knew that dragon partner beasts were the rarest and normally humans who had dragon partner beasts were related to the real dragon race. Greyson felt confused about this point. He wasn''t aware of any connection to the dragon race... Maybe his parents? He scoffed then shook his head. What would it matter anyways? It''s not like he could go and ask his parents anyways. Putting those confusing thoughts to the back of his mind, he excitedly tried to summon his partner. He closed his eyes and stretched out his palm and tried calling out to the dragon within him. Soon feeling heat on his hand, Greyson opened his eyes to look at the creature in front of him. It was still spirit looking and not solid since he still had to grow stronger. But its drowsy eyes slowly blinked open and looked into Greyson''s. The eyes were a beautiful purple that matched its silver scales. Greyson felt they radiated a royalty and arrogance. This feeling was only for a second, though, before the dragon suddenly sneezed letting out a breath of fire. Seemingly shocked by the power behind its sneeze, the dragon stumbled back clumsily and fell off the Greyson''s hand onto the floor. Looking out of sorts, the dragon sat down trying to orient itself. Watching his partner look around in confusion made Greyson start to giggle. He was definitely a cute little guy. It was still a baby. "Hello, Zephyr." Greyson smiled and picked the dragon up again while stroking him. He didn''t know why his beast came with a name, however, he though it was fitting so he kept it anyway. The dragon rubbed its small face lovingly against his palm before falling back asleep. The spirit then floated back inside Greyson disappearing. Once the spirit was gone, Greyson felt half of his mana drain. What?! Zephyr had only been out for about 5 minutes, how could he already be drained so much? Lyle could summon Kallix for two hours yet looking at today he could only summon Zephyr for 10 minutes! Stuck in his confusion, he didn''t realize the voices still speaking outside the room. "I can''t wait anymore! I''m going in!" A booming voice shouted. With a loud crash, the meditation room door was kicked down. Greyson snapped out of his thoughts at the noise and looked over to see the worried faces of Lyle and his seven teachers. They all stared at him in shock. At first, Greyson thought it was shock over his breakthrough because an intermediate level 6 year old was rare and he knew that. But soon he realized their looks of confusion indicated more than that. "What is there something on my face?" He asked half-jokingly. However, the response was so serious that he couldn''t help but be surprised. "Wait, is there really something the matter with my face?" He quickly summoned a water mirror in front of his face to look. He was shocked by what he saw. His once plain white hair was now platinum silver and had grown down to his waist. His eyes were a wondrous mix of colors that looked to be constantly changing. On the right side of his face was a silver dragon tattoo that traced traced from the top right corner of his forehead to the right edge of his chin. It was not detrimental to his looks and instead made him look even more enchanting. What is with his features? What''s going on? Greyson felt he couldn''t take much more shock today and his head started to ache with questions. Greyson looked over to see the conflicted look on Head Teacher Elendil''s face. "Teacher Elendil, what is going on?" "Greyson, did you break through to the Intermediate level?" Elendil didn''t answer immediately and instead asked a different question. Although confused by the sudden question, Greyson still nodded accordingly. "What is your beast?" He continued. "A silver dragon." "A dragon?" His eyes revealed shock. "Can you show me?" Greyson nodded and placed out his hand. Zephyr soon reappeared in the room. Teacher Elendil and the rest all exchanged looks after confirming his beast. "Alright, that''s okay, thank you." Greyson nodded and received Zephyr again. "Teachers, what is happening to me?" Greyson asked feeling sincerely distressed by these sudden changes. "Greyson, we haven''t been completely honest with you..." This time it was Teacher Vivienne who spoke up. "What is it?" "Your eyes changing color like that, we had all knew from the beginning that meant that you were not completely human. We didn''t want to confuse you since you have always considered yourself human and other than your eyes, you have always seemed human. However, looking at your beast and your hair. We believe we can make some conjectures about your parents. They were definitely special if they could pass down these kinds of traits to their child. One of them must have been at related to dragons while the other must have been at related to the elves. Only humans with a partial dragon bloodline in them can have a dragon partner beast and, even in that small group of people, dragon partner beasts are still rare. In a way, you are very lucky. Also, silver hair like yours is THE feature of elves, no other race has hair that color. I can''t say who your parents were but they were obviously not completely human." Not human? Greyson felt lost hearing these statements. He didn''t know how he was supposed to feel. Did it change anything? It did in a way because the human race had mostly hostile relations with the other races except the Dwarf race and even that relationship was precarious. He was always taught by Sister Lily to love every living being, so he did not really have negative thoughts towards the other races, it was just hard to suddenly accept that he was a mixed-breed. The news was rather disconcerting because he knew that there was a lot of discrimination towards mixed-breeds because no matter which race they went to, they were not accepted. All the races felt they were superior to the other, so they saw interbreeding as an insult to their race. The products of these relationships were like thorns in their sides that they wished disappeared. Thinking of the treatment he saw some mixed breeds get in the slave market and on his travels, Greyson suddenly felt he should have spoken up for them. Yeah, that''s right, spoken up for them. What was wrong with being mixed? He got the superior parts of all the races, so he did not see where he was any worse than anyone else. Why did he have to suffer for his parents'' decision? Hardening his opinion, Greyson no longer felt upset by the news. He was mixed? So what? It did not change anything, plus he didn''t believe that Sister Lily would judge him for this and as long as she was okay with it then no one else mattered. Thinking of Sister Lily had him smiling warmly again and pushed the other thoughts away. The teachers were watching Greyson closely to check his reaction. Seeing him suddenly smile had them shocked, Lyle was surprised as well. Although he showed some shallow smiles politely, they all had never seen him smile so warmly and happily before. Similar to Elendil and Lyle, he was rather stone-faced. The three of them were eerily similar in their silence and apathy. Lucius jumped onto his shoulder while mentally saying, "I rather like this new you. Much better-looking than those ugly and boring humans, eh?" Hearing his encouragement, Greyson felt thankful to have a friend like him. Just as he was having these thoughts, the rest of the people in the room spoke up. "Hey, Grey Grey, don''t be too shocked. It''s no big deal. If anyone bullies you, just let older sister know. I''ll scold them." Leilena spoke out while patting her chest and showing her most reliable looking pose. "Hmph, if they dare to make a move on my student I''ll take care of them." Vivienne coldly spoke. "Yeah, we''ll bash ''em real good! Hahaha!" Keenan laughed. "My cute student, if you give your precious teacher a hug, I would do anything for you." Edwin spoke out as well. "Hmmm... well if you are ever hurt by people, I can heal all sorts of injuries." Nicholas smiled warmly. "Are you cursing him to actually get injured, Nicholas?" Gaius snorted. "What is everyone making a fuss about? I don''t see anything different." Elendil spoke out coldly. Hearing his final words, the teachers all paused before laughing. "Hey, Grey, aren''t you hungry? You know you were meditating for seven days now." Lyle spoke out as if he hadn''t heard all the earlier information. Seeing all the warm faces, Greyson actually cried. In his six years of life, the only time he had probably cried was when he was born. But his new friends and teachers really touched him. He suddenly felt like coming to the Academy was his best decision yet. 31 Half Elf? After settling his feelings, Greyson blushed in embarrassment thinking about how he had cried earlier. By now it was night time and he was back in his room after a big meal to make up for the past seven days. He was still reeling in shock over the new information about himself and his parents, but, seeing as the people close to him did not care about his new looks, he decided to just ignore it. Practicing in front of a mirror, it took Greyson about 2 hours to turn his eyes a specific color instead of the weird ongoing kaleidoscope of colors. Right now, he kept them at purple inspired by his new partner Zephyr. Thinking again of this dragon, he took a quick glance inside of him and felt he didn''t know whether to laugh or to cry. His "awe-inspiring" dragon was flipped on its back, passed out, and drooling. Zephyr''s small figure and cute features made all his actions endearing, however, Greyson felt worried seeing his partner sleep all the time. If he was never awake, then wouldn''t he become useless when there is an urgent need to fight? As he was only at the intermediate level, his dragon had yet to really develop a separate intelligence. At this point, he was mostly just a projection of Greyson''s magic then a partner beast. Greyson knew he would have to continue working hard and breaking through to the next levels in order to allow Zephyr to continue growing. He thought he should meditate, but a wave of exhaustion hit and he decided that he should just sleep for now after seven days of meditation. Asleep before his head even hit the pillow, Greyson didn''t wake up until well into the next morning. Seeing the sun showed it was a couple hours before midday, he stretched his body feeling refreshed. Lucius woke up along with him and they headed over to the hall bathroom to take a warm bath. One he was in the bathroom, Greyson took a good look at his face and hair while grimacing. Somehow he looked even more like a girl... "I''m going to cut this abnormally long hair. A short cut would be better anyways, less people to mistake my identity. But, Sister Lily always trimmed my hair for me, I''m not sure how to do it. I don''t want to look ridiculous if I try and completely mess up." "I don''t know, Grey, I''m kinda digging the long hair. Makes you look like a cute little girl. You should just accept the sign your body is giving you." "And what sign is that?" "That you were meant to be born a girl! I really would have preferred a girl contractor anyways. Who wants to hang out with a little boy all the time." "OLD MAN LU!" Greyson glared over at the cat while gritting his teeth. His hands were itching to throw the annoying animal out the bathroom window. "Alright, alright, it was just a joke. Maybe Lyle knows how to cut hair? He has sisters, right?" "Wouldn''t his mom just cut their hair?" "Well it wouldn''t hurt to ask just in case." Hearing that Greyson nodded as he left the bathroom. Drying off and getting changed, Greyson walked out of his room in his academy white robes and knocked on Lyle''s door. His roommate happened to be in so he asked him about the hair. "Cut hair? Ah, sorry, Grey, I don''t know how. My mother always does it for us." Although it was not intentional and he knew it, Greyson felt a bit of a stab of pain hearing about Lyle''s mother. He always kept it buried in his heart, but he knew better than anyone how much it hurt to think that you were abandoned in some random tree in the forest. If not for that hunter, he could have died easily, was that all he meant to his parents? A mistake that they could just leave in the forest. "Grey? Grrreeeeeyyyy..." Snapping out of his daze, he looked back over at Lyle who was trying to catch his attention. "Sorry, what did you say?" "I said, I don''t know how to cut hair, but I do know how to get it all out of your face for now." "Oh, really, okay!" With that he sat down on the chair at the desk and allowed Lyle to work his magic. "There, done!" Lyle voice announced. Opening his eyes, Greyson looked curiously in the mirror. The top half of his hair was pulled back gently into a braid while the bottom half was allowed to stay loose. It did keep his hair away from his face, but somehow he felt that it looked kinda feminine. "My sisters force me to braid their hair like this all the time since their hair gets in the way." He explained happily while admiring his work, "But, wow, you pull it off much better than them!" Hearing that this was a hairdo for his sisters, Greyson was tempted to just pull it out and chop off all his hair. Enduring his anger, he decided to ask around for someone who could cut hair. ... Walking out of the dorm, he wanted to make his way over to his teachers'' places so he could tell them why he did not show up these past days. "Hmmm... look who it is? Hey, what''s up with your hair?" An annoying voice rang out. Greyson glanced behind him and looked over at a face he had not seen in a while. Arwen plus lackeys. Inwardly sighing and rolling his eyes, he wondered what they wanted this time. "That color of silver... Are you an elf? Wait, but you don''t have the ears or the tattoos... a Half-elf?" Arwen began to ask while the hate and disdain only seemed to grow with every guess. The tattoos he spoke about were the markings that each elf was given that signified their tribe, elements, and position. So most elves have black designs that covered their arms. "Well there is that tattoo on your face, but elf tattoos are on their arms. So you must be a mixed breed then, right?" He spat the words ''mixed breed'' like it was disgusting to even say the words. "Hmph, you have been trying to hide your identity and pretend to be human all this time? Why stop now? At least it was better when I thought you were human, but to think I looked favorably on some disgusting mutt of a creature. Wow, when I think about it, I can''t help but pity you. Abandoned by your parents and born as some thing of unknown blood and origin. Or maybe its better? Your parents were probably disgusting uncivilized commoners who didn''t realize their relationship was an insult." His words only grew nastier and nastier as he continued speaking. Greyson''s eyebrows furrowed in anger and irritation. The thought of picking a fight crossed his mind as quickly as it left. Was this Arwen an important enough person in his life to care about his words? Obviously not! He was just some obscure passing bystander that Greyson would forget about quickly. Thinking of this, he just turned around and continued on his way. "Hey, wait! Stop!" Arwen shouted. Greyson just ignored him. If some stupid dog barked at you, would you stop and yell at it? What a waste of time and energy. Arwen and his group didn''t end up following while Arwen stomped his feet in frustration. It felt like punching cotton, completely unsatisfying. Plus the crowd who stopped and was looking at them in hopes of witnessing a fight looked at him with ridicule. Their eyes clearly showed their thoughts: While you were jumping up and down trying to rile someone up, the other person was not even paying attention. Once Arwen was far away, Greyson went to visit all his teachers to get back on track with his classes. Old Man Thraec almost didn''t let him through the door because he was so angry while continually chucking tools and chucks of ore at him. He assumed that Greyson was slacking off and just decided to not show up. It took him a couple hours of pleading and proving that he had broken through before the old man let him in. Weary after leaving the workshop, Greyson headed over to his music teacher next thinking he would be hard to talk to as well. As expected, Carlyle was extremely unhappy and disappointed, but he immediately softened up after Greyson showered him with compliments. His vain teacher was always vulnerable to flattery. Taking up less time than the old man, Greyson was able to walk out of the musician''s association a little while later. He headed to his last location, the painter''s workshop. Using the keys, he made his way in and found his teacher was still painting. Castiel was quiet and peaceful and just looking at him made Greyson calm down. Greyson sat down and continued watching his teacher paint. It was a beautiful picture of a pasture where the grass looked like it was coming alive and waving with the wind. Once his teacher was done, he wrote down two questions. "Did something happen? Do you need help?" Greyson felt the concern and warmth from his questions and told him everything that happened. He even went a step further and spoke of his concerns and complaints. As much as he acted like an adult, he felt lost without Sister Lily as his confidant. His teacher Castiel''s warmth reminded him so much of Sister Lily. Castiel did not interrupt, but instead quietly listened until the end. Castiel did not speak as always but this time he went closer to Greyson to give him a hug and pat him on the head. Suddenly, Greyson felt he was back at the church complaining to Sister Lily. The hug gave him relief. It was something small, but the hug helped him feel as if he had released all his complaints and feelings of injustice. 32 Painting Competition After his breakthrough to the intermediate stage, his life became calm and repetitive. He trained and meditated. He continued to learn painting and the flute. Thraec even began to teach him level one engravings for level one magic tools. His improvement in his occupations was slow but steady with a firm foundation. His magic, on the other hand, continued improving at a breakneck pace. One year allowed him to break through to the intermediate level stage four. The initial breakthrough to the intermediate level is the hardest part, but afterwards, until the breakthrough to the advanced level, going through the stages depends on your body''s ability to absorb mana. After his elf and dragon bloodline awakened, his mana absorption multiplied by 3. One year. It seemed like such a long time before to Greyson, but, after spending his sixth year at the Academy, he realized that one year was gone in just a moment. Before, at the church, he had nothing to do. At the Academy, he suddenly had too much to do to fit in one day. Day by day would pass by as he kept himself completely busy learning new things every day. At 7-years-old, Greyson had done a good amount of growing. His body was still on the leaner side, however, his height had increased. He never got around to cutting his hair and soon just got used to it being long as Lyle would braid it for him. One year couldn''t do much for him in terms of his girly features which left him feeling depressed. Greyson felt he could only wait until he hit his teens for his more handsome features to grow in. If anything, most people around him felt that his beauty grew. Thankfully, one year allowed most people in the Academy City to know and recognize him as a boy so no one bothered him anymore. Carlyle had even allowed him to open for one of his concerts and he had played one of Carlyle''s original pieces. He had a little bit of fame in the city now for his flute playing. Carlyle was pretty satisfied with his level after a year of playing. Greyson knew he was not amazing, but he was at least decent after all his hard training and practice. This morning, Greyson woke up nice and early and walked over to the painting workshop to meet with Castiel. He walked over like any normal day and pulled up a blank canvas while sitting next to his teacher. Silent as usual, they continued painting in peace. Greyson was finally allowed to paint still objects like fruit and landscape for this past year, while Castiel would throw it in the trash if it was not up-to-standard. Although his painting teacher was normally quiet and gentle, he was a harsh demon when it came to painting. Greyson would always feel slight heartbreak when he saw a week''s worth of time painting just thrown away and burned to ashes in the fireplace. Only three paintings managed to stay away from the fire. His last two lessons, Greyson decided to paint the church back at home. He was feeling nostalgic and started to miss everyone, even that annoying kid Wolf. His brush moved fluidly as the memories came rushing back. The painting was finally finished after today''s lesson. Looking over it, even an amateur like Greyson could feel there was something different about this time''s painting. The church''s atmosphere shone through the canvas, as if people could imagine themselves at this peaceful, yet slightly rundown church. His eyes shining, he waited for his teacher to finish his painting so that he could look over this church painting. Minutes ticked by before Castiel placed down his brush and finished a breathtaking waterfall scenery. Greyson felt envy and amazement every time he looked at his teacher''s painting ability. The silence of his mouth is made up in the expression of his art. Castiel sighed in regret as something in the painting displeased him and quickly threw it into the fire to burn away. Greyson also shook his head in regret feeling his teacher was such a perfectionist. After this action, Castiel cast his eyes onto Greyson''s painting and his eyes lit up with surprise. His face broke out into a warm smile as he picked up the painting and nodded his head in approval. Greyson released a sigh of relief as he felt his teacher''s happiness. Next thing he knew, a painting association notice was placed in front of his face. Moving back in surprise, he let his eyes focus as he read the words on the notice: "Junior Painting Competition." "Teacher, you want me to participate in this?" He asked in shock. Castiel nodded his head and smiled. His teacher''s suggestion made pride well up. Closely looking at the competition flyer this time, he read all of it. The competition was for apprentices in the association ages 14 and below. It was a large competition that originated from the Dalia Kingdom capital''s painting association. It started as a competition in the big cities'' associations and then the finalist''s painting would be sent to the capital for final judging. The topic was "Love." Looking at the topic, Greyson furrowed his brows. Love? That was a difficult topic for him and he would have to think hard about what he would paint. The painting association in Academy City would be judging the paintings in 2 weeks. He decided he would put all his effort in to at least winning this minor competition. He knew there were many talents in the Dalia Kingdom so he probably wouldn''t win the whole competition, but he felt if he could paint something like the church painting today then he could beat the other apprentices in the city. ... Greyson informed his teachers that these two weeks he would be concentrating completely on his painting so he wouldn''t be showing up for his lessons. He even paused his meditation. After 1 week of painting and discarding things that came to mind, Greyson decided he would paint a portrait of Sister Lily. She was closest person he had for familial love which he had. One full week of painting trial and error ended with one beautiful painting that Greyson was finally satisfied with. Sister Lily was without her nun robes around her head and just had gotten ready to sleep. The face on the portrait was his favorite. Her warm smile as she tucked him in for bed. Lily was objectively plain looking, but, in Greyson''s imagination, her inner beauty mesmerized people. The warm smile and loving eyes reflected through the painting and grabbed the onlooker''s attention. Lyle walked in behind Greyson and looked over at the painting before he stopped in amazement. These two weeks, Greyson had been taking up the living space in their dorm, so Lyle had observed all his earlier paintings as well. "Grey, this one is amazing! Who is it?" He asked in wonder. "Sister Lily." He smiled. " I don''t know anything about painting, but I can feel her love for you through the painting. Looking at her face reminds me of my mother. It really brings out a warm and comforting feeling. I think everyone could relate. What will you call it?" "''A Mother''s Smile''" Hearing the title, Lyle nodded in agreement. He felt the title was perfect. Greyson finished the painting by drawing his signature on the bottom right corner. Half a year ago, he decided on his signature. It was Zephyr! He would draw a small silver scaled, purple-eyed dragon on the corner of all his paintings. Lucius had assumed if it was an animal, Greyson would have chosen him, so after finding out it was Zephyr he was upset for a while. Greyson was helpless with Lucius''s immaturity so in the end he promised that on his favorite painting he would sign it with a picture of Lucius instead. That would make Lucius''s signature rare and more special. Seemingly pleased with this change, Lucius let the issue go. The two week period quickly came to an end and Greyson wrapped up his canvas and turned it in. He hadn''t even shown his teacher and wanted the painting to be a surprise. Hearing Lyle''s opinion gave him a lot more confidence. If someone with no painting knowledge could feel his message then he believed that he had done his job. After handing his painting over, Greyson was filled with a sense of anxiety. Now he would have to wait another week before the results were given. A week... Suddenly a short period of time felt like months. He went back to his lessons, however, his teachers just told him to take the next week off as well because it was obvious that he was unable to concentrate. Morning and night came and went as Greyson impatiently waited for any news. On the seventh day, Lyle came bursting into the dorm room. "Grey, there''s a letter for you! It says it''s from the painting association!" 33 Sent To The Capital Greyson felt his heart leap to his throat as he was handed the letter from Lyle. He obviously knew what the inside of the letter was about after seeing the sender was the painting association. Hesitating, he felt unsure of whether to open it. Underneath his calm exterior, he had a lot of desire to win this regional part of the competition and make his teacher proud. This could be his first real accomplishment in any of his occupations, so he wanted to do well. After pausing for a minute, Greyson took a deep breath and ripped open the letter. In beautiful penmanship were the large letters of ''Congratulations.'' Sighing in relief, he continued reading the rest until he reached his placement. First! He had really placed first for the Academy City painting association branch! Suddenly, he felt that all his efforts were paying off. He was proud that he had put so much thought into his painting. Calming his emotions, he read the rest of the letter. As first place, his painting would be sent to the capital for further judging. It would be in the running for the larger competition for the Dalia Kingdom. If his painting placed in the top 3, then one month later he would receive a notification and be invited to the capital city for his awards. Finishing the letter, Greyson couldn''t help but look forward to a month later. Although he was proud and confident, he felt nervous about his placement in the larger Dalia Kingdom. Painting required no magic, thus painters were not as rare. There were thousands of citizens in the kingdom who were in the running for this competition and even Greyson did not know where he would fall in the pool of young talents. Shaking his head, he left these thoughts to the back of his mind. Now, it was time to celebrate the small victories! The first person to know the news was his roommate Lyle who had handed him the letter. Afterwards, he had to tell Castiel next. Running to the familiar painting workshop, Greyson burst through the doors and showed the letter to his teacher. "Teacher, I won! My painting will move on to the capital for the rest of the competition!" Smiling widely, he looked towards his teacher with eyes nearly dripping with anticipation for praise. Castiel took a look at his apprentice after reading the letter and giggled. He felt if Greyson had a tail, it would be wagging right now. Even he could tell his apprentice was adorable. Freezing for a moment, Greyson was shocked to even hear a noise come from his teacher''s mouth. Castiel then grabbed a piece of paper and wrote, "Congratulations, I knew you could do it! I was never worried. I can''t wait to see it later after the competition is over." A warm smile spread over his face as he pet Greyson''s head. Happiness spilled through Greyson reading his message. His shock furthered when Castiel told him to stay at the workshop and eat dinner. Even when he had made his way back to his dorm, he was still in shock at his teacher''s cooking skill. He felt kind of guilty for thinking it, but Greyson couldn''t help but feel that Castiel''s cooking was even better than Sister Lily''s. Falling asleep smiling, he had an amazing night''s rest. The next day, before his lesson with Old Man Thraec, he ran to tell the good news to all his teachers to hear their praise. He knew he was being childish while fishing for compliments, but his teachers were always stingy with praise and he did not hear it often. The congratulations gave him a feeling of gratification for all his hard work and practice thus far. It was not like he actually enjoyed meditating and practicing all the time. He also wanted to go out and play and do stupid things. At the church, he had always been free to do whatever. However, he knew that he must work hard to further his power and achieve his goals. In moments like this, the pleasure of accomplishment was a type of confirmation that his perseverance was worth it. After spending some time with all his teachers, he finally headed over to the blacksmith association to Thraec''s workshop. Once again hit by a familiar wave of heat, he saw his sweating teacher hammering away to shape the metal. Almost forgetting why he came, Greyson paused in fascination. Unlike his initial thoughts, the hammering was not just about strength. It was a precise art, and it took Greyson a year''s worth of guidance to barely understand. To this day, he still needed his teacher to point out where to hit down for certain metals and tools that he was not yet used to making. His teacher was quickly finished as a sharp sword came into shape. Placing the sword to the side, he finally noticed Greyson''s presence. "Hmph, just because I cut you some slack for the painting competition, you think it''s okay to come late to your lessons now?" He angrily huffed. "Ah? No, that''s not it! I went to my other teacher''s earlier to tell them the good news. Guess what, old man! I won! My painting is being sent to the capital for judging." Greyson quickly explained while puffing out his chest in pride by the end. He waited and waited, but his expected congratulations did not come. Opening his eyes, he looked over at his teacher in confusion. Although he knew the old man did not like giving out compliments, he still expected a halfhearted ''congrats'' with some kind of sarcastic complaint. Thraec completely spaced out in deep thought. "Hey, old man! Are you alright?" Greyson spoke out finally. Snapped out from his thoughts, Thraec finally realized he had been silent this entire time. "Ah, oh, right. Congrats, Grey. Hopefully you can do well at the capital competition, as well." "Haha, I''m not sure how I''ll do, but I''m hoping for good results. But, teacher, what made you pause all of a sudden?" "Hmm? Just a thought passed by..." His voice trailed off, before determination showed in his eyes as he seemed to come to a decision. "You know what, Grey. I am going to teach you the level two engravings. As an intermediate level magician, you have been ready for awhile. I only realized now that I might have been too obsessed with giving you strong basics, that I have been holding you back. The next month of lessons, we will spend learning about the level two engravings and you can decide what kind of magic tool you will create." "Wait, really?! You''ll let me make a level two magic tool?" Greyson shouted feeling elated. "Have I ever joked with you about stuff like this? Get a hold of yourself now, boy. It''s only level two engravings, no need to make such a fuss." He coughed out. "Thank you, thank you! I''ll have to start thinking about what to make!" Already lost in his imagination, Greyson felt excited about what kind of tool he should make. 34 Magic Flute After his conversation with his teacher, Greyson went back with thoughts full of what he should make. He had always wanted his own magic tool, however, it was extremely hard to make one for all seven elements. This was his first level two magic tool, so he felt that he shouldn''t get too greedy. In order to keep it simple, he decided that he would only make it for one of his elements. However, choosing one from the seven was the hard part. For one week, he kept filtering through his options one by one before coming to a decision. He would make a magic flute! A lot of musicians, like his teacher Carlyle, were normal people with no magic. However, there is a side branch of musicians that are magicians and they use their magic with their magic. Most of these magic musicians are of the wind element because it combines well with the sound created by their instrument. Greyson had realized this while he was browsing through the library at one point for spells. One of the new wind spells he had learned was called "Siren''s Voice." It was a magic that laced onto any sounds that he made like singing or playing the flute and caused his listeners to hallucinate. If the person was also a strong magician then it would at most make them momentarily confused, however, the weaker they were the more effective the hallucinations are. He felt for his first personal magic tool, it would be meaningful to combine his occupations like this. He could use it during performances as the hallucinations did not have any negative effects if that is not the purpose he is going for. The spell can also invoke good memories and feelings from listening to the music. He could play a song of home and allow everyone in the audience to re-experience a warm family moment that they are reminded of. Although he could break through to the advanced level soon, he could continue using this level two magic tool as the level is not too important. Feeling relieved to have finally made a decision, Greyson then jumped straight into designing his flute. He had asked for advice from both the old man and Carlyle as one had blacksmith experience and the other had flute making experience. Not all flutes were made from metal and actually a lot were made from wood as most people couldn''t afford to ask a blacksmith the make one. Carlyle had made his fair share of wooden flutes so he imparted his knowledge to Greyson to help him design the flute correctly. Another week of preparation had gone by and the flute itself had been made. The final touch would be the engravings. From the first moment that Greyson had learned how to engrave, he was fascinated by it. Engraving took more than just mana, there was a talent for it. Not everyone could be a blacksmith just because they have the corresponding elements and enough mana, the engraving is the major part which separates the talented from the untalented. One needed to be talented at mana control and have great concentration. Engraving starts with an ancient complicated symbol that dwarves had discovered. These symbols would have a corresponding element. For example, for his flute, Thraec taught him the level two symbol for wind magic. This symbol meant that the magic tool he was creating could only help to amplify wind magic. The fascinating part is what happens while engraving the symbol. Channeling his mana into his finger, Greyson would cut into the metal and begin engraving the symbol. While engraving, he is to think about what function he wants the magic tool to have. The symbol would then start to change itself as it is being carved until it is a completely new engraving that stretches across the entire tool. This change would make the flute channel wind magic and amplify music spells like ''Siren''s Voice.'' Even the ancestors could not understand this magical change, however, it made every single magical tool created by a blacksmith unique and unable to be reproduced. While engraving, no mistakes can be made. If his mana fluctuates and he uses too much or too little while carving, then the entire engraving has failed and he would have to restart on a new tool body. His finger cannot pause either, the carving must be made in one smooth connected motion. The level of concentration it took to make the engraving perfect while also picturing the functions of the tool was the hardest challenge of all blacksmiths. The higher the level, the more complicated the starting symbol is as well. Greyson practiced for the last week of the month just drawing out the symbols hundreds of times as practice. He would put paint on his finger and try to get through the symbol in one try while also keeping the lines even. Mana control was one of the hardest point because his mana flow had to be steady as he used it to carve the engraving. Using wood, Greyson practiced carving the symbol with his mana as well to make sure it doesn''t fluctuate when he is engraving for real on his flute. Finally, it was time. Greyson went over to the workshop and saw Thraec was already there as usual. The flute was already out on the counter an prepared. Even on the short walk over, Greyson was visualizing the symbol he would engrave. Without talking they just nodded at each other showing they were both ready. Greyson walked up to the flute that was secured down and took a deep breath. He started pushing his mana to his finger. The mana ran from his finger and started to carve into the flute. Greyson could feel his mana run through his body into the flute and the engraving. As he continued, he thought of himself playing this flute and affecting others with his music. His originally compact lines then started moving on their own and winded around the flute making a pretty pattern all around the body of the flute. 2 hours passed just like that and Greyson was almost finished. Sweat dripped down from his concentration while he started feeling a little dizzy from the leaving mana. As his finger connected the last line to the rest of the symbol, the flute began to glow green and floated in the air for a bit. It floated for a little before nicely coming down into Greyson''s hands. Maybe because he was the one who created the entire flute, it felt like it fit right into his hand perfectly. The flute was a sleek and beautiful silver with white carvings all along the body. As he looked over his work, Greyson couldn''t help but be satisfied with his success. He started to think when he would use it next. 35 Mission Greyson loved to look at his flute after making it. In a way, it felt connected to him since he was the one who made it. The mana from the engraving connected the magic tool to his spirit as if a piece of him had been separated into it. By the time he had finished the flute, he forgot that the month was ending soon and threw the painting competition to the back of his mind. He went to his other lessons and continued practicing his magic when the letter suddenly arrived. Once again, Lyle had picked it up and came running into the dorm. Greyson soon took the letter into his hands and saw the bold golden letters on the back written in pretty print ''Dalia Painting Association.'' Heart in his throat, Greyson hand slightly shook as he slowly ripped open the letter. Unfolding the parchment, he paused for a moment, afraid to look. Feeling frustrated looking at him take so long, Lyle just grabbed the letter away to read it instead. His face lit up afterwards and he gave Greyson a hug. "You did it! You got first! It says right here ''A Mother''s Smile has placed first after much review.'' I knew you could do it! They say you have to get to the capital 2 weeks later for the award and celebration." Greyson felt his genuine excitement and warmly smiled. Without any effort, his win at the competition soon spread out to his teachers and he received a bunch of hearty congratulations. Seeing some of the small presents, he felt like he really had a family here. But, the more he felt their warmth, the more he missed the church and Sister Lily. He decided that after he came back from the capital he would visit the church and give Sister Lily his savings so she could fix up the church building. ... In the midst of his preparations, Greyson was interrupted by an awkward looking Lyle. For an hour or so, Lyle had been coming up to him so say something but then thought against it and turned away. Watching him come back and forth soon frustrated Greyson, so he finally spoke out. "Hey, Lyle, what is it? You can just tell me." Lyle paused for a second before taking a deep breath. "Actually, Grey, I have a favor I wanted to ask of you. I''m just sure that it will make you upset, so I''m not certain I should ask." "Well, you never know. Maybe I won''t be angry, so why don''t you just ask first." "Uh, well, I was wondering if I could take advantage of your looks..." "Hm?" "So, I might need you to dress as a girl..." he mumbled. "Huh?" "I need you to dress as a girl!" He finally built up the courage to say. "A girl? Why do you need me? Why don''t you just ask a girl?" Trying to hold in his temper that was about to flare, he continued asking because he knew Lyle wouldn''t ask for no reason. "Well, you know about Academy missions, right, Grey?" Greyson nodded. The Academy missions were listed in one of the main buildings purely for missions. Usually they were local issues, but occasionally there would be huge missions that included a large area. Each mission had a point remuneration that could eventually be traded for magic items, herbs, tools, or spells. A lot of the students were not as relaxed and spoiled as Greyson, so they had to work hard for all their spells and magic tools, Lyle included. Lyle had actually fallen behind Greyson by just a little. He was at the intermediate level stage three, but he was close to breaking through the fourth stage. "Well not everyone is like you and can have whatever spells they want." He complains rolling his eyes, "I have to earn points to get a spell that I want from the library. I don''t want to spend to much time doing odd jobs to slowly build up the points, so I decided to take on a harder mission at the local Black Rock City. I read the description and felt compelled to take it. The mission is to take down a perverted murderer who targets pretty young girls under the age of ten. He has already killed 4 girls, but the locals cannot catch him because he is a wind element intermediate magician who specializes in escaping. They finally sent a request to the Academy hoping they could send somebody to help. When I read about what he did to those girls, I couldn''t help but picture my own sisters. Grey, I really want to catch this guy, can you help me? I want to use you as the bait, I could ask a girl, but, first of all, I don''t really talk to anyone and all the girls I know are weaker than you. I wanted someone I could rely on even if they are targeted. Plus, the city is straight on the way to the capital, so you will pass right by it anyways. We will just leave early and try to catch this guy as quickly as possible. From Black Rock to Dalia City is only a 7 days distance if you travel normally. 5 days if you use magic." Greyson frowned in thought after hearing about the mission, "What does he do to the girls?" Lyle suddenly looked as if he was going to be sick, "He tortures them... breaks their bones, stabs them, and leaves a trail of their organs to the corpse in order to let people find them. It''s horrible..." Greyson was suddenly filled with anger and extreme disgust towards the criminal. It overrode his previous hesitation at dressing as a girl. What would it matter anyways? This was to catch a terrible human being and save others. Making up his mind, he looked over at Lyle and nodded. "Alright. I''ll do it!" ... Greyson had thought that he had prepared himself mentally for the task, but after he was given the dress he would wear, he suddenly felt a little regret. "We couldn''t find a girl and ask her to help? We could just secretly protect her..." "Grey, you know that a million things could go wrong with that plan." Lyle rolled his eyes and convinced his friend for the umpteenth time, "don''t worry, no one would be able to tell that you aren''t actually a girl. If they don''t know that you are pretending what is there to be embarrassed about?" Although he understood his friend''s intention to comfort him, Greyson actually felt even more annoyed by his words that ''no one would be able tell.'' Thinking of their goal, however, he finally quieted down and just sulked by himself. Lucius continued looking on with a smirk of amusement that showed he taking pleasure in watching someone else''s misfortunes. "Fine, fine..." He grumbled. Grabbing the dress, he walked into his room and got dressed. At his prepubescent age, it really was difficult to tell that he was not a girl. As long as he acted correctly, then he should be able to trick the murderer easily. Letting his hair out of its braid, he let the platinum silver strands fall gracefully on his shoulders. Walking out of the room, he turned up his eyes to see a stunned Lyle and Lucius. Their jaws dropped to the floor in amazement as if they couldn''t believe the sight in front of their eyes. The dress was a simple light purple. It was cute but plain so it would blend in and was paired with dainty black shoes. However, with Greyson''s silver hair and purple eyes, he brought out the best of the clothes. Lyle''s words were correct; no one would be able to tell he was a boy. Greyson blushed and just grabbed his bags to run out to the front gate before anyone else saw him looking like this. "Let''s go! I thought you wanted to save those girls, well there will be another victim if we are this slow." The both of them quickly made it to the front gate where they boarded a carriage they had requested for to take them to Black Rock. Looking at the city grow smaller, Greyson''s excitement only grew. His first mission! How exciting! He couldn''t wait to help Lyle finish it. His repetitive Academy life was peaceful and interesting in its own way, however, he could not help but love this feeling of adventure. Maybe he would start taking on missions as well? Just because he didn''t need the point, didn''t mean he could not do them for the experience. 36 Kidnapped! A large city filled was filled with life starting early in the morning. It was not a super powerful city, however, it was filled with merchants and businessmen in their busy market. From far away a person could hear the shouts of bargaining and advertising. A quiet, unassuming carriage rolled up to the gates of the city near midday. Once it reached the gate, the guards had the people inside get out for security purposes. The door of the carriage slowly opened to reveal a dainty foot stepping out. Following the foot, a beautiful girl appeared. She wore a simple light purple dress, but the common clothes could not hide her eye-catching features. Gleaming platinum silver hair flowed down while the front hair was pulled back in a simple braid to reveal her cute face. Her purple eyes were like gems that glowed with intelligence. Behind her, an average middle-aged man that could not be picked out from a crowd walked out of the carriage. The stark contrast in looks was odd in the eyes of onlookers and made the duo even more memorable. The girl''s looks were one thing, but her expression was anything but inviting. Many were tempted to pinch her rosy cheeks, however, the girl''s neutral icy expression pushed them away. The way she carried herself made it seem like she was some important noble''s daughter, so they decided it was best not to offend her. "Hey, Grey, would it kill you to lighten up? You''re scaring away everyone. There is no way we''re going to get any information from the people at this rate." The middle aged man whispered down. Yes, these two were Greyson and Lyle! The little girl was Greyson in disguise and the middle-aged man was Lyle. Lyle had bought a Disguise pill from the Academy before leaving in order to avoid standing out. He had assumed that two kids wondering around would look peculiar, but if he was an adult then no one would notice anything out of place. "Hmph, why don''t you dress like a girl and act all bubbly and cute then?" Greyson ignored his words and continued with his grumpy expression. Contrary to the unwillingness in his voice, though, his face lightened up into a normal smile that looked much more welcoming. The two soon made their way to a tavern hoping to hear some gossip from the locals. Once they swung open the door, all the eyes followed Greyson in astonishment before finally turning away and going back to their conversations. Ignoring the stares, Greyson and Lyle sat down at one of the tables before an older woman came over to ask for their order. "Well, I''ll be, you''re a looker now aren''t ya?" She whistled looking over at Greyson. Although he was feeling annoyed by her supposed compliment, he still politely smiled and thanked her. "You two father and daughter? Whereabouts you from?" Her cheery personality soon came out as she continued talking with them. It seems they were not wrong to think that the tavern would be the gossip mill in the city. "Yes. We are from Cromer Village and are just traveling performers." This time Lyle answered. "Cromer, huh. Well now, so you don''t live too far out do ya. We get a lot of villagers around here. But, sir, all do respect, ye might wanna just pack up and leave before its too late. This city ain''t no good right now for girls looking like your daughter." Pretending to be surprised and not understand, Lyle furrowed his brow while asking, "what do you mean by that? Has there been some issue lately?" "Ya don''t know? Well I guess you haven''t been listening to the stories running around lately. There''s some sorta crazy running around and snatching pretty young girls and killing ''em. He breaks all their bones and cuts them up before leaving a trail of their organs so someone can find them 2 days later in the morning. I shudder just thinking bout it. I saw the trail myself for the second girl." Greyson pretended to be wide-eyed with fear, "h-h-how many girls has he killed?" "Four! An'' that''s why you and your father should run away before night hits. You look just like his type." The woman looked at the young girl with pity showing in her eyes, as if Greyson had already been targeted. "I appreciate your concern, but my daughter has an important performance tomorrow, so we''ll be staying until the day after tomorrow." Lyle responded firmly. "Hmm, well, if ya insist. I can at least give ya a place to stay. This tavern of mine has some rooms and the top floor, did ya want to stay in one of them?" Lyle nodded and handed the money for the food and room to the woman. After she had left, he turned to Greyson. "Well, look at you. You got the terrified little girl act down really well." He said smirking. Greyson refused to answer and just rolled his eyes. "Listening to the woman speak, though, reminds me of home. Everyone in Academy City speaks properly, so it''s been awhile since I''ve heard someone with a more local way of speaking. Brings me back to the times I went to the market in Willow Town." Greyson started reminiscing. "Yeah, you''re right. I used to talk like that to, but my mom would yell at me to correct me so that I wouldn''t be looked down on at school. Ironic as it was because she would lecture me while speaking that same way." Lyle smiled thinking back to those moments. Suddenly the atmosphere at the table was sullen as they both felt homesick. Young as they were, it was impossible not to miss home after two years. The food came back out while Lyle and Greyson stretched their ears out to listen to any gossip about the murders. However, no good clues came about as no one knew anything about the man''s potential identity. They were just repeating the same facts everyone knew and telling each other to watch their daughters closely. After their meal, they decided to just rest for the day and hopefully the mini concert that Greyson would put on would attract enough attention for him to become a target. "Hm?" Just as he was walking up the stairs to the room, he felt a burning gaze closing in on him. A chill ran down his neck as he turned back. He saw a rather plain looking young woman with a long scar down her left cheek. However, the girl had a warm smile on her face as she curtsied in greeting. She looked like a worker and rather similar to the tavern woman so he assumed she must be the other woman''s daughter. Feeling like he must have been too sensitive due to the stories today, he just nodded and smiled back before turning away. Sleep did not come as quickly as Greyson was on high alert at all moments in case he was attacked tonight, but it was a quiet and peaceful night with nothing out of the ordinary. He suddenly felt an irrational disappointment wave through him. Was he not attractive enough? Realizing the weird direction of his thoughts, he shook his head and finally fell asleep. ... The next morning, he quickly awoke to the sound of haggling and the shouting of deals for the day. Definitely a major trading city. Irritated from his lack of sleep and early awakening, he was more grumpy with Lucius and Lyle than usual. "Do I have to perform? This is stupid, he is obviously not coming for me!" He grumbled for the thousandth time. "Will you just stop complaining, do you want to help me catch this guy or not? You''re the one who agreed!" Finally annoyed with the complaining and questioning, Lyle snapped at Greyson. Feeling stabbed by his conscience, Greyson knew he had been a real pain this entire trip. He had agreed, but he was making life difficult for Lyle this entire time. "Sorry, Lyle, I''m just cranky is all. I should really get over it. I always just get upset when I''m seen as a girl or feminine, but I know that it shouldn''t really matter." Greyson sighed. "People are just complimenting you so you should just take it like that. Your pretty looks now are only a precursor to your good looks later." Lyle comforted. "Yeah, you''re right. Let''s just get this performance over with." Greyson, Lyle, and Lucius all walked over to the city square where there were tons of street performers. They set up a little area for Greyson to sit and play for everyone. Sitting down comfortably, Greyson summoned his magic tool. "Mesmer, come forth." Holding out his hand, a beautiful silver flute appeared in his hands. Every magic tool was named and could be called forth by its owner. After a while, Greyson had decided on Mesmer from the word "mesmerize" as his flute music could cause people to lose themselves in hallucinations. Gracefully pulling the flute to his lips, a song quickly arose from the flute. Unclear to the naked eye, a green aura arose from Greyson''s body as his eyes flickered to a deep emerald green. Carlyle''s song of homecoming was echoing throughout the square. It was called "Wendy." Which was Carlyle''s late mother''s name. He wrote this song after being severely depressed after her passing. Although Greyson couldn''t completely relate, whenever he played this song he thought of Sister Lily and how much he missed home every now and then. Somber but nostalgia-inducing notes rang true. Everyone in the square who were busy and chaotic, suddenly calmed down and were entranced by the music. They all pictured their homes and their family, tears welling up in their eyes. It was a rather long song of 7 minutes, but no one felt it was too much. In fact, when the song was over and they broke out of their fantasy, they felt it a shame that the song was not longer. Thundering applause burst out in the square as everyone was asking for an encore. Looking at the young girl playing, the audience was enthralled not just by her beautiful music but her beautiful looks and movements as well. Such a feast for the eyes and ears. Hearing their requests, Greyson relented and decided to play one more song. "Earthly Mountains" which was about Carlyle''s personal ups and downs and how he continued climbing towards his goals. It was a relatable song for almost every commoner. The people were welled with a sense of depression then led into joyful celebration from the song. Scenes of their life played out in front of their eyes as they were once again lost in the music. The notes of the flute were clear and charming. When the song ended, everyone cried in joy as if they had accomplished their goals today. Everyone felt the performance today would be forever stuck in their memory. Wanting to ask the girl for her identity, they all turned to the spot where she ha been sitting only to realize in their distraction she had already left. Stomping their feet and patting their chest with frustration for missing the elusive flute player, the crowd soon dispersed and went on with their earlier activities. "Hey, Grey, you were awesome. Even I couldn''t help but be affected by your music. That spell Siren''s Music could be really dangerous in a battle, though. You could totally catch your enemy unaware." Lyle was amazed yet also frightened by the potency of the wind spell. Greyson grinned in satisfaction with his new flute as this had been the first time he had use it to play for an audience. As he had hoped, the effect was fantastic. "Not bad, not bad. Although it only effected me for like a second, it''s still really useful for those who are close to the same level as you." Lucius''s voice echoed in his head. Lucius was now at the advanced level stage three. He was advancing almost as fast as Greyson as his talent was also extremely high. The spell wouldn''t have much of an effect on him, but Greyson was already satisfied with the scale of effect from what Lyle had said. As was always the case with people, the earlier performance became the talk of the city. Every gossiper in the city was searching for his identity and quickly got the answer from the good old tavern lady who knew who everyone was talking about the minute they spoke of the girl''s appearance. Who else would have such stunning looks and rare eyes. People gathered at the tavern and travelers decided to check out of their places and try to get a room near Greyson and Lyle''s. Greyson had become somewhat famous in this short period and even he was shocked by the strong response. He felt confident that this time he had definitely caught the attention of that murderer. Keeping his wits about him, he spent the rest of the day pretending to shop around and greeting the market carts and stores. Making sure to smile nicely at all the owners and customers, he was putting out a full effort to catch the murderer onto his tail. "Ugh, I think my face is paralyzed. I''ve never smiled this much in my 7 years of living." Sighing while flopping onto his bed in the tavern, Greyson massaged his cheeks. "Hahaha true, I didn''t expect that you had it in you. Being so bright and pleasant like other children." Lucius remarked sarcastically. Grunting in response, Greyson decided to just ignore his annoying feline friend. Tonight he would have to keep his wits about him. His instinct was telling him that something would happen later. Turning off his light, Greyson slowly laid down and pretended to sleep. Just when his wariness was waning, his door was quietly pushed open. Alerted by the noise, Greyson continued to feign sleeping. A couple seconds later a strange scent tickled his nose. Without alerting the intruder, he activated his wind magic to keep the smell away from his nose. It was most likely some kind of knock out drug to keep the girls quiet as he kidnapped them. His body was slowly lifted up and his hands and feet were tied. What confused Greyson was that the hands which touched his to tie them up felt soft and unlike a normal commoner''s hands. Maybe it was a noble with a strange hobby? He allowed his body to be placed in a sack and carried out. He could feel his body traveling lightly from the assailant''s wind magic, but he could tell that their mana level was lower than his. Probably novice level stage 3 or 4, so he should be able to handle it. Although he was in a dangerous situation, he had the temptation to laugh. Where in the world would you find another crazy kid who was ardently wishing to be kidnapped by a psychopath murderer? The movement slowed and Greyson could smell the forest surrounding them. He guessed that the murderer was taking him to some remote area away from people which was to be expected. A door creaked open and his body was roughly thrown to the ground. His body was dragged out of the sack and re-tied onto a table. Hearing the footsteps walking further away from his body, Greyson finally attempted to open his eyes and take a peek at this person. Cracking open his right eye, he looked over to see the body. He almost gasped in surprise, but he held himself back. It was that person! 37 Yousre Not Ugly Rummaging around for something in the cabin was the young woman from the tavern. He had found out later that he was correct that she was the older woman''s daughter. His eyes flashing, he realized that he had not imagined the glare that day. This young woman had just hid it well. Thinking for a moment, he decided to pretend to wake up in order to figure out what was going on. He already had an assumption in his heart, but since he was not sure he wouldn''t speak out just yet. Shifting his body a little, the table underneath him creaked as his eyes slowly opened. Blinking and looking as if he was trying to rub his eyes only to realize he was tied up, Greyson feigned terror after "realizing" his situation. "It''s useless to pull. With your strength, you won''t be able to break those ropes." A cold voice rang out quickly. "O-o-older sister Nelly? W-w-w-what do you want? Please let me go!" Greyson continued his act while forcing tears to show up in his eyes. After a couple years of pretending to be upset to fool Sister Lily, he was almost an expert at bring up a pitiful look. "Hmph! It''s no use trying to use that face to look pitiful. I won''t be letting you go no matter what. You''ll be dying here today! Very miserably at that!" The young woman''s originally calm face twisted with visible hate. Greyson''s expression went pale and he started to tremble. "What did I ever do to you? Why are you doing this? Please, I''ll apologize..." He started crying in fear. "Nothing... You didn''t do anything, but fate did! It cursed me with living with this face. Did you know, I originally looked normal? People would even compliment me for being cute. However, when I was 4 this all changed! Before my mom set up the tavern, she and my father were normal merchants who traveled often. When I was four, our caravan was attacked by a group of magic beasts. We survived, but my father died from heavy wounds and I was scarred for life from the claws of one of the beasts! Nowadays I wish I had just died." Nelly''s face changed expression quickly as if she could not control the hate within herself either. First was regret, then the wild hate, then self-pity. "But that wasn''t me... Just let me go! I want my daddy!" Greyson continued to be the scared out her mind little girl. He almost irked himself with the act, but he wanted to make sure that the woman fell for it and let down her guard. "It wasn''t you... I know that of course! But when I see beautiful little girls like you with a bright future, I can''t help but hate. Just so much ugly envy and hate boils within me. I''m sure you''ve heard of those other girls, no point in hiding that the one who killed them was me. You are all blessed with such good looks and a nice comfortable life. Can''t you just suffer a little and pass on your luck to me? The heavens looked upon you so favorably, don''t you think it''s my turn? I just want a normal relationship where a man will actually look at me. Why, why, why, WHY?!! Why is it just me suffering like so? I wouldn''t even ask to be beautiful, just without this scar. It is blocking everything in my life. I can only be slightly comforted by making beautiful girls'' lives like yours more miserable than mine. That way I know girls out there are suffering worse fates than mine." Looking at the craziness in her eyes, Greyson knew that she had already justified her actions in her mind. "So just do me a favor and DIE!" Nelly quickly approached with a large hammer to start breaking Greyson''s bones. But before she could, fire quickly broke out and burned the ropes away. Greyson stopped crying and terror in his expression immediately receded. His eyes coldly looked at the crazed woman in front of him. "Y-y-you... What..." Nelly was shocked with the sudden change in the situation. "I''m a magician. My friend chose a mission from the Dalia Magic Academy to catch the murderer in this city, so you. We have been trying to lure you out, so I pretended to be a girl. Sorry to say, but you have picked the wrong victim this time." Slowly jumping off the table and walking in front of the woman, Greyson calmly explained the situation. Summoning his dark magic, shadow hands acted as ropes and restrained the woman. This was the second dark spell that Greyson learned, Hands of Darkness, which restrained his enemies. "You tricked me!" She shouted out looking at Greyson with fury. "Trick? You have the nerve to be upset that I tricked you? I''m so sorry, but as a crazy murderer I have no feelings of pity for you. I would do much worse than trick you, but I''m not some violent psycho like you. With the kingdom''s laws, you will most likely be executed once I turn you in. Looks like your suffering is coming to an end soon anyways." Greyson''s cold black eyes looked down at the woman with disgust. "No, don''t look at me with those eyes. I''m not disgusting! I can''t die! Haven''t I suffered enough? Why must I be killed like that? I''m the victim of this cruel world that won''t allow an ugly woman to live." "You are disgusting. You are a disgusting human being." "NO!" "But it seems that you are misunderstanding something. I don''t think your outer appearance is disgusting. In fact, you were so young when you received your scar that now that you have grown up, it is barely visible." Greyson was speaking the truth. Although the scar still stretched along her cheek, it was thin, faded and not extremely marring. "Probably, it''s been awhile since anyone has really been judging you for your looks. You just have no confidence so no one is approaching you and your personality shows through no matter how much you try to hide it. Do you know the first time I saw you I did not think much of anything about your looks? I thought you were a quiet and reserved girl. There was no negative opinion. If you had just lived your life loving yourself and ignoring your physical appearance, there probably would have been someone who would love you. I know that the world can be cruel and that there are men would look at your face and be put off, but does that mean there are no good men in the world? That no one could just look at your inner beauty? A person very close to me is a very average looking woman, almost unattractive by average standards, however, the painting I made of her has won a fairly large award. Do you know why? Because her inner self is beautiful. It radiates from within and attracts people and warms their hearts. The viewers of the painting thought nothing of her looks but were mesmerized by her smile." Greyson did not know why he was explaining this to the woman. He was just annoyed by her continuous self-pity and the fact that she was blaming everyone but herself. "You''re not ugly." Hearing these words, Nelly looked up at Greyson. "However, your heart is ugly and that cannot be hidden." Nelly no longer spoke out or screamed with anger. She just sat in a daze as if something had just cracked within her. No longer looking at her, Greyson shot a fire arrow into the sky to signal Lyle as they agreed. Lucius had probably already woken him up and gotten his attention. Moments later he could hear footsteps approaching and the clanging of armor. The next moments were a blur as the soldiers brought by Lyle apprehended Nelly and took her away to await her sentence in jail. Lyle was excited to have succeeded in his mission and had thanked Greyson for his help. Before he knew it, Greyson was in a different inn. The tavern woman was already awoken and told of her daughter''s situation. In distress, she denied and said her daughter couldn''t have done that, but she was caught in the act. The woman had fainted in shock apparently. Greyson sighed deeply. He knew he should be happy for catching the murderer, but their was a part of his heart that was uncomfortable. "Lu, am I weird for pitying her a little? I know that she was definitely bullied and harassed because of that scar. People are terrible in that way. Everyone is just trying hard to live in their own way, but others just have to tear people down. It doesn''t justify her actions, but I can''t help but understand that it was other humans who pushed her into that extreme state." He suddenly felt conflicted. On his shoulder, Lucius perked up hearing the question before contemplating. "I could not tell you, Grey. I don''t know if there is a clear answer. However, I do know that you did the right thing catching her. Just think of the future girls you saved and the past ones you got justice for. Dwelling on things will only make it harder for you." Hearing his words, Greyson nodded and stopped thinking about it. No matter what, he felt at peace with his own actions so there was no use thinking of things he could not change. Finally shaking off his negative thoughts, he felt happy for accomplishing the mission and being able to take off his dress. ... The next day, Greyson and Lyle had split up as Lyle headed back to the academy while Greyson headed toward the capital. He would probably get there in around 3 days and he still had a week of time before the award ceremony, so he was not worried. Thinking of the capital and his awards, Greyson started looking forward to getting there. He wondered what the city would be like... 38 Hero Rescues the Damsel in Distress Greyson decided to travel to the capital on his feet instead of taking a carriage because he felt that he could experience the travel more. Although he would be quickly passing through everything, it would be nice to walk and see more of the world. When he was flying to the Dalia Kingdom he didn''t see anything as he was too high up so he has yet to really experience the kingdom. He was already a day''s travel away from the capital and only had one last piece of forest to pass through. As he ran by using Air Steps, he continually raced with Lucius for fun and stopped to meditate along the way. He could feel that his mana was close to breaking through, so he knew that he shouldn''t let up his practice just because he was not in school. ... Deep in the forest, two figures burst through the trees but suddenly stopped on a large tree''s branch. "Hey, Lu, should we take a short break here? It feels like this place is filled with the elements. I want to take a look around to see if there is something special that is causing mana to gather here." "Yeah, we should definitely take a look! I can feel that this place has something special about it." These two figures were Lucius and Greyson who were only a half day''s journey away from the capital. They were running through a small local forest and when they reached the middle the concentration of mana shot up. Feeling shocked by this sudden change, they decided to stop and look around to see if they could find what was causing the elements to be attracted here. Following the flow of mana, Greyson soon reached the center of the attraction. In the middle lay a beautiful rock that glowed with the colors of four of the elements: water, fire, earth, and wind. Knowing that this rock must be something amazing, Greyson reached forward to pick it up. Once his hand touched the surface, he could feel a connection to the rock that resonated with his elements. After observing for a little longer and trying to inject his mana into the it, Greyson could not figure out what it was or what it could be used for. Thinking about it, he decided to put it inside his spatial bag. Spatial bags were the cheapest form of spatial containers since they were the largest so it took less work to create a space within it, however, they were still rare objects. The Head Teachers had come together and gifted it to him as their first meeting present for being their student. It was not too big, around the space of half his bedroom inside. The rock was large, but he could fit it inside fairly easily. Quickly storing the rock away, Greyson could feel that the mana collected here was starting to disperse, so he quickly sat down and began to meditate. Pulling the mana inside him before it dispersed, he drew closer and closer to the fifth stage. When he finally awoke from his meditative state, the mana had dispersed but he did not break through to the fifth stage. Slightly disappointed, he understood that it was because although this area was full of four of his elements he had to absorb more of the other three elements before he could breakthrough. He started to finally understand why Lucius said that his elements could slow him down. It was not a complete advantage without drawbacks. He looked beside him at Lucius who had also awoken from his meditation. "What, disappointed? I told you it would be harder for you because you have to keep your elements in balance." Lucius smirked looking smug. "Whatever." Greyson rolled his eyes. "But, Lu, do you know what the rock is?" "Do I look like a rock encyclopedia to you? I don''t know everything. You have to understand that I might have lived longer than you and my mother taught me some things, but I still lived most of life inside that desolate forest near your town. Maybe we can ask one of your teachers when we get back, or look it up in a book at the capital. I would just say that you should keep it hidden until you are in a safe area because it''s definitely something special that others would covet." Greyson was a little shocked by the usually narcissistic cat''s words. But after he thought about it, he realized that he had seen Lucius as an all-knowing being. Only, when they first met, Greyson knew absolutely nothing so of course Lucius seemed that way but this cat also came from the desolate countryside of Snow Country so Lucius couldn''t know that much either other than basic stuff. Agreeing with Lucius''s words, Greyson decided to ask his teachers unless he found a good opportunity to look up the rock''s origins in the capital. ... Approaching the end of the forest, Greyson felt excited because he knew he was only a little distance away from his destination. He slowed down as he came to the end of the treeline when Lucius suddenly perked up his ear and lifted his head from Greyson''s shoulder. "Grey, there are people surrounding us." Lucius''s voice resounded in Greyson''s head. Imperceptibly nodding, Greyson continued acting as normal as if he hadn''t noticed and before long three figures appeared before him. They were all middle-aged men with the one in front being the oldest and the leader. Once those three showed themselves, the rest of the men in the surroundings popped out as well. Greyson took a quick mental count and he found there were about 30 men in total. Coming across this situation all too often, Greyson and Lucius both knew that these men were bandits. Going off the calculating look of the leader, they both also had a feeling they knew what their aim was. "Hmm... a pretty little girl like this would sell good on the market. Any of those nobles would pay good money for a slave like this. Plus, the way she was running earlier she must have some magic too." The leader licked his lips maliciously as he gave Greyson the once over. Hearing his words, Greyson and Lucius looked at each other wordlessly before they both let loose a long sigh. They knew it. Greyson always made the effort to dress humbly although he could afford better clothes because he didn''t want to be targeted for money. However, it looks like he should first change his looks before making the effort with his clothes. These bandits were all of one mind. Every single one of them wished to sell him. He was starting to pity any weak pretty young girls who came across bandits because it seems that they were the preferred target. "We must sell really well like they say because I am always targeted like this." Greyson couldn''t help but shake his head with frustration. "Hahahaha well who asked you to be born with these looks. I really wonder who your parents were, they must have been good-looking pair." Lucius laughed with a look of taking joy in other''s misfortunes. They had been communicating mentally so the bandits hadn''t heard their thoughts so they just thought that the two had been frozen with terror. "Don''t worry, as long as you don''t resist, we won''t hurt you. I can''t say anything about your future owner, but your life shouldn''t be too bad with those looks." The bandits snickered after hearing their leader''s words. "Why don''t you all just run away now so I don''t have to waste my effort to chase you all away?" Greyson finally spoke out. "What did you just say, kid? Us, run away? From a little girl like you? Looks like we caught a crazy one boss. A shame because the stupid ones don''t sell as well." One of the two guys behind the leader spoke out. The bandits all laughed again at his words while Greyson just shook his head knowing that they wouldn''t listen to him. Looks like it was the hard way then. "Hmph! You guys just grab her and let''s go." The leader paid no attention to Greyson''s words and quickly order his men to move in. Seeing them start to move towards himself, Greyson was about to activate his magic when another voice rang out. "Halt, you evil-doers!" Hearing the line, Greyson almost laughed but managed to hold it in. Who says those kinds of cheesy lines? Following the voice, a body flew out from the trees. When the bandits got a good look at the person, they all had the temptation to just fall down with laughter right then. The voice belonged to girl who looked around Greyson''s age who was dressed like an adventurer or mercenary. Although the girl looked valiant, she was so young that it all seemed like a joke. "Hey, look boss, another one joined the fray. We could sell her too!" "But she''s not as pretty... Would she still sell well?" "You''re only saying that because the other one is too pretty. This one''s not too bad." They weren''t wrong in their description. The girl was not the prettiest, but she had a good temperament that made people look twice at her. She held herself with confidence like a war general. The girl ignored the bandits and quickly approached Greyson before looking him once over with concern. "Little girl, are you alright? Don''t worry, this young lady here will definitely beat them all up for you!" Greyson was about to thank her for her help, although it wouldn''t be necessary, but then he heard her words. Little? They looked like they were the same age! His eye twitching after her words he couldn''t help but feel that he was suddenly like those damsels in distress who get rescued by the hero in fairy tales. Not knowing whether to get angry or not, he looked over and saw the Lucius was trying his best to hold in his laughter. Glaring at the cat, he looked back over at the girl. "I''m fine..." He manage to squeeze out. He couldn''t get angry because he knew this girl had good intentions. "Well, that''s good then! Watch me then!" She then bravely faced the bandits. "Hmph! Little girl, you underestimate use!" Just as the leader said that, his mana finally burst out. Intermediate level stage three! Even Greyson was shocked. Looked like the bandits near the capital were at a different level. He was about to stop the girl before she got hurt but to his surprise her expression had not changed at all. Instead, she drew the sword by her side and made one swing. Along that swing, he could see the patterns on her sword light up green. Huge wind slashes followed as the bandits were cut down with only one cut. So powerful! "Grey, don''t underestimate this girl. Although she looks around your age, she is not that simple. Her strength is around the same level as me." Hearing Lucius''s voice in his head, Greyson was shocked yet again. But... After the shock was gone, he finally realized that she had killed all the bandits with that swing. He looked around at the corpses all cut up in different places and felt sick. He turned around and ran to one of the trees before puking. "Little girl, you should toughen up! Don''t wait around for men to save you and become strong yourself! I can sense that you have a good amount of mana so you must also be talented." Hearing her words, Greyson didn''t know how to answer. He had never even seen someone get killed let alone kill someone himself so he had felt overwhelmed by the scene. Wasn''t this girl too nonchalant? It sent a shiver down his spine. "Who are you?" He whispered. "I''m Aria! How about you?" "Greyson." "Nice to meet you, Gre... Greyson? Are you a boy?!" "...Yes..." "And you''re all weak like this? That''s no good, weak men are super unattractive." She said shaking her head and looking at him with pity. Greyson suddenly felt speechless and just scratched his head. He WAS weaker than her so what could he say? "Well, where are you headed, Greyson?" She asked with her eyes lighting up. "I''m headed to the capital." "The capital?" "Yeah, Dalia City. It''s really close to here, didn''t you know?" "Well I only was just able to run a... run out from my home. So, I''m not really sure where I am right now." Looking at her a little suspiciously, Greyson decided to ignore her pause in between words. "Well, anyways, thank you, Aria, for stepping out to save me. I''ll be on my way now." "Wait! Let me come along! I want to experience this capital city." She spoke out and stopped him. "Even if you don''t want me to, I''ll follow you anyways so just be good and listen." Feeling a headache coming on from her forceful attitude, Greyson just nodded and let her come along. She wasn''t a bad person and she was strong so it wasn''t like she was a burden. "Haha okay! Let''s go then! Hurry!" She grabbed his hand and started rushing him along. Sighing, he nodded and started rushing again with his Air Steps. Aria followed along as well using some kind of wind magic spell that helped her travel quickly as well. Lucius smiled looking at Greyson helpless face and followed behind. Three figures then sped off leaving what was left of the bandits behind. 39 Donst Worry Isll Protect You The duo arrived at the gate of the capital by end of the day and just made it in time before the city would be closed for entry. Glad he had been rushed by Aria, he no longer felt as bitter about her continually pulling him along. "See! I told you we needed to hurry!" Aria puffed out her chest with her face full of an irritating ''I told you so'' look. Suddenly, Greyson was itching to just ditch her but he knew that he could not escape from her as easily as he did that girl in the forest. Although she acted air-headed, he could tell throughout their journey together that she is actually extremely intelligent with great instinct. She was also extremely petty and held grudges like no other, so the thought of running away from her secretly then getting caught made him drop the idea. At one point, he had used Shadow Escape but she had somehow quickly caught up to him and, because she had a larger mana store, he ran out of energy first. After beating his good-looking face to an unrecognizable state, she then chained him up using a special magic tool that wouldn''t break no matter how hard he tried. Only when they were approaching the gate did she finally let him go free so people wouldn''t misunderstand him as some kind of criminal. Touching his now-healed face and wincing as he remembered getting beaten, Greyson vowed he would definitely get stronger than this girl and have his revenge. It really hurt his pride that a girl not much older than him could defeat him so easily. Walking down the street late at night, there was still a surprising amount of activity. However, Greyson was not too surprised by this as all large cities had facilities that ran at night. He was young not oblivious and obviously knew what went on, but he had no curiosity towards that kind of scene. Growing up in the church and being brought up by Sister Lily made him feel rather uncomfortable with the idea casual romance. The church had a good amount of influence in Snow Country and thus these kinds of activities were looked down upon in public, but it was an open secret that all the wealthy did not pay attention to this. There were already kids in the Academy who went to the most famous one in city called "Flower Shop." A lot of the aristocrat sons start very early with their maids apparently. Greyson couldn''t help but roll his eyes thinking of who came up with that name. Real subtle. In order to get to the tavern, Greyson and Aria had to pass by tons of establishments that stank of cheap perfume while loud festivities could be heard from within. Completely ignorant of what was going on, Aria commented on everyone they passed by. "Hey, Grey, aren''t those women cold? Wearing so little. Oh no... could it be they can''t afford clothes because they are too poor? I have to give them money! Grey! Hey, we can''t just walk by these suffering women. They will freeze to death!" "That man is passed out on the floor in the snow like this, won''t he get sick? Is something the matter with him? Why would he fall down here? Should we help him get home?" Her constant pestering and questions were driving Greyson near insane. He was someone who preferred silence, thus her constant chatter was starting to irk him. Aria obviously had a kind heart, but wasn''t this too much? Had she been living under a rock somewhere even more in the middle of nowhere than where he came from? And he thought HE was an ignorant countryside commoner. Ignoring her words, he walked without stop towards the closest tavern. However, before he exited from the area, a wiry body stepped in front of him. It was a rather old-looking man with a rat-like face. From the beginning, Greyson could tell from the evil lust in the man''s eyes and disgusting smile why the man had stopped them. His deep red eyes glanced at Aria before looking towards Greyson with obvious greed. Feeling the stare, Greyson''s eyebrows furrowed as a look of clear abhorrence appeared on his face. "Hello, little beauty. Why don''t you follow me? If you''re obedient, I won''t hurt this other little friend of yours." The man grossly licked his lips and continued looking at Greyson. Tempted to puke, Greyson disdained to even breathe the same air as such perverted trash so he moved to avoid the man. Sneering, the man quickly blocked Greyson''s path again and released his mana. Advanced level second stage. Greyson paused with surprise as the average man could not break through to this point. But just that, as Lucius and Aria were both stronger than the man in front of him. "Beautiful doll, do you understand now? I could easily kill both of you and no one would do anything about it as I am the King''s cousin. The city guards will all look the other way. I do whatever I want. I''ll just take you in as my slave for a little while and let your other friend go free. I promise I''ll treat you real well." His ugly grin was arrogant as if Greyson would have no other choice. Related to the King? Although he was not inclined to believe that the King would have such a disgusting relative, the man''s power could be indicative of having some connections. Thinking about it, Greyson preferred not to cause any trouble. Just as he was about to peacefully escape by asking Lucius for help, Aria had made her move. Her sword moved swiftly with a red glow and cut into the man while also setting his body on fire. Shrieking in pain, the man was shocked that the other little girl had dared to attack him and was also so powerful. He used a spell similar to Shadow Escape and disappeared into the darkness while shouting at Greyson and Aria. "This is not over, stupid brat! Pretty little one, you will be mine sooner or later. I''ll have you begging for mercy." Greyson just scoffed at his words. Just because he didn''t want to cause trouble didn''t mean he was scared of the man. Honestly, Aria striking him like that was really satisfying, however, it also made him anticipate when he would have that kind of power. He was also starting to feel that he should ask Teacher Vivienne to teach him close combat. "Don''t worry, Grey, although you are a little weak and girly-looking, this big sister will chase off all those disgusting flies. I will protect you!" Aria suddenly pounded her chest while making a grand promise. Looking at such an act on a small girl of 8-years-old, he suddenly chuckled at her unreliable looking pose. The chuckle soon turned to a full out laugh. Aria stomped her feet seeing that Greyson had not taken her words seriously. "Alright, alright. I know you are a super powerful big sister. I will be relying on you, then." Wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, Greyson placated her with his words in case she hold another grudge. He suddenly felt that it was not so bad to hang out with Aria, at least his days were filled with fun. He couldn''t remember the last time he had laughed so hard before and, although he laughed, Greyson felt really touched by her words. They hadn''t even known each other long, yet she was willing to go to such lengths. Thinking about it, he couldn''t help but wonder what sort of strange parents were capable of raising such a crazy girl. ... "Hmm?" A man felt a sudden feeling like someone was talking bad about him. "Aria, probably. That trouble-making girl never gives me peace of mind..." he mumbled to himself. "Lord, it''s terrible! The young lady has run away!" A breathless subordinate burst into the room with his report. The minute his words escaped his mouth, a threatening atmosphere broke out and nearly suffocated him. The Lord''s mana level was astonishing as always. Dropping to the ground with weak legs, he lamented that he was chosen as the one to break the news. "Have you located her?" "No, she now knows to conceal her bloodline power so we can''t sense her location." "This rascal! Why can she never stay in one place!" He rubbed his forehead and furrowed his brows in frustration. "Rosalie!" He summoned. After the name rang out, a shadow popped out from the shadows. "Yes, my Lord." A beautiful young woman revealed herself while kneeling in front of her master. "Find her. Don''t go easy on her this time!" He ordered. "Hehehe, of course my Lord. I''m the best at finding the Young Lady. I will complete the mission in no time at all." She smiled cheekily while winking at him before disappearing again. Sighing, the man shook his head at her antics. "That girl. She would be so much more reliable if she could just rid herself of that mischievous nature." "Aria... I hope you won''t cause too much trouble this time..." The man suddenly fell silent and could feel the start of a large headache coming on. A sense of foreboding and apprehension came over him. 40 Competition Rewards Greyson pushed the encounter with the old man to the back of his mind and began looking for a tavern to stay in. He chose a rather ordinary one with reasonable room prices and bought two rooms. After saving his money for a little more than a year with the beast cores, Greyson had around 500 silver coins. He would spend some every now and then, so he was left with 300 coins at the moment. The rooms were 1 silver coin a day, which was really expensive in Greyson''s mind as most of the currency he went by was bronze coins, but he knew that things would be more expensive in the capital. Aria had made a scene for awhile about spending the night in separate rooms, but Greyson felt it was only right for them not to share. Pouting, Aria finally agreed and took the keys for the room across from his. Laying down in his bed, Greyson was relieved to be off his feet. Waves of drowsiness came over him as his eyelids drooped. Before even taking his shoes off, he fell into a deep sleep. Deep breathing echoed throughout the room as a silent figure made its way into the room. Not coming through the door, the lithe shadow had fazed through the wall without any sound. Lucius had not sensed another presence until the figure was only a couple feet away from the bed. His eyes shot open in alarm and was about to notify Greyson before he realized that the intruder seemed familiar. Looking closely he saw Aria''s familiar face in the moonlight. He only slightly let down his guard without waking up Greyson because he was curious as to what her goal was. Aria quietly approached before touching Greyson''s silver hair. Her brows started to tighten in thought as she seemed to be troubled by him. "You smell familiar and comfortable... I wonder why that is... You look half-elf which means you shouldn''t have any relation to me or my bloodline." She whispered in frustration. Lucius quietly listened to her thoughts while analyzing the situation himself. Bloodline? Lucius suddenly realized that Aria must not be human. He could tell she had a special aura about her, but he didn''t know which race she could be descended from. Magic beasts? He would be rather shocked if this were true, though, because only the super high level beasts could transform to a humanoid form at such a low level and usually they all had some sort of remaining animal feature like wings or tails. Instinct told him that Aria''s current look is her real body, but could he be wrong? Was she a dragon? She was obviously not elf because she did not think Greyson should be related to her through that bloodline. "Does Greyson have another bloodline? One that makes his eyes change colors? But then what race is that bloodline from?" Lucius thought to himself. Finally, he inwardly shook his head and tried not to think about it. All of this was too complicated and he honestly felt that Greyson''s bloodline identities were not important. Greyson was Greyson and most races did not accept mixed blood people easily, so it was best to just have people assume he is half-elf. The cat could tell she meant no harm and was just trying to resonate with Greyson''s bloodline, so he closed his eyes and went to sleep. ... When he woke up the next day, Lucius saw that Aria had left at some point. He didn''t feel the need to mention anything to Greyson so he kept the night visit a secret. Greyson, on the other hand, had no idea of last night''s situation and only woke up feeling refreshed for a new day. He decided to go to the capital''s painting association and receive his awards today since there was no specific date he was supposed to come. The letter had only given him the last day he was able to come to take his rewards by before it would be given to second place. When he exited his room, the door opposite of him also opened revealing an excited Aria. She quickly grabbed his hand and dragged him downstairs for a hearty breakfast included in the tavern''s room price. Paying no attention to etiquette, Aria scarfed down the food quickly without pause. Greyson almost couldn''t eat his own food because he had been given such a huge shock. He soon felt his stomach rumbling though and decided to dig in as well. Both young kids had ravenous appetites which made all the surrounding tavern occupants stare at them in surprise. Greyson had always known that he ate enormous amounts, but he was surprised that Aria''s appetite did not lose out to him in the least. After the third serving of food, the tavern boss was practically crying while begging them to stop eating. The owner felt bad since it was said that breakfast was included, however, with the way the children were eating he would be eaten out of business due to this rule of his. Greyson stopped while scratching his nose in embarrassment. They really had eaten so much that he could understand the boss''s plight. Pulling Aria away from the food, Greyson managed to drag her out of the tavern and towards the painting association. Asking around for directions, he had easily made his way towards the building. The establishment was quite grand and large showing off its wealth and importance. Painting was a wealthy pastime and hobby and the well-known artists could sell their works for enormous amounts of money. They were also hired to paint portraits for aristocratic families or royalty. He admired the design of the building before walking in to the front desk. A proud looking man stood at the desk and while helping visitors and members. Greyson could tell that the man was very arrogant and seemed to look down on those who walked through the door unless they were well-known painters whom he flashed a servile smile at and flattered. While he was waiting in line, Greyson saw the many sides of the man and quickly was disgusted by his obvious difference in treatment. Aria also showed her hostility for the shameless man, but she held it in because Greyson had asked for her to not make a scene. They came face to face with the man who had a neutral expression looking at the two young children in front of him. "What can I help you with?" "I''m here to claim my prize for the Junior Painting Competition." "Hm? For what place?" "First place." "Hah! First place? You? You don''t look any older than 8 years old. The age limit for this competition is 14. Who are you trying to fool? How long could you have been painting that you beat kids that old? Scram! This association isn''t for kids like you to fool around in!" Hearing his words, Greyson frowned. "I really am the winner of first place. My name is Greyson and I am from Academy City. The winning painting is called ''A Mother''s Smile.'' My portrait should have come along with the painting and I have letters from the principal of Dalia Magic Academy as well as my painting teacher." He held in his anger and spoke evenly. "Hmph, I don''t have time for your pranks. Men! Come pull these brats out!" He refused to listen and called for the guards. Large men dressed in black robes approached with a threatening atmosphere. They reached to grab Greyson and Aria and throw them out. When their hands had almost touched the two, Aria lashed out and kicked both of them down. The men went flying before slamming into the wall. Not feeling the output of mana, Greyson looked at Aria in shock due to her physical strength. The thought of her not being human suddenly occurred to him which would make sense since she seemed not to know anything about society, she ate way too much, and she was ridiculously strong even without her high level of magic. Although he was curious, he decided not to ask since she had not mentioned it. The attendant, on the other hand, was terrified. He saw the sturdy men lying unconscious on the floor and gulped down nervously. The young girl whipped her head around and the man flinched. "Do you still want those weaklings to take care of us?" She sneered sarcastically. Greyson shook his head and sighed at her violent temper. Normally she had such a caring heart for the poor and weak, but at these moments she would beat first and ask questions later. "N, n, no. NO! Of course not! Uh, I will get the manager right now for you." He stuttered in fear while slowly backing up before running away with his tail between his legs. "Hmph, coward." Aria curled her lip in disdain and looked over at Greyson waiting for his praise. "Ah, nice job... I guess?" He offered. "That''s all?" She glared then pouted before sniffing and turning her face away. Greyson felt helpless but decided not to think about it. Before long, an old man entered into the association before the manager made his way back. The old man glanced at Greyson''s face before his eyes lit up in recognition and briskly walked over. He smiled brightly and Greyson got the impression of a gentle and warm grandfather. "You''re Greyson correct?" He asked. Greyson was surprised by the man''s question but nodded anyways. "I knew it! Hahaha, good boy. Your painting was amazing. I was sincerely in awe of the emotion that it emitted. I''ve been waiting in excitement to meet you!" "No, no. You overpraise me. It''s just good at an amateur level." Greyson smiled nicely feeling a good impression of this old man. While they began talking, the attendant and the manager had walked over looking angry at first before shaking in shock when they saw the old man. "P, p, president! Do you know this boy?" "Huh? Well of course I do, he is the first place winner of the juvenile competition, Greyson. It''s kind of hard to mistake someone with his looks. He had sent a portrait in." "He''s really that Greyson??" The attendant went pale. "Yes? What''s going on?" The old man''s expression sank when he felt the atmosphere wasn''t right. "Old man, this pig-for-brains decided on his own that Greyson was lying that he was the winner and was trying to throw us out with your thugs." Aria suddenly spoke out. Greyson almost fell to the ground from her explanation while the attendant was about to flare up in anger before thinking back to her kick from earlier and swallowed his words. "Alvin, is this true?!" The good-natured president suddenly had a scary expression as he turned towards the shaking attendant. "President, I just thought that with his age it would highly improbable that he was the one who created that amazing painting. You know that even I had tons of respect for ''A Mother''s Smile'' and I thought some kid had walked in to blaspheme the painter." Quickly explaining, the attendant came up with a bunch of excuses. The president''s expression lightened a little understanding the viewpoint of the man, but he still looked over at Greyson to see if he would accept the man''s explanation. Greyson inwardly rolled his eyes while decided to privately handle the matter and tell the president his opinion of the man later. So he subtly shook his head indicating that he would not be following through with the matter right now. Gratefully smiling, the president waved his hand dismissing the attendant and the manager before leading Greyson and Aria into the main hallway of the association. Gasping in shock, Greyson saw a painting hanging in the middle of the wall. It was his! Front and center with lights shining on the canvas was his painting of Sister Lily. Aria heard his gasp and looked up in the direction of his gaze. Her eyes caught onto the painting and were not able to look away for a good couple of seconds. Her eyes filled with tears as she was taken back to a set of warm arms and a beautiful smile that sang her to sleep. Thinking of her mother, Aria was first enveloped in warm remembrance before her eyes darkened with deep hate and vengeance. However, Greyson and Lucius were too busy taking in the fact that Greyson''s painting was hanging so obviously for all to see and did not notice Aria''s strange emotions. "President, how could my painting be hanging here?!" He asked in shock. "Hoho, young boy, I guess you were not aware of the rewards for this competition. The actual monetary award is not much just 10 gold coins. The real meaningful part of the reward is hanging your painting in the center of the association main hall for an entire year so everyone who passes through will see it and also see your name. Recognition and fame. This is what all painters dream of. The last part of the reward is that we are going to send your painting to the Idris Kingdom to be sold at their top auction house, Purple Lion, after the year is up. They will advertise the painting and get your name known even in a tier one kingdom. You might not get as much money as the other paintings but since it will hanging in the auction house, many powerful and rich people will see your painting. This will be an amazing opportunity for you." The president became excited just speaking about it, even though the painter was not him. He did not realize Greyson had stopped paying attention the moment he mentioned the Idris Kingdom. Idris Kingdom? Greyson recognized this name from when the principal had mentioned the kingdom''s magic academy to him. Realizing that he could travel to the kingdom a year later for the auction of his painting, Greyson was stuck in thoughts of increasing to the advanced level this year and taking the exam while he is there. Absorbed in these thoughts, he already started laying out his training plans for the year. "Greyson? Greyson~... GREYSON!" The principal finally shouted and Greyson was snapped away from his thoughts. He then absentmindedly had small talk with the president before he could finally excuse himself taking the 10 gold coins. Once he stepped out of the association, Aria finally spoke up. "Greyson, I really liked your painting by the way... It brought up some warm memories of my mother and I..." She complimented. Finally noticing the strangeness in her tone, Greyson looked over and saw how crestfallen the normally hyper girl had become. Feeling bad looking at her expression, he decided to push his thoughts back before grabbing her hand and pulling her along to a sweets cart. He bought two cakes for her. Seeing his thoughts, Aria first felt annoyed that he assumed food would solve everything for her, but then she still smiled at the fact he was being thoughtful. Seeing her smile, he smiled back and they happily enjoyed the cakes on the way back to the tavern. He didn''t ask because he thought that if she wanted him to know then she would have told him. They just slowly walked back, each with their own thoughts. Once they were back at the tavern, Greyson explained he wanted to head back to the Academy quickly to continue training before the year is up. Aria held him back, though, and after her constant complaining and begging, Greyson decided to stay for the previously intended week and hang around. He also thought he should take the chance to see the capital before going so he wouldn''t waste the long trip up. Slowly falling asleep, Greyson thought about what they should do during the free week of time in the capital. 41 Playboy Crown Prince After deciding to stay, Greyson decided to visit the city library to see if he could find information on the rock from the forest. He had a feeling that it was very special, so he did not want to ask anyone if he didn''t have to. The next morning he left with Aria in the direction of the library. Spending a couple hours searching fruitlessly, Greyson finally gave up as he could not find anything even remotely related to the rock. Furrowing his brows in thought, he walked out of the library trying to think of what to do. Aria was of course not silent during this trip and kept bothering him about what information he was looking for. Ignoring her questions, Greyson continued on contemplating if he should bring it up to his teachers or just wait till a year later when he is in the Idris Kingdom to see if they have any information. Walking aimlessly towards the tavern, Greyson suddenly slammed into another body. Snapped away from his thoughts he finally looked ahead of himself towards the other person. In front of his eyes was a good-looking young man hugging two beautiful women to his side with his collar opened a little too generously. Seeing an unfamiliar face, Greyson just apologized absentmindedly and moved to continue walking away from the teenager. "Hey, kid, stop!" A voice yelled out. Greyson turned around to look at the young man while confusedly pointing at himself. "Me?" "Yes, you! Is that how you apologize after running into someone? Do you know who I am?" He fumed angrily. "I apologized and I barely ran into you so it doesn''t seem to be that big a deal. No, I''m afraid I do not know who you are." "Hmph, well let me enlighten you then. I am this kingdom''s Crown Prince!" Greyson''s eyes widened in shock, feeling that his luck was too bad to run into someone like this. "What are you scared now? If you kneel down and sincerely apologize I might let you go. Hm?" The prince sneered arrogantly before one of the women by his side whispered something into his ear. He paused before looking Greyson up and down then started nodding happily. The look in the prince''s eyes made Greyson''s hair stand on end while his heart began to sink. Without even waiting for the inevitable next words, he looked over at Aria and signaled her. "Actually, you... Hey! What..." The prince began but was unable to finish as Greyson and Aria burst into action and sped away with their wind magic. "How dare they! I want to know who they are! Immediately!" The prince shouted angrily while glaring dangerously in the direction the two kids had fled. ... "Grey, what is with your kingdom''s royalty? They are all arrogant and disgusting, whilst being weak. Really lets people be disappointed. First was the old man claiming to be cousins with the King and now some person claiming to be the King''s son and Crown Prince. " Aria wrinkled her nose in annoyance. Greyson just sighed with her words and began to realize that he should learn a disguise spell. There were some non-element spells that just used mana to work and one of them was a disguise spell that changed your features. You couldn''t change the body shape like Lyle unless you took a pill, but there were simple spells to change hair color and facial features. He was getting sick and tired of being bothered and he was sure that everyone around him was getting sick of it, too. He decided that it would be the first thing he did when he got back to the Academy, now it was time for all this to end. Pushing today''s incident to the back of his mind, he made his way back to the tavern with Aria and decided to wear a mask tomorrow when he went around shopping with Aria. However, he couldn''t fall asleep as if he were anxious about something. Instinctively, he knew something was coming but he did not know what it could be. ... Inside the castle "She met with my uncle? The disgusting old child-loving pervert? Hahahaha, the Heavens are obviously helping me. Just let my uncle know where the two of those kids are staying, I believe then I won''t have to do anything and my revenge will occur. Those stupid girls will regret looking down on me! I''ve heard my uncle also has a sadistic side, I almost pity their fate now." The prince laughed happily as he thought about those arrogant little children getting tortured. He had never been shamed like he was today in his entire life. Everyone respected and feared him, however, those girls just left him without listening to anything he said. The entire town had probably heard of the incident by now. Gritting his teeth in anger, he told his servants to keep an eye on the situation then report back to him. ... "My nephew? What does he want?" A gruff voice spoke out. The old man was still recovering from his burns so his mood was especially bad towards all his servants. "My lord, he said that he found the little girl who caused your situation. That was all he said. The servant who came to relay the message said that master would understand his meaning." A male servant reported back while trembling. "Those two girls?! He knows them, too?! HAHAHA they won''t escape from me this time. Call for my private guard! They won''t overpower me this time." His eyes squinted with a dangerous glint as he planned for tomorrow. "Just you wait... once those brats are in my hands, I''ll make them beg to die quickly!" He continued laughing to himself after imagining the many scenarios. The servant who was still present, witnessed his expressions and shivered. He couldn''t help but pity the young girls that were going to be targeted next. "They should have never come to the capital where this sick-minded old bag of bones was." He thought while inwardly sighing and shaking his head. ... The next morning, Greyson woke up with dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. He couldn''t understand what was making him anxious, but he knew something bad was coming. To his surprise, the always well-rested and active, Aria also walked out of her room with an exhausted face. "Did you not sleep well either?" He asked. "Hm? Yeah... You, too?" "Yeah, I don''t know what''s wrong. I just have this deep unrest in my heart that won''t go away. Should we live the capital? I keep feeling like something bad will happen if we stay..." Greyson seriously felt conflicted. It wasn''t his personality to just run away on a feeling, but the dangerous apprehension was so severe that he couldn''t believe it was only his imagination. "I''m not sure... I have great survival instinct and it is telling me to run now. But, I also want to stay because I don''t want to run away from the unknown. Even if we are in danger later, I have a feeling we could run away confidently. Wouldn''t it be better to at least know what is going on?" Greyson understood her point so he silently contemplated his chances. He turned and looked over at Lucius as his eyes lit up. That''s right! They wouldn''t know that he had another advanced magician by his side, right? The only one who knew that Lucius is actually powerful was himself because Lucius had yet to go into action in front of others. Feeling much more confident, he nodded to Aria and decided to stay and see what was going on. They walked out of the tavern and Greyson went searching for a mask store. Easily finding one, he bought a sleek silver mask with some black engravings. It covered everything except his eyes and mouth. He also put his hood up to hide his face in general. By the end, he did not stand out anymore. Aria felt that he was going a little overboard, but at the same time she understood why he felt the need to. Even she couldn''t help but feel a little jealous of the attention that he always receives. They began walking down the main street of the market. Aria was fascinated by a bunch of different trinkets and after a couple minutes of walking around, the wariness they felt had all but disappeared. Greyson also felt it was fun even though he was being dragged around to shop. Sister Lily would always pull him around too because she knew that he might come off as someone calm and quiet but he also loves to see new things and travel around. There were all sorts of neat magic tools that he had never seen before and new food he had never tasted. They had only made it a third of the way down the street when night had already come. Seeing the sun had set, Greyson and Aria decided to head back. Greyson was lugging around all of Aria''s shopping bags. He refused at first, but he soon realized that he should have just agreed after getting kicked around by her. They were both confused that the day had been so peaceful and fun, and were beginning to doubt if they were being too sensitive. However, the minute the thought had passed their mind, a group of black shadows had surrounded them. Greyson and Aria both turned serious after they felt the level of the five men who stepped out. They all were openly radiating their mana so Greyson and Aria could tell that they were all of the advanced level! Two advanced level stage 2, two advanced level stage 3, and one advanced level stage 4 magicians made up the group. Even if Greyson knew that Lucius and Aria were both around advanced level stage 4, he could not help but feel nervous. The differences between the stages grew with each level, but at the advanced level the difference was not enough for numbers to be unimportant. The fact that they were outnumbered made their chances of escaping much lower since they were all more powerful than Greyson. Many thoughts started to run through Greyson''s mind, but it all led back to the same disappointing thought. He was the weak link. He was the only one who might not be able to escape and Aria and Lucius were not going to leave him. Gripping his fists tightly, he resented his strength. Making up his mind, he turned to Aria and Lucius and made his thoughts clear to them. "You guys need to leave me. You could escape easily if you were not trying to escape with me. Go call for help. Lucius, you need to go into the room and set off the alarm talisman that Teacher Elendil gave to me before I left. They will rush over at that point and help save me. The Head Teacher of the Spatial Department can send them here in a couple of minutes." He kept his voice even and showed that he was not going to take their rejection. Aria and Lucius both hesitated. They knew that Greyson''s plan was the best, but there were many things that could go wrong if they left him. What if the black clothed men meant to kill Greyson? Then the minute they left, he would be dead. "Little girl, come with us. Master wishes for your presence. You cannot run away, so cooperate or we will use force." A low monotone voice spoke from the center man of the group. Hearing his mission, the three looked at each other. Aria finally spoke up. "Lucius, you leave. I will stay just in case. It will be hard for them to hurt me." The minute she said this, her sword was unsheathed and caught on fire. Her legs glowed green with wind magic and she soon burst into action against the strongest in the group. Following her lead, Greyson nodded his head at Lucius and summoned his flute. Lucius took one last reluctant look at Greyson before running off towards the tavern. Negative thoughts of suffering and pain ran through Greyson''s mind and was projected through his Siren''s Voice. The group of five doubled over in pain where the two weakest were the most effected while the strongest barely stopped for a couple seconds. However, those seconds were long enough for Aria to strike. Her sword cut through him and sliced him in half. His corpse burned while his dying screams echoed. Greyson was uneasy after witnessing the man''s death so his spell was broken. The minute his mental strength wavered then the spell would lose effect on the listeners. Having a free moment, one of the stage three men cast an earth spell that sent a flying earth fist hurtling towards Greyson. In a rush, Greyson summoned up his earth wall but his concentration was broken and the wall was too flimsy to stop the momentum of the fist. His body shot back and slammed into the wall. Black dots started to form in Greyson''s vision and his breathing became labored. He felt as if his bones had cracked from the impact. He saw Aria approaching him and fighting off two of the stage three magicians while the stage two men approached Greyson. His flute had been knocked out of his hands, and his mind was still confused so the most he could do was summon the first spell he learned. Ice Spike. His eyes flashed blue as ice spikes sprang up from the ground. One of the men quickly dodged while the other''s chest was stabbed through. Watching the attacker bleed out, Greyson was suddenly in a daze. His mind could not process his actions just now and his hands began to shake. "Grey, get a hold of yourself! Now is not the time!" Aria screamed at him. Her screams fell on deaf ears, though, and Greyson could not stop staring at the man''s eyes that were now staring off into space. He had killed a man... He had just taken a life... His first instinct was to run back to Sister Lily and cry or maybe pray. But this was all not possible, he was thousands of miles from Willow Town and nothing could change the reality. He continued spacing out until he felt something warm splash onto his face. Snapping out of his daze, he looked up and came face to face with Aria. He looked down to her side which was stabbed by one of the assailant''s magic sword. He realized that she had taken down the two stage three men which left only one man standing. He was the one who had stabbed her because she had jumped in the way while he was distracted. "Aria... No, no, no... Aria!" Greyson couldn''t stop shaking and holding her body. His brain finally started moving as his hands lit up and his eyes turned golden. Since Heal could not evolve with him, Greyson had learned a new light spell called "Angel''s Touch" which was a step up. He pulled out the blade and began to heal her. The initial blood slowly started to stop and the cut began to scab, but he couldn''t finish healing her because his mana began to run out. Angel''s Touch was great due to its ability to heal larger injuries, however, it also drained an immense amount of mana and only advanced level and above magicians can use it more than once. He was growing weaker and weaker, but could also see the last man of the group continued approaching. With the last of his mana, he shot out a fire arrow but fainted before he could see if it landed or not. 42 I Abhor You Feeling a bright light shining through his closed eyes, Greyson was shocked awake. Suddenly remembering his last moment, his eyes shot open and he tried to stand up. However, looking around, he realized that he was chained to the wall of a prison cell and his body was pulled back violently. Searching for another body in the lit prison cell, he couldn''t push down his feelings of panic when Aria was not visible. All sorts of negative thoughts ran through his mind as he began to worry how the last night had ended. Seeing his current position, he was afraid that his arrow had missed and the remaining man from the group of five had taken him away. Trying to calm down, Greyson tried to activate his magic to break the chains and escape, but, no matter how hard he tried, his mana would not activate. Checking out his body, he realized that a shining talisman was hanging from his neck. "An anti-magic charm... These are supposed to be really expensive and only used for dangerous criminals so they won''t escape before their execution. How could one be here?" Although he had not personally looked at an anti-magic charm before, he had read about them because they were extremely dangerous for magicians. One reason was because they blocked mana from entering the body so the magician would be rendered weak and without magic. However, the worst part is that it is a slow death. Although magicians were still human in appearance, their bodies were fundamentally different. A magician cannot live without mana, they cannot become normal humans without mana. No mana meant death. Similar to how humans need water and food to live, mana is that for magicians. Greyson could already feel how weak his body had become as his mana was draining out slowly. If he were more powerful, he could potentially last years, but at the intermediate level he could only last maybe a month. Just as he was contemplating his escape plan, he could hear the clanging of a metal door opening with multiple footsteps which followed. Looking up curiously, he came face-to-face with an ugly mug he wished he would never have to see again. That old man! It was him! Was he really cousin''s with the king? Greyson felt unprecedented loathing towards this persistent and disgusting lecher. All this just to kidnap him? The fact that a man like this could be put into power and order around elite magicians like that group of five made Greyson''s heart sink. Was the king blind? Or did he just not care because he wished to support his family? "Aw, baby, keep looking at me with such fire in your eyes and I might do something dangerous..." The old man began licking his lips. Greyson felt nausea and thought he could puke right at that moment. Coming closer, the old man knelt down and stroked Greyson''s face. "Don''t worry, I won''t hurt you for now. Or well, I guess I can''t promise that. I won''t KILL you for now, so no need to fear. You will soon come around." Greyson pulled his face away and spat at the old man''s face. "I abhor you. The minute I am free, I will make sure to break you so you won''t be able to touch anything the rest of your life." Hatred for the situation and hatred for this man welled up within Greyson and he felt a burning sensation begin that colored his vision red. Snorting, the old man wiped away the spit and slapped Greyson then sent a barrage of kicks. "Brat, I''ll make you beg for mercy. Just like that cute little friend of yours. I made sure she suffered hell on earth before I sent her off. Maybe you''ll meet again on the other side." An ugly sneer formed on the man''s face as he watched Greyson''s face closely waiting for the despair to hit. He didn''t wait long. Greyson heard his words and it felt like his world had cracked. Although he knew the world was violent, since he had never personally lost anyone he did not really pay attention. From an objective point of view, Greyson barely knew her. But only he knew how much Aria really meant to him. They were different, yet matched in a way he couldn''t explain. She made him laugh with her ridiculous behavior and hyperactive personality. Just imagining her landing in this man''s hands made his "tough-guy" act fall apart. "You''re lying! I know you''re lying! You just want me to believe that. None of your men were powerful enough to take her away..." Greyson was half-mad as he shouted back. It wasn''t true... It couldn''t be true... "Hmph, I though you would say that, so I brought some evidence. Bring her in!" The soldiers behind began dragging a body in behind them. Greyson felt his body trembling and his vision tunneling to the body. It was thrown in front of him and all he could see was a familiar mass of chocolate brown hair. Stumbling over to the body, a shaky hand pushed away the hair to reveal familiar tawny eyes. Her features had always been on the ordinary side, but her eyes always glowed and sparkled with life. He could almost feel his heart tear in two. Body wracking sobs came about as he hugged the dead girl''s body to him. All he could think about was her warm smile and stature full of justice. His fault... Everything was his fault! She never would have been targeted or killed if she hadn''t met him. Greyson''s fingers slowly caressed her bruised body and bleeding wounds. Every single mark on her body felt like it cut deeper and deeper into his heart. She didn''t deserve this, no one deserves this... It was that man... THAT OLD MONSTER! First it was deep sadness, but it soon changed into unconstrained rage. He looked at the grinning old man and felt pure hate. So much hate that he wished he could tear the man apart limb from limb. Suddenly his body turned hot, like something within him was burning and just waiting to be unleashed. At first he curled up in pain, but soon he could feel unprecedented power flow through his veins. Finally, a loud roar resounded from his mouth and the anti-magic charm around his neck shattered. His pupils turned purple and constricted into slits while silver scales grew on his arms. He ripped the chains from the walls and charged at the crowd. The next moments were a complete blur. His vision was dyed red and his rage and hate was beaten into the people in the cell. By the time he came to, he was stumbling out of a large mansion inside the capital. Feeling confused and covered in blood, he staggered slowly to the tavern and up to his room. Once he opened the door, he was bombarded by the worried faces of his teachers and Lucius. He could hear them asking questions, but he couldn''t make out any noise. Exhaustion slowly forced his eyes closed and he fainted. ... "Rosalie, I don''t think we should just leave. What if he is worried about what happened to me afterwards?" "My lady, we have to go back. Don''t worry, it''s better if he assumes you''re dead because your father will not be letting you out anytime soon. You know how many people are after your father''s weaknesses and you running around like this is seriously dangerous. If it were any other request I could allow you to be playful, however, we need to leave now." The playful blonde put on a serious expression that allowed no questions. "But... No! I will at least tell him that I am fine!" Aria turned to run towards the tavern, but before she could run off something struck her hard on the back of the neck. Her vision tunneled and she passed out into Rosalie''s arms. "I''m sorry, Aria, I just can''t let you go. He''s better off forgetting you..." Rosalie quietly whispered before disappearing into the shadows with Aria in tow. 43 Teach Me "So they found a bunch of dead bodies in the duke''s personal prison inside his mansion. One of the bodies looks like the duke''s, but it was mauled so badly that people are not sure if it is or not..." "Grey came back with all that blood on him... Do you think it was him?" "No way, they say that it looks like the men were clawed apart by an animal. Does Grey look like that to you!" "Hmmm... it is too much of a coincidence, though. Maybe he wasn''t the one who injured them, but he was present when they were attacked and that was how he got blood all over him. Grey''s cat was the one who crushed the talisman, so we all thought it had been up to mischief, but then he actually came back looking like that." "I wonder what happened..." "It looks like our Grey was kicked around though after we washed off the blood." "Hmph! I know! We''re his teachers and yet we have never even made a bruise on his body. When I find those people responsible, they''ll know they messed with the wrong kid!" "Quiet! We only need to calmly wait until Greyson awakens. We will have all our questions answered then." Greyson could hear and understand all the conversations around him, however, he couldn''t see the faces that matched the familiar voices. He kept willing himself to open his eyes and mouth to answer their questions, but no matter how hard he tried it was like he could no longer control his body. Finally, his consciousness sank back down into darkness and the voices faded away. ... Grey, Grey, Grey, GREY! Gasping and jumping up from the bed, Greyson realized he could move. Looking around, he locked eyes with Lucius who looked pleasantly surprised. The cat was laying on top of his chest, but Greyson bolted up so suddenly that he was sent falling backwards into Greyson''s lap. "At last! I could feel you waking up more and more due to our connection so I tried calling out to you through our pact. You really can sleep! Making everyone worried about you, there''s been at least 50 doctors who have come in and out looking at you due to your anxious teachers. Only I was able to relax out of everyone since I have the contract with you so I knew you were fine, but I obviously couldn''t go out and tell everyone." "How long was I asleep?" Greyson croaked back. Hearing his voice, his eyes widened a little with shock as even he couldn''t recognize that he was the one speaking. Spotting the water on the night stand, he poured himself a cup and gulped down the water. His dry and scratchy throat felt the heavenly relief of fresh water and his previous grogginess had started to float away. "3 months!" "Ah..." Greyson absentmindedly nodded before suddenly snapping his head up to stare at the cat. "AH?! 3 months?! How is that even possible? Wouldn''t I die if I was sleeping this entire time without eating or drinking?" Greyson thought that Lucius was just being dramatic and exaggerating the time to make Greyson feel guilty for making everyone care for him. Lucius first looked at him in disbelief before rolling his eyes and sighing. "I knew your basic knowledge was weak, but to think its this weak. You should really read more about the basics of the basics. You know how the anti-magic charm could potentially kill magicians?" "Yeah..." Greyson answered in confusion. "Why is that? It''s obviously because mana is like water, food, and blood to magicians. It is their sustenance. So if mana is the main sustenance of magicians, why can''t it be the thing that keeps them alive more than food and water. Although your physical body is still rather weak because humans aren''t born with the special physiques of the other races, magicians still live longer than normal humans. This is because of mana. So although you were sleeping, your body was absorbing mana just as usual only at a slower rate than if you were meditating. Enough to survive, but not enough to advance in level. Magicians can technically go completely without eating and drinking, but you all are in the habit of eating from young and some people just enjoy the taste." Lucius patiently explained to a surprised Greyson. At first, he was surprised, but after thinking about it he realized that whenever he meditated he would skip meals without ever realizing it and even after the meditation was over he didn''t feel hungry. He had stopped eating regularly since he started meditating, but he hadn''t lost any weight and was still growing fine. "Now that I think about it... I guess I already subconsciously knew about it since I never felt the need to eat anymore. People must just go to the cafeteria to get the mana from the magic food not because they''re actually hungry." "Well, of course! Eating the food here is like snacking on magic pills all day long to help boost your mana level." Greyson nodded slowly, before his whole body jolted. His eyes widened with remembrance of three months ago. "Aria? Lu, what happened to Aria? Where is she?" He looked over at Lucius while desperately hoping his memories are incorrect. "Aria..." Lucius''s eyes showed obvious discomfort. "Lucius!" "Grey, they found her body... Inside that basement cell with the rest of the bodies..." "Rest of the bodies?" "You don''t remember? The old man and his servants all died down there. Grey, what happened that night? It looked like they were all attacked by a beast of some sort." "So Aria really... really..." Greyson shut his eyes as a single tear flowed down his face. "I killed people, too. Lu, I killed one of the men during the attack and I think I killed the old man and his servants, too." Greyson''s whole body shook as his blood started to run cold. He could still remember seeing the life drain from that attacker''s eyes. He couldn''t completely recall that night in the jail cell, but he could faintly feel the blood flow through his fingers. Lucius could see the trauma that day had on Greyson, so he tried to snap him out of it. "Grey, it''s not your fault. That man was twisted and caused a lot of other people a lifetime of hurt and devastation. You killing him is service to the rest of the world. Aria... Aria, she..." He stumbled to find the right words. "Lu, I don''t need your comfort. I just have to settle my mind myself. Leave me alone for a little, okay?" Greyson''s words came out barely a whisper, but Lucius just nodded and quietly left the room while looking back at the depressed boy with concern. Secretly watching Greyson, Lucius observed as Greyson did not move an inch from the middle of the night when he woke up until midday the next day. He just blankly stared out into space as silent tears dropped onto the blanket. Lucius could feel his own heart in despair from the link which he shared with Greyson. ... Day turned to night and night to day. Because he hadn''t made any movements and Lucius didn''t notify anyone, nobody on the outside had even realized he woke up. The next morning, Greyson wiped his eyes and slowly got up from the bed. He stumbled and fell for a little while due to the weakness in his legs from laying for so long. His body soon adjusted, though, and he walked toward the wardrobe in his room. Absentmindedly dressing himself in new clothes, he opened the door to his room in the physician patient building. Confused as to the location of this building, he walked up to the map of the city and found where he wanted to go. At this point, the attendants and physicians knew who he was and all were shocked that Greyson had suddenly had gotten up. They all started to pull him back and claiming they need to look at his body to make sure he is alright. It was all useless, though, as Greyson ignored them and continued walking out. Lucius followed behind secretly as he wondered where Greyson suddenly decided to go. His guessing did not last long as Greyson was soon standing in front of the Lightning Department Hall. Understanding dawned in Lucius''s eyes and he felt another painful stab into his heart. Greyson stared up at the hall and paused for a little before walking straight in and up to the top floor. Knocking on the large door, he waited for an answer. "Enter." A strong female voice resounded. Greyson listened and quickly opened the door and walked into the room. Teacher Vivienne sat at a large desk in the middle of the room that was neat and empty. In other words, very soldier. She was working on some paperwork, so she did not immediately look up. Greyson waited patiently for her to finish, so the room remained silent for the next couple of minutes. Sighing, Vivienne finally placed down her pen while rubbing in between her brows in frustration. She looked up wearily, but her eyes soon lit up with surprise and joy. "Greyson! You woke up?!" She gave a rare smile to show her happiness to see her disciple up and about again. Greyson nodded still looking serious. "But, wait, you should still be back lying down. You probably only just woke up. Do your other teachers know? Are you visiting all of us like this? That won''t do. Even if you don''t need the food and drink, you still need to take it easy since you were laying down so long!" Soon after her happy smile formed a serious frown again as she lectured him. Although her words were reprimanding him, Greyson could still feel the warmth and concern inside her words. "No, they don''t know. I came to see Teacher Vivienne first." "Me? Why?" Teacher Vivienne cared for her disciple, but she knew that she and her disciple were both stoic people so they never got particularly close. "I want to learn close combat. I want to learn how to fight properly. Please train me!" Greyson declared. Vivienne was surprised by his words, but she could see the severity and determination in her disciple''s eyes so she answered as such. "Are you sure? It won''t be easy or fun like learning spells. You will probably be bitterly beaten and stuck in repetitive practice for a while. It''s not interesting like magic, but hard and tiring work." "Teacher, I am determined. I no longer wish to stay weak like I am. I continued giving myself leeway due to my age and talent, but after my most recent experiences I could tell I was sorely mistaken and arrogant. I''m still too weak. I became complacent." Pain sliced at his heart constantly. He knew that no matter what anyone comforted him with, he could never forgive himself if he just moved on without changing. Staying weak would only be insult and disrespect towards Aria who had protected him with all her strength even though she was only a year older than him. How could he face the parents who probably still don''t know of their daughter''s fate? Although she never directly mentioned it, he knew Aria had run away from home but not because they were terrible parents but because they tried to control her too much. Control only showed how much concern and love they had for their daughter... Suffocated by his own inadequacies, Greyson decided that he needed to start right away. Next time, he would be protecting people not the other way around! 44 Awakened After Greyson finished speaking with Teacher Vivienne, he immediately walked back to his dorm instead of his patient room. He didn''t feel anything major wrong with his body as he was walking around so he did not want to feel confined inside his bed by going back. Once he opened the door to his room, he saw that Lyle was not in and though that his roommate must still be at the barracks training. A lot of the trainee soldiers would practice until late and Lyle would come back almost dragging his body back from exhaustion. A little disappointed, he walked over to the meditation room. He wanted advance as quickly as possible so he felt impatient to start practicing. Once he sat down and calmed down, Greyson realized something was very wrong with the amount of mana he was absorbing. Looking inside himself, he saw his mana channels were larger and more mana was flowing inside them than before. Thinking of a possibility, Greyson''s eyes lit up and he quickly summoned Zephyr to confirm. The silver dragon quickly filled the entire room with his humongous body. His eyes widening in disbelief, Greyson knew what was going on. He had broken through to the advanced level! But when had it happened? How could he have broken through? Was it in his sleep? However, he should have only been subconsciously absorbing enough mana to keep him alive and not enough to help him break the barrier twice from the intermediate level stage five to the advanced level stage one. Zephyr who used to be only the size of maybe Greyson''s arm after a little growing during the intermediate level was now half way to his full size with larger wings. Greyson felt excited looking at his beast''s more corporeal body and his new size. This all meant that Greyson could fly on top of Zephyr now and travel much faster! He had not been able to fly since that time he came to the Academy City with Teacher Harrison. However, after his initial excitement faded, Greyson finally starting to think harder about his breakthrough. He knew it had to be related to that night''s occurrences. His memory was spotty about that night and all he could remember was that burning sensation that went throughout his body before he blacked out. What had Lucius said again? It looked like a beast had attacked the old man and his servants. Beast... "Wait!..." Just like something clicking together, Greyson went back to the day he broke through to the intermediate level. Didn''t his Teacher Elendil claim that he had another bloodline other than his elf bloodline? He said he must have a dragon bloodline as well because only then would he be able to have a dragon partner beast. Red flashes of memories started running before his eyes when silver scales and claws started growing on his hands before. Clutching his head in pain, Greyson started to faintly remember the scenes from the basement. What was happening to him? Now he knew he was too distracted to get into the right mentality for meditation, so he made up his mind to meet with Teacher Elendil tomorrow and ask him if he knows what is occurring. ... Bursting with impatience, Greyson could barely fall asleep until his body''s exhaustion won over his busy thoughts. He quickly awoke once morning hit and ran out of the dorms to the Water Department Hall first thing. Teacher Elendil was always one to get up exactly on time and early so Greyson was not worried that he would not be at the office yet. Nearly running over, he made his way to the office in record time and burst into the room forgetting to knock. Elendil had gotten to the office early as usual and started organizing paperwork for the day only for his office door to burst open suddenly. Annoyance welled up as mostly everyone knew that he loved his peaceful morning. However, before he started reprimanding, he got a good look of the face of the little body standing before him. A rare change of expression occurred on his ice face as his eyes widened in surprise. A smile was a little too much for him, but his eyes still expressed his relief and happiness. "Greyson, how unusual for you to be in such a hurry. What is the problem? When did you get up?" Recovering his usual calm, Elendil evenly asked his questions. "Ah, I apologize for the lack of manners. I actually woke up two days ago, I just had to deal with some things before I got up to move around. I did have an issue bothering me since I woke up so I wanted to come first thing today to ask you about it." Greyson suddenly realized he had just rudely barged in so he first apologized before answering the other questions. Elendil''s eyebrows slightly furrowed hearing his student''s answer, but since Greyson did not divulge to him first then he was not the type to dig for answers. It seemed like Greyson had dealt with whatever was bothering him by himself anyway, so he just let it go without asking. "What seems to be the issue?" "Teacher, you had said when I broke through to the intermediate level that I should have a partial dragon bloodline, correct? That''s the reason for the strange dragon mark on my face and the fact that Zephyr is a dragon." Greyson began. "Hm? Well, yes, this should be the case." "Then, could I somehow awaken this bloodline and cause changes to occur within me? I slightly remember what happened that night. I think I really was the one who...kill... killed... those men. I remember getting furious with what happened and my vision going red while my blood boiled. Then silver scales and claws grew on my hands. I even broke through to the advanced level stage one. I found this out yesterday when I tried meditating." Greyson couldn''t help but still pause when he mentioned killing those people. As terrible as they were, it still shook him that he hand killed people so violently. "Is this really what occurred? Release your mana for me to see." Elendil looked surprised before making this request of Greyson. Nodding, Greyson released his mana for his teacher to analyze. The atmosphere of the room changed as mana surged out from Greyson. "A seven-year-old advanced level?" Elendil blanked for a moment. Even his usual unflappable self couldn''t quite easily accept the current situation. Struggling to retrieve his composure, he breathed in before continuing to answer his student. "This definitely could occur. Your dragon bloodline must be much more concentrated than we previously believed. One of your grandparents or parents must have been a full dragon. As long as you inherited enough from them, then eventually you could transform more of your body to that dragon state. It''s a good sign for your physical strength because dragons have unimaginably tough bodies so when your in that transformation state your strength and defense will probably increase exponentially. You breaking through to the advanced level would then not be surprising because you are awakening the talent within your bloodline. Dragons are rare and they have difficulties giving birth, but they are blessed with natural talent. Can you consciously transform your hands?" "No, I tried a little last night after I remembered, but I couldn''t transform again." "Hm... Maybe you have not fully awakened then? That state was only released due to your emotional state at the time. I will bring this up to the principal as well. He knows more about bloodlines than I do." "The principal?" "Yes. You would not be able to tell since he is always disguised, but he is slightly similar to you. He is half-elf. His life had not been easy because of this, so he normally does not show anyone his original looks. If I ask him about your situation, he will probably understand more than me." Elendil did not go into specifics, but Greyson could understand the gist of the situation. He knew that he got weird looks because of his hair color, too. Although he was not really the type to mind what others said about him, even he could not help but feel uncomfortable and bothered by their blatant stares and whispered insults. Listening to his teacher talk about the principal''s disguise, Greyson was reminded of another thing he wanted to do. "Teacher, is there a disguise spell you know of. Or maybe the principal knows?" "Disguise? Are there people discriminating you, as well?" Elendil''s expression suddenly sank and surprising anger could be seen in his eyes. Greyson blinked in surprise with his teacher''s aggressive, but responded normally. "Well to say no would be a lie... But that''s not why... I don''t really care about what others say about me, I''m not socially adept enough to be concerned about how other perceive me honestly." He was speaking the truth. It bothered him to about the equivalent of an annoying fly buzzing around him, but not enough to make him want to do something about it. "If not, why would you want to disguise yourself?" Elendil, dense as always, felt very confused by Greyson''s request. "Well... it''s..." Greyson tried grasping for the right words without sounding narcissistic. What was he supposed to say? That he''s too good-looking so he wants to look normal so people stop flocking towards him? "What?" "I''m really not full of myself... but... people keep bothering me because they are attracted to me and I find it tiresome and irritating. I thought if I disguised myself when I walked around that it would stop." Hesitating in the beginning, Greyson finally just explained his dilemma. Elendil paused a little before looking at his student a little closer before slightly nodding his head in understanding. "Ah... I could see it being an issue. I will ask the principal for his disguise spell. It is fairly advanced and would be useful later on as well if you ever found yourself in danger and chased." Coughing a little, Elendil agreed to Greyson''s request. Blushing in embarrassment, Greyson quickly thanked his teacher before bolting out of the room to escape the situation. Earlier when he though of asking he had not thought his teacher would be so curious for his reason. Normally Teacher Elendil was the type to not dig too deeply into Greyson''s actions. 45 Controlling the Bloodline It did not take long for Teacher Elendil to get back to Greyson and he was soon set up to meet the Principal. Anxiously waiting for answers, Greyson could only feel that the days were passing too slowly until he finally woke up and the meeting day had arrived. Quickly getting dressed in his signature white school robe, Greyson half ran to the main tower in the city. Stopping in front of the familiar teleportation circle, Greyson jumped up to the 75th floor and landed on his feet this time. Once he reached the top floor, he saw the familiar face of Elendil waiting in front of the Principal''s office door. "Teacher." Greyson quickly greeted him, but obviously showed his impatience to meet the principle. "Let him enter, Elendil." The principal''s voice echoed out before Elendil had a chance to answer Greyson. Elendil just nodded in greeting before opening the door to the office. The first thing Greyson noticed was the familiar platinum silver hair, but this hair was shoulder length and obviously unkempt. There were also the signature pointed ears, however, they were only slightly pointed which signified a mixed blood elf. Other than these new features, the principal''s face did not undergo any real changes. His eyes were still a warm brown and he still had ever constant lighthearted smile. Feeling a little surprised by the Principal''s plain looks, Greyson did not realize he had been blatantly staring. The principal could read his expression easily and chuckled. "You are probably wondering why I''m not good-looking? It''s a common misunderstanding that elves are a beautiful race, even the men. This is because only elves in important positions will go out of the elven territory on diplomatic missions. The closer you were related to the royal bloodline of the Queen, the more beautiful you are born. Elves are favored by mother nature as a race but the royal bloodline is even more talented thus they tend to all be good-looking. My mother was a normal low-level servant elf while my father was a normal farmer as well, so I was not born with any extraordinary looks. Most elves are normal looking except for their particular hair color and pointed ears." Greyson had indeed heard about the elves'' good looks as a race and that''s why they were popular in the slave market, but now he realized that most people were just ill-informed. However, he was not surprised as elves were a very arrogant and private race that did not welcome outsiders into their cities other than for special occasions. "I''m sorry, I did not mean to stare so rudely." Although the principal reacted calmly, Greyson felt bad so blatantly staring at the man''s face. The Principal was being humble, though, he was rather good-looking compared to the average man and had a kind disposition that invited people in and made them comfortable. "Hahaha. It''s no big deal, I knew you had no bad intentions. I could tell from your clear eyes. But no matter, this is not why you came today, correct? Come over and pass me your right hand. I will look over your bloodline now to be able to get a good idea of what''s going on inside you." Greyson nodded and obediently placed his hand inside the Principal''s palms. He felt a gentle mana enter his body to probe, but he did not prevent it and allowed for the mana to spread around his body. The Principal''s expression suddenly broke from its calm, however, the more he had examined Greyson''s body. "I cannot tell the concrete situation with your bloodline. I really have to wonder who your parents were and who their parents were. I can feel a strong elf and dragon bloodline inside you and also something else which I can''t identify. Both of your bloodlines have awakened a little, the elf bloodline changed your hair color and the dragon bloodline has made your body much tougher. Awakening your bloodline is normally a natural process that cannot be rushed, so the most you could do is to learn how to utilize the dragon bloodline that you have awakened. But I must warn you to be extra careful. Your bloodlines are not simple, they are definitely not from any random elf and dragon, so unless you can find some kind of method to help them mix together your bloodlines will conflict and harm your body instead. You''ve experienced the power your dragon bloodline contains, right? Well imagine two going off at once inside of your body. They will fight and rip apart your body! At this point, it seems like it will be awhile before your bloodline awakens so you don''t have to immediately worry, but keep an eye out for methods of mixing bloodlines together." Greyson had thought back to that night and shuddered when he remembered the sheer power and pain he had felt that night. Taking his pain as experience, he knew that he had to take the Principal''s words very seriously. "How do I learn to control my bloodline?" "Hmmm... for now, I will have you come here every day in the morning to practice with me. After you learn the concepts well enough for yourself then I will have you just practice on your own time." The principal thought for a moment then teach Greyson personally since this would have the best effect. "Oh, that''s right. I heard that the prize for the painting competition is for your painting to be sold in an auction at Idris Kingdom''s top auction house, so by the new year you will be heading over to the Idris Kingdom." Shocked by the Principal''s knowledge of his matters, Greyson just slowly nodded. "Hahaha, don''t be too surprised. You are one of our top students so of course I pay some extra attention. Well anyways, with this trip to the Idris Kingdom, are you thinking of taking the exam that is coming up around the same time? With your current age, level, and talent, you could get in easily." Greyson hesitated to answer at first, but soon hardened his expression before nodding seriously. He paused because by acknowledging this was also acknowledging that he was leaving this academy soon which even Greyson had yet to really come to terms with. Obviously he had made up his mind, but actually saying that he was leaving soon out loud was difficult. The almost 2 1/2 years spent here had allowed him to make many new connections and friends, even teachers that filled the empty space in his heart after he left Sister Lily. Leaving was going to be really tough on him, but he knew that to continue growing more powerful he could not stay. "I can see that you feel hesitant about leaving everyone here, however, do not be. I told you the moment you entered that your goal should be getting into the Idris Kingdom Magic Academy. That is where you will find may more opportunities and peers that could pressure you to assist your growth. None of your teachers and friends here would want to be guilty of blocking your way, so I feel you should continue training here then leave in peace." The Principal''s eyes seemed to see the through everything, but, instead of being put off by his thoughts being exposed, Greyson was grateful for his words of encouragement. "Alright, as long as you understand. Now on to the fun things, right? First, I should give you this disguise technique. It very easy to learn but also extremely useful to use. You can''t use it to change your actual facial structure too much, however, it will change your hair, eye, and skin color." Flipping his hand, the Principal handed over a thin, gray book with no title. Oddly shady looking, Greyson still received the book and started to flip through it. There was a mana chart that drew out different cycles that will change his face and features differently. He just had to control his mana through the provided patterns in the mana channels running through his face for the spell to work. It was more memorization than actual comprehension which was usually the case with non-attribute magic. Curious to try, Greyson started leading his mana following one of the patterns and soon his face changed little by little. At the end he had short brown hair and brown eyes with some freckles and wheat colored skin. Although his facial structure was the same, the change in his features made his face unnoticeable in a crowd. Nodding after looking at his reflection, Greyson felt pleased with the spell''s effects. "Well don''t you catch on quickly. Speaking from experience, life is just so much easier when you look like any average person. I thought it would at least take you a day, but, seeing as you understand the spell already, I will teach you the beginning methods of accessing your bloodline." The Principal''s carefree manner suddenly became serious. Greyson followed suit and allowed his disguise to disperse as he sat up to listen carefully to the Principal''s following words. "It''s really not that hard actually. I''m just going to have to keep beating you until your bloodline activates to protect you." He finished. Greyson''s eye began to twitch as he started to wonder if he had misheard since the Principal kept a straight face the entire time. "So you''ll beat me up?" "Precisely." "..." Greyson mind felt like it just collapsed for a second and he was unsure on how to answer. All his expectations ended with him being beaten up. It was disappointing and distressing all at the same time, but he couldn''t help but agree to the method since he did not have any other ideas. 46 Approaching the New Year *Clack* *Clack* *Clack* All throughout an open field the crack of wood swords colliding rang out. In the middle of the field stood a raven-haired woman and young silver-haired boy were sparring. Well, sparring was not the correct word to describe the one-sided beating that the boy was receiving. However, his strokes were strong and his basic form was correct. Finally, the woman struck out and the boy was sent flying back onto the ground. "I yield!" The boy shouted while panting. "Teacher Vivienne don''t you think you''re being too harsh? Grey has only been learning basic sword strikes these past six months, but every time you guys spar you go all out." A cute voice spoke out complaining. A small body came down from the air, her light pink hair flowing behind her. "Hmph, Leilena, you''re just too soft. The only reason he has made such rapid improvement is because I continue pushing to his limits. Basic sword forms are all he needs! Everyone who uses those fancy sword moves are just looking for flashiness instead of real efficiency. In the end, sword-fighting is made up of slashes, stabs, and blocks. The biggest requirement is experience, there is no one who can just be good at the sword. Some have special talent for weapons, but cannot become a true master until they have experienced thousands of battles and their weapon is a part of their body." "Hmmmm... I don''t know about that, but I do know that you are bullying our precious disciple." Leilena just continued teasing Vivienne while approaching Greyson who was still panting on the ground. "Teacher... Leilena, I appreciate, ha, the concern... But I like... the challenge." Greyson tried speaking through his gasps for breath. Soon he finally controlled his breathing and activated his light magic and the exhaustion in his body completely vanished. "Exactly, Greyson. This is the correct attitude for a success!" Vivienne nodded feeling pleased with his answer and the fact that he took her side instead of Leilena''s. "Boo... Grey Grey, I''m trying to defend you but you just left me hanging like this." Leilena pouted. Hearing her complaints, Greyson just smiled not knowing what to say. "Enough, Leilena, what are you here for anyways." Vivienne saw that Greyson did not know how to respond, so she quickly changed the topic for him. "I''m here to take Grey to the Principal. He has something to discuss now that the auction and exam in the Idris Kingdom are approaching." Hearing the word Principal caused Greyson to instinctively flinch. His body couldn''t help but respond to the trauma of his beatings from before. The spars with Teacher Vivienne were exhausting, but he was not necessarily in any extreme pain. However, the Principal would slam Greyson with all sorts of spells that broke bones or burnt his skin. He was beaten pretty much until his body''s desperate survival instincts kicked in. After around 3 months, Greyson could almost control his bloodline at will so the Principal stopped beating him half to death around then as well. 3 months later, Greyson could now summon the bloodline whenever. The scales only came out on his hands so the abnormal strength only applied to his fists as well at this point. His whole body''s strength was improved, but his fists had at least five times the strength when he activated his bloodline. Staying in this dragon-mode took a lot of concentration so Greyson could only stay in it for around 30 minutes or so before the strength fades. Vivienne nodded to Leilena and let her carry Greyson away. Flying quickly through the air, in just around a minute they had already arrived in front of the central tower. Soon he was standing in front of he Principal''s desk, looking at the man who seemed like a smiling devil. He looked harmless and kind, but this exterior only hid his real sadistic personality. "Greyson, so good to see after so long! I brought you here today to ask you what your plans were for your trip to the Idris Kingdom. Will you be leaving soon? There is only around 2 months of time left." "I will be leaving at the beginning of next month." "Next month? Will you have enough time?" "Yes, I am sure I will. I have tested out how fast I can travel using Zephyr so noting the distance of the two kingdoms it should only take me comfortably around a week to travel to the Idris Kingdom. I have pushed back travelling one month because I want to take this month to make myself another tier two weapon." "Tier two? Don''t you have your flute already?" "That a low level tier two magic tool since it was my first try. I have been building experience this half a year, so now I want to create a peak tier two magic sword to help me fight. I will probably create another flute once I learn how to create tier three magic tools." "Ohhhh, Grey Grey, you have to make a magic tool for me in the future once you become a tier four blacksmith okay~." Leilena spoke out. Greyson just nodded while fighting the urge to sigh. He never knew how to handle this childish teacher of his. "Okay, well I''m glad to see you have a plan. What kind of sword are you looking to make? I''m a little curious as to what kind of people tier two sword you are looking to make for yourself." "Well I am going to put all my element symbols onto the sword so that it corresponds specifically to me and I could maybe perform combination attacks with multiple elements so the power of my attacks and defense would increase substantially." "All seven? Well I guess going to the blacksmith occupation really was a good idea on your part. It is very difficult to make magic tools with multiple elements let alone seven. It''s also very costly. Usually not because the materials are too rare, but the mental strain it puts on normal blacksmiths so they are reluctant to take those sort of weapon requests unless a lot of money is involved." "Yes, I also have started to realize my decision in the beginning was wise." As the principal said, multiple element magic tools take much more effort and fine tuning to the person they will be used by, so it''s easy to reject requests for tools like them or demand exorbitant fees. Now that he was making his own tools, Greyson could understand their mentality. These specific kinds of tools took a longer than normal process to make and drained mental energy much more. He was completely exhausted after finished the entire process starting with making the blueprint, studying the symbols to perfection, and then to hammering out the actual tool. If the person was not special to him, Greyson would not want to waste so much energy on a stranger, either. Quickly, the conversation ended and Greyson headed back to the dorms to meditate and reflect on his earlier spar with Teacher Vivienne. His sword skills were still beginner level, but he was proficient enough that he could use the sword to attack and fight. Thinking of the sword made him inadvertently think of Aria again. A dull ache continued to pain his heart anytime her memories were brought up as his guilt was still an open wound. Greyson also had not mentioned to the Principal that before he headed to the Idris Kingdom, he was going to fly back to the church to see Sister Lily. Idris Kingdom was very far away and he felt that this would be his best chance to see her before he goes off for a long time again. As much as he tried to act strong as if he was over all the trauma, he felt that he needed to see Lily again and feel her comfort. In the end, she was the mother that he wanted to run and cry to about all his struggles. After he finished forging his next weapon, he would bring his savings with him to see the church and Lily while also giving them the money to help renovate the church and fill in the holes in the wall. Five years somewhere might not seem that long in the grand scheme of things, however, Greyson knew that he was lucky to have such a loving foster parent and family. Now he was powerful and had a lot of money to spare so he wanted to finally be able to give back and allow his family to live luxuriously and happily. He smiled happily thinking of finally seeing everyone again. He wondered how much the other kids had changed... 47 Genesis Greyson had spoken with Old Man Thraec extensively about the sword he was about to create. There were a lot of requirements and difficulties. First, he needed a metal that was accepting off all his elements and could transform with his mana. This metal also had to be able to handle enough mana without breaking apart, but light enough so he could swing it around without much trouble. His dragon bloodline gave him more strength then normal kids his age but that doesn''t change the fact that he was still a kid with underdeveloped muscles. The length could not be too long that it was disproportionate to his body, but also not too short that it would become useless once he grew up. Kids his age grew rapidly, but he wanted this sword to be a longtime partner of his. Just these requirements gave him a headache, let alone the fact that he would be engraving seven symbols in a row onto this sword which would take massive amount of concentration and mental energy. It took him this half a year to collect the right materials for the swords and he continued pushing himself to practice engraving the symbols every single day. All of his occupations have improved, nothing too significant but it was steady. He was obviously no master yet, not even close, but he could start doing some things on his own. With painting, he could come up with his own ideas of the scenery and type of painting. With the flute, Carlisle allowed him to experiment with creating his own songs. This composition responsibility led him to make songs to play on Mesmer later using Siren''s Voice. He wrote angry songs, painful songs, happy songs, healing songs, anything that he could think of so that he would have an arsenal ready for different fights. Seeing his strength grow was really gratifying for him because his whole goal during this time of preparation was to expedite his growth even more than before. After his dedicate meditating and absorbing of mana, he had reached the advanced level stage 2. The improvement sounds small, however, the accumulation of mana to breakthrough to the next stage gets harder and harder with every level. Greyson was expecting to take some years to break through the advanced level, as there was a deep difference between magisters and pre-magister levels. Depending on talent, at least half of the magician population would never be able to breakthrough to the magister level unless they are aided by outside factors. His own talent sufficient, Greyson would definitely be able to breakthrough, however, he was not planning on sitting around and meditating to wait for the moment to occur. The older he grows, the more his potential wears out. The magister level was definitely not the end point he had in mind. He spent two weeks preparing his metal for the final crafting of the sword. After extensive research with his teacher''s help, he had a mix of seven different metals that would blend to form his ideal metal to create the sword. The beginning of the third week, Greyson decided it was time to create his sword. He went to bed early the day before and refreshed his mind while preparing himself for the long ordeal. Challenging and daunting as engraving seven symbols seemed, Greyson had a feeling he would be able to accomplish it in one go. Unfounded confidence, but it helped him calm down and concentrate. Old Man Thraec was also in the room with him to assist with the little things as the assistant this time. Normally Greyson would be assisting his teacher so he felt awkward making his teacher do this for him, however, Thraec had insisted on helping because he also wanted to witness the creation of such an absurd tier two magic weapon. Everything went smoothly and soon he was hammering out the sword shape and sharp tip. He was surprisingly energetic even after the long hammering session and soon he smoothly transitioned into engraving the symbols. As of right now, his weapon only looked like a normal sword that anyone could pick up and use, but he knew that the symbols were what made the weapon magic. Visualizing the patterns within his mind, Greyson concentrated the mana at his finger and began carving the individual symbols. Between his regular six elements, he connected them through an equilateral hexagon shape to cause balance between each one while the lightning symbol was drawn in the middle as it was a rare element that was a mix of other elements. The hexagon symbols went rather smoothly, however, once he was finish the first six, a strong fatigue washed over him. Taking one last deep breath, Greyson did not take his eyes away from the sword at all as he pushed his limits to carve in that last symbol to complete his sword. Connecting the last line of the lightning symbol finally, sweat pouring from his forehead, Greyson passed out from overexerting himself. Thraec quickly moved to catch his disciple while also observing the changes in the sword. A loud hum rang as the sword brightly lit up the room with seven colors and floated in the air. The symbols seemed to come alive as they transformed into black marking tracing around the blade and hilt. Slowly, the colors faded as did the noise and the sword lowered itself back onto the table. Gently placing Greyson down, Thraec approached cautiously to look at the final product. The beauty of the sword really took his breath away. Slim single-edged black blade that shined like obsidian. The engraved symbols had transformed into silver dragons carved into the blade and the hilt. On first look it look like those treasure swords that nobles bought just to hang instead of a weapon used to create damage, however, Thraec''s eyes could see the dangerous aura that manifested around the sword. Looking at the creation of his student, Thraec''s eyes flashed with decision and he left the room quickly. ... Greyson slowly opened his eyes, but the minute he did that the room around him spun and a terrible headache pounded in his head. These were all signs of overdrawing his mental energy which he had done before so he somewhat expected this, but he had never experienced this level of pain before. Holding his head in his hands, Greyson just sat on the ground for a little trying to orient himself. Soon the feeling faded and he could stand to look around. He was still inside the workshop on the ground, however, his teacher was no where to be seen. At first he was confused as to why, but then he thought of his sword and those thoughts were quickly pushed to the back of his mind. On the metal table lay a beautiful black and silver engraved sword that had a dangerous gleam. One side of the blade was dull while the other was sharp which was odd to Greyson because double-edged swords were the norm. Usually the final transformation of the weapon reflected the owner''s thoughts, but Greyson was not sure what this change is supposed to represent. Feeling an automatic attraction to the sword, Greyson slowly approached and placed his hand around the hilt of the sword. The minute he touched it, the sword cried out almost in happiness scaring Greyson. However, he could feel a distinct connection between him and this sword that was different than the connection between him and Mesmer. The connection reminded him of his and Lucius''s connection. Easily lifting the blade, Greyson thought of some of the new sword-matching spells that he learned. His eyes flickered to a ruby red and, to his surprise, his sword followed along when the black blade turned a deep red while catching fire. Testing a theory, his eyes flickered to blue and his sword yet again followed by turning a beautiful blue with an icy temperature radiating from it. His eyes stayed the blue but he stopped having his mana flow through the sword which caused the blade to revert back to its black state. It changed colors too! Excitement coursed through him as he looked at his finished product. It was exactly as he imagined. The blade was too long for his body, but it was thin and light so the weight was just right. The blade side was extremely sharp and could cut through the tough metal inside the workshop like butter. Even the hilt fit right into his hand like it was originally there to begin with. Pleased with himself, Greyson continued playing around with his sword until he heard the workshop door slam open. "Oh, you''re awake?" Thraec came walking in. "Master, you are too much. You just left me alone lying on the cold workshop floor. Couldn''t you have at least moved me to the sofa?" Greyson playfully complained. "Hmph, as if those kinds of conditions would really faze you. I had more pressing matters so obviously I went out instead of babysitting you." "More pressing?" "These." He said as he handed Greyson an old black book. Curious to the contents, Greyson quickly opened the book only to realize that it was tier three engravings! It even included his teacher''s reflections on the creation process. "Teacher, but I thought?..." "That I said you weren''t ready? Because then you really weren''t." "What? What has changed?" "Haven''t you noticed? That sword is different from your other creations, isn''t it?" "Yeah... I don''t know how to explain it. There is just a stronger connection." "That''s because it is spiritual. You have brought it to life. That is the first step into tier three magic tools. Well, I guess bringing it to life is an exaggeration. It doesn''t really have any thoughts, but it can grow with you as long as you continue growing as a blacksmith and refine it again. Nobody else can use this weapon, either. It will only belong to whoever you intended to refine it for. Thus, in the future, when you make other weapons, you should understand that tier three and above must have a specific person in mind or it will not succeed. If you want to make any random weapon that others can use, then you can only create tier one or tier two. At some point, maybe you could really create a weapon with a soul. However, that''s a long way away from this initial step that you have just taken. Who know when or if you could reach that point." "Spirit..." Greyson looked at his sword in amazement and realized what the earlier connection that he felt was. The more he learned of the world, the more he wished to continue becoming stronger and moving forward. There were so many amazing things that magicians and magic stemming occupations could do. Was it because they drew from the world''s energy that even amazing things like giving something a soul could be done? "Have you thought of a name?" Thraec suddenly asked. Greyson blanked a little when realizing that he had not given it any thought after all the preparation had taken his attention away. "No, I haven''t," he replied shaking his head. "How about Genesis? It feels like this sword is the beginning of your real journey as a blacksmith and it is the last thing you''ll probably be making with me before you leave for your new beginning." Hearing the name, Greyson automatically loved it, but, at the same time, he was saddened by the following words. Although it had only been around 3 years, all of his teachers were extremely important people in his life. Thinking of leaving all of them and joining a new kingdom, city, and academy really made him feel lonely just as he had felt leaving Sister Lily. "I really like the name. Genesis. That will be its name from now on." He smiled and lifted the sword while running his hand down the blade. "Don''t be too sad, Greyson. Your teachers, including me, wish to see you continue moving further and further along. You have already reached my level, so I have nothing more to teach you, but you could be a different version of pride for me if you become a much greater blacksmith than me. The pride of knowing that you are my student and that you started with me and continued on to become an amazing person that others can only look up to!" Thraec could obviously see the sadness and attachment his disciple was feeling before leaving, but he did not want to be the thing holding Greyson back from achieving all that he is capable of doing. 48 Home Again Greyson knew that time was of the essence with his travels to the Idris Kingdom since he needed to visit the church again for a couple days. After he finished Genesis, he had started preparing for all the goodbyes. Although this goodbye was not going to be forever or permanent, Greyson knew that it would be awhile before he could see them again unless they had some reason to go to the Idris Kingdom. Slowly but surely, the day of his departure arrived. On this day, Greyson grabbed his packed bag and threw it over his shoulder and placed his parting gift to Lyle outside his roommate''s door. He had not let his friend know that he was leaving today because out of everyone he felt saying goodbye to Lyle was the hardest. Lyle was his first real same-age friend and he was really sad to see that his rapid growth had left behind this friend. Similar to Claude, Greyson was starting to realize that these friends of his were not on the same path as him as their potential and talent differed too greatly. A feeling of desolation and loneliness crept its way into his heart, but it only renewed his hopes to go to the Idris Kingdom, because the higher and more powerful he climbed he knew he would be able to meet friends who could follow him along all of his journey. Thinking about his next destination and new rivals got him excited as he firmly stepped out of the dorm. Greyson''s next stop was Castiel''s painting workshop. Without walking in, he placed a canvas pulled out of his spatial bag on the doorstep before swiftly flying off. He did not notice that right after he walked away, his quiet teacher came out and picked up the canvas. Castiel knew that his disciple was leaving today and had a feeling he would just leave like this. That child always looked cold, but on the inside he had a warm and caring heart which enabled him to create such wonderful paintings. Looking down, Castiel finally focused on the scene painted on the canvas. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw a painting of himself. It was a common everyday scene of Castiel sitting in the open room painting. The tranquil and warm atmosphere was all caught within the scene and the onlooker could tell the appreciation held for the painter in the picture. If Greyson had stayed behind, he would be shocked to see his always stoic teacher break into a warm and happy smile. Castiel then proceeded to hang the painting in the most obvious space in the workshop so he could look at it every now and then. Greyson spent all day running around to his different teachers leaving them similar gifts. A song for Carlyle, a homemade chair for Old Man Thraec who always complained of the metal chairs in the workshop being too uncomfortable for his old back, and either a painting or useful magic tool for the Head Teachers. He had been planning this for a while so he had time to finish everything and put a lot of thought into each gift. Summoning Zephyr and hopping onto his dragon''s back, Greyson took one last look at Academy City while the memories of the past three years flashed past his eyes. Three years could be seen as a short time by some, but for the young Greyson it was more than a third of his life spent here. From an ignorant village boy knowing nothing, he took his first steps into the world of magicians and his occupations here. Everything had started here. Finally, he turned away and began to fly off while saying silent goodbyes to all his friends and teachers. ... "Grey Grey is so bad! How could he just leave without saying anything..." Leilena cried. "Hmph, what''s the point of soppy goodbyes. It''s better this way!" The gruff voice of Keenan remarked, but if one looked closely they could see the sadness and attachment in his eyes. "Wow, our little disciple has really grown up... How sad... Comfort me, Vivienne!" Edwin feigned sadness before shamelessly looking towards Vivienne. "Begone! You vile man! Stop pretending you are not sad when I know you''re probably the saddest of us all. You just like to hide behind your disgusting exterior." Vivienne coldly looked at the man. She has know the twins for the longest, so she knew that although Edwin acted playful that he was the one with softest heart out of all of them. "This is not goodbye forever. We should be proud that our disciple is moving on to greater things." Elendil quipped. His usual frozen exterior had cracked a little and one could see the hint of sadness mixed with pride in his expression. All the rest of the teachers then grew silent and prayed that things would go well. ... "Hmph! Who wants your terrible music! I could write one a thousand times better... I... I..." One could hear the indignant shouts sounding from inside Carlyle''s room which at some point switched to him blubbering and crying. All the people around couldn''t help but roll their eyes at this musician''s peculiar way of grieving, but they, too, would miss the cute little flute player. ... "Ugh, I''m not so old that I need this chair. I still have a lot of youth left, just look at how spry I am. But... Hmmm... It is pretty comfortable... Well, I guess you have to look at who taught the boy. Of course he would be able to create such a comfortable chair. I guess I''ll forgive him for just leaving me behind. Who''s going to help this old bag of bones with all the hard labor now, though, how inconvenient..." A long monologue could be heard from inside Thraec''s workshop as he tested out his disciple''s going away present. One of the assistant''s bringing the metal that the blacksmith asked for felt his lip twitching. Are you old or are you young?! What was with this old man? ... Quickly flying through the air, it took Greyson around two days to finally see traces of Willow town again. He could only summon Zephyr out for around two hours of flying before his mana ran out, but luckily dragons were extremely fast flyers so even with the breaks in between it still only took him a couple days. Knowing how flashy and disconcerting arriving on a dragon would be, Greyson landed inside the woods a little ways away from the church and walked the rest of the way. When he was walking through an opening in the woods, he suddenly felt it looked familiar. Eyes lighting up, he glanced over at the sleeping Lucius on his shoulder and smiled. "Hey, Lu, do you remember us first meeting here?" "How could I forget? I approached curiously wondering what you were flailing and screaming about in the middle of the woods." Lucius''s eyes flickered open as he giggled thinking back to that initial scene. "That''s just because I never learned anything about magic at that point! Obviously it''s not like that anymore..." Greyson fiercely blushed thinking back to his ridiculous antics while trying to first learn how to control magic. "Oh, yes~ yes~ you are no the all amazing genius magician Greyson. Who would else but me would know your dark past?" Lucius mocked with sarcasm and laughter literally dripping from his voice. "Whatever... Let''s just quickly go back." Rolling his eyes, Greyson stopped listening to Lucius and continued running through the woods. In little to no time at all, Greyson was approaching the ever familiar church. Grinning widely, he started pushing his magic even more as he quickly approached his home. However, the closer he got, the more he could hear sounds of argument. His happy smile soon changed to a frown that became even deeper when the church''s front scene became completely visible to him. He saw a group of men grabbing onto Sister Lily while a couple of the other children in the church were being held by their friends looking beat up. One of the men gave a hard slap to Lily''s face after something she said that Greyson could not completely catch. Seeing Lily being hit, Greyson was furious and he burst in action. His eyes switched to a dark black as the shadows of the trees rapidly moved to the three men before binding them all into place. Sister Lily and the children were all shocked by the change in events before turning to look at the approaching small figure. At first, they could only feel confusion at who the approaching young boy was until Sister Lily''s eyes quickly flashed with recognition. "Grey!" She yelled happily. The rest of the children hearing the name looked shocked as they glanced again at the boy. Grey? As in Greyson? The one who had disappeared for three years. Greyson smiled when he saw that Sister Lily had still recognized him so quickly. After he had awakened a part of his elf bloodline, his hair had changed to a platinum silver and his eyes were not the same color at the moment. Plus his body had changed after three years of growth, so he was worried that nobody would recognize him at first. Hearing her shout out after only a moment''s hesitation warmed his heart as he really felt that he had returned home. However, before he could really happily return, he needed to take care of the trash that had abused his family while he was gone. His black eyes turned and glared at the men. The men saw his glare and began to shiver in fear. They obviously knew that it was just a young boy in front of them, but they could not help but feel fear deep within their hearts. His eyes quickly switched to a bright green. Strong winds followed that sent the group of men flying back. A loud crunch sounded that made all the listeners flinch even Greyson, but he stayed firm in his stance. One of the men cried out in pain as the others scrambled to pick him up and run off after taking one last fearful glance at the young silver-haired boy. Greyson nodded after seeing that the men were gone before turning around and letting loose a happy grin in Sister Lily''s direction. "I''m home!" He declared. "Mm... Welcome home, Greyson!" Sister Lily lovingly nodded while opening her arms wide. The tears that Greyson has held back for so long suddenly felt as if they were springing forward at once. Drops slowly dripped down his face and he buried his head into Sister Lily''s warm embrace. It was as if all his struggles and pressures just disappeared in that moment. No matter if it was real or not, he felt safe and relaxed. 49 Get Lost! Blushing with embarrassment, he finally separated from Sister Lily. He had made such an impressive entrance when he stopped those men, but he reverted back to a crybaby the minute he hugged Sister Lily. Probably realizing his feelings, Sister Lily still smiled and ruffled his hair. "It''s nice to see that you are still the same old Grey. We really missed having you around." Greyson smiled hearing her words before looking towards the other children who were still standing around wide-eyed trying to compute the situation. Chuckling at the shock on their faces, he approached the injured children. The first person he ended up walking towards happened to be Wolf, but Greyson had no real ill-feelings towards the other boy. His eyes switched to a beautiful gold as a bright light shown around him. A bright light enveloped around Wolf as all his surface injuries healed in the blink of an eye. Greyson moved along healing all of the other children who were hurt by using Heal. No one was seriously in danger of losing their life so he did not feel the need to go overboard and use Angel''s Touch. Looking at the light shining on the them, all the injured kids were scared at first looking into the unfamiliar boy''s golden eyes, however they felt an extremely comfortable warmth flow through them that made them drop all defenses. The light element was the most gentle of the seven he possessed and those associated with the element tended to be gentler. Even Greyson felt a soft part of his heart hurt for the children as he healed them and saw there slightly destitute conditions. Maybe it was the element effecting him, or maybe he had really just let all of that childhood bullying go because he knew the kids really wanted to include him but he was the one who rejected them. In these years, it seemed as if the church had really taken a hit in funds. Glancing around, he could see the rags the other kids were wearing that weren''t faring much better than the torn clothes of the now healed children. Taking a good look at Sister Lily, he could tell her habit had not been replaced but instead mended multiple times, even her hands were rougher. The sadness and regret that waved over him for leaving, quickly turned to an anger he didn''t know he possessed. "Sister... What''s happened during this time?" Although he hesitated, Greyson was determined to help. He had the power and the financial savings to at least keep this dying church above ground. He couldn''t help everyone, but it was enough to help his family. Sister Lily bit her lips as if in conflict. She looked at the boy in front of her who had miraculously appeared with his magic power grown. He put up a mature front, but she still could feel her damp dress from his tears. Making a decision, she instead smiled. "Grey, it''s nothing important. We are a church. Sometimes, funds and donations are not as strong as other years as we live off of the generosity of others. When the town suffers, we suffer the most because those people are keeping their money close to survive while cutting off our funds. Willow Town is just going through a rough spot." Greyson wrinkled his brows not entirely believing her words. Part of it was probably true, but then... "Who were those group of men? Why were they harassing the other kids and you?" Looking intently into her eyes for lies, Greyson continued to interrogate. "Oh, Grey, they were just angry store-owners. The kids are hungry... They steal sometimes... I severely punish them, but at the same time I feel it is due to my inadequacy. Ever since Priest Williams passed away, bless his soul, the church had not been paying attention to this branch all the way in the middle of nowhere." Greyson nodded slowly starting to buy into her story. The Priest Williams she spoke about was the founder of this church. Apparently, he was fairly famous and a big deal in the major church city, Seraph. He was the unassuming son of some amazing Cardinal in the church system, but decided he was doing God''s work better in the impoverished outskirts of society. Greyson rather admired the man and even if he had passed away before Greyson had even turned 1. All the stories around town about him and even the way he died was a deep proclamation of his character. He had passed away after contracting a disease while praying over a sick man from a random plague occurrence. No one was willing to get close to him while the man was begging for closure before death except the Priest. Some people whispered that Priest Williams was actually banished because he had no light magic and was a disgrace to his family. Who know? After passing away, however, no one was making small, barely secret donations to support his son''s dream. Just a horde of holy city soldiers to carry the body away in a majestic coffin. The church was slowly bleeding away money even while he was here. He just did not realize it would become so serious. "Well, no matter, Sister Lily. I have the funds now to keep this church running until at least I die." Under a normal month, the church spends maybe around 1-2 silvers if not less when converted from the copper coins used here. Greyson even has 10 gold coins. One gold coin was the equivalent to 10,000 copper coins. 100 copper coins for every 1 silver coin and 100 silver coins for every 1 gold coin. As long as the church lives frugally, 1/10 of his fortune could keep them running 100 years. Before coming to the church, he had gone to Academy City''s bank and traded his one gold coin for 9,800 copper coins as, unfortunately, the banks do not go for a one-hundred percent exchange. However, he could not avoid it as what would throwing a gold coin to Sister Lily do? Nothing but get the church attacked and robbed. Plus, she couldn''t just buy all her needs in bulk right at this moment and no one in Willow Town probably had change even for a silver coin let alone a gold one. Reaching into his spatial bag, Greyson quickly pulled out his prepared coin box which was quite hefty as it held an even 10,000 copper coins. The 2,000 came from his own personal coins that were just laying around. He also placed a small bag with 10 silver coins enclosed inside the box just as an emergency fund. Watching as Greyson pulled his neat trick of pulling a humongous box from a small knapsack left the kids with jaws dropping to the floor. "Sister Lily use this money! I want to help you now and all the other kids who could benefit from this church as orphans." Greyson felt proud thinking of the amount he was giving and the help he could now provide. So I guess this is the upside of having power? Sister Lily stood shocked for awhile before finally opening the box to the enormous amount of copper coins. Peaking into the small bag, she also saw the 10 silver coin emergency fund. Truly shocked. Lily could not express her surprise at the amount. Although she knew magician''s made more money, but Greyson was still 8. How could he have this money? Was this all he had saved up working dangerous jobs? "Greyson..." She spoke seriously while calling his full name. "I can''t accept this money. I do not even know how you worked to get this much or even if you will have any left for yourself after this. This is the money you worked hard to earn, I am not just going to take it like I have some kind of entitlement. I did NOT raise you hoping for you to give me monetary reward." "No, no, no. Sister Lily, this is not me feeling like I owe you. I wholeheartedly want this church to continue being to other kids what it was for me. A home. I also think you are underestimating my capabilities too much. Don''t look down on me just because I am young. I have talent. I made a lot of money selling magic beast cores, playing at concerts, and painting. I even got 10 gold recently from a painting competition as an award for first place!" Greyson felt slightly hurt hearing her doubts about where the money came from and his reasons for giving it. Some bragging was in order apparently. He wasn''t one to really put himself on a pedestal, but apparently Sister Lily needed to know just how capable and awesome he had become. "Really?" She looked skeptical still not completely believing him. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he suddenly smirked when an evil idea formed. She did not want to believe in his power? Well, what''s a better show of power than a dragon? Transferring mana to his core, Zephyr was rudely awakened and sent out which cause him to roar in defiance. The whole crowd jumped and backed away in fright seeing the majestic silver dragon just pop out of nowhere. But they soon realized this amazing being was playfully circling around the silver haired golden-eyed boy in front of them. "Gr, Grey. This..." "This is my partner beast, Zephyr. A dragon." A smug look grew on his face after seeing everyone''s shock. It felt good to be self-absorbed every now and then. "You did not seem to believe my level of power, so I just wished to show you that this amount of money really is not much to me right now, but I know that it could mean the world for this church. Please. Accept it?" He reverted back to his pitiful teary-eyed expression without a hint of shame. Sister Lily saw that ridiculous face which Greyson assumed he had always tricked her with and couldn''t help but burst into a giggle. A giggle which then soon transformed into loud and happy laughter. He might seem majestic, but he was still the bratty and awkward 5-year-old kid who did not know how to interact with other humans. "Alright, alright. I''ll accept it since you are such a rich and great person now." She smiled warmly while petting his head affectionately. "Let''s get inside already! What''s the point of standing around outside? I''ll cook up all your favorite dishes to welcome you back! He spent the rest of the night showing off magic to the younger kids while they "wowed" in fascination and spilling all the events of the past years with Sister Lily. Hearing of the most recent dangerous situation with deaths and murder, she ended up crying in distress and dragged me into the sanctuary to just pray for me and those that have passed. Even a blessing for Aria... Although he could tell that she was upset, he knew it was not at him, but the fact that he had suffered such circumstances. Although he didn''t quite picture an angry Sister Lily praying in the church as what he needed, watching her sincere care for him just felt like it grounded him. The times after those events, he had improved but mentally it was like floating in one place. Suddenly, he was back within his body like closure could maybe occur. He slept like a baby for the first time in months and it was just so peaceful. ... Early the next morning, he awoke to loud banging and harsh shouting. When he heard Sister Lily cry out, was when the noises finally registered in his brain and he burst out of bed. Rushing to the front of the church, he saw a familiar gang of faces plus some new ones. Even one face of a man he truly did not expect. It was the drunk man who he had hit away from Sister Lily the first day he used magic. An awful sense of dread filled him, as Sister Lily''s explanation from the other day was getting less and less convincing. "Bitch! You know how long I was in bed thanks to that little orphan freak?! My brother told you to hand him over multiple times now and he''s the City Lord of Keres City. You think this little Willow Town can protect you. We''ll keep tightening the noose around your neck until the church is broke and all these children become homeless. Why don''t you think for the good of everyone and just hand the boy over?" "I don''t know who you are talking about! There is no such boy here!" "Hmph stinky old man, you only know how to threaten weak women and children! The guy you are looking for is gone and off to great things. He attacked you with magic, yanno? That means he is desired by much more powerful people than your brother. You should just give it up!" To his immense surprise, it was Wolf who spoke up. Greyson suddenly felt immensely guilty for always ignoring the boy. "Well doesn''t this dirty little trash have a lot to say? What do you hillbillies know? Magic? My brother is a novice level stage five magician, okay? And he reached that at 40 years old. He is a prodigy and Keres City has well-known connections in the Edysa Kingdom." The man shamelessly bragged. Hearing his words, Greyson almost choked. 40 years old and a novice level stage five magician? A prodigy? He really did not know how to react. Laugh at the man''s obvious irony in calling other ignorant when he was obviously just as ignorant, or get angry at his obvious insulting words. Sighing, he shook his head and stepped out. The minute he moved to the front, the man focused over at him. He kept squinting at him in deep thought before coming to the sudden realization. "Little bastard! It''s you!" Greyson was actually sincerely shocked the dimwit recognized him. One could call him slow at everything except recognizing faces. "Finally showed yourself, huh? I took a year and a half to travel back home, heal in bed, then come back for revenge. My brother wouldn''t let me actively take out a church because it would look bad, but I could pressure them into dying slowly till they finally threw you out." "Hey, half-wit trash. Will you get lost now or will I have to force you to get out?" Greyson came out strong, after hearing the trouble this man has caused the couple years he was absent. "You...What did you say to me?" The man''s eyes blazed. While Sister Lily grabbed Greyson''s sleeve and indicated him to stop. Furrowing his brows, he was truly speechless. Did she think he was so weak? He hasn''t been novice stage five level in forever, let alone his weakling of a brother. "You know what? I won''t even use magic. I''m going to use my sword. You''re not worth magic, and I feel the need to let some people lay their worries to rest about my current strength." Disdain filling his face, Greyson spoke casually like this match was a walk in the park. "Unwanted orphan, let me just put the world out of its misery and rid it of one obvious regret-filled mistake." The man''s eyes glinted dangerously. As much as he wished they didn''t, the words filled with knives, stabbed deeply into Greyson''s insecurities. He knew he buried them deep within his heart, but they existed and this vile man seemed to know how to cut into them. His eyes turned a fiery red for a second with even flames responding to his anger, but he calmed himself down and coldly drew his sword. Vivienne''s training allowed him to at least beat trash like this in his sleep. 50 Keres Citys Lord After drawing Genesis, Greyson took a stable stance and signaled for the man to approach. Seeing Greyson''s obvious disdain for him, the man was incensed and quickly approached with his own sword. "Fighting with swords? You''ll die without even realizing, kid." Greyson ignored his words and quickly attacked using the dull side of his blade. The man was a noble and had at least lazily trained with the sword for all of his childhood. Although he was not even close to a master swordsman, he could still hold his own against a young boy. Even Greyson was surprised by the man''s skill with the sword and realized that although the man was weak magic-wise did not mean he was weak at fighting. Instead of regret, however, Greyson was filled with fighting spirit as he had not had an even spar since the beginning. Teacher Vivienne was so far above him in sword skill that it was always rather one-sided where he was desperately learning how to parry and attack any small openings but mostly getting tricked and beaten. The clang of metal against metal rang out while Greyson and man continued fighting. Fighting back and forth for a while had ground down the man''s nerves and he was starting to get impatient. Impulse taking over, the man abandoned any fancy swordplay and went straight to brute force tactics. How could he, a grown man, be overpowered by some child? Using this assumption, he realized he was foolish to continue fighting with sword tactics when his greatest advantage was brute strength. However, he could not know that his opponent was not that simple. Feeling the sudden push from his opponent in power, Greyson silently activated his dragon bloodline. Faint scale markings appeared on his hands as amazing strength flowed through his arms. Forcefully pushing back, his strength overpowered the man''s strength. Obvious shock showed on the man''s face as he kept getting pushed back more and more. His stance was getting sloppy and his footwork was a mess. Seeing the wide opening, Greyson charged inside and slashed down his sword right before the man''s throat. "You''ve lost. I don''t wish to shed blood on holy land, so you should hurry and beat it before I ignore this fact." Greyson spoke in a low voice with a cold light running through his eyes. The man''s legs began to shake as he fell backwards. Forgetting his lackeys, he quickly ran away, but not before giving one last hidden glare in the direction of the church. The malice may have been hidden, but Greyson''s instinct were strong. Knowing that he would have to leave at some point, he decided that he would nip this problem in the bud before leaving. "Grey, are you alright?! How could you just challenge him like that? What about his brother?" Sister Lily ran up to him while checking him up and down for injuries. Although he was tempted to roll his eyes, he still felt his heart warm at her concern. Novice level? Keres City? There would soon be no problem in his mind. ... The next week was spent in peace. He would talk with Sister Lily, meditate, eat, and even hang out with the other kids. They were not exactly playing, though. Wolf and a couple of the other boys at this point had no magic, however, they were adamant in learning some swordplay from Greyson before he left. At first he was not sure, but soon he realized they were just like him. After realizing how weak they were and how they could not protect the church or Sister Lily, they wanted to gain the strength. Magic was not the route for them, but they could at learn some self-defense. Greyson decided to make a training regimen for them so they could still continue training even after he left. It would not be perfect since he would not be here to correct them, but it would still help build their body strength as they continued to grow. Plus, he was going to suggest to Sister Lily to send some of them to the nearest school. The church had money now, so they should be able to attend some classes. Schooling would allow them to have better jobs later on and make a living. Although this time had not shown any improvement in his magic, his mentality had calmed down a lot. His unease had faded away and inner peace was restored. Maybe he was still depressed about Aria, however, he could not wallow in his sadness forever. She wouldn''t want that for him, either. She died in his place, so he needed to make sure that he lived his life to the fullest for the both of them. Firm in his decision, he decided that he would try to look for her parents, as well. Letting them know what happened was the least they deserved. How distressing would it be for them to continue wondering? ... It was time to leave again. One week was over before Greyson could really be prepared to say goodbye again. Lucius had to remind him that it was time since he had not realized at all. Slowly packing and walking out his room again, he was met with the entire church this time. Last time he left, it was secretly and quietly. This time he would be able to properly say goodbye. Walking up to Sister Lily, he hugged her tightly while feeling reluctant to leave her arms again. "Grey, I''ll miss you. Will you come back to see us faster than before?" She whispered quietly. "Sister Lily... I..." Greyson''s voice was soon caught in his chest. He had a feeling that this trip would not be short and he would be gone for maybe longer this time. "Mmm... it''s okay. Just, be safe, okay? I''ll always be praying for your safety." Some tears had finally fallen from her eyes as she looked at him and stroked his cheek. He nodded before finally getting up. Summoning Zephyr, he jumped onto his dragon''s back. Looking down at the rest of the children and Sister Lily, he furrowed his brows. An awful sense of dread filled his body as if something bad was going to happen after he left. Shaking his head, he realized it must be Keres City, but he would take care of the issue after he left. "You guys protect Sister Lily and each other while I''m gone, alright?" "Hmph! Who knows how long you''ll be gone. Pushing all the responsibility on us... Make sure you come back and take over!" Wolf snorted. Chuckling at the shy boy''s hidden attachment, Greyson felt happy he decided to come see them before he left for the Idris Kingdom. Looking up in the sky, he had Zephyr start to fly away. He watched as the church became smaller and smaller in the distance. "Lu, I can''t shake this apprehension. As if something is about to happen, but I don''t know when or where." "Really? I don''t feel anything in particular..." Lucius glanced over while yawning. Ignoring his friend''s worries, he just laid his head back down to sleep more. "Am I imagining it?" ... Reading the map, Greyson easily found Keres City. It was not too far from Willow Town and traveling on Zephyr made the distance fell even shorter. He soon arrived above a rather desolate city with most of the town in ruin except for one exceptional manor in the middle of the city. Assuming from how poor the rest of the city was, Greyson could already tell that the City Lord was not a far cry from his brother. Walking through the streets, he saw the immense amount of beggars with only a handful of well-off shop owners. There were dead and starved people in the alleyways and mother''s holding their malnourished children. His heart broke for these people while his anger towards the rich and comfortable master in the manor grew. Quickly making his way in the city, he stopped in front of the grand gates of the City Lord''s manor. Not wanting to create a huge commotion, his eyes flickered green and he started jumping over the gate and through the mansion quietly. Finding the window to the City Lord''s room, he secretly entered. "Brother, you have to help me! Just send a bunch of bandits or something, who would know it was us then? That stupid kid and that damn church! I want them gone!" "Shut up! Why do I always have to clean up after you? There isn''t even a pretty woman there, just some young plain-looking nun and kids. The church is super poor, too. There is literally no reason to waste the time and money!" "Just this one last time, brother. Please?" "One last time? Wasn''t that the last time?" "Hey, come''on. Although she isn''t the prettiest, her body is real nice... Plus, wouldn''t it feel nice to dirty a chaste nun. Some of the kids could become slaves in the house, too. We could get a bunch of new slaves to train for free." "Hmmm..." "Please? It''s not that big of a deal this time, either. It''s on the small side of the scale of trouble I have caused you." "Fine. But the woman is mine first!" "Okay! No problem!" Hiding in the darkness, Greyson''s heart was filled killing intent. He had walked in just in time to hear the depraved nature of both these disgusting brothers. Coming out of the shadow, he walked towards the two men sword drawn. "Who''s there?!" They both turned over hearing the footsteps. "That''s... it''s you!" "Who?" "That stupid kid I was just talking about. How did you get in here?" "Ahhh... him? Well he is just as stupid as you mentioned for sneaking into here. Boy, do you realize the death that you have just walked into on your own?" Greyson chuckled hearing his words, "Death? Me? Who would kill me, you?" Disdain for the City Lord was apparent to any listener. "Well, don''t say I didn''t warn you..." He said before suddenly striking out with a water spell. Although he was slightly caught by surprise, Greyson easily blocked the water ball hurtling towards him as his own eyes turned blue. Stopping the ball in midair, with a flick of his hand, he sent the water ball right back towards the City Lord. "What?!..." Dodging quickly, the City Lord and his brother avoided the water ball but were shocked by the power of the young boy in front of them. Sneering at their antics, Greyson''s eyes soon turned a fiery red as Genesis burst into flames along with him. Bursting in action, he first cut down the younger brother who had caused all this disaster in the first place. The man screamed out as his body burst into flames. His ashes were soon all that was left. Turning towards the City Lord, Greyson slowly approached. "No, no, no... stay away... STAY AWAY!" In his panic, he whispered a chant to himself and a wall of water soon appeared before him, separating Greyson and the City Lord. Scoffing, Greyson quickly walked right through the wall causing it to break. "Please... I didn''t do it, it was all my brother''s idea. Please, I don''t want to die..." The City Lord began to shake in terror. Greyson wrinkled his nose as he realized that the man had let go of his bladder in fear. Shaking his head, at this so-called "genius" he swung down his sword mercilessly. The screams of another soon echoed before ashes were all that was left again. Looking around, Greyson suddenly felt empty. Before he realized, he was already on the ground shaking. It was at least better than puking. Maybe he was getting more and more desensitized? Still feeling sick to his stomach, Greyson quickly summoned Zephyr outside the window and jumped on. Flying away, he tried to calm himself by breathing in the fresh air and leaving the smell of burnt flesh behind. "Lu, does it ever get easier?" "I can''t really answer that. I''ve never quite felt the same empathy towards my enemies as humans. Maybe it''s my beast instinct to kill for survival? It was never hard for me to accept." Lucius slowly replied. Hearing his words, Greyson quieted down again. He''d like to believe it would get easier. Soon he would not feel the sickness as much as he did now. ... A couple days after Greyson had left, the church returned to the status quo. With the older children getting ready to start classes. Out in the distance a little ways away from the church, two bodies quickly appeared. "Brother, this is where that abomination is supposed to live right?" "Mm, our investigation led us here. There have been rumors of an odd-looking boy and this is fairly close to where the Ley Kingdom used to be." "Ugh, why are they summoning him back anyway?" "Her Highness''s bloodline is here, no matter how diluted." "Hmph, well I hope he resists so I can just take out my frustration on the stupid humans." "That is not our mission." "What do a few weak, powerless humans mean anyways? Not like anyone will notice the way humans multiply." "We''ll see when the time comes..." 51 Hand Him Over "Brother, why are we looking for the youngest first anyways? He would have the smallest chance of inheriting anything because he would be too young and weak to fight any rivals." No longer able to take the silence, the younger man quickly asked another question. "Hmph, idiot! Of course it''s because he was the only one we could easily find. I''m sure She and that beast husband of hers told their older children to not reveal their identity at all, however, the last one was born on that day. He would have no knowledge. We can use his blood to locate the others. Him being the weakest is also good for us because there is no way he could resist capture. I don''t even know why I have to explain these things to you." The older man scrunched his brows showing his annoyance towards the pointless chatter. Sensing the man''s unhappiness, the younger man decided to stop asking things at this point. Inwardly rolling his eyes, he lamented his luck that his first outside mission would be with this block of wood. The two men quickly flew in the direction of the church. The closer they approached, the lower they came to the ground until they were finally walking up. Before they could even say anything, the two strangers were noticed right away by the kids playing outside. To their surprise, the children glared hostilely towards them. These children were happily playing before and they had yet to do anything that would warrant such hatred, so they were puzzled wondering if the seventh child knew more than they expected. Did the maid who ran away with him survive? One of the boys quickly took one more glance at them before running into the church. When he made his way back out, he was followed by the entire crowd of angry children and a shocked nun. "Darius, I thought you said those men had come back?" Sister Lily looked towards the young boy who had gotten their attention. "They aren''t?" Darius asked confused. "No, of course not. They are not even human. They are elves, a very rare sight around here. Hello, sirs. I don''t know what you could want from our church?" "At least one of you humans has eyes. How could you mistake a magnificent elf such as I as a disgusting human?" The younger elf quickly pulled down the cowl of his hood showing more of his silver hair and pointed ears with clear disdain in his voice. "Cedyl, quiet. Hello. I am Efe Bluepoem and this is Cedyl Woodland. We are from the Elf Empire''s imperial capital Glass City. We are part of the core guard of the Retired Queen. Our mission was to pick up the offspring of a lost princess, sister to our current Queen. We heard of rumors that the child was placed in this orphanage after a disaster struck the princess''s family." "Child? There was never an elf brought up in the orphanage." "He would not be a full elf. He would be..." "A mixed-blood!" Before Efe could finish his words, Cedyl interrupted and spat at the next words in disgust. "Mixed-blood?" Sister Lily was lost in thought. There was only one... Greyson, this time that he came back he had the signature elf hair and he had told her that some elf blood had awoken in him. She looked towards these elves. Although, the older one spoke with utmost etiquette, she knew that he disdained humans just as much as his companion so obviously showed. What if they meant harm to Greyson? She could not very well just give him up. "But none of our children showed any signs of mixed blood. Even half-elves would grow up with silver hair." She feigned confusion and ignorance. Efe furrowed his brows at her words. Was the information incorrect? Sadly, at this moment, one of the younger children had not realized the severity of the situation and spoke out. "Wow, Sister Lily, their hair is so pretty! It''s sparkly just like Grey''s!" The little girl meant no harm as her eye''s sparkled in wonder at the beautiful flowing hair. Hearing the words, Sister Lily felt her heart tighten and her mouth run dry. Efe and Cedyl both squinted their eyes dangerously towards Lily. A threatening atmosphere leaked out from their bodies which pressured all the church children and Lily. All of them did not have magic, so they quickly were pressed down to a kneeling position on the ground. The pressure only continued growing until a sickly young toddler spat blood and fell to the floor. "STOP! STOP, you''ll kill the children!" Sister Lily could no longer keep quiet and she screamed out to the elves. "Hmph, lowly and weak humans. We treat you with respect and you decide to lie. How unsurprising." Cedyl sneered. "I was not sure... that you wanted... Greyson... with good intentions. I raise... these children... as my own... I would never... just give them up." Barely getting her words out from a clenched jaw under the strain, Lily tried to explain. After her words left her mouth, the pressure started to ease away until it disappeared. All the children and Lily let out a deep breath and felt the sweat dripping down. "I admire the loyalty you have towards these orphans. However, this is your last chance. Hand over the boy. We don''t mean to harm him. There are just some inheritance issues that need to be fixed. If anything, his quality of life might drastically improve." "I really don''t know. He discovered that he could use magic, so he ran away towards more populated and powerful cities to join the magic academies. I have no idea where he is now." Sister Lily grit her teeth and kept as even as a voice as she could. Just from their show of power, she knew that they were lying to her. They were definitely not planning good things for Greyson. She told them half the truth. Just last week, she really had no idea where he was or where he could be headed. Efe closely scrutinized Lily looking for any hint of lies. Not completely sure that she was telling the truth, he was at a loss of what they should do. His orders were to retrieve the boy and not cause a scene that would catch the human empire''s attention. Coming to a decision, he was about to ask a different question when Cedyl stepped at and quickly slashed with his arm. A green wind blade grew from the sweep of his arm and cut through half of the group of children. Within just a second, suddenly half of the children outside were cut down. Silence ensued until Sister Lily screamed. "NO! WHY?!" Following her shouts, the rest of the children unfroze and all of them collapsed to the ground and stared blankly at their dead friends. The younger children all burst out crying while the older ones went to hold the cut up bodies of their friends. "Wolf... Wolf... wake up, wake up... We have to go to the first day of school tomorrow. Wolf, we were so excited..." Finally not able to hold himself together, Darius began bawling holding the familiar Wolf''s cold body. There was so much chaos that broke out with the crying children. Efe deeply scowled looking over at his partner who smugly shrugged his shoulder. "They needed a little psychological push. Who cares for these weak ants anyways? Not even the other humans would care." Darius saw the man''s unrepentant face and a fire burned in him. "You monster, how could you just do kill people like that? Does it make you feel good to pick on weaker children? You''re just a coward! You wouldn''t be like this if we were more powerful than you." He shouted angrily at Cedyl. "Darius! Darius, step back! What do you think you''re doing?!" Sister Lily quickly reprimanded him. Cedyl looked at the kid who dared lecture him and felt slightly ticked off. Lily could see his reaction and her heart dropped. Her mind grew blank as she furiously tried to think of what to do before her eyes suddenly lit up with brilliance. Reaching into her chest, she pulled out a tiny bag that was always wrapped around her neck. Priest Williams had passed on to her before he died. He said that it will only work once and that it would protect her and the children. Quickly opening the pouch, she saw a beautiful golden talisman. Once it was released, the talisman slammed to the ground and the whole church lit of with golden lines tracing out a pattern. A shield protecting the church was erected while the elves were pushed out. Seeing the sudden change of situation, the two elves were shocked first, then they began to hit the shield with spells, but it would not budge an inch. Sister Lily first was shocked then realized the shield was extremely strong and they could not be let through. She didn''t know how long this precarious situation would last, but she would make the most of it. "Children, quickly grab the... other... children. We need to give them a proper... burial..." She knew that she had to get this done so that all of her children could rest in peace, but the words dead and all others associated with death would not easily flow from her mouth. ... 3 days. It had been three days. Every single day was torture as Sister Lily and the children squatted inside waiting to see if the shield would go down or not. They had long ago buried and prayed for the departed children, while their tears slowly dried into determination. Although they were filled with fear, they slowly began to build a determination to fight instead of just waiting for death inside the walls. The elves only got angrier and angrier, even the calm Efe was showing frustration. Hearing their shouts and the banging against the shield only filled the church people with dread. What could they possible do? Another sleepless night rolled into the other. ... On the fifth day, the situation finally changed. Right in front of their eyes, a hole the size of door opened up. A old, decrepit man hobbled out from it wearing the signature red robes of a cardinal. Looking around at the situation, he soon understood what was happening. "Haaahhh..." A long sigh escaped his mouth that seemed to have a soothing effect towards crowd surrounding him. "Oh, Ian, you never used it even when you were dying on your deathbed, but instead passed it on to these children." His scratchy voice finally echoed out as he talked to no one in particular. He looked over at the angry banging elves before his eyes lit up. "Elves? This is not your territory, your Queen should know this as well. Begone!" He waved his hand and the elves were both sent flying back before they slammed into the ground buried underneath the dirt. Sister Lily and the children were left in shock at how easy and comfortable it was for this old man to wave away those strong elves that had tormented them for so long. "Hohoho, you children are making this old man blush. I have thin skin." His voice was good-natured and calmed its listeners. The kids automatically grew fond of the old cardinal. "Maybe this is God''s Will that I help you children. Come follow me, I will take you someplace safe." He beckoned with his hands. Most of the children did not even think twice before moving towards the man, however, Darius, Sister Lily, and some other older children all paused while looking at the church and the newly added graves. They were very reluctant to leave. "I know, my children. The church is a holy ground and a home, however, it is not a place but a people. As long as you all are together, the next church you stay at will be the new home. Your friends are now at peace, they would rather see you thriving and alive then joining them with God." The cardinal could easily see what was going through their minds from their looks and the freshly dug graves. After they heard his words, the hesitant group finally nodded while Sister Lily knelt down and prayed on last time then got up and followed the cardinal through the portal. Soon the courtyard was completely empty other than the old rundown church and the new graves. 52 We Donst Welcome Your Kind Greyson was oblivious to the entire disaster in his home as he flew leisurely on Zephyr towards the Idris Kingdom. In the midst of his flying, however, an indescribable ominous feeling came over him. Unable to control the anxiety that resulted from his instinct, Greyson felt preoccupied almost the entire trip over. If not for Lucius, he would have been attacked and killed by the magic beasts on the way. "Grey, this can''t continue! Get a hold of yourself! What exactly is wrong?" "Lu, I really don''t know. I just can''t shake this horrible feeling away. What IS wrong with me? Maybe it''s my instinct telling me to be careful in the Idris Kingdom?" "Grey, I am LITERALLY a DESTINY cat. If something bad were to be coming, I would be the first to realize. Why do you think so many people covet my race? Although it could be due to our extremely cute and beautiful exterior, it''s most likely because we can keep them from danger most times. We sense danger towards ourselves and our contracted human partners, and we sense good karma thus leading them towards treasures and good fortune. I feel that good karma is in store for the Idris Kingdom, I don''t know why you feel otherwise. Are you nervous about leaving far away?" "I just don''t understand." The conversation slowly just ended with that. The fifth day of his distraction, the feeling just disappeared. A imaginary weight was released from his heart that allowed Greyson to finally breathe easy and relax. A strong temptation to return home to the church and the academy ran through his mind. He could not believe that this feeling was just a random occurrence, however, he knew that he was already so close to the Idris Kingdom and he could not be late in order to make it in time for the entrance exam. Shaking his head, Greyson decided to just ignore it as the feeling had already passed and no longer affected him. ... "Hahaha, I killed 40 which means I win! I''m sleeping the rest of the day." Lucius smirked with his head held up proudly. "Hmph! I killed 39 and I am 2 stages below you! You act like we are the same level..." Greyson pouted while regretting his decision to bet with the cat. He knew he had been goaded into it, but how could he resist this annoying cat''s constant buzzing in his ear? After protecting Greyson for the five days he was distracted, Lucius said that he deserved to rest the remainder of the trip to the kingdom. He constantly complained how his old bones couldn''t handle anymore fighting and that he had a useless human partner. Woe is his life. Finally, Greyson snapped when he saw a rampaging herd of Moon Deer. Honestly, they were weak and fairly harmless creatures who only became dangerous when they panicked and became a stampede. Lucius eyes flickered with a calculating light as he suddenly suggested that if he kills more Deer than Greyson it showed that Greyson was more useless than him and that meant that Greyson should be the one on protection duty as the weaker one in the contract. Angered by his taunting words, Greyson agreed quickly only to regret just as fast. He had completely forgot that the cat was still at a higher level than him. Not losing his hopes, Greyson still pushed himself as hard as he could to continue taking down the deer to only be slapped in the face with reality. ONE! One stupid deer difference... It would be a lie if he said he wasn''t sour, but he had never been a sore loser so he just tapped his shoulder indicating for the cat to jump on. Sitting on the ground, Greyson began to meditate and recharge in order to summon Zephyr again and start flying. Days quickly passed by as Greyson kept his promise and was the only one who fought off the magic beasts away. He didn''t mind it so much when it was in the air because he got much needed practice in coordination with Zephyr. Little by little, Greyson could feel his combat ability increasing and his familiarity with Genesis also grew making the sword more of an extension of his arm than just a tool. Without much trouble on the way, the two had completed their journey in a week and a half. Coming up to the imperial capital, Greyson could see its magnificence from miles upon miles away. The city was enormous. Named after the founder of the Idris Kingdom''s true love, Aurora City was as beautiful as its namesake. White marble academy buildings, beautiful agriculture, an enormous castle, paved roads, even the structure of the city was apparently in the shape of the royal seal of the Idris Kingdom when seen from a bird''s eye view. Curious to know if this were the truth, once Greyson had arrived at the city, he urged Zephyr to fly over top of the city instead of landing a little ways away from the gate. As is the case with most rumors, it was half true. The inner city truly was in a circle and shaped into the rose seal of the royals, however, the outer city was enormous and chaotic. The further and further Greyson''s eyes traveled from the inner city, the more poverty became evident. Beauty of the inner city distracted from the true destitute majority of commoners. One could not see it unless you looked closely. In between the beautiful architecture hidden in the alleys were the weeds that grew around the attention-grabbing rose. Persistent and ugly as the weeds were, the gardeners of the city could not remove them. The more he traveled outside of his small town, the more the monster that is the nobility became evident to him. Obviously he did not assume that all nobles were corrupt, but he could tell there was an overwhelming average of them that did not truly care for commoners and only wished to scrape every last coin from them to add to their own savings. It was hard for him not to be disheartened to see that the powerful in their country were not as he once imagined. With things like magic and hereditary titles, that inherently made some born more powerful than others, Greyson could only feel that equality was an impossible ideal. "C''mon Grey, let''s just go down and find a place to stay." Lucius broke Greyson''s reflection after a little while. Turning towards his friend, Greyson took one final look down before nodding and looking for an inconspicuous place to land. It did not take long as most of the city was surrounded by forest if you fly far enough away from the city gates.His eyes glowed green as he activated a new wind spell, Wind Legs. Taking only a couple minutes, Greyson flew through the forest towards the main gate. He saw an enormous crowd of people all filtering into the city going through the city guards and paying the gate fee. "Three silver coins!" The guard looked down at Greyson before yelling. "Three? Everyone else was charged one." Greyson did not want to start fighting, but he was not going to be taken advantage of. "For you, it''s three!" The soldier only glared and repeated himself. Greyson looked at him and decided it wouldn''t be worth it before passing the man three silver coins. After he passed the coins, Greyson made a move to pass the guards, but the man quickly moved in front of Greyson. "What is the meaning of this? I paid the fee!" Greyson could no longer hold his anger in and glared at the man while grabbing at his sword. "We don''t welcome your kind, mutt. Go scurry off back to your disgusting parents or did they not even want you, too?" The guard sneered. Greyson no longer held his anger in, he knew the man had no right to bar him from entering or charging a higher fee. His eyes switched to black as he continued to glare at the guard. Feeling the pair of eyes on him, the guard finally started to feel threatened. Suddenly, black hands shot out of the shadows and secured him in place before Greyson''s eyes switched to brown and he activated Earth Body. His body strengthened, he kicked out violently at the guard sending the man flying backward. Looking over dangerously at the other guards, he dared them to make a move. However, all of the men took the warning and did not make a sound. Greyson angrily stalked off from the gate and into a relatively empty valley. He decided to activate the disguise spell he had learned after finally realizing why the Principal kept his disguise up. His silver hair soon turned to a normal brown color and his eyes reverted to a dull brown. His long hair shrunk in and became shoulder length before Greyson tied it back per usual the men in Snow Country. Walking out of the alley and straight passed the guards shouting around and looking for him, Greyson tried to look around for a nice inn. ... "Her Majesty Kalerea..." whispered an old woman looking at the scene. "Hm? Nanny, why are you mentioning mother all of a sudden?" The teenage girl next to her looked curiously in the same direction. However, she saw nothing but a guard on the ground and the rest looking for the attacker. "What happened at the gate anyway?" "Someone just attacked one... a half-elf... he looked just like Her Majesty the Queen which just made me reminisce for a moment." "Looked like mother? But all my brothers had looked like my father..." The girl said confused. "Maybe I just saw incorrectly. I''m just an old lady now and my eyesight is not what it used to be." The feeble old woman just sighed quietly before walking away with the other girl. 53 A Familiar Name In his new guise, Greyson''s facial structure did not change much, however, without his most eye-catching features, he was practically invisible. Brown hair and brown eyes were too common that he would never catch anyone''s eyes unless they were looking closely. Sighing, Greyson felt relieved of an annoying burden. Slowly making his way through the city, he finally realized how amazing the city was in person and not so far away. The streets were clean and orderly without anyone causing chaos or shouting out. Even the marketplace was calm. Looking towards the man next to him, Greyson lightly tapped him on the shoulder. The man turned around a little disgruntled to be stopped suddenly, but his features softened seeing how young the boy was. "Sir, I''ve just arrived here and I can''t help but be curious. Why are none of the merchants advertising or bargaining? All the cities I have been to have all been loud and busy in the marketplace normally." Greyson quickly asked. Hearing his question, the man let out a good-natured laugh. "Well, it''s no wonder that you are so shocked. I was, too, the first time I came to the city. I''m from a fish town, so the bargaining in the market is no joke. You don''t know, however, these shop owners and even the cart owners have to pay an enormous rent fee to be able to set up shop on this street. Unless they were confident in what they were selling, they would never bother buying a shop here because they would just end up drowning in debt. Their confidence means that the others would look down on anyone who would start shouting advertisements to attract customers. It''s a sort of unspoken rule that they take pride in. With how much rent they are paying, they have to set the appropriate prices for their items as well. You either buy it at the set price or do not buy it at all. The men here hate hagglers, but at the same time you know that the prices you are buying it at is very fair. If they were trying to rip everyone off they would never sell anything." Despite his rather poor looking attire, the burly man was very knowledgeable of the system in the city. Greyson was shocked by the unexpected answer. Who knew such a system could work? The competition must be extremely fierce, though. How many shops along this enormous and long street could think of a novel idea? It stretched all the way from the front gate to the royal castle''s gates at the back of the city. This means there has to be some repeat. If they can''t advertise, they would have to continually think of ideas to make people come back to their store instead of their rival''s store. "Aren''t there repeat stores? Wouldn''t they get into fights all the time and a bunch of stores close down?" "Fighting in the capital is strictly forbidden unless you are in the arena and have signed some sort of battle contract. If they got into fights about being run out of business, the city would make sure that they could never step foot in the capital again." Forbidden? Well that makes his life much easier. No city attacks this time. Pulling out a silver coin, Greyson thanked the man for his information before asking if there were any other important custom he should know. "Well, this is not really a rule per se, but it is just as important. There are ten top noble families in Aurora City and they are the real head honchos of the kingdom. Although it would probably take two families to measure up to the power of the royal family, there is obviously only one royal family while there are ten noble families. The top three most powerful of the families are almost on par with the royal families just by themselves. If you ever see carriages or someone on a horse in the city then it means they are descended from the families. Everyone else is required to walk on foot. I suggest buying a book that introduces all the family crests to you just so can recognize them whenever not just in those circumstances. The other nobles families are not easy to offend either, however, offending them will not usually get you killed. The ten families have the power to make the royal guard look the other way if they just decided one day to off you. That is my biggest advice for you. This is a small area full of powerful beings, it''s best to just travel with your head down until you can find yourself some background to back yourself up." Greyson''s eyes lit up as he nodded seriously. He was right to have spent a little for the information, otherwise he might have accidentally run into trouble without even knowing how. Saying goodbye to man, Greyson went to the closest book store and picked up the information on the family crests. Maybe because it was a common thing for new people to want to buy, the price was slightly exaggerated. Knowing he could not do anything about it since he thought it was important, Greyson grit his teeth and spent the money. Once he was back in the inn, he quickly went up to his room and started studying the book. Spending a good couple of hours memorizing the information, Greyson finally reached the last pages of the book which held the information for the top ten. Filled with curiosity, he looked through the first one. The family crest was a flaming bear and the family name was Arcadian. The family leader was a magister level stage five magician and the heir to the family was Ignis Arcadian. He was 15 years old and an advanced level stage 3 magician and his element was fire. As could be assumed from their crest, the Arcadian descendants all usually awakened the fire element and were shunned if they did not. Apparently he attended Idris Academy just like the rest of the noble children. Greyson was impressed by his level. Although it was "only" two stages of a difference while Ignis was 7 years older, once one reached the advanced level increasing in each stage became significantly slower. The youngest magister was still 18 years old when he reached the level and he was a legend. Most talented young people reached the magister level before 25 or their chances of advancing further than the magister level would halve. Moving his eyes towards the next family, the family crest was black rose and the surname Seirina. The family head was surprisingly a woman and so was the heir. This family was inherited by the woman of the family instead of the men. Their element was earth and they specialized in raising magic herbs and alchemy. However, the book noted that the woman were notorious for their love for poison. Slightly disturbed by the words, Greyson continued reading about the heir. Her name was Ezra Seirina and she was the same age and same level as Ignis. He found that unsurprising because they families were supposedly equal so if one heir was better than the other that would cause lots of issues. The next family crest was just a tall snowy mountain that was a good match for the Snow Country landscape. This family''s surname was Chionodis. Aidan Chionodis was the heir. He was younger than the first two at 12 years old but also a stage weaker. A water magician who specialized in ice magic. People are afraid of this young boy, though, as he is known for having a matching ice cold personality. Greyson just shrugged and passed through the descriptions, what does it matter to him if the guy has a bad personality? After that was the Drakon family with a golden dragon family crest. Their family element was light, however, they were not healers. Instead they used the offensive side of light and were all extreme fighters. Whoever the author was seemed to have experienced their extreme side as he cautioned the readers to run away should they ever meet someone from this family. They were obsessed with picking fights with everyone and "self-improvement." The only positive side was that they all were known for their straightforward personalities and good attitudes towards losing. The heir was Tristian Drakon 14 years old and advanced level stage three magician. Next was the Absinthe Family with a red dagger family crest. Suiting that they would be placed right after the Drakon family as the two have a long history of bad blood. Their element was dark and they specialized in assassination. They ran a guild that took missions for the family that made them a lot of money. Almost reflecting their elements, the Drakon family and Absinthe family were complete opposites in teaching and personality. Their heirs were twins, Caedis and Bella Absinthe. The twins were 13 years old and advanced level stage two magicians. Rumor says that they are inseparable and can take down magicians at higher stages than them when they work in coordination, even their partner beasts were the same. The sixth was the Ventus family. Their element was wind and the crest was one pair of green wings. Most people could not quite understand this family and their was not a lot of information on them either. People claim that this family is very laid-back and peaceful. They tend to be the easiest to get along with. The heir was Quinn Ventus, 12 years old and believed to be advanced level stage two. Their was no confirmation due to the fact that Quinn barely ever fights and reveals his power. Seventh was special. They were not actually a "family" by blood relation. It was a merchant group which made its way up in power and declared themselves a family. Their crest was merchant carriage that was normally seen on trade routes. The "family" name was Argentum but they had no particular element associated with the family. The heir was Luca Argentum but there was some weird gossip about the boy. Greyson saw the introduction and just skipped over it. He wasn''t interested in the rumors. Finally he had reached the end. The final three. Turning the page, he saw a surprisingly familiar last name. Ivywood. Their family crest was a blooming tree. Reading further, he saw their element was earth, as well, however, the family leader and the heir were both born as multiple attribute magicians which made their place in the noble families rise. The heir was a girl, the daughter of the head, named Natalia Ivywood. She was a little older than him at 9 years old and was also at the advanced level stage one. Her three elements were wind, earth, and fire. Natalia? "Natalia?... Why does it sounds so familiar?... Hey, Lu, do you remember a Natalia?" "Natalia... Natalia what?" "Ivywood." "Hmmmm... it does sound familiar. Who could it be?" Both boy and cat sat in silence trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar. A couple moments later, Lucius suddenly had an epiphany. "It''s her!" "Who?" "That girl from the forest. The one we helped fight off a mother bear. Spoiled, annoying, but not completely bad. She had a spatial necklace. Red hair, I think." Hearing his words, Greyson''s eyes lit up in remembrance. Her! It had been too long, he almost forgot that this encounter ever happened. To think she was the heir to such a powerful family. Explains her attitude that day, though. However, that was pretty much it. He did not know her well, and he felt that she would not recognize him at all if they were to meet again. Moving on to the next two families, the Fulmen family was after. Their element was lightning and their crest was purple lightning bolt. Feeling surprised, Greyson thought that a more rare element like lightning would be hard for a family to inherit. Then he read the next part of the description and understood. Although there were more members of the family that awoke the lightning element, compared to the percentage of people in other major families who use their specific element, the Fulmen family has a much smaller percentage of people who actually use the lightning element. With the destructive power of the element, however, the head of the family is stronger than a normal magister level stage five magician thus putting the family near the top. The heir was Bromwood Fulmen. He was 11 years old and an advanced level stage two magician. Lastly, there was the Basileus family. Their family crest was a half flaming, half icy lion. Greyson''s eyes lit up when he saw their elements. It was a multi-element family! Most of the members are either water or fire element magicians, however, a good amount awaken dual elements of both fire and water. The heir was one of these people and his name was Leopold Basileus. He was 10 years old and an advanced level stage one. Looking over all the basic information, Greyson realized the small balance that was occurring between the families. Every head of the family was a magister level stage five magician and all the heirs were advancing at pretty much the same pace. The only reason for difference in magic level was the difference in age level. He had heard the king of Idris was a great magister level magician. Most people claimed he was only a stage one great magister, however, as the only one to break through to that level, the royal family held the most power. "Wow, there are definitely much higher level in this kingdom. So many other kids who are just like me. Back at the academy everyone thought I was a monster for being able to break through to the advanced level so quickly, but looks like it''s a common phenomena." "Well, don''t put yourself down. Although not as talented as me, you are definitely extremely talented as well. All these other children had so much more resources poured into them and powerful teachers ever since they were born. They have advantages along with talent, but that does not mean its common. You do realize you were reading the information for the top families in this kingdom. You are still a very rare occurrence. But it''s good that you came, I can see that these kids will be good rivals for you." "You''re right! I can''t wait to try fighting with them." A excited glow of fighting intent lit up Greyson''s eyes. He was excited for new challenges. Looking outside, Greyson realized he had read the book well into the night, so he shut off the light stone and decided to go to bed. The auction that included his painting would be tomorrow, so he wanted to go check in with them early to make sure everything was in order. "I wonder how much the painting will sell for tomorrow..." 54 The Auction Feeling refreshed after a good night''s rest, Greyson stretched his limbs and glanced over to Lucius. The cat was sensitive to movement so he had already woken up, however, his weariness won over as he decided to shut his eyes again. "Lu, get up you lazy cat. I know you already woke up." "Grey, you don''t understand. Cats need lots of sleep, I can''t help it." Lucius just lazily yawned while groggily answering. His eyes slightly cracked open as he watched Greyson get dressed. Once he saw that Greyson was ready to leave, he hopped up onto the boy''s shoulder and resumed his sleep. Greyson glanced over at the peacefully sleeping cat on his shoulder feeling slightly envious. If he was a small animal, he could rest on people''s shoulders and laze around all day, but instead he was the one who did all the work while Lucius got a free ride. Sighing helplessly, he walked out the door silently accepting his chauffeur fate. Outside the inn, Greyson thought back to the map of the city he bought and slowly made his way to the auction house. Still unfamiliar with the roads, he ended up asking for directions to avoid getting lost. Eventually he stood in front of a grand entranced with the large words "Purple Lion." Purple Lion was the third most popular auction house in the imperial city. Although they could not fight with the Argentum family''s number one auction house and Seirina family''s number two, the auction house could still hold their own in such immense competition because they were backed by the Basileus family. He could feel the grandness of the auction from the looking at the atmosphere around the building. Breathing in a nervous breath, he walked up to the entrance. "Halt! What is your business with the auction house? Our auctions do not start until the afternoon." The guard outside the door blocked Greyson with his spear. "Ah, hello, I am here to check-in with the auction house about an item of mine that will be sold later on today." Hearing his words, the guard indicated to his partner who then nodded and went into the building. A couple moments later, the other guard came back followed by a young woman. "Manager Swan, this is the boy." The young woman''s brown eyes then looked towards Greyson scanning him top to bottom seemingly trying to recall if she recognized him. Her eyebrows furrowed when she did not recall ever meeting him. "I do not recall ever meeting you. Are you sure an item of yours is to be sold here?" Her tone was polite, but her eyes gave away her misgivings about Greyson. "Yes, I am sure. There is a painting that is to be sold here today called, ''A Mother''s Smile.'' It was sent here from the Dalia Kingdom''s painting association for winning the junior painting competition. I am the painter. I came here directly since I already had business in the Idris Kingdom at the same time that this auction would occur." Instead of getting angry, Greyson decided to just calmly explain himself. After his explanation, the woman''s eyes lit up. "That painting? Could you follow me?" She motioned for him to enter. Greyson quickly nodded and followed after her. Once he was through the doors, he entered a huge hall. There were a bunch of different doorways which led to different exhibits. Paintings, herbs, pills, potions, spell books, magic tools, etc. The woman kept walking to the back until they reached a long row of waiting rooms. Sitting him down, the woman said she would be right back with the files. Waiting on the couch, Greyson looked around a little at the room. It was a simple meeting room with two couches and a table in between, he guessed that the rows of rooms are all like this and are meant for meeting with sellers and buyers. After some time, the door finally clicked open revealing the woman again holding some files in her hands. However, this time, the earlier doubt was back in her eyes when she looked at him. "Is something the matter?" "Just that... the painting association sent a long a picture of the artist. You don''t look anything like him. But for you to even know about this painting is rare, so I thought I should ask before calling security and jumping to conclusions." She explained while looking at him closely for a reaction. Greyson''s eyes quickly widened in surprise as he realized that he was still in disguise. Grateful that the woman had allowed him time to explain, he quickly stopped his disguise spell. The plain, short brown hair grew out and changed to the beautiful platinum silver while his eyes changed back to a deep sapphire blue. Not prepared for the sudden change, the woman jumped in shock before quickly regaining her calm. Her eyes showed understanding. Although no one spoke about it explicitly, she knew exactly how mixed blood people were treated. "Disguise spell?" She questioned. "Yes, as is probably obvious, my real looks are quite frustrating. I have been trying to stay more low key and attract less attention to myself." "No, I understand. We have a lot of mixed race workers who are treated terribly by customers. Well, now that the issue is solved, I would have to congratulate you." "Congratulate?" "Hahaha, you would not be aware yet, however, when your painting got sent over about a month ago and was hung in our exhibit, all of our painting customers were ecstatic. There were already swarms of people who wish to buy it and even more who wished to meet the artist so they could request you to paint something for them." "Really? How could that be? Aren''t paintings by well-known artists usually the ones that sell better?" "Normally that is the case, since many people buy the paintings to just brag about who made them than to really appreciate the art. However, I think you underestimate the familial nostalgia or even romantic nostalgia your painting invokes. Children who have lost their mothers, husbands their wives, or just lonely people with a broken heart. Your painting really creates such a warm feeling in everyone who sees it. Almost every eye that makes contact with that painting starts to cry or tear up." As if she was the one who painted it, the woman explained with extreme excitement and pride. Affected by her mood, Greyson also felt pride fill him as he thought about how much others were treasuring his painting. "I believe that the painting will sell well later on, so you have nothing to worry about on that front. After the auction this afternoon is over, you can come back to this room and the money will be given over to you. Our house takes 10% of the money as repayment for giving your painting space to become well-known and sell well. Are you okay with that?" "Of course, of course. My painting would definitely sell for less if not for the publicity it gained through a popular auction house like Purple Lion." Greyson completely agreed with them taking a portion, plus, in his mind, 10% was not a lot in the end. "Great! Would you be okay if we released your information to interested customers?" "Uhm... I would actually prefer if you did not." "Why not? This could be a really good way to get your name out there and to make money." "Painting is a hobby, not my career. I do it for fun and peace of mind. I am not at the step where everything I paint will be at the level of ''A Mother''s Smile.'' The only reason that painting is so popular is because I made it with a very strong connection towards the subject. Sincere feelings which were mine went into it. If I were to paint just any scene, it would not be like that. If I took requests I would just be disappointing their expectations." Greyson was being completely honest. Sister Lily was like his mother and during the time he painted it, he was thinking of how much he missed her and was reminiscing in his own memories. Earlier when his teacher had asked him to paint landscapes and animals, he could not bring the paintings to life. They were just drawings. Without the right type of dedication to the art, which he sadly did not have, he would never be able to draw at that level. Hobbies were hobbies. Magic and blacksmithing were his main future while music and painting were fun hobbies which he enjoyed. "Okay, I understand. I will do as you wish. How about an alias then? Just so your name will still spread in the community." The woman nodded in understanding, but still asked for something as she felt reluctant to just let the subject drop. "Alias? Well, I have never really thought about it... How about, Silver Dragon?" Not exactly adept with coming up with names, all Greyson could think of was the signature that he put in the corner of all his paintings. "Silver Dragon? Yeah, okay, that makes sense. Well Mr. Silver Dragon, I look forward to any work we could do together in the future even after this auction." The woman gave a polite business smile while holding out her hand. Briskly shaking her hand, Greyson was soon led to a private room in the auction house to await the start. After the discussions, the time was already close to midday, so there wasn''t much time left to wait. ... About an hour rolled by inside the room before people started filing in and filling the seats. There were thousands of common area seats and a bunch of private rooms that were higher up that were roomier and expensive. Another way to profit for the auction house because the rich in the city normally loved keeping up appearances. All the faces were unfamiliar to Greyson, so after looking for a minute or so, he went back to meditating while waiting for the auction to begin. He did not even think he would stay for the rest of the auction after his painting was sold. Although there were tons of great stuff he could possibly buy, his knowledge was not extensive enough and he had everything he needed for his level of strength. With whatever money he gets from the painting, he was planning on using it for essentials he would need for the academy and save it for further unknown circumstances. The exam was a mystery to him, so he had no idea how to prepare. Rumors floated around about an outdoor aspect, so he was planning on buying some new clothes and materials good for staying outside. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! We are about to get our auction started off. I hope you are ready for some impressive items today. We have spent the last month collecting valuables for this month''s auction, I believe they will not disappoint!" Greyson''s thoughts were interrupted by the loud spokesperson''s voice as he announced the start of the auction. Interest piqued, Greyson stopped his meditation and sat down on the chair to get a good view of the stage. "First, we have a top level tier two wind boots. They were made by the tier four blacksmith Claydon! These boots are for any element magician, however, a wind magician would experience a 50% increase in speed compared to the other magicians who would experience a 25% increase in speed. This is an extremely useful life saver for weaker magicians! The price is also lower compared to other top level tier two, so this is a great deal for any wind magicians especially." As a blacksmith himself who could make himself boots just as nice, Greyson was quickly unimpressed. He knew, however, that this was only the first item. Of course it would not be too impressive or it would take all the impact away from the good stuff at the end. "10 gold!" "10? You poor sod, get out of here! I bid 50 gold!" "60 gold!" Greyson listened closely as the price continued to climb. It finally ended on 250 gold for the boots. Completely shocked, Greyson suddenly realized how much his teacher had been ripping him off. His tier two equipment was not as good as this stuff in the beginning, but his teacher always only gave him 50 silvers for a month''s hard work. That damn scrooge! Greyson felt a helpless anger and grit his teeth. He would definitely get back at that wretched teacher of his! His stingy teacher who most likely spent that money on alcohol was normally very strict and serious. However, Dwarves had the unfortunate downfall of alcohol. As a race, they were all obsessed with drinking. Thraec was not too bad and he had an uncanny tolerance, but he still spent most of his payments on good alcohol. That constant money flow also made him poor so he was always extra stingy with money and pay. Suddenly looking down at his waist, Greyson wondered how much Genesis could be bought for. The idea was thrown out as quickly as it came, though, because he knew how much effort went into tailoring the sword just for him. The next item he made could possibly be sold here instead. In that way he would not have to worry about spending money for awhile. Maybe he could even start sending money back to the church more often. The rest of the items were all definitely tempting. All sorts of power increasing herb or rare pills, some powerful magic beasts, armor, enchanted jewelry, the list seemed to be never-ending. Near the middle of the auction, there was a short intermission while they got the next items prepared. The manager had sent a servant to inform Greyson that his painting would be first after the intermission which finally caused Greyson to sit up in his chair with excitement. He wondered how much the painting would sell for. Time felt painfully slow as he fidgeted in his seat waiting. Lucius had already complained that he couldn''t nap with all the tapping and movement, to which Greyson rolled his eyes and ignored since it wasn''t like this was a quiet place to sleep anyways. Finally, the curtains parted again and the auctioneer this time was a beautiful woman instead of the slimy middle-aged man of before. Maybe the prices were not as high due to the absence of eye-candy? Shrugging his shoulder, Greyson did not bother to delve into the reasons as it was probably only going to benefit him not hurt him. The male audience drooled over the woman and made a commotion of catcalling and harassment while the female audience looked at those men with disdain. Hearing the disrespect, the originally genial and charming woman radiated a suffocating power. "Magister!" Greyson could feel the pressure even from his private booth as he listened to the audiences'' cries. Was she really a magister? He had to assume so otherwise she would not be able to make him feel so powerless. "This auction house is definitely backed by a powerhouse family to have even the auctioneer be a magister." "Well, of course. Low level magisters are not much in a huge family like that." Listening to the whispers around him, Greyson felt impressed by these noble families one again. 1% of the population would awaken their magic in the human population while only about half of that 1% would be able to make it to the magister level. Granted there were probably billions of humans so that was still a lot of people, however, just in a tier one kingdom, a magister was still very impressive. The most powerful people were magister level stage five magicians other than the king. He was starting to really wonder about the top 3 kingdoms above tier one kingdoms and then the empire above those kingdoms. The world was only getting wider and wider for him, it was completely beyond his previous imagination. In the midst of Greyson''s thoughts, the woman saw the crowd had calmed down and stopped chattering so she retracted the pressure and continued to smile warmly as if nothing had occurred. "Well, everyone, I shall be taking over the latter half of this auction. We have a great treat for all painting fanatics. ''A Mother''s Smile'' shall finally be sold! The time has come to auction it off. I hope you all are prepared." The woman gave a great smile and a good amount of the audience sat up in their seats excited. "That painting!" "Oh, I really love it! It really brings me back to my hometown and my family." "I wonder if the price will go up a lot?" "Do you think the painter is here?" One that last question was asked, the whispers increased even more. They all started glancing around as if they could spot the painter if they saw him. To no avail obviously as Greyson had been hidden away in a private room. However, seeing the excitement in the audience, he in turn was excited for the painting to finally be sold. "The price will start at 50 gold coins." "75!" "Hmph, how is that all it is worth?! 150!" "200!" "210!" After hitting 200 gold coins, although the bidding didn''t slow down, the price did not shoot up and kept creeping up 10 gold coins at a time. Finally, the bidding seemed to reach the end at 425 gold coins when one person only increased the price by one gold coin at a time. Greyson was extremely excited by the price and was already standing to wait for the hammer to land and for him to go down and receive the money. However, right at that moment... "500!" A surprisingly young voice called out. In shock, Greyson could not even compute what had just happened for a moment. Snapping out of his daze, he looked in the direction of the voice to see the origin. When he looked over, he saw a young teenage girl of probably around 13-14 years old. She was definitely beautiful with dark gray wavy locks of hair down to her waist and stormy gray eyes to match. However, there was nothing weak about her. Fully suited, she stood straight like a soldier at attention exuding a charisma hard to resist. Everyone''s eyes were attracted towards her for her looks and from the surprising amount she had just offered. "Hey, hey! Isn''t that the girl adopted by the Argentum family?" "Yeah! Eden Ley right? I heard she has a quarter dragon bloodline or something and inherited the draconic talent for finding treasures. She must be treated really well, though, to have that kind of money." "Hah? That''s because you''re not aware. She''s just treated like a glorified dog to sniff out treasures for the family. I hear she is always getting sent to dangerous places and almost dying which is why she trained so hard to become strong." "Really?" The whispers of gossip entered into Greyson''s ears and he could not help but feel his heart ache for the girl. He was also of mixed blood. If he later awakened a talent like that, would he be captured and used that way too? As an orphan he knew that all that they really wanted was a real family, however, this one was obviously just using her and she could only accept it. Maybe it was empathy of a similar abandonment, Greyson couldn''t help but feel sadness looking at the girl''s strong posture. Not flinching at the words of the audience, the girl continued looking at the auctioneer as if indicating why the woman wasn''t continuing. Seeing the nonverbal cue, the auctioneer then shouted out to the audience again. "500! 500 going once? 500 going twice?..." She paused for dramatic effect while luring for someone to shout out again, but she was met with silence. Slightly disappointed, she quickly recovered as she knew that 500 gold coins for a painting by an unknown was an extremely great deal. "500 gold coins! Sold to Ms. Ley of the Argentum family!" The girl''s serious eyes lit up as she stared at the painting that was approaching her. Affection for the painting was obvious from her expression. Looking at her sincerity, Greyson felt a type of relief that his painting went to the right person. Although he wanted to sell the painting well, he was worried that it would get bought by someone who just wanted to say he had the painting but would let it rot away in some corner. A piece of his heart was inside the painting and he hoped whoever owned it would have a real appreciation for the painting. Continuing to stare at the girl, Greyson felt an odd connection to her. Suddenly he just shook his head scoffing, for what reason could he feel connected to some stranger? Taking one last look at the girl, he turned his attention away and decided to head to the private room to wait for his money. Nothing at the auction was catching his eye and it wasn''t in his nature to just spend everything he has now that he could make more money. 55 Ugh, Canst You Just Leave Me Alone?! Walking towards side room outside the auction theater, Greyson felt excited just thinking of the sudden money he was coming into. Although the auction house was taking 50 gold coins, that was still 450 gold coins! 45,000 silver coins and 4,500,000 copper coins! He used to be a boy who thought a couple hundred copper coins was already a fortune, let alone having a couple hundred gold coins. He almost felt a little emotional thinking how far he has come after a couple of years. He got to the room first and could not control his impatience. Slowly going crazy while he waited, Greyson decided to calm himself using meditation. Slowly concentrating on his breathing, the extra thoughts in his mind were slowly cast out as he concentrated on just absorbing the mana. After he entered this state, the excess energy left him and he could finally calm down. Time flowed like water, before his concentration was broken by a couple light knocks on the door. Calmly opening his eyes, he looked over at the door to see the same Manager Swan from before. "I told you your painting was popular." She grinned with a hint of excitement thinking of the amount the painting ended up selling for. As someone involved in the process with the painter, she would get some credit for how well the sale went. "Yes, even I was shocked and I was the one who painted it." Lightly smiling, Greyson mocked his inability to even assess his own painting''s worth. This experience made him realize that he really had not payed any attention to that part of the business. His teachers always helped him find gigs, jobs, or sell his paintings for him. Not ever experiencing things for himself only proved his ignorance in the subject. Maybe it was good to leave his teachers so that he could experience these little hardships and grow. "Well, onto the official business of today. This bag contains the 450 gold coins. You can keep the spatial bag it''s within. Those are not too expensive as they are only practical for holding money, but are too small for every day needs." She passed over the small bag in her hands to Greyson. Sitting down for a cup of tea, Manager Swan looked as if she wanted to mention something but was unfortunately interrupted by a panicking servant. The young man looked completely flustered before walking over to whisper something in the manager''s ear. At first Manager Swan looked completely displeased by the servant''s lack of decorum, however, her face soon followed suit with his. "Something urgent has come up in the auction house, Mr. Silver Dragon. I''m afraid I will have to hurry out and postpone any talks for today." Bowing deeply, she apologized looking upset by the change in situations. "No, of course, I understand! Go do what you need to do, I need to head back to my room anyways." Greyson had no real desire to talk with the woman any longer, so he was actually glad that some problem had pulled away her attention. Merchants were the hardest people to deal with as they were always looking for the best profits not to live moral lives. Who knows when one would try to take advantage of him. It would be better to steer clear of them. The first day of the exam was tomorrow, so Greyson quickly left the auction house and bought some essentials for the possible outdoor exam and decided to go to the inn early and get a good night''s rest before the exam. Being well rested would definitely be best for his stress levels. A lot of nervous excitement coursed through his body all night, so his early sleeping plan did not pan out as expected. He just could not fall asleep from the anxious energy he felt. After bragging about getting into the school to Sister Lily and the other kids plus his teachers'' expectations, he felt there was no other option other than passing. Confidence in his talent was one thing, but he was really afraid of becoming complacent. There was a lot more talent in this kingdom then in the Dalia Kingdom, so he had to keep himself cautious. ... Groaning, Greyson had to convince himself to get out of bed in the morning after barely falling asleep. How was it already morning? He felt like he finally shut his eyes just a little while ago. Still half-asleep, Greyson grabbed his clothes and started to slowly dress himself. He wore a normal blue linen tunic tied with a brown leather belt, pants, and his old leather boots. It was casual but extremely comfortable and dexterous which he believed was the most important. He looked outside, but the sunlight made the previous drowsiness disappear. He was running late! Grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder and hooking his scabbard onto his belt, Greyson ran out the doors. Lucius did not have the chance to hop onto Greyson''s shoulders before the boy rushed out the doors, so he could only grunt with annoyance and run to follow. He made it to the Aurora Academy gates with a little time to spare. The imperial capital city had multiple academies in the city, however, the most prestigious and hardest to get into was the Aurora Academy as it was a rank 4 academy in the Moon Empire. In the empire, there was a scale for ranking the power and ability to teach for each academy. Dalia Academy was rank 7, the lowest, and any other academies in the Dalia kingdom or tier three kingdoms were not even ranked. Rank 4 was the highest ranking for tier one kingdoms because only the top three kingdoms and the main area of the empire have more than one Great Magister level magician. There was also the Idris Military Academy that was well-known for those who wanted to become palace officials or military leaders. There was still a focus on magic, but they also took classes on war strategy and tactics and learn about the law or politics. It was rank 5. A couple more rank 5-7 schools were present in the Idris Kingdom. Greyson knew right away after reading that information that he would only aim for the best. Aurora Academy was his goal. *CLANG!* A loud bell rang which caught the audiences attention and silenced them. Following the origin of the sound, everyone''s eyes fell onto surprisingly young-looking man. From his outer appearance, he looked to be in his mid-20s or so, however, he was most likely a magister and his aging had slowed down. Coldly glancing at the crowd, he scanned young faces full of expectation. Inwardly, he was shaking his head and sighing though. Most likely not even 25% of these children would pass the first round. Their exam happened only once every three years, so a good amount of kids who want to join keep adding up before the exam. "I am the Head Examiner. I will not give my name as most of you will not have the ability to enter the school, so it would be pointless for you to know. I will now explain the three stages of the exam. There is around 500 of you here today. The first stage will take place in the Faded Mist Woods not too far away from here. The exam will last for 3 days. You must hunt 10 magic beasts of your same level and 20 of a level below you. The beast cores of your kills will be the evidence. Examiners will follow you around and grade your abilities. We will not prohibit teams or attacking others to steal their beast cores. However, we do prohibit killing other participants. If we discover you have killed someone then you will be handed over to the family of the deceased for their handling even if it means we have to disable your magic so they can torture you to their hearts content." Eyes flashing with murderous intention, the man made all the children all feel a shiver run down their spine. "The second stage is fairly straight forward. You will be tested on your secondary professions, as long as they are up to standard then you pass this stage. I would not get your hopes up though, the standard is very high. As for the third stage, I am sure you all are familiar as it is the same every year. By the third stage, you have all made it into the academy, however, for rewards and possible discipleship under the higher-ups of the academy then participation in the third stage is necessary. It will be basic tournament battle. Match-ups are random and once you are defeated you are out. Don''t underestimate the importance of this round just because it does not determine your getting into the academy. A huge difference exists between being a general student taught in large classes by one teacher whereas if you become a personal disciple of a head teacher, the principal, or a Protector it will be one on one learning and much more in depth. The general teachers are also only advance level magicians whereas the head teachers, principal, and Protectors are all magister level magicians." Pausing, he looked into the audience and could tell by the burning passion in their eyes, they all had understood the difference. "This is all I will say. We will start teleporting you all to the edge of the forest. Those who go first will see a checkpoint flag with another teacher. Wait there until everyone arrives." Finishing his explanation of the stages, the head examiner turned and pointed to an open space with a large circle sigil carved into the ground. Six other smaller circles were carved around the large circle and inside each smaller circle was a teacher. The first group walked into the circle and then the teachers channeled their magic into the teleportation circle. Once the mana gathered and the circle lit up, the children inside had all disappeared. Greyson couldn''t help widening his mouth in surprise, he had never witnessed such a grand use of teleportation circles. He also felt that it was such a shame that, of his many elements, the spatial element is not one he can control. Otherwise he could teleport right out of dangerous situations himself. He did know, however, that the spell took a lot of mana so he could hardly teleport more than a couple feet with his power, spatial magic is one that is almost completely useless in teleporting people until the magician''s level passes the magister level. Group by group went into the circle and were teleported away. Each teleportation had a swap of the people channeling mana, so Greyson could assume that using the teleportation circle required pretty enormous amounts of mana. He was part of the last group that would leave. Once he stepped into the circle he felt a certain excitement as this was different from being teleported up a bunch of floors. They were going to travel hundreds of miles away to the forest. He said the forest was "close" but it was at least a day''s ride away, maybe half a day if one flew. Enormous mana concentration was appearing within the range of the circle before Greyson felt all his senses fail and the front of him went blank. The scene in front of his eyes blinked to black before the blue sky was apparent to him again. Used to this feeling, he quickly activated his wind magic and oriented himself so he could gracefully fall onto the ground. Around half of the children looked as though they had experienced teleportation while the other half fell straight to ground. Some eating dirt while others slammed onto their butt. A bunch of groans sounded out. Greyson couldn''t help but let out a small smile thinking of the first time he had used a teleportation circle. His teachers had laughed at him then. "Gross thing, what are you laughing at?!" A disgruntled kid next to him shouted out. Glaring with disdain at Greyson, he quickly got off the ground and dusted himself off before walking over to his friends. Although the words were insulting, Greyson just shrugged while sighing. If he were to get angry at every single arrogant and discriminating human, it would be a waste of his time. Thinking of his disguise spell, he quickly shook his head knowing he could not use it. The Principal had mentioned it before he left. Apparently, once one was a level higher than him they could notice that it was a disguise. In order to avoid suspicion, he should not activate it lest they assume he has some kind of evil intention. The Head Examiner was already at the front again and he let out a nonchalant, "Start!" before disappearing. Shocked by the suddenness, everyone was frozen before they started forming groups with their friends. Greyson knew no one, so without waiting he made a move to head into the forest. "Wait! Greyson!" A voice suddenly shouted out to him. Without even turning around Greyson vaguely recognized who it could be. Feeling a headache come up, he kept going without turning around hoping that the girl would give up. An entitled rich princess was the last thing he needed during this outdoor exam. "Hey! Don''t you hear me?! Greyson! Stop!" Speeding up every time he heard her shout, Greyson continued to run away not paying any mind to the shocked looks of others. A flash of bright red showed up in front of him causing his steps to slow to a stop. Familiar red hair and brown eyes were glaring back at him. Looking at her pink frilly dress, Greyson flashed back to that day in the forest. "Oh... Hi? Do I know you?" Not even blinking an eye, Greyson blatantly pretended not to know her. Ever since he had pretended to be mute, he had great control over his expressions. The smug smile on her face froze as she looked at him in disbelief. Was he stupid? How could he not remember her? Was she mistaken? "You''re Greyson, aren''t you?" "Greyson? Sorry, my name is Lyle." Greyson just blurted out the first name that came to him. Just as he was about to get away, Natalia noticed the familiar silver kitten on his shoulder. "Hmph! If you want to lie, you should at least hide that very telling kitten on your shoulder. What? You don''t want to meet me again?" Sighing, Greyson knew there was no escaping it this time. "Natalia Ivywood, nice to see you again..." He awkwardly began. "Nice? I''m not so sure about that anymore. I for sure was happy to see you again." "Uh... I just took a moment to remember. What are you doing here, though?" Blushing a little at the obvious lie, he tried to move on in the conversation. "Taking the exam, what else would I be doing here with the rest of the people?" She rolled her eyes before deciding to just let it go. "Hm... yes, well, good luck, I know you will definitely pass. I will get going now, as there are only so many magic beasts to go around." Indicating that he was leaving, he began to activate Wind Legs and jumped away only to realize that she was still following him. She did not say a word, so Greyson just decided to ignore her. The day slowly passed as Greyson ran around hunting magic beasts, however, every time he met a beast of his same level, Natalia would swoop in and take the final hit for the kill. As she was the one who "killed" the beast she justified stealing the cores. Not caring to fight with her about it, Greyson let it go the first couple of times. However, it continued occurring all day long even after she had swooped in and gathered more than ten. Only once was he able to get the upper hand and kill the beast in one shot so she would not take it. Patience wearing thin, Greyson took deep breaths while trying to reason with her that since she already has enough for the exam it was about time they parted ways so Greyson could finish his exam as well. Not responding and just lighting sniffing in response, she ignored his words and continued her actions. Knowing that she was just immaturely getting back at him for earlier, Greyson was seriously tempted to scream that this was why he tried running away. Who wants this annoying princess following them around that holds petty grudges but has a super family backing her up? Once day turned to night, he finally could not take it. "For the sake of my sanity, WILL YOU PLEASE STOP FOLLOWING ME?!" 56 Targeted "Whatever do you mean?" Blinking her eyes innocently, Natalia refused to admit her actions. Lookingher complete shamelessness, Greyson felt his eyes twitching. Alright, he lost. Her skin was just THAT thick. Continuing to run around in the forest, Greyson soon came across his chance. Lucius actually was the one who found this for him. The kitten had run off to who knows where at one point, but when he came back, he brought wonderful news with him. He had found a Lyra family. Lyra were fierce beasts that were extremely protective of their own. Remembering Greyson''s predicament, Lucius had lured the mother Lyra in his direction so that Natalia would kill her and become the target of the rest of the family. During this time, Greyson could slip off and run away. Eyes lighting up, Greyson felt like he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. However, soon the happiness turned to conflict. "What level are the rest of the Lyra at? Lyra are highly coveted magic beasts because of their intelligence and high level bloodline. Won''t leaving her like this put her in danger?" "All of their levels are around your level or below, so while she might have a tough time. No immediate danger should come to her." Lucius knew that Greyson was still worried, so he tried to reassure him. Keeping silent, Greyson decided to just go with it. He could see the beautiful white horse-like creature that approached. Knowing the moment had come, he started to attack the Lyra. Feeling the threat, the mother reacted with summoning an ice wall. Unfazed, Greyson shot out fire arrows breaking apart the wall and then restrained the beast with the shadows. Preparing to take the final cut with Genesis, just as he expected, Natalia shot in with a sudden wind blade that cut down the Lyra before him. Letting at a tragic wail upon its demise, the loud hoof beats started to echo in the direction of Greyson and Natalia. Grinning that the plan was working, he laughed before waving goodbye to Natalia. Whose response was confusion until she could finally see the approaching stampede of Lyra. Fading into the shadow, Greyson quickly escaped as far away as possible. "Hey! Wai..." Seeing that the target of her amusement had run off just ditching her, Natalia stomped her feet in frustration before glaring at the Lyra that had surrounded her. "It''s all your fault!" Thus, began the tragedy of the poor used Lyra... ... Once confident that Natalia would not be able to follow him, Greyson was like a fish in water while hunting in the forest. After escaping, he took advantage of the second day to get enough magic cores to pass the first stage. Of course, he didn''t stop there and continued harvesting cores to sell later. Reminded of his times at Black Hollow Forest, Greyson continued running around almost losing track of the time. By the time the third day had rolled around, Greyson was reminded by Lucius and started to head back to the direction of the starting point. "Grey, watch out!" Lucius suddenly sent out a mental warning. Reacting out of pure instinct, Greyson drew Genesis when he finally felt the incoming threat. A loud clang rang out as sword made contact with the hidden dagger. Noticing the path of the dagger was aimed towards his heart, Greyson could feel the chill of death run down his spine. However, after this momentary shock came unbridled anger. Who was trying to kill him?! Sending out a blast of wind, the trees within a 5 meter radius were cut down. A black figure hidden in one of the trees spat blood before being sent flying. Reflexes kicking in, though, he flipped in mid-air and landed on his feet. Greyson burst off into the figures direction, while the attacker decided to run away after his surprise attack had failed. "Stop!" Greyson snarled angrily. Waving his arm, the shadows surrounding the figure jumped up and tried to secure the person in place. To his surprise, the figure fazed right through the shadows as if they had no effect. A dark element magician? Without thinking further, Greyson instead used the familiar Water Cage spell. Glittering a pretty blue, Greyson summoned the snow from the ground which melted to water and enveloped the fleeing attacker. Caught in the water ball, the figure pulled out a dark and cold looking dagger and the dark element around it sliced right through the water. His spell broken so violently, Greyson held his chest as he could feel the blood flow up after the rebound from his magic. Becoming even more determined, he drew Genesis as the sword glowed green with his eyes. Slashing down, a violent wind blade followed his sword''s cut and flew towards the still running figure. The threat of the wind slash upon him, the dark magician held up his dagger and produced a sheen black shield, however, it was cracked underneath the pressure of Greyson''s Wind Blade. The remnants of Greyson''s spell managed to hit the person and left a long cut across the man''s torso. Coughing up blood, the figure could no longer run. Catching up to the attacker finally, Greyson could look closely at his features. The boy was around his age if not a little older with dark brown hair and red eyes. Although debilitated, the boy continued glaring at Greyson with enmity. "Who are you? Why would you target me? It''s one thing to attack me but it''s another to try to kill me. Didn''t you hear what the Head Examiner had said about killing other contestants?" Hearing my words, the boy just sneered without any remorse. "I saw Natalia following some disgusting thing around and felt that you were growing too arrogant, not knowing your place. Why she would fall to such a situation where she would interact with you is also beyond me." "Just for that?" Greyson felt like pounding his chest and stomping his foot at the immense misunderstanding that had taken place. Take her then! It''s not like Greyson wanted her around. Getting arrogant? I was practically begging that great personage to stop taking out her wrath on me. "Well, I could care less about your reasons, however, attacking me like that means you must pay up. I obviously can''t kill you. So I''ll just beat you up until I am satisfied." Itching to vent all his frustration and anger that had built up, Greyson realized the best punching bag had delivered himself on a silver plate. Cracking his fists, he began approaching. Finally the boy showed fear as he backed away while still holding his bleeding chest. "Wait! You wouldn''t dare touch me! I am Tille Absinthe, the second son of the main branch of the Absinthe family. If you lay a hand on me, my older brother and sister will be the first to never let you go!" "Absinthe?" Greyson paused his steps, slightly surprised. "Hmph, what scared now? Yes! Now if you just hand over your beast cores I will let this matter go." Regaining his confidence, Tille starting to arrogantly make his own demands. Narrowing his eyes, Greyson continued to observe the boy in front him. "Hm? Really? I can''t help but recall reading that the Absinthe twins have been raised as assassins since young and are extremely heartless and hold no particular feelings of familial love towards anyone except between themselves." Secretly glad he had read the first couple of reports on the families before he started skipping those sections, Greyson used his knowledge to call the boy''s bluff. After the words were spoken, the boy''s expression blanched. Knowing that he hit the nail on the head, Greyson no longer had any reservations. Smirking evilly, he slowly approached the shivering injured boy. Screams of pain and harsh sounds of beating rang out in the forest. Reaching around the boys body, Greyson had found his spatial pouch. Lucius used his spatial magic to help Greyson out and soon all of the boy''s beast cores were now part of Greyson''s collection. "Wow, so many... Maybe I should have just stolen from the other contestants. I wouldn''t have to go through any work running around looking for the right level beasts." Before long he burst out laughing over his gains and left the poor young master passed out on the forest floor. ... The morning of the fourth day had finally rolled around and the three days of time were over. Greyson quickly made his way to queue in line to hand in the correct amount of beast cores. All the children back to the entrance of the Faded Mist Woods. Only about half of the kids passed the exam while the other half had looked to fail their exam. Some made protests saying they would have passed if they could have met enough beasts of their level, however, they had no luck. It was not fair for the academy to eliminate them based on their luck instead of their strength. However, the Head Examiner had no sympathy. "Luck is a part of strength. If you have no luck, then you may never reach the magister level no matter how hard you try." Not even trying to comfort them, he spat those two lines before walking away and no longer listening to the complaining children. Among the failed group was a familiar face who glared at him with murderous intent abound. The hate reflected in his eyes was equivalent to the hate for the murderer of his family. Apparently Tille did not have enough time to recover and hunt for beast cores to pass the exam. Shaking his head, Greyson was not sure whether he regretted beating up Tille. Maybe he should have just let him off with the cut on his chest? After thinking about it, though, the guilt was gone. If Lucius had not warned him and his reflexes were not fast enough, that dagger could have stabbed his heart and killed him. He only caused the kid to fail the exam. That was nothing compared to murdering him. "Those who have failed, know that there will be no change in this result. You may leave." Waving his hand in dismissal, the Head Examiner had the teachers to force them to leave. Tille continued glaring at Greyson until Greyson finally decided to look over at him. Once he looked over, he saw the other boy mouth words of threat. Reading his lips, Greyson understood. "You. Will. Pay. For. This." Although the Absinthe family was powerful, Greyson just shrugged. Tille was not very powerful or talented compared to the family''s standards, so he did not believe that the retribution he was threatened with would come. No longer paying attention to the boy, Greyson turned his attention back to the Head Examiner who was making the announcement for the second stage of the exam. "Congratulations on passing the first stage. Not many of you will probably be up to par for the second stage, so I would not be too excited." Like a bucket of cold water, his words pretty much drowned out any feelings of pride and happiness for passing the first stage. "The second stage is as I explained before. All of you will demonstrate your skill level in your secondary occupation. You will all be transported back to the academy and there you will see different stations testing different occupations. If you have more than one secondary occupation, you can test for all of them, however, it is not required. It also might hurt your chances as well. We do not look towards the fact that you know how to do a lot of things, only towards the skill level. If you have more than one occupation however are incompetent in them all then that just shows you are fickle and do not have the correct attitude. At the same time, if you are equally magnificent in your multiple occupations it will prove your talent towards the academy teachers." After explaining this, he disappeared once again and all of the testers were split into groups and ushered into a teleportation circle again. "Lu, should I not test in all of them then?" "I''m not sure. I think you should test all of them. Your talent and skill level in all of them is noteworthy in my opinion." "You think?...Well I''ll first test for the blacksmith occupation and take a look at the other tests to try to see if I am up to par." 57 Just this? Greyson was nervous about his professions. A lot of the noble children started with a profession extremely early so their foundation would be very sturdy and they could improve faster as they get older. Comparatively, he knew his start was much later, however, his teachers had reassured that his progress was steady yet quick. Some basic questions could stump him as he did not learn just theory long enough, but in actual practical representation of skill he would not lose out to any of the kids. Looking around to all the tests, Greyson could finally let out the breath he was holding. Worried that the test would be a written exam on the foundation knowledge and theory of the occupation, he could not help but worry that he was not prepared enough. However, it seems the school just assumed everyone had that kind of knowledge and went straight to testing their actual skill level. As he looked at the blacksmith test, any blacksmith who could refine an average tier two equipment with no special combination of symbols. "Hm? Is this it? That''s the baseline ability?" Greyson felt confused as he assumed that any young genius would be able to reach that level only to see a majority failing as they could only create peak tier one tools or inferior tier two tools. He was not aware that Thraec had not wanted to inflate Greyson''s ego so he had purposely downplayed any accomplishments. Therefore, until now, Greyson did not have a proper gauge of where he stood in comparison to other kids his age. Looking at the disappointment and the shoddy work of the other children, he finally started to get a inkling that Old Man Thraec had not been completely honest with him. At the same time, though, this lie only made Greyson feel pleasantly surprised than upset. He was not vain. Praise was not what he needed nor what he craved. Arrogance and pride beget complacency. Seeing the lousy ability of the other, Greyson''s confidence level shot up as he quickly got in line to test. Getting in line rather quickly, he managed to squeeze into the middle groups. Watching turn after turn and failure after failure, Greyson felt a pain in his heart looking to all the wasted materials and even wasted scraps that instead of melted down were just thrown away into a large waste bin. He was tempted to speak out saying he would take everything but it was too late and those waste metals were all taken away. Painfully waiting for his chance, Greyson barely paid attention to the children who were going before him. "Hm?" Just as he was feeling that this was a waste of time, he watched as another girl skillfully started engraving into a normal sword. The sword she had made was nothing to look at, however, Greyson could tell that she was really talented with engraving. The symbols were all low level tier three and her concentration and steadiness gave Greyson the impression she was not overextending herself. Nodding to himself, he praised her ability. She was superimposing a lightness wind symbol and a flexible water symbol. Although the beginning weapon was inferior, the engraving would ensure that it would be an impressive flexible sword that was good for any person who focused more on the speed and softness of the sword. Tier three was when symbols started to split off into many smaller subdivisions instead of just the elements. After reading the book the old man had given him, Greyson felt the world was opened more to him. A symbol for endurance from the earth element, combustion symbol from the fire element, from simple to complicated, tier three was only the beginning. At this point, Greyson was not the only one who noticed that the unassuming girl was a truly talented blacksmith. Judges and students alike were looking at her work with a brightness to their eyes. A bright light burst out that signified the successful completion of her engravings. Legs giving out from underneath her, the girl plopped onto the ground while wiping her sweat in exhaustion. Taking a closer look at her, Greyson assumed she was similar in age to him. Her presence was negligible and her looks were average with chestnut brown locks and green eyes and cute freckles around her nose. One look and everyone could see her shy and slightly weak demeanor. No wonder no one had noticed her at first. "Passed! What is your name, young one?" The head judge of the blacksmiths spoke out with a kind demeanor. It was the first time he had done something other than scowl at the awful show of talent. Smiling warmly, he approached the girl as if the clouds had finally cleared. However, his sunny demeanor did not assist him in communicating with the girl. Trembling, she was in shock from the moment he spoke out and started approaching her. Only after a long silence did she finally whisper an answer. "Ly, Lydia, sir." Slightly stuttering, her small voice escaped her mouth. The kind smile on the head judge''s face slightly cracked as he looked at how terrified the girl was. Was he that scary looking? Able to look right through the judge''s expression, Greyson lightly chuckled at his expense. Poor man, this girl was probably just painfully introverted. "Well, Lydia, this is your badge for the blacksmith association within the Aurora Academy. You can take the other examinations or just wait to that side where the rest of the kids who passed are standing." Giving her an awkward smile, he held out his hand that revealed a gold badge with three dashes on it signifying her tier while pointing to the open area where there were already around 10 kids waiting around. All the failed children looked at that badge with envy while Lydia did not make much of a move at all. Seconds ticked by and the outstretched hand was slowly lowering with each one. After what seemed like at least a couple minutes of silence did Lydia suddenly snatch the badge and scurry off to the other group of waiting children without a word. Face twitching, the head judge was in between wanting to get angry and cry. Even though he could tell she didn''t mean it, this was a pretty loud slap in the face for her to treat him this way. The other judges just snickered in amusement at his predicament. Giving a wry smile, Greyson shook his head while holding his laughter in. What an amusing girl, this Lydia. After this episode passed, the atmosphere went back to normal. A couple of other kids passed but no one stood out or had stepped into the tier three level. By the time it was midday, Greyson stepped up for his turn at last. Everyone was given average materials to make a mold of whatever tool they desired. The real test was the engraving at the end. During the long wait, Greyson had decided to make a magic whip. A normal weapon would not be a challenge for himself and his level was at a point where he was not worried about failing the exam. "You may begin!" The head judge called out. Once his voice had resounded, all of the kids got to work right away. Choosing the flexible Silk Silver that was aptly named due to its flexible and malleable nature. It was a perfect metal to create a whip. For the handle, he chose regular Rock Iron. It was a basic metal, but it was the perfect for a thinner and smaller handle as it was dense and hard in contrast to the whip. Watching his selection, the judges finally sat up a little. Of all the participants, 95% of them chose to create a basic sword and then placed all their focus in trying to engrave the symbols to the best of their ability since that was the most important part of the exam. They couldn''t help but feel that this young half-elf boy was rather gutsy to try something like a whip. An hour passed by quickly and Greyson already finished the whip. Although the metals used were nothing special, the whip still came out nicely. However, it had come to the most important part: engraving. For such a flexible weapon, Greyson decided to use a branch of the earth element which was metal. It was a sharpness symbol that would make the whip like a knife and cut through its target. He also included a freeze symbol from the water element and a slice symbol from the wind element. When all these symbols combined it would make this whip a middle level tier three magic tool. When the whip touched anything it could freeze it and cut it apart like a knife and the slice would allow the user to project wind slices by waving the whip. Even Greyson was excited for how this weapon would turn out since this was the first time that he was engraving onto a weapon. Earlier, he would only practice carving symbols into the air so he would be familiar with the motions. He took a long breath before opening his eyes and beginning. The judges and other kids in the surroundings had all become distracted by Greyson and stopped paying attention to the other contestants. "Such talent! That tool will definitely be at least a middle level tier three weapon and that is mostly because the metal used were too inferior." An older judge remarked. "Yes, for such a young boy, this level is extremely impressive." "Hahaha, looks like our blacksmith association will be gaining the most talents this time around." The head judge was grinning from ear to ear thinking of how he would brag later. After his comment, all the judges smiled and nodded along. In the academy, resources were scarce. Not because the kingdom was poor, but because there were just too many school and students. Only the geniuses gained focus and, in the academy, only associations which showed promise would gain the most resources. Lately the blacksmith association was waning compared to past years. The physician association had a genius light and fire magician who could create pills and heal. They received the most support as of late. While the painting association did not have talents per se, most of the female noble children chose painting as their second occupation which would cause their parents to fund the association. Under the table, the painting association was probably the richest from all the shady dealing they did with the families of their students. Greyson and Lydia were both blacksmiths with high potential. He could only imagine the future boost the both of them would give the academy. While all the judges were stuck in their happy imaginations, Greyson had almost finished his engravings. Although he had practiced the motions, actually performing was much harder. A cold sweat ran down his back as he kept pushing through. Even panicking a little, Greyson was worried about his mana. Tier three engraving required much more mana and mental energy than tier two. Before this time, he had not thought about this difference so he didn''t save mana as he should have. Just the last couple of lines for the last wind symbol was left but his mana was spilling out. Keeping his hand as steady as he could, the last line was finally drawn while the whip lit up. Floating in the air, the symbols soon spread out across the whip while the body turned silver and the engravings turned black. When the whip lightly landed back onto the table, it was a beautiful and sleek sliver whip with black carvings spread out across the body. Truly a great piece of work. In contrast to all the audience looking on with awe, Greyson had collapsed onto the ground slightly gasping for breath. Too close. He was way too close to failing earlier. What would have happened if he had failed? Suddenly he realized that he had been to arrogant earlier. This test was extremely important, it would not have changed anything if he had chosen an easier weapon and only one or two symbols instead of three. In his desire to be first in this exam and gain the attention of the association, he took too many risks. Thankfully, everything worked out and the originality of his choices had definitely caught the attention of the judges. Looking at the excitement in their expressions, Greyson silently let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off his brow. He would have to be more prudent and careful during the other exams, especially because his skill was not as high in the other two as they were based less on talent in magic. "This piece is wonderful! Boy, I wonder if you would be willing to allow the association to auction this weapon out? We only take 3% of the earnings, however it would still boost our and your reputations. What do you think?" The head judge was the first to approach and suddenly spoke of a deal. Taken aback by his suggestion, Greyson was silent in thought before he remembered to respond. The head judge on the other hand was almost crying on the inside. Why were all the geniuses this year so strange? Was this one not going to talk either? "Sir Judge, I would really appreciate if the association would sell this whip on my behalf. I would not know what to do with it afterwards, anyways." Greyson spoke up quickly after thinking it through. Realizing Greyson had just been thinking, the head judge was relieved and quickly responded in turn. "Of course, of course. Child, you can call me Grandpa Allan. I''m not a real stickler for etiquette. What is your name?" "Greyson, Sir, er... Grandpa Allan." Greyson was not completely comfortable calling the man by this, however, for lack of a better way to address him, he decided to go along with it for now. While they were having this conversation, however, the rest of the audience was in shock. Grandpa Allan?! This was the Grandmaster Blacksmith of the association! A tier five blacksmith! Don''t look at the two level separating them as small. Each tier took longer and longer to advance from the higher one got. He might seem like a kind older man now, however, everyone knew that he was in fact a shrewd tiger. His skills were extremely coveted so he would always milk all the families of their savings before finally doing them a favor and creating a magic tool for them. Everyone decided that they must become good friends with this Greyson since the Grandmaster looked so kindly upon him. "Greyson, is it? Great! Well here is your badge, and you can go stand over there with Lydia." Handing him an identical badge to Lydia''s from earlier, Allan pointed over to where Lydia was sitting. Taking the badge carefully, Greyson actually shook his head. "Actually, I am going to take the test for other occupations as well." He explained. "Other occupations? You actually know other ones?" "Yes, I am also a musician and a painter." "Hmm... the other exams are just as challenging to pass as this one. It might be better to only take this one to keep your record clean. All the results from the second stage are turned in, so if you don''t do well on those exams it will show up when the examiners are looking through yours." Allan was worried because he saw Greyson''s ability as a blacksmith which led him to believe he did not focus enough on his other occupations. If those other two were not up to par him taking the exams would only have a negative impact. "Thank you for the advice. I am aware of this, however, I have enough confidence to at least try." Greyson really was thankful that the head judge had cared enough to say something, however, he was adamant in at least looking at the difficulty. He had not yet reached a point where he thought he should just give the other two occupations up. "Well, alright... If you have made up your mind. Make sure to come over to the association after the tournament is over!" The head judge looked worried still but he no longer held Greyson back. Sometimes setbacks are also good for geniuses. The younger they were, the more they had to learn so they would not become arrogant. 58 New Friend Without waiting any longer, Greyson walked over to the painting exam station. He continued looking around wondering what the level was like. To his surprise, the paintings were much more high level than he previously assumed. The amount of talent in the painting association was surprisingly high. "Hey~Grey, looks like you also paint?" A young girl''s voice spoke out. Feeling a chill down his spine, Greyson recognized the owner of the voice right away. Slightly scowling, he forced himself to smile politely before turning around. "Ah, Natalia, what a surprise..." He feigned happiness as much as he could. "Hmmm... well that''s no fun, I was hoping you would be a bit more surprised." Natalia''s mouth formed a cute pout which caught the attention of the surrounding boys. Uncomfortable with the attention, Greyson tried to speak a few words politely before walking away. Only, to his chagrin, she continued to follow. "Yes, do you need something from me?" He finally asked while turning to face her again. "What can''t a walk with you? I want to be friends, that''s what. Am I not allowed? Do you hate me?" With glittering tears in her eyes, Natalia gave him her killer puppy dog look. The crowd suddenly looked at Greyson with envy and hate. However, unbeknownst to the crowd, Greyson could clearly see the evil mischievous look in her eyes behind the feigned sadness. How many times had he also taken advantage of his looks and given this "pity me" expression. He wasn''t falling for it. She was obviously trying to purposefully give him a hard time, but he was not going to let her get away with it that easily. "Yes, I don''t like you nor do I want to be friends with you. Why, can''t I feel that way? Are you forcing me to become your friend? You''ve been following me around all day, could it be that you have developed some sort of obsession with me?" Shooting back sharp rhetorical questions, Greyson looked back at her with a knowing look. Stunned, Natalia forgot to keep the pitiful expression and the tears quickly dried while her cute expression cracked slightly. "Urk... No, how could that be? I just thought we would get along, but if that''s how you feel then it''s fine. Hohohoho, well I will see you around I guess." She continued smiling gracefully, but if one looked closely they could see her gritting her teeth in hate. Forcing a laugh out, she waved goodbye and walked out of sight. That brat! That brat! THAT STUPID JERK! Once she was away from the crowd, Natalia started stomping her feet angrily after suffering such a loss. She would for sure get him back... ... Slightly sensing her irritation, Greyson was inwardly cracking up. Hmph! Serves her right, that entitled princess! How could he not know that she has been continually giving him a hard time? She obviously knows all about her fans that would envy him to death for having caught her attention. At the same time, though, the only reason he came off so aggressively was because he could also see that she wasn''t actually that bad of a person. Otherwise, she would have tried using her background to intimidate him like all the other annoying noble children. "Uhm... You... you shouldn''t have spoken to her like that... You''re going to get in trouble with those other noble children who like her." A timid voice suddenly spoke up behind him. The kid''s volume was barely enough for Greyson to hear him, so the rest didn''t notice him. Turning around, Greyson locked eyes with a jumpy looking child. Looking closely, the child was around ten probably. He was dressed in rather simple clothes compared to the gaudy nobles that matched his slightly introverted posture. The atmosphere around him was anything but threatening or arrogant like normal geniuses. "It''s probably fine. She is not as bad as the others when it comes to retaliating her grievances. If anything it has become a little game between us to get one over on the other." Smiling happily, Greyson explained a little. Normally he wouldn''t bother, but he had a good first impression of this boy. He had said something just in case Greyson was not aware of the situation and looked worried, most people would just watch while laughing at other''s misfortune. "O-okay, well, if you say so..." Hearing Greyson''s words, the young boy just nodded while still looking uneasy. "What''s your name?" Curious towards this younger talented child, Greyson couldn''t help but keep the conversation going. "N-name? Ronan Whitefield. And you?" Ronan stuttered nervously. "Greyson. Just Greyson, no last name. Nice to meet you." "Uh ye-yes, nice to meet you too!" Finally smiling a bit, Ronan''s face lit up. He was a rather good-looking boy with black hair and grey eyes, but he was pale and scrawny like someone who had not gone out of the house a lot. "Are you a painter, as well?" Greyson asked. "Yes, I am. I assume you are a painter, too then?" "Yes! How long have you been learning?" "Well my parents are both famous painters, so they have been teaching me to paint since I was born. How about you?" "Me? Well honestly, I started learning three years ago." "Oh, I see, three years... Wait, what?! Three years? Are you sure you want to take this exam, then? Oh, I don''t mean to insult you, it''s just that this exam is really hard to pass without years of experience. Most of these kids have been learning since birth until now." After slightly freaking out, Ronan quickly backtracked after realizing how rude his words sounded. Greyson, however, had taken no offense. He knew that Ronan hadn''t meant to disparage him. Three years truly was not a lot of time to claim to have learned something. This was another reason that Greyson felt slightly worried about taking the painting and music exams. But, he rarely sincerely challenges himself so he wanted to put himself in a less certain situation to get a handle of his skill level compared to the other talented people of his generation. Maybe he won''t get first, but he was still fairly confident he would at least pass. "Three years? What an embarrassment. A mutt like you should just keep your head down and quietly pass the exam without trying to overreach yourself. What could you possible understand about painting in that short of a time. You should just spare yourself the shame and get lost." One of the kids near Ronan and Greyson overheard their conversation and spoke out with clear disdain on his face. "You! You shouldn''t say things like that!" Turning slightly red, Ronan still put effort into raising his voice to sound tough. However, he still came off very weak. The effort, though, was very appreciated as Greyson felt comforted to see someone defending him. He quietly smiled before his face turned completely cold as he glared at the boy who had spoken up earlier. "What are you looking at?" The boy sneered. "At the idiot who is talking to himself like some mental case." Greyson slowly spoke. "What do you mean, I''m obviously speaking to you!" "Oh? If I remember correctly, no one was speaking to you. Isn''t that right, Ronan?" "Huh? Oh, yes!" "So it appears you just suddenly spoke out and barged into someone else''s conversation. Were you feeling lonely since no one was bothering to speak to you, so you felt inclined to force your way in? You should mind your own business if that''s the case. Just because you don''t have enough talent to pass the exam after only learning for three years does not mean that everyone else is as incompetent as you." "What did you say?! Incompetent?! Well then why don''t we go up and take the exam together? If I make a better painting, you have to kneel down and apologize!" "No, thanks." "Hmph! You''re just a coward who is all bark and no bite. Scared you will lose and embarrass yourself?" "How many years have you been learning to paint?" Greyson suddenly changed the subject. "8 years! Why?" "So you have been learning to paint for 5 more years than me and yet you want to have a competition? How ridiculous. Are you so untalented that you need to compete with people that much more inexperienced than you to win? Well, sorry, but I don''t have time to waste with trash like you." "Trash?! YOU..." "Ronan, let''s just go. It''s our turn to take the exam anyways." Without even waiting for the other boy to finish, Greyson started walking away since the last batch of testers had finished. "Uh, ok-okay." Still in shock over the verbal battle which just occurred, Ronan was slightly dazed as he followed Greyson over. "Hey, wait, you..." Feeling completely humiliated, the boy angrily followed as well. Ronan and Greyson sat next to each other with a canvas placed in front of them while the other boy sat behind them. "Well let''s just see how good you are to act so arrogantly!" He snorted. ... "Greyson, will it be okay?" Ronan whispered over. "What? Him? Yeah, it''s fine. I don''t really care about those kinds of annoying people anyways." Before Ronan could get another word in, the head examiner started to speak about the exam topic and rules. "Ahem! Using the tools that are provided in front of you, we want you to paint according to what comes to mind when thinking of the topic which will be revealed. The judges will look at your painting after a time limit of two hours. Obviously this is barely any time since we are restricted by the exam allotted time and amount of people who need to be tested, so the topic will be simple and it''s not expected to be perfection. We are grading more from the feeling we receive from it. Can your painting inspire us? That is how we will be grading." "The topic will be ''Peace.'' You may begin." He ended while flipping over a time keeper. As he finished speaking, Ronan finally concentrated and the entire atmosphere around him changed. From the airy and shy kid, he changed into a serious and solemn demeanor once he picked up the brush. Next to him, Greyson witnessed and felt this abrupt change and started to look forward to the end result. "It seems he is a lot more talented then he lets on." Happy in the face a competition, Greyson started concentrating as well. Peace... What would be good to paint? He thought about when he felt most at peace and the answer came to him surprisingly fast. When he was in meditation, all other things on his mind disappear and he can only breathe along with the world. It is an inexplicable feeling of returning to nature. But, how would he paint that? After a moment''s hesitation, Greyson suddenly began moving while shocking the other contestants around him as he splattered black paint all over the blank canvas until it was all completely black. Although the other contestant were shaking their heads not knowing what Greyson was up to, he continued concentrating. Soon he picked up the seven colors of the elements and creating sparkling dots all over the now black canvas. At first the dots were so tiny that it would be impossible for others to understand what they mean, but as time kept ticking on closer and closer to the two hour mark, a large path began to take form. One long curvy strip across the canvas that was made from tiny dots of the seven colors of Greyson''s elements. He wanted to draw what he saw while he meditated which was a stream of the elements coming into his body. As the surrounding people and the judges continued to look, the more they were amazed. It was an extremely beautiful yet tranquil painting. Simple, yet charming. Just a wave of color in the night sky, however, they really did feel absorbed and at peace looking at the simplicity of the painting. What a way to encompass the topic! Even the head examiner was nodding his head along seemingly impressed. Greyson finished a little early as his painting was not extremely difficult, the only reason it took longer was the heart that he was trying to put into his painting that would convey the peace he was drawing. He could see the nods of approval and took a breath with relief. Finally finished, he felt a weight off his shoulders and took the time to look over at Ronan''s drawing. The minute he laid eyes on the painting next to him, he could not take them back. Noticing Greyson''s attention to his neighbor''s painting, everyone else was naturally drawn over as well. More and more people began looking in Ronan''s direction before the head examiner finally yelled. "Stop, time is finished!" With his words, Ronan finally placed down the brush leaving his masterpiece out in the open. It was simple. Just a cottage with a tiny plot of farmland behind it. A little run down but just so warming to look at. His painting was so life-like that Greyson could almost swear the tall grass plains around the house were swaying in the wind. It was breath-taking. At this point, Greyson couldn''t help but feel ashamed of his own incompetence. He had lost out in painting ability. However, it was less upsetting and more humbling as Greyson liked Ronan and appreciated his talent. His ability to breathe life into his paintings was amazing, Greyson was still stuck in the canvas. Others would look at his painting and feel the emotion, however, that was it. They still saw the painting as just a picture. Ronan''s paintings gave one the feeling of stepping into the scene that they have drawn. "Ronan, it''s amazing! I have really been humbled by your ability." Greyson remarked smiling. "Oh no, I''m not that good. I should be at this point thinking of how much time my parents spent teaching me. You have only been learning three years and you already can paint at this level, you will soon catch up to me." Ronan looked flustered by the compliments and denied them modestly. "Me? I will most likely never catch up." "Huh? Why would you think that?" "Because I am not dedicated enough. I have too many interests and other things to learn and do other than concentrate on painting. I think this is why I will probably never be able to catch up to the you who will focus solely on improving your painting ability." Greyson knew best that he split too much time between the three occupations to overtake Ronan in painting. He was not saying he wouldn''t improve, he would just not improve as fast as Ronan was assuming. 59 Center of Attention While Ronan and Greyson had been exchanging compliments, the head examiner had made his way over. He had their respective badges in his hands signifying their passing grades for the painting association test. "Congratulations to you both! So young, yet so talented. You guys will be the new shining stars of our association and take it to new heights. I can already tell that you both are meant for greatness looking at your ages, magic level, and painting ability..." He continued droning on without even bothering to ask for their names. Unlike Grandmaster Allen, this head examiner did not come off as sincere at all. Instead he had a wily fox-like gleam in his eyes and a servile posture that looked like he would kiss up to anyone with power. Seeing through the man''s demeanor, Greyson did not respond at all to the man and just accepted the badge with a nod. Ronan, however, felt trapped by the sudden burst of the man''s words that were praising him to the high heavens. He could only innocently blush while trying his best to deny the claims. Completely bored with the pointless exchanging of pleasantries, Greyson had long drowned out the man''s words. His brain was turning through ideas on how to quickly leave without coming off too offensively. However, he was soon distracted when he saw some sneaky movement in the crowd. Spotting the face along with the body, his eyes filled with an evil glint and a smirk formed on his face. "Oh, no, where ever did Mr. 8-years-of-experience go? I so was hoping that he could give his advice to 3-years-of-experience me. I know I still have much to learn from him." His voice practically dripping with sarcasm, the poisonous words suddenly drew the crowd''s attention back to the young boy who spoke out earlier. Some people showed sympathy while others were smiling at other''s misfortune. Said boy, pretended he did not hear Greyson''s words and continued sneaking away. Staying would only be inviting more humiliation on himself, especially since some people would recognize his name and know which painting is his. To be fair, his painting ability was really not bad, however, he had been so distracted looking at Ronan and Greyson that his painting for the exam was done haphazardly and distracted. When he finally came to and looked at his work after the head examiner had yelled that time was up, he could only think of quickly leaving. Just as he had believed he had quietly left with no one noticing, he heard the words of that half-elf and almost just died at that moment. Feeling the blood rushing to his head and his eyes turning red, the boy took a deep breath and controlled his anger. Leaving only one last murderous glare towards Greyson, he humphed before turning around. It would not be over with just this! ... "Hm?" Although he could not be sure, Greyson had instinctively felt killing intent towards himself. Sneering inwardly, he could already guess who that look had come from. However, he was now an accepted student of the academy and he believed he would be able to stick out as a talented student above most of the others. This would grab the attention of those higher up in the academy who would in turn protect him. What could a random kid like that do to him? Finally, noticing Greyson''s attention had completely wondered away from him, the head examiner took the hint and stopped the conversation and let them go. He could tell by this point that both of these students were not weak towards flattery like the other egotistical noble children. Unknown thoughts flashed in his minds while a weird look was hidden as he bowed his head. This meant these kids would be much harder to control. Hmmmm... he would have to think of a solution. Greyson was too distracted to notice the odd behavior, however, Lucius, who had never left Greyson''s shoulder, had noticed the strange atmosphere around the examiner and made sure to remember to remind Greyson about it later. Ronan had let out a huge sigh of relief once he was freed from the situation. Seeing the other boy looking so worn out, Greyson couldn''t hold in a small giggle. "You know that you did not have to respond to him. You are part of the reason he would not stop talking to us. If you just ignore people like that and give them a cold response then they will go away on their own. No one likes to be the one forcing interaction." "You make it sound easy. I don''t know. With my personality, it''s already hard enough to not stutter in front of strangers, let alone come off all cool and collected like you." Ronan just shook his head while smiling wryly. "Hahaha, well, you have me now right? I''ll be the confident one for us." "Yeah! I''ll be counting on you then." Ronan smiled happily while extending his hand. Greyson smiled before shaking it. "Are you going to be headed over with the rest of the kids who passed then?" "No, I am actually going to go over and take the music exam as well." "Music?! You play an instrument, too?" Ronan looked over with a shocked expression. "Yeah, I''m not exactly positive of my skill, but I think it should be passable." Greyson responded while scratching his head slightly in embarrassment. "You even have the blacksmith''s badge on... Isn''t that three occupations, then? Plus you already passed for two of them." Ronan''s looked at the other badge shining on Greyson''s chest that was now accompanied by the painting badge. Not holding back at all he glanced at Greyson like he was looking at some sort of monster. His expression quickly changed from awe to bitterness. "What is it?" "I practiced so hard to get to my level in painting, yet you somehow are already catching up to me with only 3 years of experience and while splitting your time between two other occupations. Comparing yourself to others with talent is just too depressing..." "This is only in the earlier stages. Even I know that I will probably have to give up at least one of them to continue getting better at all of them. It only gets harder the more I try to increase my level in all of them." Hearing Ronan''s words, Greyson only sighed while shaking his head. Practicing all three only seemed easy right now, but he knew that blacksmithing especially would get harder and harder to increase his tier. "Do you want to walk over with me to check out the situation?" Greyson looked over and asked. "To the music association area?" At first he paused in thought before Ronan''s eyes flashed with a slightly mischievous light as he suddenly thought of something. "No, I don''t think I can. I''m not good with strangers, plus I know nothing about music. I think its best if you just go by yourself." "Hm? What did you just think of?" Greyson noticed the weird look in his eyes before Ronan had said no. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of a funny happening before with the music association." "Really?" Greyson squinted his eyes and slightly scrutinized the boy in front of him. "Yeah, really!" Ronan rapidly nodded his head. "Okay, then. Well, I catch up to you later after the exam." Greyson of course did not believe him at all, but since Ronan had not wanted to say, he decided against prying. Waving goodbye to his new friend, he headed off to the music association exam area. ... Slightly looking around, Greyson soon found the area. It was in a large outdoor amphitheater and the testing student would stand on the stage and perform a randomly given song before the judges and the rest of the waiting students. It was to test their musical ability first and foremost, but to also test their experience performing in front of crowds. As most musicians would have to play in front of grand audiences if they wanted to become famous later on. In contrast to some of the more stage-fright prone peers, Greyson was completely calm with the idea. His teacher, Carlyle, had allowed him to play in the music association''s concert hall before, so he was not a stranger to this aspect. He did, however, start to realize something very odd with the testing area. From the moment he arrived, all of the waiting students and even some of the judges kept glancing over at him and whispering. It was not that he was not used to others staring, since with his mixed blood status, a lot of people normally point and stare. It was the look in their eyes. A different kind of confusion and disdain. He also couldn''t help but notice that he was one of the only males in sight. Almost every single other student and judge was a female. Greyson was not aware, however, in the noble circles of higher tier kingdoms, only females pursued side occupations in music. Actually even back at the Dalia Academy, he was one of the few boys, but it was not exaggerated to this point of disparity. Very few men joined and most of them who did only had impure intentions towards being surrounded by only females. They also all joined later on and made some excuse like they had only just started learning when in reality they had hit puberty and recently became more and more interested in flirting with girls. This built up a bad reputation and a stigma towards all boys who wanted to join the music association. This was why so many people were whispering about him and looking at him with disdain and disgust. Such a cute-looking and gentle half-elf boy was actually hiding such a perverse mind. He didn''t look any older than 8! Most of them shook their heads thinking of such a distracted boy''s future. Oblivious to the thoughts of all the other people, Greyson just found an empty seat and listened to the current performance. To his surprise, it was actually a singer. Most of the people he knew in the association played an instrument, however, there were a select group of amazing singers who were well-known and well-paid for their services as they were more rare. Her looks were unfortunately average, but her voice was enchanting. Closing his eyes, he felt like her voice could lull him to sleep. It was a classic song, "Red Sun," by Fleurette who was a legend in the music scene. She was even famous in the neighboring empires outside of Snow Country. The song was written by her after she had received her father''s cold body after a night of battle and saw the contrasting beautiful red sun rise in the sky at dawn. Poignant and heart-breaking, it was her most famous song as the emotions were so raw. The sun continues to rise even after a long day of slaughter as if nothing had just occurred. Although he had never experienced war, the singer touched his emotions even evoking a small tear to roll down. After the song finished, the emotions still lingered in the air, and it took a moment for the audience to break out of their reverie. Soon thunderous applause and whistles rang out as the listeners finally expressed their amazement towards her magical performance. "Hey, isn''t that Claire Fairchild?" "Yeah! No wonder she has become so famous these days. I did not realize she was also a talented magician." "Exactly, she is even part of the Fairchild family. Although they are not a top ten family, they are still a powerful family in the Idris Kingdom. The head of the family is the City Lord of the Elon City, which is the third largest city in the kingdom." Greyson continued to overhear the whispering of the girls around him about the girl onstage. Claire Fairchild? A pretty name that matched her beautiful voice. Greyson also joined in on the applause as he was genuinely impressed by her performance. After Claire, a couple of mediocre performances passed by until it was already Greyson''s turn. Normally he would have had to wait awhile, however, since he arrived so late because he took the other exams, most of the other students had already taken the exam. They were only sitting in the audience to enjoy the music. Once his name was called to come onstage and perform, Greyson quickly stood up from his spot and walked over to the judges to receive his random song. The reaction of the judges was definitely less than welcoming as the head examiner only angrily grunted in response to seeing Greyson but refused to speak. One of the nicer women finally looked over to him to speak. "Greyson?" "Yes." "Which instrument do you play?" "Flute." "Alright, then this will be your piece." She randomly picked out a song from a pile and handed it to Greyson. He received it respectfully before looking over it quickly. Eyes lighting up happily, Greyson realized it was a song that he had enjoyed playing. It was on of Carlyle''s favorite songs as well. "Snow Falling" was a famous flute piece, but the composer was unknown. It was a beautiful song that gave one the feeling of watching the first snowfall. In a country like Snow Country, this song was an obviously famous one that was extremely relatable for all the citizens. Quickly ascending the stage, Greyson brought out a cushion and placed it in the middle of the stage. Sitting crossed legged, he slowly took a breath to calm himself before waving his hand and summoning Mesmer. Once people saw the flute, the earlier disdain slowly changed and some of the judges looked much more interested. They could tell the flute was a magic tool, which meant that the boy in front of them was actually fairly serious about music. Otherwise, no one would waste money creating a magic instrument. Slowly closing his eyes, Greyson brought the flute up to his lips and a light green glow flowed from his fingers into the flute. Starting peacefully and quietly, Greyson''s music slowly permeated throughout the amphitheater. Under the influence of Siren''s Voice, the audience became enveloped in feelings of calm silence. They picture the seen of a clear forest and the snow falling quietly. A beautiful picture. All dark feelings of anxiety and disgust were blown away as they swayed to the music released by the flute. ... Far from the theater, a pair of long ears twitched hearing the noise projected. "Oh?" He waved his hand, and soon a mirror presented itself in front of him. Reflected in the mirror was surprisingly Greyson''s figure onstage. "Half-elf? Hmmmm... How interesting!" His lips curling into a smile, the man quickly disappeared from his far tower. ... Greyson soon finished playing as the song was only a couple minutes. However, similar to Claire''s earlier situation, the entire audience was still stuck in the beautiful sounds they had just heard. Soon, one clap could be heard from a random audience member. Woken up by the clap, the audience slowly joined in until all hands were applauding the performance. Smiling politely, Greyson gave a standard bow in accordance to performance manners before slowly stepping off the stage. The judges all looked more warmly at him while the head judge gave a couple criticisms. Although she did not compliment him, Greyson could tell the older woman was much happier with him than before, and he would never shy away from criticism as it would only make him better. Carlyle was one to always criticize him anyways. He soon received his third badge from their hands which he soon clipped onto his chest along with the other two. It was at this moment that everyone else finally realized that he had three badges. Which meant he had passed three exams for different occupations! Soon rumors of this genius burst out into the rest of the exam stations and everyone was made aware of this new talent. Greyson had yet to realize but he had become the center of attention for the rest of the students and teachers. ... "He actually passed the exams for all three? Hmph, how annoying. I was hoping he would be just a little less talented." A familiar voice pouted. "Oh? Little Sister Natalia is acquainted with this boy?" Another boy''s voice echoed. "Know? I guess you could say so... He''s interesting. Also, talented. Maybe even more talented than you and I." "Hahaha, well I sure hope so! I''ve been bored with this status quo lately." "Gross, only Big Brother Leo would be such a competition freak. And here I was hoping to make you jealous." Natalia looked over in disdain at the boy''s excited reaction. "Jealous? That is only for those who are lack confidence in their ability. That is why they fear competition and those more talented. Plus, is talent everything? There is also hard work. I for one will not look down on my opponent, but I will also not needlessly put myself down. I am powerful. I look forward to see whether this boy, Greyson, can be a new opponent." The boy responded. "You just look like a brawn for brains to me. This is why my father loves you so much. How annoying." "That is only because he sees how much talent his precious daughter has but she never puts practice and meditation seriously and wastes it. Whereas I am always practicing and taking advantage of my talent. You could most likely be much stronger than me if only you were serious." "Boo, not you too. I''m no longer talking with you, it''s no fun. I''m leaving!" Without another word, the red-haired girl quickly flew off. 60 Third Stage - Battle! Soon the second stage of the exam was finished and the kidswere gathered together again. When Greyson looked around, he was extremely shocked by the extremely small amount of children who passed. At the beginning, there were around 500 or so kids, but now the passing amount was around 25 kids. Facing such a stringent pass rate, Greyson couldn''t help but feel a bit more proud of his accomplishments. He was also excited to get started with the third stage. This is the time where he can actually fight with other kids to test his combat ability with his magic. His talent and ability could also attract a teacher which would allow him more one-on-one attention from a professor instead of attending large lectures with a majority of the students. Ronan had mentioned to him that as little as none could be chosen to be a higher-up''s personal disciple and usually it is only children from the top ten families who are chosen. Hearing this, Greyson did not find it surprising as those children received the best resources and training since they were young, plus they were born with talent due to their noble bloodline. However, he also had strong belief in his own ability and talent. If he fought his hardest and laid everything out on stage, he was confident that someone should desire him as a personal disciple. Only, he was not sure how powerful a teacher he could attract. As the more powerful the teacher, the more picky and particular they are about students. It might not be that he is not talented enough, however, it could be that he was not talented in their occupation or element of expertise. Plus, how hard is it for one teacher to fully teach a student with seven elements. Greyson had headaches just remembering names of spells let alone be able to learn any of his elements really comprehensively. With no multi-element teacher at Dalia Academy, Greyson had started to worry about plateauing in his improvement. A lot of people say that there are a plethora of multi-element teachers in the Idris Kingdom, so he was excited to find a teacher who could maybe understand his situation more. The Head Examiner from before finally appeared before the group again. "Hm... Not bad of an amount this year. Seems there is a fairly large amount of talent in this generation. Well I will allow you all to know my name now as you are now students of this academy. I am one of Aurora Academy''s Vice Principals, my name is Elman Morninghand. I would first and foremost like to congratulate you all in your acceptance into our academy as this is no easy feat. However, I would also like to take this moment to warn away any complacency this accomplishment may inspire. This is not the end. Just because you were accepted does not mean that this acceptance is permanent. We test our students every three months to check on progress and if it is not up to par than you will be expelled from our academy. We do not accept laziness nor slackers. Every single student accepted into this academy is a genius, you are no longer as special as you previously believed so I hope that you will all continue working hard to your own goals!" All of the newly accepted students seemed to be in a daze. Just a couple minutes earlier they had been abuzz with excitement and arrogance for passing the exam while so many had failed. They were expecting grand words of encouragement and congratulations, but were instead greeted with pressure and a bucket of cold water. In the end, though, they all understood why Vice Principal Morninghand had decided to do so. It was too difficult to get into the academy, however, there were still around 25 that got in every three years. The numbers would build up and each of them are all geniuses in their own right which means that hard work and practice will start to separate the stellar students from the average students. Seeing that all the children seemed to understand his point, Morninghand nodded with approval. "Alright, it seems as though you all have taken my words to heart. Now it is time to allow your talents to stand out on the stage. It is the battle tournament! You now are all accepted students, but your treatment cannot all be the same. Life is unfair, you must accept this truth and work hard for your own preferential treatment and resources. Their is an odd number so we will first have a drawing to see which lucky student will draw the bye." Other than a couple of weaker passing students, the rest of the students were actually hoping they would not draw a bye. The more they battled, the more they chances they had to show their prowess. In the end, the largest use for all magicians in the kingdom was in war and defending the kingdom. Noble families had an unshakable power and position because their ancestors and many generations afterwards had many achievements in wars. Magic was something that could heal, help grow food, set fires, provide water. All positive everyday chores that could improve the daily life of the commoners. Human nature, however, corrupts magic into a tool for the power-hungry. A teacher walked around to each of the students who drew a ball from a spatial bag. The one who draws the red ball out of the white ones was the one who received the bye. About halfway through, before the teacher had even teacher Greyson, the red ball was drawn. It was drawn by a familiar face with bright red hair and brown eyes. The red ball for the bye was drawn by the princess of the Ivywood family, Natalia! Unlike the others, who were trying to avoid choosing the red ball, Natalia was extremely excited to see that she was the one who chose it. She hated fighting in tournaments the most, she didn''t want to waste her energy in pointless contests of strength. Next to her, Leopold could only shake his head at her delight. Even her luck was so heaven-defying all the time, but she was born with such a lazy personality. He couldn''t help but pity her father who was always breaking his back trying to find ways to force her to practice. The rest of the children still chose a white ball from the bag as each one had a number 1 through 12 and matched with another. This was to obviously randomly set the first round of matches. Greyson had chosen the number 8 and began looking around for his opponent. After a minute or so, he came face to face with his coming opponent. The boy was lanky and slightly gloomy looking, he even had the assassin badge as his occupation. Feeling the slight killing intent that radiated off the boy, Greyson grew serious and starting preparing himself for the fight. While he was meditating off to the side, the first four matches began. They were all kids that he did not recognize, but from the whispers to the side, a couple of them were quite famous geniuses in their own right. Watching for a little while, Greyson soon got bored by the fights. Most of these kids had no fighting experience and only threw out magic spells as fast as they could hoping to hit the target. There was no thought or strategy behind their moves. Soon, it was time for Greyson''s match after the rest had ended. Both of them were called up to the fourth stage with a teacher presiding over the match to make sure no serious injuries occur. Bowing as per protocol in friendly battles, Greyson introduced himself. His opponent bowed normally back introducing himself as Victor Absinthe. Absinthe? Greyson was a little surprised to have met another person from this family, however, seeing the assassination badge suddenly made sense. Inwardly rubbing his temples, he wondered if he had some sort of bad fate with the Absinthe family. Focusing back on the battle, Greyson brought out Mesmer. He decided to try not to use Genesis yet. "Battle, START!" At his words, Greyson immediately began playing his flute. It was a grating song on the ears that confused and induced fear in the listeners. Of course, the judges were not affected, however, Victor had been affected for a good couple seconds. Seeing this chance, Greyson quickly summoned his Fire Arrow. However, to his surprise, Victor broke out just before the arrows hit there target. Diving to the side, the arrows only slightly grazed his right arm and leg. He then sank straight into his shadow disappearing from the stage. Losing sight of the opponent, Greyson felt slightly nervous, however soon his red eyes turned to a black color as he felt the dark elements around him. Finally, he felt the elements gather behind him so he quickly dodged to the side and a dagger stabbed out right next to his face. Summoning the shadows, he quickly willed them to bind Victor. He forgot, however, that as a dark magician as well, Victor could faze through the binds. Escaping from the binds, he sunk into the ground again. Standing still and waiting, Greyson continued feeling the dark element movement around him. This time, when Victor popped out with his quick dagger again, Greyson quickly summoned an earth wall, before his eyes turned purple and he grabbed Victor''s arm holding the dagger. Paralyze turned on and Victor screamed out as his entire body was shocked. Falling to the ground, his body continued to seize on the ground. Letting out the breath he hadn''t realized he was holding, Greyson looked over at the judge to make the call. At that time, he finally realized that the judge and the rest of the passed students were looking at him in amazement. Thinking about it, he realized he had already revealed 5 of his elements. Wind in the beginning, fire next, then dark, and then before the end he had used both earth and lightning. Anyone would be shocked. Natalia with her 3 elements was already super rare, let alone someone with 5 elements. However, they had yet to realize that he had seven. Everyone except Natalia did not know he had more. She remembered that day in the forest that he had used the light element to heal her. Only his water element had yet to show itself to everyone. Even Leopold had gripped his spear harder with fighting spirit burning in his eyes. "Uhm... do I win?" Greyson finally spoke out to the judge. "Huh? Oh, yes! Stage four, Greyson wins!" The judge first broke out of his daze in confusion before blushing about his own obvious shock. Greyson smiled happily before leaping off the stage and going back to his original spot to rest. To renew himself to his optimum state, he continued meditating. His match had finished the fastest, so the next round of matches had to wait for a while longer before they could go up. This time, Leopold had finally gotten up to have his first match. Sensing the difference in the atmosphere, Greyson opened his eyes to see Leopold ascending the battle stage. Breaking out his meditation, he decided to stay awake and watch this match, as Leopold and Natalia were his biggest rivals in this batch of new students. To his surprise, right before the match began, Leopold glanced over and met Greyson''s eyes before he smiled confidently. Once the match began, Greyson was not disappointed and was instead shocked. Leopold held his spear with strength and summoned a fire armor around his body while his spear turned icy. Using two elements at the same time! He had never been taught this, nor did the idea cross his mind. Mentally kicking himself, Greyson was annoyed that he had never thought to experiment with this before. He was stuck in his narrow vision of single-element spells, so he never thought to try to see if he could use that at the same time. The opponent was not too weak and used the earth element to summon an armor as well. However, Leopold slammed apart the armor with his spear and the opponent''s body was frozen into ice. This was not just due to his elements, but Leopold''s body''s physical strength was also high from constantly practicing with such a heavy spear. In just seconds, the match was already over. Unlike with Greyson''s match, though, no one was showing any shock. Greyson could tell that everyone saw this as a matter of course which made him think that this must not be Leopold''s full strength yet. Clenching his fists, he saw that Leopold looked in his direction again with challenge in his eyes. A sudden urge to get on stage and fight washed over Greyson as he started to impatiently look forward to his next matches. 61 Will He Lose? Inspired by Leopold''s usage of two elements simultaneously, Greyson started to test it out during his down time. To no avail, sadly, as the minute he summoned up a different element, the other element would die off because his concentration was broken. He realized he was not making a breakthrough just sitting and trying it and felt that he needed a moment''s epiphany to understand. Therefore, he decided to just wait until his next match to try it out on his opponent. His next opponents were severely disappointing, however, and did not give him enough pressure. Apparently, his first opponent Victor was fairly talented among the group who passed because the next opponents were underwhelming to say the least. Most of the time, the fight only took him a couple spells to end and this was him taking it easy. Multi-element magicians definitely have the upper-hand compared to the normal magicians because there are more elements that are not very effective against them. Take Greyson, for example, most elements had a lessened effect on him since he could control them as well. The Absinthe family could easily break through Greyson''s dark element spells because that was their element focus, however, this was applicable to the seven of Greyson''s elements. This ability, though, did not mean he was invincible. A multi-element magician''s advantage to shake off a lot of spells was only true with magicians around the same level and stage as him. Magisters could blow him away with any of his seven elements and he would not be able to resist. Most of Greyson''s opponents'' spells did not have a large effect on him making his job much easier. His ease in passing made others envy him, however, Greyson only felt frustration and an inability to challenge himself. Feeling helpless, he could only look towards Leopold and Natalia with great expectations. Witnessing their earlier fights, both of them could use multiple elements at once. Natalia even had one more element at her disposal, but she was not as aggressive nor offensive of a fighter. A lot of her combination spells were good at deflecting, even her fluid and flexible sword ability matched this more passive fighting style of hers. On the surface, this defensive style made her look weak, but Greyson could tell how much talent and strength such a style requires. Quick comprehension to see through the moves of her opponent to skillfully deflect or block their attacks and fluid, quick movements to avoid any attacks. She skillfully used her wind element in her movements and fire in her sword. Sometimes, even her earth element would activate for heavier defense. Although her fights were more drawn out, Greyson could not calculate the actual bottom of her strength as she was always joking around with her opponent. Inwardly sighing, Greyson couldn''t help but feel that this girl was a serious piece of work. I wonder how much grief she must give her parents and the servants? Leopold''s style, on the other hand, just left one feeling extremely overwhelmed by strength. One move. That''s all it ever takes. Greyson continued to try to pry something from his fights, but they all ended so quickly that there was nothing to see. On and on the battle went, until everyone had mostly been knocked out. Earlier on, Greyson had already caught on to the set up. They were saving Natalia, Leopold, and him for the last battles. Morning turned to night and the first day of the battles had concluded with most of the rankings already confirmed except the top three. All of the students were sent to a temporary lodging for the night. While the rest were asleep, there was still one pair of eyes that had not shut. Greyson could not fall asleep as he wanted to see if he could use at least two elements like Leopold. He felt it would not be possible to even get close to using three like Natalia, so he focused on two easy elements that he was the most comfortable with: water and wind. They were the earliest elements that he used the most. Wind for the Air Steps that had been his most useful spell in the beginning and water which had been the first element he thought he could use. Easily activated Air Steps, Greyson took out Genesis and held the sword in his hands. While still in the air, he tried to activate the water element on his sword. However, time after time, it only resulted in him falling from the air and falling to the ground. He did not know how to overcome this stage. Maybe it was because he was focusing too much on his entire body? After multiple failures, he decided to only activate Air Steps in his left leg and put Genesis in his right hand. Trying to split his concentration, he pictures the left half of his body covered in wind, while the right side was swimming in water. When he opened his eyes, he realized he was still in the air and his sword was covered in ice. He had done it! The minute he cried out in jubilee, his concentration had been broken and he slammed back into the ground. Unprepared for the sudden fall, he had fallen into the dirt getting himself completely dirty. After this important breakthrough, Greyson could finally activate his other elements two at a time as well. However, he could not do it comfortably at all and was still clumsy trying to summon them. The left and right option was all he had to work with and he could not even easily change it up. Mouth slightly twitching he wondered what it would look like in battle. Would he hop around with his left leg while swinging around his right arm? Sighing lightly, it seemed that it would not yet be plausible to use this skill in battle unless he is desperate. With the little time left in the night, he decided he would sleep for a couple hours to try to lessen his exhaustion for the battle tomorrow. Day came around quickly and the sunlight shined onto Greyson''s sleeping face. Feeling the light, Greyson''s eyes twitched slightly before groggily opening. Groaning slightly, he wondered whether it would have been better to have just slept instead of practicing on something he should have known he wouldn''t be able to master in a short amount of time. However, his eyes lit up as he remembered a spell he had learned. His eyes flashing to a shining gold color, Greyson allowed the light element energy to flush through his body as he felt his exhaustion slowly melt away. Letting out a satisfied groan as he stretched out his newly refreshed body, Greyson soon smiled while thinking that the spell was totally worth learning. In his down times back at the academy, he had looked through most of their spell collection. The spell he had just used was a light element spell called, Renew. Although the healing effects were small, for older people or exhausted people it was perfect. The spell refreshed the body to the person''s most ideal condition. It helps with aching bones, sore muscles, sleep deprivation, even some hunger. At first, Greyson had doubts about whether he would need it, but he had still learned it just in case because another healing spell would never hurt. Now at times like this was this spell very useful. All spell had limits, though, and with Greyson''s magician level he could only use this spell once before his body would crash at night and he would spend the night actually recovering. The stronger he was, the longer he could repeat this spell over an extended amount of time to survive in adverse situations. When he ran out of mana, the light element would stop making up for the exhaustion and he would crash, thus the higher the level, the more mana he would have to sustain that state. At least, the spell would stay active until after the next two battles unless they completely drain him of his mana. He slightly worried about passing out after his battles, but nothing could be done about it. The next battles were extremely important and he didn''t want to go into it feeling sleepy and exhausted. Following the rest of the crowd of awakened students, Greyson slowly made his way back to the arena of yesterday. Noticing that even more people than yesterday were in the crowd to watch, Greyson thought it was probably due to the famous reputations of both Leopold and Natalia so everyone wanted to come see their battles. All the other students already had their rankings, so they sat in the audience seating while Greyson, Leopold, and Natalia made their way to the stage. Once again, they had to draw a ball, and whoever drew the blue one this time would be the one who would rest while the other two fight first. To the surprise of everyone, Natalia had actually chosen the colored ball again. Who knew where this girl got her luck from? While the other audience members were still whispering in awe of Natalia''s luck, Greyson and Leopold were only looking at each other with strong intentions to fight. Looking at the two boys who were obviously releasing their fighting intent while ignoring her, Natalia rolled her eyes before smiled brightly. "Hmph, well you two stupid bulls go out it first. I''ll just clean up afterwards." Her smile was so sweet that the audience all thought they had misunderstood her words at first. However, her words were yet again ignored as Leopold smiled and held his hand out to Greyson. "I''m Leopold Basileus. You can just call me Leo. You''re Greyson, right?" Taking his hand and smiling back, Greyson responded in kind. "Yes, nice to meet you. I have been looking forward to this fight extremely. I hope you won''t hold back." "Hahahaha! Great! I''ve been looking forward to fighting a worthy opponent as well! Do not worry, I never go easy on any of my opponents." Feeling all fired up, Leo laughed with great vigor feeling happy to have finally found someone who he felt rivalry with. Natalia was talented, no doubt, and maybe even stronger than him. However, her personality really left one speechless and no matter how hard he tried he could never get her to treat him seriously. As an opponent and rival to push him harder, Leo felt that such an existence was missing. Said Natalia, was looking at their interaction with a pout of her face. She would definitely get back at the both of them for ignoring her like this. Finally feeling the cold glare, Leo looked over to only see the grievance on Natalia''s face. Slightly breaking out in a cold sweat, he recognized the look on her face. A painful and helpless smile broke out onto his face. What tricks would she pull this time? Vice Principal Morninghand summoned both Greyson and Leopold onto the stage while Natalia stepped off to wait. He looked at the both of them with a slightly warmer expression than usual. After witnessing the rest of their exams, Morninghand had nothing but approval towards these two geniuses who were joining the academy. "Alright both of you, I hope you will not take it too far. Killing and permanent injury is not allowed, so take note of this." Both of the boys nodded their heads with understanding. They had no real enmity and they valued each other as rivals, why would they go and kill off someone so important? "Hmm... good, since you both understand, then this match STARTS!" After calling this out, Morninghand quickly disappeared from the stand and appeared back at the top of the stadium booth with the other judges. Leopold quickly summoned his spear, while Greyson summoned Genesis. "A sword?" "He was a sword-user?" "I haven''t seen him use a weapon in his other matches, though." Slight ripples went through the audience, but Leo just smiled as he believed this was Greyson taking him seriously. Bursting into action, Leopold took the first stab at Greyson who blocked this first move with a sturdy earth wall before slashing down with Genesis. A wind blade formed and sliced towards Leopold whose fire shield in turn dissipated the attack. All of their attacks were quick and the weaker ones in the audience almost could not follow everything hit by hit. Smiling brightly, Leo swept with his spear as multiple ice shards formed. Greyson could only activate Air Steps to quickly avoid the attack and once he landed he fire out his Fire Arrows to only see them bounce off harmlessly from Leo''s fire armor. His brow furrowing, Greyson realized that the only way he could catch Leopold was if he used his element at the same time as well. Otherwise his abilities to attack are too low. Leo was attacking and defending himself at the same time while Greyson had to first dodge or block before attacking. Placing Genesis in his right hand, Greyson suddenly used the wind element to allow his left leg to burst with power. Charging in quickly with unexpected speed, Greyson swung down Genesis which was now arcing with lightning. Slightly caught unaware by the sudden change, Leopold could only swing his spear in response cutting down towards Greyson. Greyson held out his left hand and blocked the incoming spear with an ice wall while still slashing down with his lightning sword with his right hand. The sword hit landed, however, his ice wall was a little too weak from the split in concentration so the spear swing still hit and sent him flying to the side. Both Leo and Greyson spat a little blood from the damage that they took. Greyson''s, however, was more from the brute force leftover, while Leopold could feel his left side which was hit by the sword had gone numb. He started losing strength in his left arm. "Nice hit! Hahaha my whole arm feels numb." Leopold praised Greyson as he was the first of his peers that forced Leo into this situation. "You as well." Greyson grimaced back. That had taken a lot more concentration and mana than Leopold was aware. "I thought about holding back on this move, but I think that would only be insulting this fight. Prepare yourself!" Returning to the basic starting position with his spear, Leopold breathed in slowly. Since his left arm was out of commission, he could only hold his spear with his right arm. Soon the red and blue colors blended together to the spear point. Feeling the indications of this move, Greyson felt his cold sweat run down his back. Combining elements! He could feel the destructive power gathering. "Will I lose?" Greyson suddenly had this thought. But he could only grit his teeth refusing to back down here. Leo''s right arm''s muscles slightly bulged under the weight of the spear. With both his arms the spear was still manageable, but with only one arm he was definitely pushing it. However, he still burst out while thrusting his spear out towards Greyson. Watching the impending spear, Greyson felt himself drift into an amazing state. On the outside, his eyes had changed. One a beautiful blue, while the other a warm brown. In front of him grew a hard metal wall with hard ice covering the wall for double the defense. When the spear and wall collided, a loud crash sounded out as Leo was thrown backwards and Greyson spat more blood as his wall crumbled. The crowd held their breath to see who would be the one left standing. Greyson was the first to collapse and fall onto the ground breathing hard while Leopold was bruised all over but still managed to stand. "You have won." Greyson bitterly smiled. "No, we have tied. No matter what anyone says, this win was not mine." Leopold denied with a shake of his head. "I have no mana left and I''m about to collapse. It''s okay, I am not a sore loser. This only means that I will work harder and surpass you later." Greyson, however, was clear with his situation. "I am older than you, and have had much better teachers than you. I was curious so I looked up your information. You have not even had a proper multi-element teacher, yet. If anything, the fact that my mana is also so low and I am worn out like so; this is a real pathetic win. I can already see you quickly defeating me after attending the Academy for a little while with your talent. However, I will not grow complacent. I will not allow you to surpass me so easily!" Leopold held out his hand to help Greyson up. Smiling after hearing the other boy''s words, Greyson took the hand offered and slowly got up. "Hahaha, good! Good! This is how it''s supposed to be. I look forward to both of you working hard and improving. Today, is Leopold''s win, however, I am looking forward to seeing you guys battle again!" Smiling warmly, Morninghand announced the result. Feeling his empty mana and the Renew spell wearing off, Greyson knew that he needed to recover. He was escorted to the physician area and soon crashed onto the bed given to him. 62 Because I Said So! "Hey! How much longer are you going to sleep like a dead log?!" A voice shouted. Slightly awoken from his sleep, Greyson finally let out a small groan before cracking his eyes open. Blinking to adjust his eyes to the light, he looked over to see who was shouting at him during his precious sleep and recovery time. However, once he looked he was stunned by what he saw. Wasn''t this person an elf? Standing at the side of his bed was a beautiful man. The signature shining platinum silver hair and pointed ears that signified a full-blooded elf. His eyes were a deep green with haughtiness clearly reflected. Hmmm... If he was this good-looking then he must be fairly close to the royal bloodline, wouldn''t he? Greyson could clearly remember the Principal''s words when he explained why his own looks were so plain. His elf mother was just a normal low-level servant, so he was not any more good-looking than normal humans. This elf in front of him had the signs of an important background in the elf empire. "Yes, I''m an elf. I know my good looks are blinding, but you staring like so is making me uncomfortable." Unlike his beautiful exterior that was nice to look at, the words that came out his mouth were awfully grating to the ears. Confused as to why this self-centered elf was speaking to him, Greyson ignored his weird words and just went straight to the point. "Who are you?" "What?! You don''t know who I am?" Extremely shocked, the elf looked like he was chocked suddenly. "Am I supposed to know?" Annoyed with the slow progression of the conversation, Greyson''s words became slightly brusquer. "How could you have elf blood and not see me as your idol in this kingdom? Anyone who is anyone knows that there is only one famous elf in the Idris Kingdom, yet somehow you are completely ignorant?" "I''m not from here." "Ahhhhh... you must be from a very remote area. No wonder." Although the elf''s words were correct, somehow Greyson felt slightly speechless with the size of this elf''s ego. He had heard rumors of the normally prideful personalities of the elves, but he couldn''t believe that this was the norm. This one in front of him was almost to the point of it being some sort of delusion. "Well, be honored. My name is Brennan Sweetbow and I am a High Elder here at the academy. My position is only below the Principal even though my strength is not much different. I just disdain responsibilities that tie me down." "Ah... Then, nice to meet you, Elder Sweetbow, I am Greyson." Although still a little dazed after hearing the elf''s identity, Greyson didn''t forget his manners and quickly greeted him. Seeing the surprise, Elder Sweetbow recovered his haughty smile. "What? Shocked? Exactly, that''s why it''s so surprising you don''t know me." "Why has Elder Sweetbow come to meet me?" Still not comprehending the situation, Greyson had no choice but to ask directly. "Of course, because you are my disciple!" "Huh? Since when?" "Starting today!" "But I don''t remember ever agreeing to this?" "You don''t have a say in the matter." "Why?" "Because I said so!" Sweetbow declared. Furrowing his brows, Greyson felt extremely troubled by this obviously overbearing elf. He could be certain that the elf was powerful, however, this feeling of being coerced into becoming a disciple did not rub off well on him. "What? Unsatisfied? You should know exactly what you lack currently, right?" "Please enlighten me, Elder Sweetbow." "Well, of course it''s a decent teacher who can understand your multi-element situation and your bloodline. You are garbage at controlling the elements and wasting your elf bloodline which could make you so much more superior to these normal humans. I watched your match against that little Basileus boy. He''s so weak, yet you took such a beating from him. Even if you aren''t embarrassed, I''m embarrassed. Anyways, what I''m trying to say is that I am the best teacher for you. You should at least know what elves are known for: multiple elements. We are all born with the ability to control the elements, so although our population in normally hundreds of thousands of times smaller than humans, our normal elves are much stronger than normal humans. I can help you control your bloodline AND show you how to use multiple elements and combine them as well. What situation could be better for you?" Listening to the beginning of the Elder''s words, Greyson''s expression turned rather ugly, however, nearing the end he couldn''t help but nod in agreement. This elf Elder was someone with a rather annoying personality, but he was the one who could help improve Greyson''s current situation the most. "Well it looks like you have thought it through. Then, we are master and disciple now!" Slightly reluctant, Greyson still nodded his head. He needed to get stronger and this Elder could help him increase his strength faster. "Bahahaha! You''ll know what a great decision you have made very soon. I''m letting you know now, though. Don''t even think about battling that Basileus boy anytime soon." "Hm? Why? It shouldn''t take that long for me to improve?" "Hmph! You have been meditating in such low element level places that your foundation is not as strong. Your basic knowledge is also lacking from what I can tell. You''ll be stuck practicing with me for at least a couple years to increase your strength. It''s unrealistic to break through to the magister level until you are at least twenty years old anyways even with your talent." Understanding the logic was easy, but Greyson still felt not resigned to waiting that long to fight again against Leo. "Don''t worry. He won''t improve any faster than you. You will also be activating your elf bloodline so your practice speed will not decrease. By the time I''m done with you, if you don''t wipe the floor with him then we are no longer master and disciple. That would just be staining my good name." Sweetbow suddenly declared seeing Greyson''s hesitation. Looking over at his new master''s confidence, Greyson sighed and nodded his head. He was just too far behind, he needed to spend time now before it was too late to strengthen his basics. ... "Elder, how did the last match between Leo and Natalia go?" Suddenly curious, Greyson couldn''t help but inquire as he had been passed out for an entire day. It was already the morning of the day after. "Those two? Well, although not as amazing as my own disciple, that little girl is quite talented." "Natalia won?!" His eyes widening in shock, Greyson felt that this information was slightly unbelievable. "Well, don''t you look down on her, too. I know a little about this girl. She''s too lazy. Extremely talented with the entire family providing the best resources for her, but she hates fighting and practicing. She finds it dry and boring with no point. Thus, most of the time she loses the fights again Leopold. However, this does not represent that she is weak. I don''t know what the Basileus boy had done to her, but during yesterday''s fight she was incomparably serious. Everyone was shocked by the sudden power she had shown. She even combined her three elements into a spell reinforced by her tier three magic sword. That Leo boy will be aching for a little while from those injuries. Even this Elder still feels chills thinking of that peculiar girl''s attitude. She just kept grinning innocently as she was beating the crap out of the poor boy. All like ''Oh, Big Brother Leo what''s wrong? Why aren''t you fighting back? Normally you are stronger than this. Don''t go easy on me. Weren''t you ignoring me earlier so well?'' Ugh, although, I know my personality is pretty weird, that girl is something else." Showing an odd expression, Elder Sweetbow slightly shivered flashing back to yesterday''s one-sided beating. Greyson, however, had already stopped paying attention after learning how she had beaten Leopold so much. Leo had beaten him, but that same Leo was beaten so easily by another. Where did that put him compared to Natalia? Clenching his fists, he felt even more annoyed with his weakness. "Elder Sweetbow!" "What?! Why are you screaming my name all of a sudden?" "Let''s go! I want to start practicing right away!" Fires burning in his eyes, Greyson quickly showed his determination to Sweetbow. Squinting his eyes in satisfaction while letting loose a questionable grin, Sweetbow nodded enthusiastically. "That''s the spirit! Let''s get going already then! Oh, and before you start wondering, I already took that kitten of yours to my house here at the academy." "Lucius? Thank you!" Suddenly, Greyson felt that this teacher was not as unreliable as he seemed. He had even taken care of Lucius for Greyson. "Oh, no problem. I''ve been thinking we should fatten him up before eating him. Magic beast meat is the most delicious delicacy. This cat seems like he has a powerful bloodline. You and I will benefit greatly. What a good eye you have for beasts, though. I must compliment this." And the good feeling was gone again. "Elder! He''s my contract beast! Not some animal I''m raising to eat." Massaging his temples, Greyson felt that getting along with this teacher the next couple of years was not going to be easy at all. "Hey, don''t yell at me. How was I supposed to know you would take such a puny, cute-looking thing to be your magic beast. Is that how your taste runs? Normally only girls have a weak point for cute things." Elder Sweetbow, however, just look at Greyson with disdain. His mouth twitching, Greyson just stopped talking. He felt like the more he spoke with this enigma of an elf, he would drive himself insane. "Just hold it in. Hold it in. He will make you stronger." Like a mantra, Greyson continued chanting this to himself and continued ignoring the Elder''s words as he made his way over to his new training grounds. 63 Unexpected Issue It was a relatively sunny day in the Snow Country. Snow still clung to the trees while the pond was frozen over. Inside the picturesque scene lay a beautiful and peaceful pavilion. Sitting a couple feet away from the pavilion was a teenage boy. He had clean black hair that was tied back lazily and concentrated grey eyes. Every brush stroke with his hand was smooth and steady, however, his vision would drift every now and then inside the pavilion. Clear and beautiful flute sounds flowed from the pavilion, they could clear the mind and relax the listener. Even the small animals had gathered together to listen to the enchanting sound that drifted around. Inside the pavilion sat a younger boy. His slim fingers glided gracefully along the beautiful silver flute. The boy''s platinum silver hair was braided back while his eyes were closed. Such a calm scene could cleanse the senses of whoever was around. "Damn CAT! Stop right there!" A shout sounded out that completely broke the calm. Dreamy flute music ended abruptly while the animals all scurried in fright. The young boy in the pavilion furrowed his brows in annoyance before taking in a deep breath to calm himself. Even the other boy painting had made a mistake after the shout had shocked him enough for his hand to waver. Looking at the mistake, he sighed while tossing the canvas into an already prepared waste bin next to him. Helplessly glancing over to his friend, he couldn''t help but complain a little. "Does Elder Sweetbow ever spend a day without shouting? You should inform him that getting worked up all the time is bad for his health." Opening his eyes to reveal beautiful emerald green eyes, the young boy just sighed. "Ronan, if it was that easy for my teacher to change, don''t you think I would have made every effort." After his words left his mouth, a flash of silver ran by and landed on his shoulder. A young silver cat with one blue and one green eye had laid down with laughter obviously reflected on his face. Following closely behind was the sound of angry stomping. A beautiful man quickly appeared, however, his features were distorted in anger. "That''s it! Today is the day I skin you and cook you for dinner, you dumb animal! Grey, don''t even think of stopping me!" He declared, clearly irate. "Hahaha, I believe this is my cue to leave then, Grey. I''ll come around again later." Ronan chuckled while shaking his head. It was like a never-ending cycle with this Elder and cat. Quickly packing his stuff, he ran off "Teacher, what did Lu do this time?" Greyson rubbed his temples trying to the lessen the headache that was coming up. "Hmph! He ate the Wind Sage I have been growing for the past decade! You know how much care and love I give my babies, but this stupid cat always goes and reaps the benefits by raiding my garden." Sweetbow huffed. Greyson couldn''t help but glance at the cat on his shoulder. 5 years... He had spent 5 years now with his Teacher, however, this scene had been happening almost every day since the first day. Lucius never let go the fact he had been tied up by his master to be eaten, so he made it his mission to drive Elder Sweetbow mad in any way possible. Hiding his Teacher''s favorite mirror, eating from the garden, stealing food, even destroying the rare tea leaves that Sweetbow had collected. "Teacher, how about I take this chance and take Lucius out on a mission. I think the only reason he does all these things is because he feels cooped up like me. I''ve already been stuck here with you for five years. It was either training here, or going to the associations to practice my occupations. I mean my only friend is Ronan, don''t you pity your lonely disciple?" Signaling Lucius with his eyes, Greyson felt gratified when his partner quickly caught his drift and nodded in agreement. Hearing his disciple''s words, Sweetbow couldn''t help but pause his words. Although he could clearly tell that Greyson was changing the topic, he knew that his disciple had a point. Only so much could be accomplished just staying in the Academy, he hadn''t even gone to fight with Leopold since his loss either. "Don''t give me the same excuse anymore, either. I am much stronger now and through your teachings I am also aware of the world''s situation and geography much more. It couldn''t be that you think that after all your teachings and care that I would be so incapable. That''s just insulting yourself." Seeing that his teacher was wavering, Greyson continued pushing with excitement. Sweetbow took a moment to look at his disciple closely. The young 8-year-old boy had already grown taller and stronger in these 5 years. A 13-year-old advanced level 5th stage magician! Even he was shocked by his disciple''s aptitude and quick advancement. At his speed, he might break the record for youngest magister. Breaking through the magister level was the first real obstacle in a young magician''s life, but his disciple was almost assured of breaking through. It was only a matter of time and accumulation of mana and comprehension. He didn''t show it in front of Greyson, but he was extremely proud to have such a disciple and went around bragging about him to the other Elders and teachers. He was a little reluctant to let his prized prot¨¦g¨¦ leave to adventure on his own. But... "Okay." "Besides, I also have.... Wait, what? What did you just say?!" Greyson continued making his case before he finally realized what his teacher had said. "I said okay!" "You... Teacher, are you sick? Or dying? Why else would you have such a drastic change of heart?" Uneasy by his teacher''s quick approval, Greyson couldn''t help but doubt what was happening. "Brat! Are you cursing me to die sooner or something? I was already thinking of sending you out of the Academy anyways." Sweetbow just rolled his eyes feeling speechless. Greyson just laughed awkwardly while scratching his head. What was he supposed to think then? He had begged his teacher for the last 2 years almost every day to let him go out, but each time he was met with immediate denial. To see such a quick positive response, how could he not feel doubtful about the sudden change in attitude? "I was meaning to mention to this to you after you broke through to the fifth stage. Haven''t you felt a slowing of your improvement the more you awaken your elf bloodline? I even noticed that you also have a dragon bloodline, too. What have I told you about the different races?" "Different races?" Drawing a blank, Greyson just looked at his teacher waiting for him to explain. "Ugh, can''t you just be a little smarter? You already know that all the different races have different body compositions so they get stronger with different methods. Your meditation methods are all from the human side of meditating and gathering mana inside your body and storing it. Beasts store it in their beast core and incorporate the mana into their bodies making it tougher and stronger. Do you get my direction yet?" "Are you trying to say that my elf bloodline and dragon bloodline have issues with my human meditation method?" Finally seeing the point his teacher was making, Greyson couldn''t help but worry. "Why didn''t you mention this before? What''s going to happen?" "Who do you think your teacher is? Of course, it''s because I have a solution and I wanted you to use this chance to adventure outside. How is it? Aren''t you glad to have such a thoughtful and intelligent master like me?" Puffing out his chest, Sweetbow felt proud of his planning. "So, what''s the solution?" Ignoring his master''s words, Greyson just went straight to the point. "You''re so not cute. Can''t you just compliment me a little? You just take the fun out of it. Forget it! I''m not telling you!" Pouting at Greyson''s lack of reaction, Sweetbow just turned around without answering. Greyson fell silent as he watched his grown teacher throw a temper tantrum. Inwardly rolling his eyes, he kicked himself for forgetting how childish and vain his master was. "Wait, wait, I was just too nervous just now. Of course, I recognize what a wonderful master I have. So powerful and thoughtful. You''re even good-looking so people think you are my brother and not my teacher." Slightly gagging at his own flattery, Greyson forced his mouth to continue. "Yes, yes, exactly! This is the amazing luck that you have, you hit the jackpot! As long as you are aware." Grinning complacently, Sweetbow was quickly appeased. Lucius silently looked on with disdain. This stupid man, when would he ever mature? It was the gods playing jokes making a man like this powerful. "So..." Greyson continued expectantly. "You have to make a trip to the Beast Empire!" Sweetbow finally caved. "Beast Empire? Why?" "They cultivate a special fruit there called Calming Fruit. A lot of beasts mate with other species and have mixed children because sometimes the result will be a variant bloodline child with superior talent to both the parents. However, in order to fix the conflict of bloodline, they have these fruits which assist the blending of bloodlines so they peacefully mix. You should also look for some dragon mana methods while you are there. Maybe you should go to the Elf Empire as well so you can find some ways to use your bloodline as well." "Beast Empire, though? It''s so far away! From what you told me before, it''s not even in the Snow Country but passed the human countries and into the beast reigning territory." "Which is why I have been waiting so long! Otherwise, you would certainly die somewhere along the way. At least at the level you are at, you can break through the magister level once you acquire the fruit. With all your elements, the power you can use once you combine them is far above normal advanced magicians anyways. The beasts live in tribes and are much less civilized than humans so you will definitely have a tough time there as they love to pick fights. However, they are also more straightforward and loyal, so you have less to worry about them betraying you or playing tricks. Unless, of course, you meet intelligent high-level bloodline beasts like this dreadful cat you are determined to carry around. They can be just as treacherous as any human. This stupid cat should be able to spot these species, though, as it usually takes one to know one." At the end, Sweetbow did not give up his chance to act spitefully against Lucius. If it wasn''t for Greyson always mediating in between, he would have already killed this troublemaker. Lucius, however, just grinned and stuck out his tongue, which still had the Wind Sage on top and clearly mocking Elder Sweetbow with his eyes. "You!" His anger flaring again, Sweetbow glared at the cat wishing nothing more than to strangle it. "Hahaha, Teacher, you know that Lu can be mischievous. Alright! Then I will go to the Beast Empire! I''ve been looking forward to getting out of this Academy for a while anyways. This will be a good time to test how much my strength has grown, too." Pulling away his teacher''s attention again while giving Lucius a warning look, Greyson took up this adventure. He was filled with excitement at the thought of seeing more of the world outside of the Snow Country and even outside of human empires. Before he could only hear stories about those far-out places, now he could go out and see everything for himself. His mana and element control continued growing, but he had yet to test it out on new opponents so he could not tell how much he had improved fighting strength wise. "Okay, well I suggest that you join merchant groups traveling in that direction as a hired bodyguard. I''ll give you some money and you should have some savings, but it would be good to get some money along the way. Travelling with merchants will also create more chances to practice your fighting. The Academy''s Mission Hall has all sorts of posting that you can look through and then sign up for." "Okay! I''ll start to get ready now!" Worried his master might suddenly change his mind, Greyson quickly ran off to prepare for his journey. "Wait!" "What?" Greyson looked back suspiciously. It couldn''t be that his master already changed his mind? "You have to leave after 3 months." "What''s so important about these 3 months?" "In around 3 months is the annual academy wide competition, it tests the students and gives them a chance to have some healthy competition against each other." "Isn''t doing this sort of thing pointless?" "NO! You have been my disciple these past 5 years but you have yet to participate in any of these Academy events. Almost no one is aware of you anymore nor are they aware of your talent and prowess. I want you to take this chance to prove yourself." "So, you mean you want to show me off so you can brag about your own teaching talent?" After so long with his self-centered teacher, Greyson had long seen through all his little schemes. "Hm... Well, that''s a small part of it as well..." "Okay, I''ll wait for the competition to end before going." Greyson quickly agreed. It was less to do with helping his master''s reputation and more to finish his unfinished business with Leopold and Natalia. He could maybe fight with the other young masters of the big families. It would be a good chance to resharpen his blade before going out to travel. It had been so long since he last fought someone that he was afraid his instincts were dull. ... "Granny Anne, when do you think I''ll finally be able to break free from this family." A woman''s voice sounded out. "Milady, you could have broken away ages ago. If you just faked your death, how would they know that you did not die. They send you to such awful places and you gain new scars every day. What surprise would it be if you suddenly ran into trouble." An older and hoarser voice replied back. "I guess I just always felt like there was still some kind of debt to them for taking me in after the kingdom had collapsed like that and I lost contact with all my other siblings. I still don''t know where they all are now. Our youngest was just a newborn then but it''s already been 13 years. I wonder if the maid beside him actually told him of his origins or let him grow up not knowing. Maybe it would be better if he never knew." The young woman who spoke out looked to be around 18 years old with beautiful dark grey locks of hair and rather grave looking grey eyes to match. If Greyson were there he would have recognized her as the girl who had auctioned on and won his painting. It was Eden Ley. "We''ll meet up with your siblings one day. I believe with their talent and ability, all of them have safely made their way to different places to go into hiding. One day when you all are powerful enough, you will be able to easily meet up with each other." The old maid comforted. "I hope your right... Eldest brother was already 13 when those people attacked, so he should be around 26 now. I wonder if he''s married and started a family already? Honestly, I was only 5 years old when we all split up that it''s all a distant memory. The only reason I am more aware of what occurred is because of you." Eden responded while looking towards the older woman beside her. "Even I am not entirely sure of all that occurred 13 years ago. I was not privy to all the information with my lowly position back then." "Granny, do you think my parents are still alive?" "Well, milady, I really could not tell you. Master and Mistress were very powerful while they were alive. I believe they surpassed the power of even titled kingdoms'' royalty but for some reason they decided to rule a tier three kingdom in the outskirts of the Snow Country." "Probably because of their true non-human identities. I mean I''m already abused like so for the small amount of dragon bloodline I possess. They are even sending me to travel the Beast Empire to find methods to strengthen my bloodline to continue treasure hunting for them. I should just take this chance to never come back." The more she spoke, the more the fires of anger burned in Eden''s eyes. No one would know how much she truly suffered these passed years. Yes, they knew that she was ordered around to dangerous places, but they were unaware how badly even while she was at home she was treated. The Argentum family saw her as nothing more than a tool and an interesting experiment. Her heart hurt every time she thought of her initial excitement and gratitude for being adopted into such a family. How laughable she was back then, how innocent... "Yes, milady! No matter if these old bones have to perish, I will no longer watch you endure their treatment. You must find a chance to escape their grasp this trip. You will be so far away, how could they even know or even if they find out, you have the world to hid and travel in." As a loyal servant her entire life to the late Mistress, Anne was determined to allow her young lady escape this life of forced servitude. 64 Academy Tournamen Three months could be a short amount of time in the long run, however, for Greyson who was waiting to leave, they might as well been three years. Although he did want to match up against Leopold and Natalia now that he was stronger, his excitement to go out traveling was even more so. He felt prepared to fight them ages ago, so the extra waiting felt useless to him. Even his master did not have much for him to do or learn other than reading information about the empires he would travel through and the beast empire. Proper etiquette was always important just so he does not go somewhere and accidentally offend someone. For once, though, avoiding trouble was not his priority. Elder Sweetbow had even purposefully wanted him to travel with a merchant caravan in order to attract more trouble to himself. Bandits do feel wary when there are more numbers, but they also feel more greed towards large and wealthy merchant caravans than they would towards a lone, poor-looking traveler. Other than creating new works for his occupations, Greyson had no other way to spend his free time. Thankfully, Ronan was around to keep him from being too anxious or else he would not get any work finished. Building up points in the blacksmith association became his way of gaining materials for magic tools and his paintings were what brought in a good amount of money when he auctioned one every now and then. Musically, he had not been performing much other than for the animals around Elder Sweetbow''s manor and Ronan. However, he had learned a new spell after Siren''s Noise called, Sound Waves. Instead of targeting the mind, this spell actually made the sound waves from his flute into a physical attack. Playing the songs that go along with the spell would induce different patterns of attacks. The waves were very powerful as they attacked from all different directions, but, at Greyson''s current level, even playing halfway through one song almost emptied his mana stores. Since Sound Waves was such a comprehensive attack, he would save it for emergencies. ... The morning of the tournament, Greyson eyes shot open with none of the normal unwillingness to wake up. Even Lucius was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to leave once Greyson had woken up. "Lu, I guess even you are excited for the trip aren''t you? Usually waking you up takes forever and even then you only get up to hop on my shoulder and nap on there." Greyson smiled over at Lucius, seeing how excited the other was. Most of the time the cat would act so mature, this was the first time Greyson had seen such childish enthusiasm. "Hmph! What would you know? I''m originally a magic beast, I belong in the wild. You have had me cooped up with this borderline crazy elf for five years. How couldn''t I be excited? At least in the Dalia Academy you would often go hunting for magic beast cores so I could stretch my legs. But, you have mostly stayed within the Academy this entire time." "Ah, well, sorry, I can see how this might have been unfair for you. But you still broke through didn''t you. You''re already a magister level stage one magic beast, so it''s not like you didn''t benefit." "That''s only because the mana is pure in this area, plus, who do you think you are talking about? My bloodline is very high level so I will continually break through easily as long as I don''t die early." Lucius lifted his chin proudly as he bragged about his natural ability. "Yes, yes, rub it in all you want. In the end, I''ll be much younger than you when I break through to the magister level." "Pure jealousy, that''s all I hear. You obviously know that aging is different for magic beasts, I am no older than you in magic beast time. It''s okay, no need to feel inferior, your talent is quite high as well. Just not as high as mine." Lucius snickered. Greyson just rolled his eyes in response no longer continuing the conversation. He instead starting getting dressed and making sure he had all his magic tools for the competition. Once he had checked through everything, he threw on his boot and started out the door. Lucius had already hopped up onto his shoulder taking his usual position. Quickly making his way to the battle stadium again, Greyson was shocked by the immense amount of people as compared to the last time he had fought there. Now instead of just the new class, it was all the students in the academy beneath the magister level. Most magicians in this area did not ever break through to the magister level and even the most talented ones break through at around 25 years of age or so. Ages ranged from around 8-10 years old to almost 30 years old. After one turns 30 years old, they stop being called students because at that point the chances of them breaking through to the magister level are very low. Glancing around, Greyson looked for an open seat in the stands. "Grey~ over here!" A familiar voice called out. Turning to look, Greyson already had a smile on his face as he could recognize the voice right away. Ronan''s happy grey eyes greeted him as Greyson waved back and made his way over. Surprisingly, Ronan had managed to grab some nice seats right near the battle stage. "Did you come early or something?" "Mm... I came early in the morning since I didn''t have any painting to do and I wanted to be front and center for your battles." "Just my battles? Aren''t you going to join in?" "No, of course not. I didn''t even sign up to battle. I''m not like you, this monster, already at the advanced level stage five. Who could compare themselves to you? I''m definitely two years older but I''m still two stages below you. Even the magister level is such a far away thing for me, yet your already at the border." Flipping his eyes in exasperation, Ronan just shook his head while looking at his friend. Comparisons are really odious. Greyson just shrugged while smiling shyly, "I''m not that amazing, there are probably a good amount of people who are just as talented. Plus, I haven''t even broken through yet, it could be a long while before I do. Just because I''m at stage five doesn''t mean I am already there. Some of the students here reach stage five at fifteen but they still don''t break through to the magister level until they turn 23-25 years old. Accumulation and comprehension is part of it." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. We''ve had this conversation thousands of times already. I don''t believe that for a second. My estimate is that you will break through before you turn 16 and you''ll break the record." "Speaking of the record, do you know who was the one who set it?" "Of course! How could you not know? Our Snow Country''s greatest genius, Jayson Glacier. He named himself since he was found floating in a glacier. He was adopted by commoner parents who ran a tavern, however, he had enormous magical talent. It was said, though, that he was not multi-element magician, but he could only control the ice element. Anytime he tried to use the water element, he could only summon ice. Even his body was perpetually cold while his hair turned snow white. Snow Country was obviously a place where this genius could flourish. The Moon Empire had offered him a noble title, however, he rejected it saying that he only pursued magic and was not interested in position or political power. It''s been many years now since he disappeared after breaking through to the Magister level. If he were still alive, he would be about 200 years old." "That long? And there still hasn''t been anyone who has beaten his record?" Greyson felt a little shock. Just thinking of the sheer number of children born these past almost two centuries, the thought that no one had beaten him was pretty unbelievable. "Well, there will be one who will break it soon." "Hm?" "I''m looking right at the person who will break his record." Ronan said looking intently at Greyson. Scratching his nose, Greyson could only smile accepting the compliment. He really did have confidence to break the record, but that doesn''t mean he will go projecting this everywhere. "But my master did tell me that 18 years old was only the record in the Snow Country. The other human countries and different race empires actually have broken this record. Apparently the youngest in the Elf Empire was 15 years old. It was the younger sister of the current Queen, apparently she was a rare talent." "Those other races are rather quite talented, that''s true. Yes, sadly Snow Country is the weakest and the furthest out with a bunch of low mana level desolate areas. But, even if people beat our record it was not by that much. I think the youngest inthe other human countries was a little under 17, they were apparently turning 17 in a month. I guess it barely counts as them being 16 when they broke through." Sadly sighing, Ronan felt a little unwilling to admit the weakness of his country and empire. Greyson opened his mouth to ask more, however, he was interrupted by someone walking up onto the middle stage. The man had a stately presence but was dressed casually in a silk loose shirt and pants that lead into leather boots. He was handsome in a rugged, tough sort of way and did not fit in with the more scholarly atmosphere of the Academy. Close-cropped blonde hair and sky blue eyes with a small scar on his left eyebrow that only added to a heroic charm. "Who-?" Greyson began. "Hello, students, for those who are new, I am the Principal of the Academy, Pearson Grimlow. I am very excited to check out our school''s talent at this year''s tournament. For those too weak to participate, I hope you will continue to strive until you are also able to prove yourself on the battle stages. I am just here to give a couple opening words, Vice Principal Morninghand will take over now to announce the first round of battles." Leaving those words, Principal Grimlow flashed up to the high seating where all the other higher-ups watching sat together. Greyson eyed the principal curiously with a little humor as he remembered something funny. After pestering his master, he had finally found out why an elf like Elder Sweetbow stayed here in the Idris Kingdom to be an Elder at an Academy. Apparently this serious looking principal was actually a conniving fox underneath and had tricked Sweetbow into a bet. Elves were very serious about promises they make and they will rarely even break them, so Sweetbow had no choice but to follow Principal Grimlow back and serve at the Academy. While he was still chuckling to him reminiscing about his master''s expression back then, Morninghand had already come up to the stage to announce the matches. "The way the tournament works is that there are ten stages in all. Anyone can come onto the stage and they become the stagemaster until someone comes around and beats them. This competition will continue until there are ten stagemasters remaining." Greyson''s ear perked up hearing the set up. Interesting. This should be fun. "Does this mean I should wait so that the strength of the challenger keeps growing? That would keep the tournament interesting." Thinking to himself, Greyson glanced around to find some familiar faces. The first one that came into view was Natalia with her flaming red hair that was noticeable even from a distance. As his eyes hit her, he could have swore he saw her wink back at him, but he couldn''t be sure. Shaking his head, he continued looking around. Looking around, he spotted the black wild hair of Leopold. His whole body was radiating his usual confidence and vigor. Passing through the audience, Greyson continued looking around to see if he could spot any other strong opponents. Soon, he gave up, though, as he had not been around outside much so he was not really sure as to what people looked like. Maybe he had heard of their reputation, but he would not be able to match the names to the faces. 65 Choosing A Stage Slowly, the more confident of the students finally built up the courage to ascend the stages first. They ended up only being appetizers to the real fighting, but Greyson could tell that they were fairly aware of this and this is why they went up first so they could at least show some of their skills. Usually the stagemaster continued changing every one or two matches, each fight showed an increasing level of skill. Yawning to himself, Greyson watched as more and more matches occurred from dawn until midday. Around noon, there was finally a change to the status quo that got everybody''s attention. One of the top students had finally run out of patience. *CRASH* With a large leap and breaking the stone stage underneath his heavy body was an enormously built young man. Although Leopold was also a rather large individual, it was like comparing a bull to an elephant with these two. Bristling golden hair and bright red eyes shining with eagerness to fight. His weapon was a large spear with a long handle which made the ground splinter once the man had placed it onto the stage. "It''s Tristian Drakon!" "Makes sense that he would be the first to jump onto stage." "Hah, looks like this tournament is going to end soon." "True, I was hoping to see a bit more fighting." Greyson listened to all the whispers. Before long he looked over at Ronan, slightly confused. "It seems like everyone was expecting this result. Isn''t it good that someone strong finally got on?" "Only you would not be aware. It''s like talking with an old hermit." Ronan rolled his eyes listening to the question. "Of course, they were expecting it. Didn''t you read about the Drakon family''s personality? Straightforward and always looking for a fight to improve themselves. Plus, don''t you notice there are ten stages? How many top families are their in the Idris Kingdom? Everyone is aware that the genius direct descendants of the families are the most powerful students currently. Most students wouldn''t even dare to challenge them either. Not all geniuses are like Tristian and Leopold who enjoy a good fight. The other geniuses love when people kneel down to them and hate their authority being challenged. In the five years you haven''t been out much, but there have been a lot of horror stories of the endings of some of the arrogant students who tried going against some of the top ten families." "Aahhhh, I see." Greyson nodded understanding. Ronan''s prediction came true. Tristian did have challengers but they were all quickly blown away. Watching Tristian jump onto the stage and showing his prowess, the other heirs all felt compelled to also go on stage to not lose out. Soon every stagemaster was one of the ten heirs, except Quinn Ventus, it seems he never attends public events usually. His stage was taken up by one of the Absinthe twins who had no choice but to split up and fight individually. Challengers steadily decreased, until most of the stagemasters no longer had any opponents come up against them. "Ronan, which one should I pick do you think?" "That''s a good question..." Greyson glanced over every stage. First, he saw the red haired Natalia and black-haired Leopold, but he had decided that he would fight them later on in the top ten battles. Next, he glanced over the seductively beautiful light-green haired woman, Ezra Seirina. Crossing her out, he decided not to mess with her just yet, he didn''t feel like dealing with her poisons this round. One by one, he crossed out opponents whom he did not feel like versing. Not another Absinthe because he has versed dark element opponents too much. In the end, he looked at Ignis Arcadia and Aidan Chionodis. Fire or Ice. Although Greyson now had a backer in Elder Sweetbow, that did not mean he wanted to go picking a fight with all the heirs suddenly. He wasn''t an idiot, and knew that whoever he kicked out of the top ten would feel extremely frustrated and embarrassed for being the only heir not included. Therefore, he wanted to pick one who would take losing with grace. Finally, his eyes landed on Aidan. The stiff-faced boy had ice blue hair and matching piercing blue eyes, the apathy on his face towards the competition was apparent to anyone. "I''m going to fight Aidan!" Greyson suddenly announced. "Aidan? The Chionodis family? Well, I guess he would probably be better than most. He''s the hardest on himself, so he would never blame you for beating him." Ronan nodded to Greyson''s choice. "Hahaha, right? I did think it through, you know. I''m not completely ignorant." Flashing a smile, Greyson jumped up and flew onto Aidan''s stage. After such a slow pace of challengers, each one who stepped out would grab everyone''s attention. Now the audience all looked towards Aidan''s stage. To their shock, what stood their was a young boy who still looked just over 10 years old. His features were beautiful for a boy and had the signature features of a half-elf. Did he come out thinking that his face would get him somewhere? How could he beat the 17-year-old, advanced level, stage five Aidan? Inwardly sighing and shaking their heads, they stopped paying attention to the stage. They knew it was just going to be another blowout. Even the emotionless Aidan''s eyebrow slightly furrowed his brow. "I do not go easy on opponents just because they are younger or weaker. I will attack with my full power. I hope you understand what you are getting yourself into." His cold voice slightly rang out. Greyson just let out a lopsided smile, "it''s fine. I didn''t need you to go easy on me anyways. Who knows, maybe it will be me who needs to go easy in this match-up." "Well, I just hope your strength matches your words." Aidan showed no anger towards Greyson''s words. Instead, he properly got into position to fight. The judge motioned for them both to line up and bow to each other as proper battle etiquette. His blood slightly boiling, Greyson could almost not hold in his happiness to finally be fighting again. Even Zephyr within him was getting restless, roaring along to be released. "Sorry, buddy, I can''t let you out to fight with me. It''s the Academy''s rules. Once we are out traveling though I will let you fly about as much as you like!" Partner beasts were a part of the magician''s spirit and injuries to the partner beast greatly effect the magician. To prevent serious injuries, magicians are not allowed to summon their beasts out during the duels since they are all fellow students not true enemies. "Don''t worry, let''s just fight to our heart''s content." Greyson shouted smiling widely. After bowing properly, he made the first move as a green glow enveloped his legs while Genesis appeared in his right hand sparking with electricity. When he looked up, his eyes glowed green and purple. Planting his foot down, his body flashed and disappeared for a moment before he appeared right in front of Aidan swinging down his sword. Slightly caught off guard, Aidan quickly recovered by summoning an ice shield and sword. He blocked Genesis with the shield, however, the electricity still arced through his arm causing the shield to burst. His eyes showed signs of some shock before he swung down his sword sending a cold slice hurtling towards Greyson. His eyes flickering to brown and green as Greyson quickly jumped backwards while summoning an earth shield to block the incoming strike. Holding strong, the wall blocked the move from reaching Greyson. A slight calm was restored after the first clash, while the entire audience was suddenly caught into the fight. "How is that kid so strong?!" "Multi-element magician!" On the other stages, all the other heirs looked over with extreme interest in the fight. "Ohhh, that boy is not bad at all. He must be extremely talented to be that strong at that age." Tristian was the first to speak out. "Hohohoho, what a cute little elf boy. How adorable, I just want to eat him right up~" A velvety voice spoke out. Ezra continued giggling while looking over at Greyson. "Hmph! Prostitute keep your eyes to yourself!" Natalia flared up. "Oh, oh, Natty dear, do you have a crush? Words like prostitute really don''t befit such a cute little girl. You don''t want big sister to go over and clean your mouth, now would you?" Although her voice still contained that flirty lightness, her eyes were another story as they flashed with malice. "Alright, you both, just stop. I know of this boy. He is very talented and can even control seven elements." Leopold finally spoke out. "Seven?!" They all shouted at once looking amazed. Everyone was shocked except Natalia. "Yes, seven. Now let''s all stop talking and watch the match." During the time they were speaking, Aidan had already launched his own attack. Sharp ice shards formed in the sky and shot towards Greyson in all directions. Smirking, Greyson''s eyes flashed blue as an ice shield formed around his body which blocked off the shards slamming into the shield. "Two can play at the ice game." "I see. So you also can control the water element." Apathetic as his face was, Aidan''s eyes still showed his awe at Greyson''s talent. Greyson gripped Genesis before he decided that it was time to end the match. Flames and sparks of lightning began reflecting off of his sword. He activated a new blended offensive move he learned, Nova Strike, that combined the fire and lightning elements. His body yet again flashed high up into the air before he swung his sword down with full force. A flaming lightning strike came down and hurtled towards Aidan. It was at this point that Aidan''s expression finally changed. He summoned a thicker ice shield, however, under the sheer offensive might of strike, it quickly shattered into pieces and pushed Aidan flying off the stage. Slamming into the ground outside the stage, Aidan couldn''t prevent the stream of blood that he coughed out after the impact. "Match over! The winner is Greyson!" The judge was quick to end the battle after Aidan had landed out of bounds. Different from the usual cheers, however, there was only silence. Most people were in shock as they had never expected this outcome to occur. "Whoooo! Yay, Greyson!" A voice suddenly shouted out. Ronan was the only one who had the mind to shout and cheer. After realizing that his excitement led him to shout out while everyone was silent, he quickly sat down while blushing fiercely. After his small breakout, the rest of the audience followed in applause and cheers. Greyson looked over at his opponent who was now standing at the help of the physicians. He made a standard bow for after a match. Aidan let out a crack of a smile before shakily bowing as well. "You''re very strong. I hope I will get to battle you again after I also get stronger." He stated with ease. "I really appreciate opponents like you as well. I welcome you to come challenge me at any time." Greyson warmly smiled back. He really appreciated straightforward people like Aidan who could take a loss and become friends with their enemy after battle. Although Aidan lost today, Greyson would never look down on him and continue working hard in his own way to surpass his limits. Just as he had lost to Leopold but now gotten stronger, Greyson''s opponent''s can also grow after a loss. Sitting down on the stage as the new stagemaster, Greyson quickly activated his light element and began healing his body. Although he didn''t sustain any real significant injuries, it still exhausted him to fight like so. Normally he was a bit more patient with his moves, but as his first fight in five years he couldn''t help but burst out with 100% effort. 66 New Top Ten As Greyson continued meditating, the fights continued. However, the audience was clearly no longer interested and started to zone out. What battle could follow up Aidan and Greyson''s battle? All of the opponents were sub-par in comparison and none of them made the other nine stagemasters break a sweat. After around 30 minutes or so, Greyson opened his eyes and exited his meditation. His fatigue completely faded away and he felt extremely refreshed. Glancing over the other battles, he just sighed thinking that the first part of the tournament was probably going to end soon. People had even started leaving thinking that the first part of the competition was over. The top ten battling each other would not happen until the next day. He was slightly disappointed that no one had decided to battle with him yet. Thinking back to his earlier battle, he did admit he had come off a lot more aggressive than he wished. Maybe his show of power made any potential opponents in the audience feel discouraged from trying. Right when the twilight sky appeared as the sun began to set, Morninghand had announced that the competition was over. "The top ten for this year''s students are the remaining ten stagemasters." He spoke towards the audience. Then, turning towards the stages, "First off, congratulations to you all. I believe that you have easily proven your prowess and talent today. As the top ten you will all receive separate awards which the academy thinks will best benefit you. Later on, you will all receive them from your masters. Prepare yourselves for fighting tomorrow, the last part of the competition continues so that you will all have your ranking even within the top ten. I expect that you all were waiting for this part the most." Once he spoke the last part, he smiled knowingly as he saw all the young stagemasters look at each other with great battle intent. Only Natalia stood on stage yawning to herself looking completely bored. Morninghand looked over with his lip twitching before letting out a long sigh lamenting the challenges of his dear friend and Natalia''s father, Castor Ivywood. "Well, anyways, this old man will stop talking now and let you all get back to rest early. I look forward to the battles tomorrow!" He waved his hands to dismiss them. They all bowed slightly in response before walking off in different directions. Greyson looked around and spotted Ronan and Lucius waiting for him in their same seats from earlier. "Well, how''s that for an entrance. Was it impressive enough?" Walking over laughing, Greyson was quick to joke about his success. "Impressive, very impressive. No matter what, you guys are at the same level so it is a little shocking to see you beat him so easily." Ronan gave him an honest thumbs up. "Just a battle between two weaker magicians, only you would think it''s impressive." Lucius, on the other hand, just rolled his eyes. Greyson just ignored Lucius and thanked Ronan. He was already used to this cat''s inability to compliment people other than himself. "We should get back and quickly eat dinner before resting. I just want to quickly sleep, so tomorrow comes even faster." "Hahaha, well I''ll leave you guys to it, then. I have to get back to my place as well and finish some of my current painting. Congrats again, Grey. I''ll come cheer you on again tomorrow!" Ronan split off from them in the direction of his dorm room waving goodbye. "Mm, okay! See you later!" After waving goodbye, Greyson quickly leaped up onto the rooftops and swiftly made his way back to Elder Sweetbow''s manor. Whistling a soft tune to himself, Greyson walked happily through the front gate. However, the minute he walked through his happy moment was broken apart by familiar shouting. "Brat! Look at you! I knew you would shock everyone at the competition. Bahahaha! All those old fogies got worked up and ran to me asking who this young genius was and where I was hiding him all this time. You really gave your master face today! Well, it''s to be expected I guess, I mean look at who your wise teacher is!" Sweetbow shouted animatedly, the pride in his expression obvious to all. "Master, how many times have I told you? I''m not deaf, you''ll blow my eardrums out with all your shouting." Sighing to himself, Greyson felt helpless against this oddball master of his while using his fingers to block his ears. "Is that the issue? You should first stop this egomaniac from his delusions. You were born with your talent, if anything he only nudged you in the correct direction. Taking all the credit as if he was the one who gave birth to you and gave you your natural born ability. Hmph, just look at his head. It will soon be too big for his body to hold." Lucius scathing tongue took no breaks as he mercilessly cut down the elder''s happiness. "You! Stupid animal! What do you know?! Talent is one thing, but the knowledge to efficiently use that talent is another. Without me, Greyson would still be floundering around with trying to figure out how to use two elements simultaneously with ease." His elation smashed to pieces suddenly, Sweetbow''s face turned red in indignation. "Lu, I can''t back you up on this one. Master has given me a lot, I accredit a lot of my strength to him." Greyson lightly scolded. "Exactly! If anything, you''re the most useless one here. You just laze around all day eating my food and drinking my water. Nothing but a wasteful bum." Ecstatic to see his disciple defending him, Sweetbow''s anger dissipated a lot allowing him to finally think of a clever comeback. All this time, he was always losing the verbal battles with this cat. "..." Lucius opened his mouth to refute, but suddenly realized it was true. He just napped all day while absorbing mana in this nice environment. "Hah! Cat got your tongue? Have you finally seen the error of your ways, shameless freeloader?" Sweetbow felt endless pleasure seeing his enemy speechless. Lucius just snorted before running off inside. Seeing their interaction, Greyson just shrugged his shoulders. At least his teacher had won for once, before it was always his master running off in a fury after not being able to think of something to say. Following after his happily chuckling teacher, he finally made it back to his room before walking out to take a nice hot bath. Eyes flickering to blue, he quickly summoned water to fill up the tub. Before placing his hand on the surface of the water and heating it up with his fire magic. Seeing the steam rise up, he swiftly got undressed before hopping in. "Ahhh... this is great. Magic makes some things so convenient." Taking in the comfort of the hot water, Greyson reflected back to when he was younger. In order to take a bath, they would have to collect water from the river and heat it up in order to bathe so they would not wash themselves as often since it was too much work. Snow Country was cold year-round, so they were never able to bathe directly in the river since it was frozen over. Scrubbing himself clean after some amount of relaxing, Greyson dried off quickly using his wind magic. Putting on some comfortable night wear, he made a large leap into his bed covers. Breathing in the familiar scent of his blankets, he felt his body unwinding. Coming back after a long day, lying in bed after a hot bath was always the best feeling out there. Before he could even turn off the light stones in his room, his eyes drooped as a sudden wave of exhaustion came over him. In next to no time at all, he was deeply asleep. Lucius followed in after a little while and saw Greyson passed out on his bed. Shaking his head, he bit onto the blankets and tucked Greyson in before switching off the light stones. "What would you do without me?" He quietly grumbled before laying down as well and shutting his eyes. ... Morning came in what felt like an instant. The bright sunlight had lit up the room and Greyson sprung up in excitement. A good night''s rest left him invigorated for today''s battles. Bursting out of his room, he ran off without notifying his master towards the battle stages. Once he arrived, he stopped in surprise as the amount of people in the audience looked as if it doubled and the stadium had been changed. Yesterday the audience seating was smaller and there were ten battle stages, however, today there were only two stages and the seating for the viewers expanded. Ronan had told him before that the entire stadium was on top of a spacial array that allowed the user to change out parts for others in the space underneath, however, to actually see it happen was shocking. Both the stages were larger than the ten other stages making them look much grander. Looking around, he spotted Ronan in the audience, but this time he did not walk over. Earlier on, he had spotted ten chairs beneath the stages on the ground floor that had obvious meaning. Even without being told he knew that it was for the top ten contestants to sit on awaiting the matches. When he had arrived over at the seat, a couple of the others had arrived. Unsurprisingly, the upright and ever responsible Leopold was already there. Tristian and Ignis had arrived as well. Noticing the approaching figure, the both of them had looked over with interest obvious in their eyes. Nodding in greeting to them, Greyson moved to sit next to Leopold. "It seems we will finally be able to fight again today. Five years is a long time. I''m confident that you have probably improved significantly." Opening his eyes, Leopold looked over at the familiar young half-elf with fighting intent almost bursting out. "Well, my improvement is not bad. I''m looking forward to testing myself against you." Greyson let out a smile while still looking ahead. Leopold gave him one last look before turning his head back and closing his eyes to meditate once more. Since Greyson was not really close with any of the others, he decided to copy Leo and started to meditate. During this time, more and more people filtered into the stadium and filled the empty seats. The other top ten arrived all taking random seats. Feeling an oddly intense stare, Greyson cracked open an eye to take a look over at the source. What met his gaze were beautiful golden eyes paired with chestnut brown hair. Thinking to himself, Greyson tried to figure out who the personwas before he suddenly thought of a name. Luca, Luca Argentum. He had seen his photo before in that book he bought. The heat in Luca''s eyes made Greyson rather uncomfortable but he wrote it off and stopped paying attention. Closing himself off once more, he continued meditating. Right before the competition would start up again, he caught a whiff of a strong rose scent waft over to him. Furrowing his brows, he stopped meditating and looked over to the seat next to him. Seeing the pink eyes and light green hair, he recognized her as Ezra Seirina. She noticed him glancing over and winked before giggling. Awkwardly smiling back, he nodded his head in greeting before looking straight ahead. Last to arrive was a yawning Natalia looking bored as usual. Glancing over the seats, her eyes stopped at Ezra who was sitting next to Greyson. Frowning slightly, she quickly walked over as the sleep left her eyes. Smiling sweetly, she looked completely like a innocent young girl. "Thanks for saving my seat, Big Sister Ezra, you can move over to the other empty seat now." Her voice chimed out. "Hohoho, Natty what words are these? I don''t remember saving this seat for you. The seat next to Leo over there is still open for you." Ezra laughed gently. "I want that seat. So, move it, prostitute! The overwhelming scent of your perfume sickens me." Her smile disappearing in a second, Natalia enunciated each sharp word clearly. "Aw, Natty, just because you''re young doesn''t mean you need to feel inferior towards big sister''s developed body. Your time will come, you are still growing." Venom dripping from each word, Ezra purposely glanced over Natalia. "Hmph! Me? Inferior to you? You just use your looks to beguile your opponents and poison them. Any good-looking living thing could do the same. When your power is actually weak, you should feel ashamed sitting in the presence of true talented magicians. I''m surprised you have the face to sit up here with the rest of those who truly belong in the top ten." Not losing an inch, Natalia quickly answered back with her own harsh words. Finally losing the nonchalant expression, Ezra''s eyes narrowed dangerously as she glared towards Natalia while the mana around her began to rise. "Enough! Would it kill the both of you to just stop fighting for once? It''s never-ending." Coming in at just the right time, Morninghand quickly called the verbal warring to a halt. Turning their heads towards him, both girls glared daggers at the interrupter. "Eh... I was just mentioning. We need to get the competition started. If you guys want to fight, fight up there." Slightly intimidated by the sharp glares, Morninghand fell into a softer tone. Hearing his words, both of the girls lightened up with bright eyes as they thought of this option. "Just you wait!" They both spoke up at the same time. Disgust showed in their eyes at the feeling of speaking the same words as the other, before they both just snorted and turned their heads. Natalia stepped down and plopped down on the seat next to Leopold. The other boys just looked in other directions pretending to not have witnessed a thing. Greyson also felt speechless at the aggression between the two girls. In his eyes, their personalities actually matched up very well. He wondered if there was some sort of back story he was unaware of... 67 First Matches Morninghand waited a couple more minutes before floating up in between the two stages and silencing the crowds. "The second half of the competition will now begin! The first five matches are chosen randomly, afterwards each person will get to challenge whomever to fight. The moment someone refuses a challenge they are admitting defeat and will be bumped down to 10th place automatically. The second person who gives up will fight with the other and the loser of the match becomes the new 10th place. The next person who gives up fights the now 9th place student and if they win, they are 8th place but if the they lose then they are now 9th place and the 10th place can challenge. Matching up like this will continue until a number 1 has come out and everyone accepts defeat and their placement. Two matches will occur at a time." Turning towards the top ten sitting in the seats, he referred to them this time. "Alright, you guys all come over. There are ten balls all labeled with a number 1-5. Whoever has a matching number with you is your opponent. Now, come on up and choose." Waving his hand, a bag appeared in his hand. One by one, everyone went and grabbed a ball. Greyson was in the middle and he chose the number 3. After all the top ten chose a ball, they started revealing their numbers. Looking around, Greyson tried looking for the other number 3 when his eyes finally rested on the gloomy raven-haired 18-year-old who stood next to an almost identical female. His lip slightly twitching, Greyson felt utterly speechless. In his past life did he commit some sort of unforgivable crime towards the Absinthe family. If not, why were his opponents always them? That''s right, his first opponent was the male twin, Caedis Absinthe! Slightly disappointed, Greyson hoped that this twin was more creative than the rest of his family. Otherwise, his first battle would be way too boring. Looking at the other match-ups, however, there were quite a few exciting competitions about to happen. For the first battles, they were all extremely exciting: Leopold vs. Bromwood, Tristian vs. Bella, Luca vs. Ignis, and Natalia vs. Ezra. Glancing over to the two girls, he could already see the sparks flying between the two. Other than Leo, he had yet to see any of the top ten really fight, so he was looking forward to watching the matches just as much as the audience. The people who drew numbers 1 and 2 would go up to the stages first. They were Tristian and Bella with Natalia and Ezra. As the pairs ascended the stage, Greyson couldn''t help but feel the expectation within him rise. Especially with Natalia as he had heard all about her prowess over Leo five years ago. Tristian and Bella were an interesting match-up due to the ongoing centuries-old feud between the families, but Greyson, the audience, and even Bella knew that without her twin brother she would not be a match. The twins were talented; however, their prowess came from how well they can battle in sync against their enemies. Alone, they are not as much of a threat. "Ugh, you and your brother should just fight together. Otherwise, this battle will be just too disappointing. I want a real fight, wiping the floor with you is so unsatisfying. Fighting with cowardly assassins already puts a bad taste in my mouth. Let alone a weak one." Tristian openly showed the distaste for Bella on his face. "Stupid ape, with your intelligence even if you wanted to you could not pull off something that requires so much finesse like assassination. Don''t think you''ll have such an easy time, either. You will regret it if you underestimate me too much." Bella sneered at him. Tristian ignored her insult and instead looked to the officiating judge indicating for him to start. Taking the hint, the judge quickly had them bow before announcing the start. Getting the signal, Tristian started right away and made a hard slash down with his ax. Bella completely dodged away. Greyson could already see that this battle would be like a bear chasing a mouse. One obviously stronger but too slow. Looking to the other side he watched the other girls, he thought there would be some great dialogue with them as well. However, they just quickly bowed and got in position. Leaning over to Leopold, Greyson quietly whispered over, "What''s with the two of them? Why do they hate each other so much?" "Them? Honestly, no one knows. Maybe they are just both jealous of what the other has? Ezra is very easy to get along with and has a lot of friends, but Natalia always seems to intimidate everyone so she is not really close with anyone. Ezra is always underestimated because she also uses poisons and seduction, so she is jealous of Natalia''s strength and talent that everyone recognizes. In the end, they both respect each other but are too awkward to admit it. At least, this is what I think the issue is." Leo sighed wearily. They respect each other? Well, this is one unique way of showing it. Greyson just pushed the thoughts out of his mind and continued to watch the match. Ezra had pulled out a long rose and thorn covered whip that looked like it was made of twined vines, while Natalia grabbed her sword hilt. Before long they both leaped into action, Natalia disappeared in the wind while Ezra catapulted herself forward with the earth. Swinging her whip towards Natalia, Ezra willed the vines to extend and unwind to grab onto the target. However, Natalia quickly slashed out with her sword and the wind blades cut the vines. Smirking, Ezra watched as her vines quickly regrew on the whip and grabbed onto Natalia''s ankle. Thorns cutting into her skin, Natalia frowned slightly before her body quickly disappeared from sight. Before she could turn her head, Ezra quickly made her vines wrap around her body to form a wall. Just as she predicted, Natalia had transported herself using spacial magic right behind her opponent and sent a fire and wind slice towards Ezra''s back. Cracking under the pressure, the vines split apart and allowed some of the sharp wind through which cut up Ezra''s back. Grunting with pain, Ezra landed back on the stage with some shallow crisscrossed cuts. Natalia also limped while leaning onto her good ankle while the other bled from the sharp thorns earlier. To the audience''s confusion, however, the both of them just smiled at the other. Ezra quickly grabbed a seed from her spacial ring and willed it to grow on her back. The growing herb stopped the bleeding and the wounds quickly scabbed over. Intrigued by this move, Greyson slightly leaned forward in his chair. Although, he had heard that the earth element could also heal, he had never seen it in action. Looking at Ezra''s pale expression, it seems the spell was not as low mana usage as the light element healing spells. Natalia had a slight upset expression, as she could not heal her own wounds, but she knew that she still had a lot of mana left. Seconds after she withdrew the seed and activated it, she crouched down, swiftly touching the ground. Quickly a beautiful red flower bloomed that entranced the audience. Peeling back one by one, the petals of the flower revealed a cute, miniature girl. She had butterfly wings and leaves for clothes. Giggling mischievously, she glanced at the audience before looking towards Ezra. Looking closely at her, Greyson felt a name pop into his head. "The Fey race? Is she allowed to use her?" Sweetbow had told Greyson about the Fey before in one of his lessons. Apparently, they were naturally formed creatures who were originally plants that gained intelligence. They come in all sorts of forms and sizes. Some never even change from their plant shape. There are trees that are Fey as well who can spiritually communicate. His master had told him that the race usually hid themselves from everyone except the elves who often made equal contracts with the Fey similar to Lucius'' and his relationship. The Fey were innocent and childlike but loved to prank and cause trouble. Normally each individual of the race was blessed with a special ability related to their original plant form. "As long as it is not your partner beast whose injuries are hard to fix, you can use whatever. Technically, it is also ability to be able to partner up with a strong magic beast or the Fey in this case." Leo explained. Glancing over at Lucius, Greyson thought about maybe using his magister level beast, but quickly decided against it. Although Lucius could be called his strength and good luck, he wanted to win with only his strength. Ezra gave the little Fey a look, after which the girl nodded and giggled. Her laugh was like the light jingling of a bell as she flew up into the air. Breathing in deeply, she blew out pink dust into the air around Ezra. However, would Natalia continue to just watch her opponent? Before whatever spell was happening could finish, Natalia teleported in front of Ezra and quickly slashed her sword while she summoned the wind to blow away the pink dust to the audience. Ezra had kept her guard up so she swung her whip and blocked the sword strike, but looked helplessly as the now tired Fey retreated into her flower and disappeared back into the earth. The audience who was lucky enough to be underneath the Fey''s spell felt their bodies were rejuvenated and their mana was overflowing. Looking at the reaction of those people, Natalia grinned knowing it was good that she had acted quickly. "It''s over." She quickly declared. Grabbing onto weakened Ezra''s arm, Natalia spun around summoning a small tornado of wind and fire that consumed the both of them. Once the wind subsided, a torn and cut up Ezra was lying on the stage while Natalia was slightly panting but still unharmed. The judge called the match to an end and declared Natalia the winner. Ezra was carried while Natalia limped over to the physicians'' station to get healed before their next match. Tristian and Bella''s matched also ended quickly after Bella''s mana had run out. Tristian had very strong offensive light magic, but he quickly realized that this was going to be an endurance battle so he only used his physical strength to attack Bella and force her to continue dodging with her dark element. Bella had tried her best by throwing hidden needles, however, most of them were just ignored by Tristian. Even if they hit, his light element healed him. "Hmph, I give up. What is the point of trying to beat this stupid beast? I''m just wasting energy." Without even changing her expression, Bella quickly raised her hands in surrender. Just like that, the first two matches ended. ... Three and four were next, so Greyson quickly jumped from his seat onto the stage. Caedis was slower and appeared from the shadows onto the stage. Studying his opponent, Caedis felt rather apprehensive as from the start this half-elf boy had an odd smile on his face like he was planning some trick. He was correct, as Greyson had already thought of a clever move that his master taught him after watching Bella''s fighting style. If Caedis fought anything like his sister, then this match was doomed to a short ending. Under the judge''s instructions, both of the boys bowed to each other before the match was started. After the man''s arm dropped signaling the start, Caedis pulled out matching daggers while Greyson pulled out a bow and arrow. The audience and his opponent were all caught off guard by the sudden change in weapon. Naturally nocking the arrow, Greyson''s eyes flashed red as the arrow caught on fire. Bursting out with power, the arrow shot towards Caedis. Shaking off his initial shock, Caedis smirked as he began to sink into the ground to dodge the arrow. In his distraction, though, he didn''t notice Greyson''s evil grin the minute he had made his move. Eyes flashing black, the arrow landed onto the shadow that Caedis had disappeared into. Suddenly, Greyson flew towards the shadow with rocks forming around his fist. Confusion was present on everyone''s faces as no one knew what this young boy was up to. Did he think that punching the shadow would do anything? However, at that moment, the previously escaped Caedis popped back up from that same shadow instead of appearing elsewhere on the stage. Before he could even gather his wits about him, Caedis tried to raise his daggers to block the incoming fist. A flinch-inducing *CRUNCH* rang out and both his arm bones broke and Caedis was sent flying into the ground outside the stage. Silence permeated the stadium. Even Luca and Ignis on the other stage had stopped fighting and looked over. No one had expected the match to end so quickly. "What happened? Did Caedis'' spell not work? Why did he show up right back in the same spot?" "The kid must have done something..." "Yeah, but what?" The Principal Grimlow''s eyes sparkled with interest and laughter, "Another Shadow Escape? What a sneaky move! It was definitely that black-hearted elf, Sweetbow, that taught him this method. This Absinthe boy is really unlucky." Grimlow was spot on. Once when he was fighting his master, Greyson tried to use Shadow Escape. However, Sweetbow had fired a disguised arrow containing a second Shadow Escape that made him appear right back where he started. A rather mean-spirited move, but it works so Greyson felt no shame. In the seats, Ezra had started giggling, "Caedis really met his match this time." Bella glowered at her, but flew off to make sure her brother was okay. Picking up the fainted Caedis, she hauled him over to the physician''s for healing. Greyson ignored the looks of confusion, before walking off stage and sitting back in his seat. "Grey~ tell big sister. What just happened?" Ezra leaned over seductively. Uncomfortably backing away, Greyson just grinned lightly, "sorry, trade secret." "Hmph! No fun!" Pouting cutely, Ezra sat back into her seat. Helplessly shaking his head, Greyson just ignored her and started to meditate to recover his energy. 68 Rematch After Greyson''s match, the people had not calmed down and continued whispering to each other trying to figure out what happened. Not many people could use the same trick, thus it was not as well-known with the normal students. Some people could almost figure out, but would never be sure if they are correct or not. Not paying attention to the curious glance pointed his way, Greyson silently meditated on his chair. That match did not wear him out or injure him seriously so he had no reason to go to the physicians'' area for someone to heal him. Just recovering his mana was enough for the next match. Thinking about it, he realized from now on it would be people challenging each other instead of set matches. As the winner of the third match, he was third in line to choose an opponent. Filtering through the other nine people, Greyson could not come to a decision on who to challenge. Juggling with the different options for a moment, he decided to just wait for the fifth match and the first and second challenges to finish. At that point, he could just pick one of the people who has not gone up in a while. Opening his eyes, Greyson realized that the fifth match and the first challenge had already begun. Tristian chose Ignis as his first challenge while Leopold and Bromwood were going up against each other in the fifth match. At first glance, Tristian looked to be overpowering Ignis so Greyson quickly lost interest in the match. Focusing on Leopold and Bromwood, his eyes lit up in interest. Surprisingly, they were tied. No one had an obvious advantage over the other. Although Leopold had two elements, Bromwood''s lightning element was not weak either. Lightning compared to the other elements was rare. Its offensive power was much higher in destructive ability. Although Leo was combining his water and fire elements, Bromwood''s smooth manipulation of the lightning was keeping the attacks at bay. Bright purple boots were covering his feet which boosted his speed many times that of Leopold''s. Greyson recognized the spell as the Fulmen family''s Lightning Boots movement spell. Apparently, the founder of the Fulmen family had found the two spells Lightning Boots and Lightning Burst inside ancient ruins. Leopold continued chasing him around and attacking before finally stopping in place. Chasing around Bromwood would only further exhaust him and waste mana. Starting to look complacent, Bromwood looked arrogantly at the exhausted Leopold. However, to his surprise, his opponent did not get angry but instead smiled back. Narrowing his eyes, Bromwood brought out his saber that arced with lightning. Looking to finish the match with his strongest spell, he gathered energy for Lightning Burst. Leopold only looked on as he also gathered his mana to execute a new spell he had learned. A ball of lightning forming at the tip of his saber, Bromwood burst into action and stabbing straight towards Leopold. Instead of moving to block the strike, Leopold struck his spear into the ground. A huge circle of fire exploded out in all direction. The large vortex covered the entire stage leaving Bromwood without the ability to dodge. His Lightning Burst spell had broken apart the first impact of the spell, but the vortex spun back around for a second wave which he could not block. Caught in the fire, Bromwood let out a pained shout as he was badly burned. Leopold quickly dispersed his spell in order to prevent any permanent damage. The judge stepped in and declared the winner while calling the physicians to carry away Bromwood for healing. Leopold let out a long breath before slowly getting off stage to hit seat. Plopping down next to Greyson, Leo took the opportunity to catch his breath. "Congratulations." Greyson remarked. "Hahaha, Bromwood would not be aware, but I only learned that spell recently. My grandfather kept lecturing me about how my attacks were too direct and easy to avoid if the opponent was faster or stronger than me. Taking his advice, I learned a spell that had a large area of effect. Turns out I was right to listen to his advice." Laughing heartily, Leopold was quick to admit his luck. But it was exactly this easygoing attitude which won Greyson''s respect. Waiting just a little while longer, Tristian and Ignis'' match ended with Tristian''s victory. It was now time for Greyson and Natalia to challenge someone from the top ten. Luckily for Greyson, Natalia''s choice was rather quick. She picked out Bella. Looking slightly upset, Bella decided to just admit defeat which automatically placed her at tenth place temporarily. Contemplating his choices, Greyson''s eyes finally landed on the pink haired beauty sitting next to him. Although Luca also had not fought in a while, he was the winner of the fourth match and would be fighting next. This left Ezra as his best choice. Thinking of her earlier show of strength, he was excited to try to fight her. However, Ezra did not share the same opinion and quickly admitted defeat. "I''m not sure, but something tells me that I won''t be able to beat you. Plus, how could I bear to beat up such a cute face~?" Her tone was playful, but her eyes looked deeply at Greyson. Blushing a little, Greyson just nodded before sighing. She was not wrong. He looked forward to fighting her to try out different opponents, but he was fairly sure of his victory over her. Disappointed, Greyson sat back down needing to wait for his turn over again. The next fights would be Ezra versus Bella and Luca versus Caedis. Not interested in the matches, Greyson decided to close his eyes and meditate to make the time go by faster. After a little while, Greyson felt someone elbowing him. Opening his eyes and looking to his side, he saw that the person who got his attention was Leopold. "Hey, the matches are finished." "Oh, who won?" "Luca and Ezra won." "Ah, I see." Slightly bored, Greyson did not pursue the conversation. The winners were who he expected from the beginning since the twins just were a level lower than the rest when they could not fight together. He thought they would feel a bit more conflicted about it, however, looking at the two of them, Greyson could tell they were aware and did not mind at all. "Hahaha, well aren''t you quiet. Feeling bored?" Leo chuckled looking at Greyson''s obviously sleepy expression. "Hehe, yeah sort of. I guess I was hoping for more action." "Really? I have just the solution for that!" A glint flashed in his eyes. Attention piqued, Greyson glanced over at him. "Did you forget whose challenge turn it is? I challenge you!" Smiling with fighting intent gleaming in his eyes, Leopold quickly declared his choice. At first shocked, Greyson froze for a moment before smiling back and quickly getting up. Almost running to the stage, he could barely stand still and wait. More than just because he was getting bored, the only reason he stayed for this competition was to compete with Leo and Natalia once more. Laughing happily, Leopold quickly joined Greyson up on the stage. Staring at each other, they were almost about to start when they realized the judge was running up to catch up to them. "Wait, wait, wait for me!" Calling out to the enthusiastic duo, the judge stopped them from continuing. "Hold on for just a moment so the other match up can be decided." "No need, I have already decided on my opponent." Tristian''s voice soon called out and they all looked over at him. Tristian and Bromwood were standing on stage getting ready to fight. Leopold and Greyson both turned around and smiled at each other. "Finally. I hope you have improved after all this time, otherwise this match will be over too quickly." Greyson commented. "Hmph. I beat you once so I will do it again. I only hope that you don''t disappoint my expectations." Leopold scoffed back. "Alright the both of you, bow first!" The judge started, and the both of them followed his directions. "START!" He shouted and leaped off to the side to get out of the way. Both boys blurred out of sight until they met in a clash in the middle. One holding a spear and the other a sword. Rebounded backwards, both were thrown back to the edges of the stage. Smiling, Greyson''s eyes turned brown and blue. Vines covered in icy spikes burst from the ground rapidly advanced towards Leopold. Admittedly he stole the move from Ezra, but he added his own flare to it. Leo swung his spear that lit up in flames and cut down the vines coming for him, however, they would just grow back and keep coming for him. Frustrated, he slammed the spear into the ground and set the stage floor on fire. Greyson''s eyes lit up red and was able to completely ignore the flames, but the vines could not say the same as they all burst into flames. Leo quickly rushed in slashing down at Greyson with a combine ice and fire spell. Feeling the incoming strike, Greyson disappeared into ground through the shadows. The strike slammed into the ground leaving a huge crevice in the stage breaking through the protection inscriptions on it. It was at this small breakage in movement when the audience released the breath they didn''t realize they had been holding. Too exciting! Everyone''s eyes were glued to this fight almost completely ignoring poor Tristian and Bromwood''s match. From the start, Greyson and Leopold jumped right into action holding nothing back. Most of the time people would first send out some test attacks to start to feel out the level of their opponent and build up to the last moment. However, none of this passed through Greyson or Leopold''s minds. They both could only think of attacking with their best from the beginning which stemmed a lot from the respect they had from each other. Why hold back when they knew their opponent was just as strong as they were? Additionally, both of them had their own confidence that the other had not been able to surpass them. Seeing his attack fail, Leopold just smiled as if he had expected it wouldn''t be that easy. Greyson appeared on the opposite side of the stage. Both of their smiles had faded to seriousness. Not intending to drag out the fight, Greyson decided to use his strongest attack. Saving it for later matches was not necessary as just because his future opponents see the move did not mean they would be able to block or avoid it even he felt proud of his creation. Pulling out Genesis once more, the sword and his eyes reflected each other becoming a mix of blue, purple, and green. Clouds overhead began forming while rain dropped down, wind blew, and lightning cracked in the sky. Feeling the fast gathering of mana, Leopold became wary and started summoning his strongest spell as well. Instinct was telling him that this was Greyson''s best spell at the moment. In the audience, Principal Grimlow sat up in his seat and stared at the Greyson''s forming spell with surprise. "Really, a monster... Just what sort of kid did that Sweetbow pick up?" Quietly murmuring to himself, Grimlow suddenly felt regret for not paying more attention to the entrance exam 5 years ago otherwise maybe it would be his disciple on stage right now. Around the blade of Genesis, all the elements spun around combining. This was a spell that Greyson had taken most of the five years to come up with. Combined element spells were the hardest to find and the most expensive to buy, plus most multi-element magicians believed that spells made from your own comprehension were the most effective. Two elements were not as difficult as three, but Greyson had watched a rainstorm once and was suddenly inspired on how to combine three of his elements. From then on, through a lot of trial and error, he created this move, Thunderstorm. Stomping in the ground, Greyson swung down his blade as he quickly approached Leopold. Red and blue had gathered around Leo''s spear tip as he met the attack with his spear. A large explosion sounded off like a boom of thunder. Even the poor audience was soaked and thrown in a disorder by the rain and strong winds. Thankfully the lightning was contained, otherwise there would be a lot more injured people. Suddenly, the clouds cleared revealing the peaceful blue sky once more. Excited, the crowd quickly looked around for the two boys. When the mist cleared, everyone could clearly see the standing Greyson and the kneeling Leopold. Coughing out blood, Leopold could no longer hold himself up and fainted. Still in shock, the judge had not declared the winner yet. At some point, one person had begun clapping until the rest of the audience joined along. Soon the entire place was filled with thunderous applause and the judge regained his calm and declared Greyson the winner. Physicians ascended the stage and carried down Leopold for healing. Slowly getting down the stage, Greyson sat in his seat feeling satisfied. Although losing was fine last time, it was impossible to not be bothered. After all this time and training, if he could not beat Leo this time, he felt his mentality would have been affected. This fulfillment was something that could not be explained, but it felt as if something that had been weighing down on him was gone. One of the last chains holding him in the Idris Kingdom was unlocked. The journey to the Beast Kingdom was becoming his new goal. Soon, the Idris Kingdom would not be able to hold him. He would have to move on to the next part of his journey. A new fire was ignited in him and the impatience to leave right at this moment was growing. 69 I Donst Want to! Recovering his mana, Greyson no longer paid any attention to his surroundings. His turn to challenge was up next round so he wanted to be at in his best condition. His plan was to challenge Natalia next. Everyone has been avoiding trying to go up against the girl so he still was not sure of her limit. After versing her, he could only hope the rest of the battles end quickly. If he beat her then all his goals would be accomplished and he could comfortably leave the Idris Kingdom to the wide world outside. There he would find his chance to breakthrough to the magister level. He wanted to take this chance to break the record for youngest magister, not just in the Snow Country but in the surrounding countries as well. Tristian and Bromwood''s battle had paused because of Greyson''s last spell that had affected the entire stadium. Restarting, the two started up again. No matter how exciting their battle was, though, most of the audience was still stuck thinking back to the earlier battle and Greyson''s final spell. Both Tristian and Bromwood could feel that even the judge was barely paying attention and felt extremely aggrieved. Couldn''t that kid leave space for others to show off a little? They suddenly felt like jokes trying to follow up an epic battle like earlier. Looking at each other, they both came to an understanding and decided to just attack with their best moves. Obviously, there was no point in holding back and building up suspense. Bromwood ended up winning by just a little with the Fulmen family''s Lightning Burst. However, both walked off the stage looking dejected as if neither of them had won. Both their eyes fixed onto the deceivingly cute looking young elf who was calmly meditating. Gritting their teeth in hate, they could only helplessly look on as all of them became the background characters to Greyson. Ezra glanced to her side after noticing the glares. Realizing that the little boy beside her was paying them no mind, she couldn''t help but giggle. A playful thought popped up into her mind before she smiled mischievously. Leaning her chest into the armrest that she shared with Greyson''s seat, she brought her lips right next to his ear. "Acting all cool like this is really seducing big sister~" Whispering seductively, her eyes made sure to catch his reaction. Just as she had predicted, Greyson''s back and shoulders became stiff while the sharp tips of his ears blushed red. Opening his eyes, he looked over at Ezra in surprise, but seeing her leaning over he could not place his sight anywhere. Awkwardly looking straight ahead, he scratched his nose. Honestly, he had no idea how to react to Ezra and it was extremely hard to have any conversation with this naturally flirtatious woman. One had to remember that he was only 13-years-old while Ezra was already 20-years-old now. Taking all her advances with a grain of salt, he could only feign complete ignorance. "Big sister, what does seducing mean?" Looking over with his best, "I''m-a-child-and-know-nothing" innocent look, Greyson really came off as an oblivious kid. Ezra who was happily giggling earlier suddenly could no longer smile. Receiving those big, blue eyes of innocence made her feel like she was leading this young boy astray. "Pfffftttt... Looks like your wiles do not work on everyone, Ezra. Does "Big" Sister want to hit on little children now? Grey Grey, don''t listen to this prostitute, good boys like you should not interact with woman like this. 20-years-old and doesn''t know how to conduct herself." Like a waiting predator finding its opportunity to catch its prey, Natalia did not let this opportunity pass her by. Overhearing the conversation, she quickly cut in with her own scathing remarks. Feeling a headache coming on, Greyson did not know why he had to be in between these two she-devils. If only Leopold would quickly come back. Plus, hearing someone other than Teacher Leilena calling him "Grey Grey" made him grimace. Since when were they on nickname terms with each other? Ezra''s hand suddenly crushed the part of the armrest her hand was resting on and the mana surrounding started to flare up. Glaring dangerously at Natalia, she did not want to lose out. "Oh? Well if it isn''t Little Natty. However, I can''t help but notice that you butt in whenever I''m talking to Grey here. It couldn''t be you really have a crush, right? Big Sister can do you a favor and back off then." Ezra taunted while dragging Greyson into the verbal spar. Disgruntled by being pulled into their fight, Greyson sent a displeased look towards Ezra. While his attention was elsewhere, he didn''t realize that Natalia had already flared up at the comment and her red hair literally began to light on fire. Feeling the heat behind him and looking over at Natalia who was bristling in anger. Thinking the situation was getting out of control, Greyson wondered if he should just leave and give them some space. Right as the fight was about to start, a saving voice spoke up. "Alright, that''s enough the both of you. You all have to fight soon so just save your energy for the stage." Leopold who was done healing, had come back to his seat and helped break apart the two girls. Almost right on cue, after Leo spoke, Morninghand came and asked Greyson and Natalia to declare an opponent to challenge. Natalia spoke up first and challenged Ignis. Surprisingly, though, he had rejected her challenge without even a thought. His eyes looking at Natalia seemed to hold great trauma as if something terrible had happened to him before fighting her. Confused, Greyson questioned Leopold with his eyes. "Pretty much, one year ago Ignis took Ezra''s side when Natalia and Ezra were fighting. Natalia took it personally and held a grudge, so when they fought last time, she beat him until he was unrecognizable." Leopold whispered over. Slightly choking, Greyson looked over to the gentle-seeming young girl. Actually, his master had told him about the match between Leopold and Natalia last time, so he was already aware that she had a real violent and evil side to her. Hearing Ignis'' rejection, everyone turned to Greyson for his challenge. To everyone''s surprise, he locked his gaze unto Natalia. "I want to challenge Natalia." He clearly stated. At this point, all heads turn to Natalia waiting for her response. "Too bad, I don''t want to fight you. I forfeit." Enunciating each word clearly, Natalia turned his challenge down immediately. At first, he did not compute her response so he stayed silent. "Wait, why? Why don''t you fight me? Do you think I''m not worth it?" Slightly annoyed by her rejection, Greyson continued asking her for the reason. "Honestly? I can''t combine all my elements yet, so that last spell of yours is something I cannot defend against." She answered seriously. Seeing her change from her original willful attitude to seriousness made Greyson rather surprised. However, understanding her rejection made it better. Although she would not lose for sure, it seemed she did not have the confidence yet. He felt good knowing that he had jumped through the last hoop. Now all that was on his mind was quickly going home and traveling to the Beast Empire as soon as possible. His wish was quickly granted, because afterwards everyone had forfeited against him. He ended at first place, Natalia at second, and Leopold at third. The rest of the rankings did not stray a lot from the expectations of everyone. The most surprising change had to be that Luca Argentum ended in fourth place beating out Bromwood. After Bromwood was Tristian. Ezra was seventh place and Ignis was eighth. Caedis was ninth while Bella was tenth. During the awards at the end, Greyson couldn''t help but glance at this golden-eyed young man. He came off as the most unassuming. His element was water, so even his element was not very rare in the Snow Country. Suddenly, Greyson regretted not paying attention to any of the other matches because he was now curious about what was so different about Luca that he beat out the rest. The brief curiosity did not last, however, once they were all dismissed to go back home. It was at this moment, Greyson remembered that he would be leaving. Eagerness to leave filled his mind as he almost ran back to Sweetbow''s manor. "Master, I want to leave right away!" He shouted as he swung open the gate. "Alright, alright, calm down. No need to shout, you''ll make this wonderful teacher of yours deaf." Sweetbow placed down the tea he was drinking and complained. Rolling his eyes, Greyson thought of all the times he spoke to his teacher about shouting. The hypocrisy of it all. "You should just sleep for tonight and head out with the Argentum''s merchant caravan which is leaving tomorrow afternoon. It seems they are also heading towards the Beast Empire so you are in luck. I already got a spot for you." Sweetbow continued. Argentum? Greyson felt a little surprised, but he was happy that his teacher already got something ready for him. He was leaving tomorrow afternoon! Ecstatic, Greyson quickly thanked his teacher and ran to his room, failing to notice the sad expression on Sweetbow''s face. "Look at him, so eager to leave. Was my house such a prison? He really knows how to make people feel bad." Sweetbow was originally a recluse and extremely unhappy living in a human kingdom. Greyson was his first disciple and friend after many years. These past five years were filled with so much more life and happiness than before that he really was reluctant to let his precious disciple leave to such a faraway and dangerous place. However, he knew that, as a real teacher, he should hope for Greyson to grow in strength and achieve his goals instead of holding him back. ... The moment the sunlight hit the windows, Greyson''s eyes shot open and he threw off his covers in excitement. Unknowingly the force behind throwing his blankets had sent poor Lucius into the wall. "Hey!" Violently awoken, Lucius let out a shout of complaint. Not hearing Lucius at all, Greyson was already changed into comfortable travel clothes and was double checking his sack for all his necessities. Once he looked through everything once more, he grabbed the sack and threw it over his shoulder before slipping his boots on. Seeing Greyson walking out the door without him, Lucius quickly ran after and hopped onto his favorite shoulder. Although the caravan was leaving in the afternoon, Greyson wanted to stop by the painting association to say goodbye to Ronan before leaving. Running towards the gate, he spotted a familiar body. Waiting at the front gate was Sweetbow. Hearing the footsteps approaching, Sweetbow looks up and sees his apprentice. Looking at his apprentice closely, Sweetbow remembered the first time his apprentice walked through the doors. Five years had already gone by in what felt like an instant and his apprentice had grown a lot. Preventing himself from getting to sentimental, he stopped his reminiscing and flung something at his apprentice. Reacting quickly, Greyson caught what was thrown at him and looked down at his hand. It was a rather beautiful silver dragon ring with two small purple gems as the dragon''s eyes. Putting it on his right-hand middle finger, Greyson cast an ownership spell. Once he felt the connection, he tested out the ring''s function only to realize that it was actually a spatial ring! Shock covered his features as he looked up at his teacher. "Don''t look at me like that, it was not too expensive. Grandmaster Allen gave me a discount on it because he wanted to make you something as well. I just couldn''t have you carrying around that spatial bag anymore like country bumpkin lest everyone thinks I can''t even afford to buy my disciple a spatial ring." Turning his head away, Sweetbow spoke nonchalantly as if it wasn''t a big deal. But how could it not be? Spatial rings were very expensive! The big families like Natalia''s could afford to give her a spatial necklace because they owned a lot of businesses and made money that way. His teacher was powerful; however, his academy elder salary was not as big as one would think. Sweetbow had not even bought himself a spatial ring. Stroking the ring slightly, Greyson could not help but feel extremely thankful for having met such a great master. Looking at his master who was still turning his head to the side, Greyson couldn''t help but chuckle at his master''s obsession with acting cool. Quickly running up to Sweetbow, Greyson gave him a big hug. Surprised at first that his normally cold apprentice hugged him, Sweetbow soon smiled warmly and patted his head. "Alright, enough, it''s not like this is forever anyways." Feeling slightly embarrassed, Sweetbow quickly coughed out. "Hahaha, okay, master, you''re right. Master, this disciple will travel and come back safely!" Waving goodbye, Greyson left those words before quickly running out. Making his way to the painting association, Greyson had quickly found Ronan''s workshop and said his goodbyes to his dear friend. Ronan was already prepared for this and so he handed Greyson a traveling present. It was a large bound book of pages for him to sketch and paint on so that he could continue practicing his painting even on the road. Thanking Ronan happily, Greyson had given Ronan a present of his own. It was a beautifully crafted paint brush that was also a magic tool. It had light element and wind element functions. The light element refreshes the body and mind while the wind element boosts brush stroke speed. Excited, Ronan tried it out right away soon getting absorbed in painting as he entered this wonderful state. Smiling at his friend''s distraction, Greyson soon sneaked out the door. Swiftly reaching the Imperial City''s gate, Greyson waited for the merchant caravan to arrive so he could quickly leave... 70 Argentum Merchant Caravan Around noon, Greyson could finally hear the thundering echo of multiple carriages coming his way. Looking in through the gate, he spotted 10 large carriages along with one expensive looking passenger carriage. The carriages were surrounded by 10 guards on horseback and followed by around 50 foot soldiers. The imposing sight shocked Greyson as he thought it was no wonder his teacher said they would be attacked. Although everything looked well-guarded, they also looked filled with important and expensive goods that warrant so much guarding. Stronger and well-established bandit groups could outnumber this amount of soldiers if they wanted to attack. However, this was what he was hoping for so that he could train and continue getting used to his new abilities. Practicing them by himself or with his teacher were not the same as actual real-life fighting where his life could be in danger. At the very front of the caravan was a young woman in armor. Valiant and charming, the grey-haired woman exuded a soldier''s aura around her. She had spotted Greyson who seemed to watching them remembering that there was supposed to be a student joining them to travel to the Beast Empire. Actually looking at him, though, she was incredibly shocked. How could he look so much like her mother?! The hands holding the horse''s reins began shaking as her eyes would not leave the young boy''s face. Feeling such a meaningful stare, Greyson also shifted his eyes towards the woman at the front. It was Eden Ley! He could recognize her features from the auction, even though five years had gone by. Eden still gave off the same strong atmosphere as she had at the auction, which was rare in girls who were normally taught to be ladylike. He saw an odd excitement and surprise as she looked at him. Furrowing his brows, he was not sure how to respond to such a stare. Remembering how Luca Argentum stared at him as well, he felt put off by the family. What was with all of them? Next to Eden was her old maid, Anne, traveling on foot. Noticing Eden''s surprise, she also looked over at Greyson and felt the same excitement. However, she quickly got control over herself and whispered over to her master. "Milady, a lot of beautiful elves have similar features. Do not be too excited. We can slowly ask some questions and get a feel for this young elf. Remember the last time, milady got so excited that you explained the entire situation to someone before confirming their identity and they used us. Even we are not if the seventh highness positive inherited a dragon bloodline like you or an elf-bloodline. Let us not make early assumptions." Careful due to past experiences, Anne did not want to see her kind master to be used by another again. That evil boy had long been killed after Anne found out. Eden wanted to spare him, but Anne would not allow the ungrateful animal to live. She knew best how much Eden longed to find her family and someone using those feelings and hurting her so deeply was something that Anne could not allow. Hearing Anne''s advice, Eden awoke from her trance and hardened her gaze. That''s right. She could not allow herself to be taken advantage of again. Calming herself down, her eyes looked towards different area and no longer stared at Greyson. Seeing the woman''s eyes leave him, Greyson let out a sigh of relief. Maybe it was just a momentary fascination. The caravan continued moving forward until Eden signaled for them to halt in front of Greyson. "Are you the student who is joining us on this journey?" Keeping her voice as even and neutral as possible, Eden made sure to not give away any excitement. "If you guys are the Argentum family''s caravan, then, yes, that would be me." Greyson responded. "Name?" "Greyson." "No last name?" "No, I am a commoner and have no last name." "I see. Well, you can follow along my maid Anne." Eyes slightly lighting up when she heard his answer, Eden had him stay close to her so she could continue her conversation nonchalantly. Nodding his assent, Greyson greeted Anne who gave him an examining glance in return but said nothing. Slightly confused by the harsh greeting, he assumed she was just not friendly. The rest of the caravan and soldiers paid him no mind, although there were a lot who gave him disdainful glares. Suddenly, Greyson regretted not coming out with his disguise spell activated. He had a feeling that this trip was going to be a lot more annoying with his mixed blood identity out in the open. ... To his disappointment, Greyson could not have been more correct. Traveling with this caravan, he became the target of the stupidest pranks for the past 2 weeks. When he went to bathe with river water, his clothes would disappear. The food given to him was always leftovers, filled with worms, or not fully cooked. Sometimes they did not even give him any food. Eden also had not spoken to him at all since the start of the trip, so he could not really find anyone to complain to. He ended up hiding his clothes in his spatial ring and hunting for his own food. Honestly, he could not tell if he was youngest or if these immature soldiers were. The worst was when bandits attack the caravan. The soldiers would purposefully leave openings so that the bandits would attack Greyson. No matter how many he was surrounded by, none of the soldiers would assist him. They thought that this would injure or kill him, but they were unaware that training himself was the biggest reason he traveled with them. His only issue was that he was getting bored with a bunch of small fry bandits who he could beat away with one spell. Sometimes he would step in to help the other soldiers when he saw they were having trouble. However, seeing them continue with their stupid pranks, he decided he would stop helping them. Such a thankless task was not worth his effort. Greyson''s prowess in battle soon won the fear of the soldiers who realized they were no match for him.Maybe because they feared his power, they resorted to petty pranks without ever trying to actually physically hurt him. "Here, your food." An older soldier roughly handed him strips of jerky and a stale piece of bread with mold growing on it. Accepting without making any fuss, Greyson just sighed. Once the soldier was out of sight, he quickly tossed the gross stuff onto the ground and pulled out some edible fruit he found while scavenging around the forest. Kept cold and fresh within the spatial ring, the fruit were juicy and refreshing as he bit into them. He thought of cooking food himself, but the scent would travel over to soldiers and they would come bothering him and ruining his food. Thus, finding and picking fruit became the best option. Finishing his meal, Greyson got up and dusted off his clothes before getting ready to look around the forest. The past two weeks the caravan had been attacked quite a number of times which slowed down their movement, however, they were still only about a day''s journey from leaving the Snow Country to the bordering Maple Country. Sweetbow taught Greyson a lot about the geography of the continent that he lived on. First of all, the Moon Empire was the ruling force of the Snow Country because they would always have at least one sometimes two magician kings. However, Snow Country was the weakest of all the Human Empire countries. At first, Greyson had believed Moon Empire to be the ruling power, only later did he realize how ignorant he was. In the human populated areas, there were 36 countries. Eighteen of the countries were around the same level as the Snow Country. They were called the outer region countries that encircled the inner region and center region. Snow Country was apparently on the verge of getting kicked out of the outer region. Currently there was only one magician king in power and he was old. Other surrounding countries were eyeing Snow Country and hoping to take it over. No matter how barren the land, that was still a lot of wealth that could be seized. Usually outer regions had two if not three magic kings. Inner region countries have multiple magic kings and sometimes one magic emperor, however only first stage magic emperors. There were 12 inner region countries. The last six countries were center region countries that have one fifth stage magic emperor and usually a couple other lower level magic emperors and many magic kings. Real powerful human magicians existed in those countries. Those six countries were the rulers of the human race each with their own ruling family. Usually any major decisions will be made through an agreement with all six countries like going to war with the surrounding races. The Beast Empire was to the southwest of the Snow Country, so to reach the closest border the caravan had to pass through four other outer region countries. Maple Country would be the first that they would travel through. Greyson was already extremely excited because the closer they got to the country, the warmer the weather started to feel. Obviously, Maple Country was still rather north of other countries, but it was still warmer than Snow Country. He could even feel the fire element in his surroundings become denser. Before Greyson could run off, though, a voice called out to stop him. "Magician Greyson, please wait a moment." It was a soothing feminine voice, but Greyson could only feel that the voice was grating to the ear. Turning around, he saw a familiar maid servant. This maid was Mae. Her master was the young lady inside the expensive passenger carriage. One of the daughters of the original main families that combined into the Argentum family. She was the most beautiful and powerful daughter whose status was only second to Luca Argentum, Claire Argentum. Claire was the same age as Leopold. Her beauty was not falsely advertised and she even treated her servants nicely. Throughout the first couple days of traveling, she would order the caravan to take a break so the foot soldiers could rest or send out higher end food that was prepared for her to the rest of the group. Greyson''s first impression before even meeting her was very good after seeing her orders from inside the carriage. However, her attitude after meeting dredged up terrible memories from Greyson''s childhood. Unfortunately, this girl was just like Claude''s cousin, Catherine. Her personality really was not bad and he knew that she held no evil intent towards him. She just wholeheartedly was obsessed with him. His looks and powerful magic talent captured her attention. At one point, he had inadvertently saved her from a bandit. Afterwards, she developed an unhealthy adoration for him. Her maid, Mae, would call him to her carriage and at first, he would go until he could see the issues with her behavior. She would yell at Greyson if he stood too close to Eden or Anne, or even some of the soldiers. Growing tired of her jealous tirades, Greyson began ignoring her and her maid. It was not like he had to always cater to her anyways. "Mae, just go back. I do not have any feelings towards your master and I am growing tired of this back and forth. Are you not also bored of walking over only to be rejected?" "Magician Greyson, what words are these? Of course, I am not tired. Working for milady is a blessing. She just wishes to speak with you. Will you follow me back?" "No. I am going to go around and look for any possible threats in the area. Tell your lady to just rest in her carriage lest she goes around attracting trouble." "Oh, I have to go back right away! Milady, will be so glad to hear that Sir is worrying for her!" Mae''s eyes lit up with a clever glint. She quickly said that before running off back to the caravan party before Greyson could get a word in. "Ah! Mae, please! Don''t...." Greyson face quickly fell to dread and mentally kicked himself for saying something stupid. He should have just left without even speaking with her. "Hmph, that annoying girl is just like a pest that won''t go away. You should just ditch this group anyways. That woman Eden keeps asking weird questions, too. All of these people from the Argentum people have issues. The soldiers are close-minded and immature. The bandits who are coming are also weak." Lucius finally spoke up from his shoulder. "Honestly, I have thought of it, once I am in the Beast Empire, I will probably ditch them quickly. Entry into other Empires is hard because they are always on the lookout for suspicious figures who are looking to be spies or enemies. Merchant caravans are much easier to welcome because they provide supplies which the Beast Empire does not have. The Argentum family has a lot of connections through their merchant company even outside of the Snow Country in the more powerful countries." Greyson massaged his temples as he explained his reasoning for staying. Obviously, he did not enjoy subjecting himself to such treatment, but for the ease of his journey it was still better to travel with a group that had identification that could quickly get him through every city and country gate. "I really wonder what the issue with that Eden girl is, though. She keeps asking about your past and even your bloodline. Why is she so curious?" "I''m really not sure. But I don''t feel any ill intent from her so maybe she has some clue into my identity? She could just be asking questions to be sure." After thinking about the questions, Greyson was actually rather excited to answer because he was starting to feel that Eden knew something about him and his biological parents. No matter how much he asked, however, she would not answer why she was curious. Only keeping everything to herself and asking questions every now and then like how old he was, where he was found, who raised him, etc. "Ugh, I''m just so sick of all of them." Lucius groaned. "Me, too. Let''s just try our best to endure for right now." 71 Finally Some Strong Ones! Jumping around the forest, Greyson did not end up finding anything of interest. By nightfall, he decided to just head back to the main camp and eat before sleeping. Although he tried walking as slow as possible, he still made it back in good time. The soldiers just began handing out dinner and, upon seeing Greyson show up, the younger soldiers'' eyes lit up with sneers. As always, the middle-aged soldier handed him expired, moldy food while Greyson just inwardly rolled his eyes. Couldn''t they come up with anything else? Not that he wanted to be bullied, but this was just getting stupid. Taking and trashing the food with no issues, he walked away while taking out a different fruit from earlier. Night arrived peacefully and Greyson walked over to the tent assigned to him. By routine, he lifted up the blanket and saw the large number of bugs placed underneath. Sighing, he shook his head before walking out. "Looks like it''s sleeping in the trees again, Lu. Not that it matters. I guess they didn''t know that the elf bloodline actually makes me more comfortable in outdoor spaces. Master''s manor is extremely open with not many walls enclosing the space with trees growing throughout the inside of the house, as well." "Like I said, even their bullying is ignorant. They don''t even know how to properly bother you, so why even try?" Lucius just rolled his eyes as he found a comfy spot on a thick branch. Slightly chuckling at his friend''s words, Greyson also got comfortable leaning on a branch. His eyes flashing brown, Greyson willed extra branches to grow around him creating a cozy nest-like bed in the trees. This way the wind would be blocked while also preventing him from rolling off the branch. After sleeping in the trees so often, he developed his own know-how. Who knew when he drifted off to sleep, however, in what felt like an instant, he was rudely awakened by a paw in the face. "Old Lu, what''s wrong with you? Since when do you wake up before noon?" Groggy, Greyson complained before swatting the cat off his body and trying to go back to sleep. "Idiot! Am I the type to wake you up for no reason?! Now get up, there is danger!" Frustrated by the ungrateful gesture, Lucius hissed back at him. The word "danger" woke Greyson up in an instant. "Danger? Where?" Quickly sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he allowed his vision to dart around. However, while his eyes did not detect any motion, his ears could hear and his body could feel heavy stomping that was approaching the camp. How has he slept through something so loud? Glancing towards Lucius, Greyson was quickly enlightened. "It''s some type of long-range wind hypnosis spell. If it''s not the thing approaching that cast it, then there is an accomplice. We should quickly go scout out what is approaching!" Listening to Lucius'' words, Greyson felt a cold sweat drip from his back. He would have to be more alert later even when sleeping. "Wait, then why weren''t you affected?" "Stupid! Really even after that narcissistic elf bragging about his teaching skills, you still don''t know something so basic!" Exasperated, Lucius cursed Sweetbow for not being thorough enough. "Magic beasts have different thresholds for sight, smell, and sound. They have to be magic beast specific or even race specific spells in order to be useful. In reverse, things that work on beasts may have no effect on humans. Remember that powder that would have attracted beasts that one noble brat gave you? You couldn''t smell anything but I could tell what it did. It''s similar to that concept." He continued explaining. "Oh, right, now that you mention it, I do remember that. It was... who was it again? Well, anyways, I get what you mean." Slightly embarrassed to have just completely forgotten the kid''s name, Greyson decided to just gloss over it. He got the point anyways. Poor, Arwen never realized how insignificant his existence was in Greyson''s young, growing mind. "Shouldn''t we wake up the rest of them first, though?" "Those weaklings? It''s best to just see if you can solve it on your own. If not, then maybe strength in numbers will work." Lucius disdained the rest of the caravan which was why he would always urge Greyson to leave. Sighing slightly, Greyson knew that Lucius was right. Activating his Air Steps spell, he burst out into motion towards the stomping noise. Although whatever approaching was heavy, it was also extremely slow with each step taking half a minute. Sneaking around, he slowly came upon the source of the noise. Mana gathering around his eyes, his sight became clearer even from far away. Looking closely, he sharply inhaled from what he saw. A humongous tortoise-like creature was approaching with a group of bandits on top of its back. It seemed the bandit base was mobile and built on top of the turtle. The shell was covered in rocky terrain, but Greyson could spot the human-made dens dug out. Well, he at least knew it was the bandits that cast the hypnosis spell. From his memory, he could already recognize this magic beast as a Terra Armored Beast. They were earth-element beasts who were terrible offensive fighters, but innately talented at defense. Bodies comparable to the hard earth, these magic beasts could even endure strikes from magicians a full level higher than them. This one in front of him was only an intermediate level beast, but it could defend against Greyson''s attacks. From the fact that the bandits could live peacefully on top of the beast meant that their leader had to at least be an advanced level magician or it would be impossible for him to subdue this Terra Armored Beast. Eyes lighting up with interest, Greyson wanted to quickly attack the bandits. This moment was exactly the challenge he stayed with the caravan for. Finally some strong bandits have come to attack them! "Lu, should I wake up the rest of the caravan and attack with them?" "No! You can beat this bandit group yourself in my opinion. Zephyr needs some time to spread his wings, too right? I also wanted try using some magic. I haven''t had the chance to step in and fight in so long already." Lucius quickly rejected his idea. After thinking about it, Lucius was already a magister level beast so Greyson stopped worrying. The silver dragon tattoo lit up on his face and faded away as a half-grown appeared in its place. Too excited, Zephyr could not help but let out a loud roar as he flew up. Watching his partner in such a state, Greyson felt a stab of guilt for keeping Zephyr locked inside his body for so long. "Hey, look, they''re coming now!" Lucius quickly brought back Greyson''s attention with a yell. His eyes quickly looking over, he could tell that Zephyr''s roar grabbed the bandits'' attention. Jumping up onto Zephyr''s back, Greyson shot up into the sky. Once he was high up enough, he pulled out his magic bow and nocked an arrow. Green and brown eyes lit up the dark sky as he released multiple arrows in a row. The wind element sped up the arrow speed and the earth element sharpened the metal arrowhead to pierce through even armor. Sweetbow taught him a lot of tricks when it came to the bow and arrow. Each arrow found its target piercing through the approaching bandits taking them down one by one. Zephyr would also release his own magic taking down the waves of incoming men. All of the weaklings were quickly getting beat down until three men stepped out. The leading man swung out his hand and managed to block Zephyr and Greyson''s attacks. Interest piqued, Greyson stopped his barrage of arrows to take a good look at who had come out this time. Scanning them carefully, the men''s levels all shocked him. One advanced level stage four magician and one advanced level stage five magician made of the two men who stood behind the leader. Even Greyson could not quite tell what level the leader was at so he looked over at Lucius for an answer. "What you''re thinking is correct. That man is a magister level stage one magician!" Even Lucius was surprised. Although he knew that there could be bandit groups with such a powerful leader, it was truly unexpected to find one in an outer country. "I will fight him. You take care of the other two." Leaping off Greyson''s shoulder, Lucius landed on the ground and announced this as he quickly bounded towards the leader. Greyson also had Zephyr lower to the ground so he could face off the other two. In order for his fight to stay uninterrupted, Greyson had Zephyr handle the multitudes of weak bandits still left over. "Young elf, you are surprisingly powerful for your age. What is your reason for attacking our base?" The leader''s deep voice spoke out still sounding relatively calm. "I am part of the caravan that was put under the hypnosis spell. Thankfully, I was able to break out of it. Therefore, in order to protect them, I came out to fight your group off." "Ah, if I were to tell you that they weren''t our targets, would you believe me?" Keeping a straight-face, the bandit leader gave nothing away. "You are saying that you would have just passed by a wealthy and defenseless caravan without stealing anything? I could maybe believe that you would not kill everyone, but not steal? That''s a different matter. Those materials are important for a later trade, so I cannot allow for that to happen." Not taking the bait, Greyson could believe the caravan was not the main target but they were still a happy accident. The bandit leader''s eyes finally flashed with annoyance hearing the half-elf boy''s answer. "So, will you get out of our way and peacefully hand over the materials, or must we do this the hard way?" No longer able to fake civility, the greed and violence leaked out into his voice. "Neither. We''re going to fight and kill you." Greyson nonchalantly replied. The three bandit leaders froze for a moment wondering if they had heard correctly before the advanced level stage four magician started cracking up. "You, the mixed-blood, wimpy-looking little thing, and this little kitten of yours are going to kill us? HAHAHAHA! That''s the best joke I''ve heard in ages." Holding his stomach in laughter, the man insulted both boy and cat. Narrowing his eyes in anger, Greyson quickly pulled out Genesis. In just the blink of an eye, he was in front of the laughing man slashing down a fire-covered sword. Laughs turned to screams as the man caught on fire and a long cut appeared across his torso. Both the other bandits widened their eyes in shock before quickly retreating away from the fight. They wanted to help, but it was already too late for their friend who was already turned to ashes. The vomit-inducing stench of burnt flesh permeated out. Greyson''s pupils shook slightly, but he no longer felt the same nausea for killing a person. Instead, he ignored the body and quickly looked towards the other advanced level magician. Meeting Greyson''s gaze, the magician quickly got a hold of himself and started preparing for battle. The bandit leader looked furious to see one of his right-hand men cut down right in front of him, so he began approaching Greyson to kill him only to be intercepted by that same small kitten. "Stupid beast, begone!" Activating an earth element spell, sharp spike quickly popped up from the ground underneath the cat. However, the expected cries of pain did not follow. Finally pulling his attention away from the boy, the bandit leader looked around for the cat that he believed was already stabbed through. But his assumption was incorrect as he could not see the cat anywhere. Feeling a cool breeze fly by his neck, the leader''s heart dropped as he quickly summoned an Earth Wall behind him for defense. Wind slices blasted the wall apart and still cut open the leader''s back. Spitting blood, the leader finally realized he severely underestimated the strength of the young cat. Summoning an armor to form around his body, the leader also summoned his weapon, an ax. However, he would not realize that he would never be fast enough to fight with Lucius. A flash of silver teleported right in front of his eyes, before sharp shining teeth bit into his throat. The spatial element. His eyes flashed with final understanding towards his death, but it was already too late. The fight happening on the other side had yet to finish. Greyson refrained from using his combined element spells as he could not always rely on them since they drained his mana too quickly. Just switching between his different elements in a variety of ways had already brought his opponent to the brink of mental collapse. It turned out the man was a normal water element magician and he tried his best to defend, but he could never anticipate which element and which spell would come for him next. Already in a sorry state when Lucius and the leader finished their fight, the man completely lost his will to fight after seeing the leader taken down. Greyson approached with a simple wind slice, however, instead of avoiding or blocking, the man purposefully allowed Greyson to succeed in stabbing him straight through. Disappointed the fight ended already, Greyson just quickly pulled out his sword. Maybe he should have tried fighting with the magister level magician? Summoning Zephyr back, the silver dragon gave a little whine before disappearing in a beam of light back into Greyson''s body. A shining silver dragon tattoo once again appeared on his face. "I know. I''ll let you come out more often later, I promise." Connected through their souls, Greyson could tell what that whine meant. Turning towards Lucius, he couldn''t help but remark, "who knew you were so vicious?" "What do you mean? I am a powerful magic beast, you know? Not some domesticated house animal." The cat just rolled his eyes and continued licking away the blood from his fur. "I just got a little excited, too. It''s just been too long since I last fought an opponent. A shame, though, that he was a slow earth element magician. They are the weakest against quick attacks like mine." "Your spatial element''s ability to teleport is really worthy of envy." Thinking back to the fight, Greyson felt jealous of such a convenient ability during a battle. "Well, this is just my genius, you''ll have to get used to being jealous." Puffing out his chest, Lucius did not give up the chance to rub it in. "Whatever, let''s just go back and get some sleep. There''re only a couple hours left until sunrise. I''m exhausted." Waving his hand weakly, Greyson just ignored Lucius'' words as he started heading back to his earlier tree bed. 72 Beating the Record Before heading back, Greyson remembered they had forgotten something huge. Looking over at the humongous Terra Beast, he wondered what to do with it. Such a noticeable and large creature was unwieldy and not particularly useful in this situation. He thought about just leaving the creature to its own devices because most likely it would just lay down somewhere and not move for thousands of years. Living beings in the forest would settle on the shell as if the beast was a mountain. Most of the Terra Armored Beasts lived like so because they were too lazy and slow to move about while having enormously long lifespans. However, Lucius quickly stopped Greyson before they left. "You are going to leave such a natural treasure like this beast behind!" "What are you talking about? Am I supposed to bring it along? You do realize that it''s as large as a mountain. I can''t carry him around like I do you." In disbelief, Greyson glanced at that cat and purposefully gestured towards the enormous tortoise-like creature behind them. "Idiot! You should thank your lucky stars that I travel with you. I am obviously your good luck charm. I was the one who woke you up and led you to this group. This is why people want to capture us Destiny Cats. Don''t you remember that all magic beasts awaken a special feature or ability instead of a partner beast like humans? Well, this Terra Beast''s special ability is its shell''s spatial capabilities. He can shrink to the size of your palm however the amount of things that fit on its back is the same as its full size. Pretty much, the bandits could live on its back like normal while you carry the beast around in your hand. It''s a moving spatial ring that can fit endless amounts of things! Tell me, aren''t I amazing?" Puffing his chest out, Lucius quickly walked over to the front of the Terra Beast to prove his words. Communicating with each other, the enormous beast slowly shrunk down into a miniature tortoise. Lucius picked up the beast with his mouth then hopped back onto Greyson''s shoulder and placing the mini Terra Beast on Greyson''s other shoulder. Flabbergasted, Greyson stared at the harmless looking toy beast that now rested on his shoulder. "How do I place items in?" "Just ask. Terra Armored Beasts are extremely calm and well-tempered beasts. As long as you do nothing to harm them, they will continue to let you use them, just like those bandits. Their minds are rather slow and they enjoy sleeping long hours, so they are easy to keep." "Will he understand?" "Hmmm... well this one is too weak at this point to understand human speech. I will translate for you." "Okay!" Greyson''s mood immediately lit up with his good luck. This Terra Beast could become really useful for him later on. "I''ll name him Alexus, Al for short." "Al? Al and Lu, what is it with you and two letter nicknames? Our names are not even that long. Poor beast doesn''t even know what injustice his owner placed on him." Mockingly wiping a tear for the oblivious Al, Lucius eventually quieted down after a glare from Greyson. ... Settling everything with the bandit group, Lucius and Greyson quietly made it back to the same tree and managed to sleep for a couple more hours before the caravan started waking up and preparing to leave for Maple Country''s closest border city. Half a day''s journey later, the caravan had made it to the city gates of Acernis. Multiple soldiers stopped all of the entering people for the entry fee and identification. Mae, as the head maidservant of the leader of the caravan, took charge and approached the soldiers. She proactively handed them a large bag of silver coins and handed him the identification and permit of the caravan. Slightly glancing over the bag of silver, the soldier shook his head and indicated that the amount was too little. Although slightly frustrated, Mae was experienced so she quickly handed over another small bundle of coins. Coughing slightly, the soldier continued to try to get Mae to pay more, however, this time Mae hardened her expression and showed intent to just take back all the money and leave. Understanding he pushed too far, the soldier quickly stopped her and pushed out a subservient smile. Rubbing his hands together, he indicated for the caravan to enter while the other soldiers looked over the rest of the caravan. Just as the entire group finished entering, the soldier called for them to halt. "You, with the hood, show everyone your face." A gruff voice sounded out in front of Greyson. Looking down, Greyson saw the military boots come into view. Looking back up, he could see the smirks on the soldiers hoping to see him get targeted. Snorting at their expressions, Greyson confidently pulled down his hood. However, what came into view was normal brown hair and brown eyes and human ears. Barely glancing again, the soldiers allowed him to pass. Shocked, the caravan''s soldiers almost forgot to continue walking after seeing Greyson''s sudden change. Chuckling over their wide-eyed expressions, Greyson just passed by with his head up. Sticking out his tongue at them, he flipped his hood back on while flashed his original platinum silver hair slightly. Scowling, they realized it was only a disguise spell. Rolling his eyes, Greyson just ignored them and continued into city. The first thing he noticed was the monochromatic view of dark-brown hair and amber eyes. Sweetbow informed him earlier on that natives of the Maple Country normally all had the same hair and eye colors that matched the famous maple trees located there. Thankfully, he covered his features or he would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Not all human countries were like this, they were similar to Snow Country and contained all sorts of colors. When he was learning, Greyson discovered that it was due to the bloodlines inherited inside the country. Maple Country was smaller compared to other outer region countries and the legend is that every citizen is a descendant of the original founding king. The founder was an elemental emperor who set apart the land for his family. Children continued branching out until there was enough population to call the land a country. The original bloodline, no matter how faint, caused the same features to develop in the citizens. It was similar to how the elf bloodline worked where they all have the same platinum hair and pointed ears. Thinking about it, Greyson had to admire the founder. How powerful must he have been for his bloodline to be in affect even now? Wandering around the market, Greyson noticed their signature food dishes. Unlike other countries, Maple Country encouraged their magicians to pursue the magician chef route. All of the restaurants contained special mana-filled creations which assisted in meditations. A lot of the magician chefs advance quickly by eating their own creations and they were also rich due to the popularity and rarity of the occupation. Even inner and central countries order their food or hire the chefs from Maple Country. Magic herbs and magic beasts were easy to find and eat, however, they often taste like rubber unless prepared with magic and a special technique. This technique was the lifeblood of Maple Country and their top secret. Enticing smells wafted over to him as his mouth began to water. Even the sleeping Lucius'' eyes shot open as he licked his lips. Looking through all the restaurants, Greyson''s eyes finally stopped on a grand and expensive looking tower with 6 levels. His eyes lighting up, Greyson thought of the famous chain in the human territories. Every country contains at least one while Maple Country has one in every city. Six Treasure Gourmet is a famous chain started by the magician king level chef from the royal family. The brother of the current emperor of the Barnabus Empire, Castor Barnabus. Each level of the tower indicates the level of the magician eating. Non-magicians are not allowed to eat inside the towers. The bottom floor is the largest as many people are able to meet the requirement while each consecutive floor gets smaller and smaller. Their reputation was world-renowned for having the most delicious magic food. Easily making his choice, Greyson strode over to the entrance of the tower. Right at the entrance was an array that stopped a lot of the crowd from entering. Leaning over to the nearest man, Greyson asked what was going on. "The array tests the strength of the entering customer to keep out people who are too weak." "But some of them are beginner level magicians, but even they are not allowed. Isn''t that the only standard?" This question got a disdainful glance as the man looked at Greyson as though he were an idiot. "Don''t you know how many beginner level magicians there are? How could there be enough space for them. Each level has strength standards as well. You have to pass the exam. Otherwise, every tower would be overcrowded." He explained. "Ah." Greyson sounded in understanding. Curiously observing, he realized that they would enter the array and fight with same level imaginary opponents. Depending on the amount of opponents they beat, the people could enter the tower. For advanced level magicians, they had to beat at least 15 opponents. Greyson quickly got in line before it got too long again, otherwise he would not be able to eat until after dinner time. His stomach started loudly growling in anticipation because the closer he got, the more he could smellthe delicious food inside. Impatiently tapping his foot, he watched as person after person failed the exam just wishing people would give up their spot after seeing so many others fail. Midday turned to evening and the sun began to set when Greyson finally reached the front of the line. He could barely contain his excitement just praying for the person before him to fail or pass as fast as possible, just as long as he would leave. A shout echoed out as the last person shot from inside the array. Thankfully, the young man landed on accurately arranged cushions laid out previously after the preceding attempts. Not waiting one second longer, Greyson stepped up and placed his hand on the measuring stone in front. The dial correctly portrayed his advanced level stage five status which surprised the attendant who was in charge of keeping order at the array. Although he could not clearly see Greyson''s face, just from his 13-year-old height, the attendant could assume that the person in front of him must be young. However, as an experienced worker, he kept his calm and smoothly arranged for the correct array challenge. Indicating for Greyson to enter, the attendant opened the entrance to the array and tossed the exit talisman to him. Barely looking at the man, Greyson caught the talisman and burst through the opening. Dark nothingness enveloped his sight before a new opening came into view. The space was not too large, around the size of a small stadium stage. In a matter of seconds a human-like figure built up from the earth. Sensing the mana emitting from it, Greyson understood this was his first opponent. Taking our Genesis, Greyson eyes sparkled blue as he sent a quick water slash down towards the earth man. Weaker than he imagined, the opponent exploded into piece from the first hit. After it was gone a new one appeared, but this time it was made of water. One hit was enough to take down the opponent again. This sequence continued through a fire man and wind man. To his surprise, the next opponent was a earth and water man. Feeling Greyson''s excitement, Genesis lit up with purple lightning. Dashing towards the man, he stabbed into it. However, this time an icy shield blocked his sword tip while an earth fist shot out from the earth towards him. Reacting quickly, Greyson created his own earth wall to block the incoming attack. Grinning widely, he felt happy to test out his limits with these practice dummies. One move after another he fought and somewhere along the line the earth and water opponent had fallen apart with an fire and wind to take its place. Without a care for the time, Greyson continued beating down every opponent that came up. Sometimes they were combined element dummies, other times they were just a single element but more powerful than before. Who knows how many moves passed before Greyson began to drip sweat and breathe heavily. Knowing he was reaching the end of his mana stores and stamina, Greyson looked at his current opponent and made a decision. Opposite from him was actually a four element dummy! A familiar thunder began to rumble as dark clouds formed and wind howled. Lightning, water, and wind circled around Genesis as Greyson jumped up and slashed down into the opponent. It tried to block with a earth and water spell, however, Greyson''s strike broke right through it. Taking it straight on, the dummy burst into pieces. Exhausted, Greyson crushed the exit talisman that would push him out of the array. Rays of light no longer remained in the sky and evening already rolled in. However, the minute Greyson opened his eyes, he could see the wide-eyed audience staring at him like he was some sort of monster. Scanning himself, he realized his robe was completely tattered and his face was out in the open. Was it because he was a mixed blood? But their looks don''t seem to contain disdain or hate... Not understanding, Greyson looked over at the attendant. "Did I pass the exam, sir?" The attendant just stared back at him with answering. "Sir?" Greyson continued to inquire. "Huh, what, yes, sorry what did you ask?" Finally snapping out of it, the attendant stuttered. "Did I pass?" "Yes! Yes, you passed! In fact, you did more than pass, you broke the record!" "Record?" Curious, Greyson looked over at the recording number of dummies he beat. There, he saw the large shining number, 30! Even he had not realized how many opponents he beat, he just fought to his heart''s content. "In all of our Six Treasure Gourmet Towers everywhere, the record for advanced magicians is 28! You have beaten the record! Please leave your name for the news." "Well, my name is Greyson. Is there some sort of prize that comes with beating the record or is it just nominal recognition?" Not looking excited at all, Greyson couldn''t help but wonder if that was it for beating the record. Lip twitching, the attendant could not believe the look of disappointment on the young half-elf''s face. "Of course, of course, here take this." Holding his hand out, he handed something to Greyson. Turning it over, Greyson saw it was a badge with the insignia of the restaurant. "This is a membership badge that will allow you to walk into any of the towers without the test, you also enjoy a 5% discount on the food. The discount increases as your level increases." Finally proper happiness appeared on Greyson''s face as he quickly received the badge and kept it safely away. "Thank you, sir! I''m going to go in and eat now if that''s fine. I have been looking forward to eating a meal here all day." Almost running away, Greyson could easily step through the blocking array into the restaurant. The bottom floor was extremely loud and crowded with all sorts of people present. Quickly glancing around, he found the staircase and made his way up to the second floor. It was smaller and quieter but still rather crowded. Not looking for long, Greyson continued upwards to the third floor. Up here were mostly older men with a good amount of open tables. Just picking a random table, Greyson approached to sit down. As he was moving to sit in his chair, he heard a familiar yet nightmare inducing voice. "Magician Greyson! What a coincidence!" Her voice called out. Greyson just grimaced at his luck. 73 Why Donst You Both Leave Me Alone? Decisively sitting down, Greyson ignored the voice and sat down as if he did not hear her greeting. To no avail, however, as a body sat down across from him at the table. The sweet smell of roses wafted over to his nose, however, all he could feel towards this smell was disgust. Finally glancing up, he saw the last face he wanted to see at this moment. Beauty of the Argentum Family, Claire Argentum, sat down in front him with a wide smile on her face. Mae followed behind like a shadow. "Magician Greyson, what a coincidence that you decided to eat here as well. You wouldn''t mind if I joined you for dinner, right?" Softly speaking with a slight blush, Claire looked like the picture of feminine gentleness. Many of the other male eyes on the third floor started glancing over, some even starting to drool. But Greyson could only feel frustration as he inwardly rolled his eyes. Obviously, she already sat down, so the question was redundant. If he were a normal person then of course he could not say "no" at this point. "Ah, Ms. Argentum, I did not notice you at all earlier. It is such a coincidence that you are eating here, as well. I am sorry to say, however, that I do mind if you join me. You see, my cat here really hates strangers and refuses to eat when they are around. I have not been able to feed him all day, so starving now would really not be okay. There are plenty of other chances to eat. If you let me know beforehand, I will not bring Lucius along." Smoothly spitting complete nonsense, even Greyson felt proud at how quickly he thought of an excuse. Normally mischievous, Lucius inwardly cracked up, however, he still loyally played the part and hid behind Greyson while hissing at Claire. Feeling his partner backing him up, Greyson stroked his fur while pretending to look worried. However, the minute his eyesight turned towards Lucius, Claire glared daggers at Lucius as if she could not wait to strangle the cat. Noting the hatred, Lucius felt rather surprised and decided to tell Greyson about it later. When Greyson''s eyes turned back, Claire was back to her original shy, gentle self. "Please, you can just call me Claire. Well, Mae could go feed him elsewhere. I wanted to talk to you about some things for the upcoming journey." "Ah, sorry, Lucius has serious separation anxiety. He would never leave with Mae without me around. We have a lot of time to talk about journey related topics later." Hearing such a quick reply, even Claire''s facade started cracking as the corner of her mouth slightly twitched. Separation anxiety? This owner and cat traveled with them for so long, of course, Claire already had a handle on some of their habits. The cat would constantly go running off on its own while Greyson stayed in camp. Such blatant lies and rejection were a first for Claire. She could not help but doubt her own attractiveness. Every other boy would beg for her attention, why was this magician not interested at all? Although slightly upset, she would not give up so easily. "Then, why don''t I stay until the food you order comes out? I can leave afterwards to let Lucius eat in peace." "Ah, well, I guess that would be fine. I just feel bad about kicking you out at that moment. Why do we not just make dinner plans for another day?" "No, it''s okay. I don''t mind." Claire would not let this chance slip by because she knew that the minute, she let him go this time, he would make up millions of other excuses to not eat with her. "O-okay..." Politely smiling as best as he could, Greyson could not help but curse at her inwardly. "This girl is like a haunting ghost that just won''t let go. Why is she clinging to you so desperately? It can''t be that she can''t tell you are not interested at all." Lucius'' voice echoed inside Greyson''s mind. "I don''t know, but I can''t completely be impolite to her. Hopefully the food comes quickly." Exasperated, Greyson mentally replied back only hoping that the torture would end faster. Just as Greyson felt resigned to his fate, another voice called out to their table. "Who might this young lady be? Our young master would like to invite you over for a meal." Looking up, Greyson saw the owner of the voice. Although he acted humble as a servant, one could see the arrogance in his eyes. He had a rat-like face with an inherently grating pitch to his voice, Greyson was amazed that "young master" mentioned did not get annoyed by being followed by such a person. However, he completely welcomed this notion. Nothing would be better than someone taking this obsessed follower of his somewhere far away. Claire was the complete opposite. Sliding her eyes over to the servant, she looked completely displeased by the interruption. "Go tell your young master that I will not be able to take advantage of his hospitality this time." After saying this phrase, she turned her attention back to Greyson to try to start some small talk. At first, the servant just stood there in surprise as his young master was never rejected under normal circumstances. "Ah, it must be because young lady is not from around here. My young master is Anshelm Gale, his father is the City Lord of Acernis..." As if figuring out the reason for such quick rejection, his mouth continued moving as he listed out the power backing his young master and even went into a description of what a "genius" his young master is. From the start, Greyson paid no attention to this annoying servant and actually went about figuring out how to order using the magic tablet in front of him. Tracing his hand over the tablet, he allowed mana to flow through it. The stone tablet lit up with letters explaining the dishes that were available for third floor customers. A lot of them were completely new to Greyson, so he carefully read the descriptions and benefits. Although he gained some money from his master and staying in the academy, Greyson was far from rich. Looking over the prices, he could only go for a more reasonable dish. He chose the Fire Dragon''s Breath. A real awe-inspiring, but exaggerated name. The dish contained meat from a Fiery Salamander with some specifically fire element filled magic herbs and plants. The price was still at a reasonable range and Greyson was excited because it was said to contain a high concentration of fire element. In the midst of his meditation, Greyson''s fire element advancement fell the most behind. He spent an extended amount of time during the past five years to keep advancing in all his elements at the same speed. This was the limit on multi-element magicians which Lucius spoke about since the beginning. His understanding of all the elements must be at the same level before he can advance stages, there was no possibility to favor one over the other. The natural environment of Snow Country made it inevitable that fire magic became weak compared to his other elements. Lightning was also hard to advance because places naturally rich in lightning elements are very rare. Apparently to order, all one needed to do was use mana to write the name of the dish on the tablet and the kitchen will receive the order. Following the directions, Greyson quickly wrote out his dish and the dish that Lucius chose. Fascinated by the magic tool, he had already placed Claire and the servant to the back of his mind. He continued playing around with this new magic tool in order to maybe gleam an inspiration for something he could make later. The communication system between this tablet and whatever was displaying his order in the kitchen level could be extremely useful. After looking, he could tell that the menu from earlier used the light element and the order transport should be the spatial element. However, the smaller intricacies were completely beyond his present knowledge. Neat trinkets such as this tablet, face changing masks, even armor for normal soldiers were actually made by a completely different occupation called Magic Mechanic. Normally, magicians who were extremely intelligent but not talented magicians chose this side occupation. They could experiment with mana; however, they were limited by their own small mana stores. The occupation did not really interest Greyson in the beginning, as Mechanics were not paid well. However, the more he saw their convenient magic tools, the more Greyson felt tempted to learn more about the subject. Some combinations between a Magic Blacksmith''s practices and a Magic Mechanics practice could create something useful and powerful in his opinion. Not all Blacksmith creations were as efficient and universal as Magic Mechanics. The magic tools that Greyson makes are more tailored with a specific magician in mind, while, tools like this tablet are for anyone to use with multiple uses. Deep in his own thoughts, Greyson was completely oblivious to the hinting glances that Claire kept sending him in order to ask for some help. Frustrated by Greyson''s lack of response, she finally resorted to slightly tapping his foot underneath the table. However, regardless of her efforts, Greyson would not look up or interfere with the situation. He continued fiddling with the tablet with fascination. In truth, he was truly enthralled by these trinkets, but, in Claire''s eyes, Greyson was purposefully ignoring her. This was all until a fight finally broke out and they no longer cared about manners. Claire did not want to yell due to her strict upbringing, however, Mae was not so reserved. Mae and the male servant began to yell insults at each other and grabbed the attention of the distracted Greyson. Finally showing interest, he lifted his head to start listening to the conversation again. Seeing Greyson paying attention, Claire smiled and sighed in relief thinking that he would do something with a show of power or something. "My miss has already politely refused the invitation. Maybe another time!" "It should be her honor to be invited by my young master!" "Stupid toad, why can''t you just get lost! Don''t you see you are ruining the atmosphere of the restaurant for the rest of the people?!" "Toad? Ugly commoner, with your poor upbringing, only you would start shouting and cursing." Sniffed the male servant in disdain towards Mae. "What?!" About to explode with rage, Mae wanted to smack the arrogant look off the man''s face. "Hold on, hold on, quiet down. Amon, where are your manners?" Interrupting the fighting servants, the approaching boy was good-looking in his own right, however, compared to the people who surround Greyson, the newcomer was rather average-looking. The power radiating off the young man was around the advanced level stage two which was not worthy of Greyson''s attention, even Claire was stronger than the man. Smiling graciously, the young man tried his best to act suave as he approached the table. "My apologies to the young lady for my servant''s behavior. I have obviously not educated him properly. Amon, quickly apologize!" Taking the situation in stride, he continued acting like a benevolent noble. Greyson could only inwardly snicker. Lucius mentally mentioned to him about Claire''s earlier glare which made Greyson believe that this kind, angel-like lady was not as inwardly beautiful as she tried to portray. He did not mind as it only made him more guilt-free for rejecting her, but he could tell this young master had met his match. Even Greyson could see through the lecherous intentions in the young man''s eyes behind his act, while he could not tell anything about Claire until her small slip-up. The amateur showing off in front of the master. Who would win? "I apologize, I meant no offense." Quickly following along, the servant apologized. "It''s okay. I do not hold a grudge. But if you could return now so I can enjoy my meal with my partner." Graceful and magnanimous, Claire acted as if nothing happened. Furrowing his brows, Greyson suddenly felt the urge to puke with her fake act, plus he could clearly tell that she was trying to drag him into this mess. Just as he feared, Anshelm turned his eyes over to Greyson. "Half-elf? You want to associate yourself with some disgusting mixed-blood?" Disdain filled the young master''s expression as he spat those words. Angered by his words, Greyson felt like acting just to make this annoying person leave. However, just as the thought popped up, Greyson''s food arrived. Happily glancing his food, Greyson threw out the thoughts of the two and wanted to quickly get started. Taking his first bite, he could feel the abundant fire elements run through his body and warm his blood while perfecting the element balance in his body. Slightly meditating, his body drifted into a relaxed state as he enjoyed the great food and absorbed the fire elements trying to waste as little as possible. "HEY!" His wonderful state was suddenly shattered by a loud mana-supported shout. Not just Greyson, multiple people in the room suddenly spat blood as their meditation with their meals was also interrupted. Everyone looked over and glared daggers at the Acernis young master. However, completely forgetting himself, Anshelm continued looking at Greyson. "Will you get lost? I am trying to enjoy a nice meal with this young lady." Recollecting himself from his earlier anger after being ignored, Anshelm tried his best to ask politely. Greyson, however, was quite passed manners at this point. "Scram! Don''t you know the rules of the restaurant?! People could get seriously injured when their meditation is interrupted so suddenly!" His anger was echoed by the surrounding people as they supported Greyson. Face pale, Anshelm finally realized his mistake as he looked around. Even the guards at the entrance of the staircase walked over. "Hmph! Uncultured things, Magician Greyson is right. Both of you should quickly leave this place." Mae felt like she could finally speak out. However, Greyson''s anger filled eyes soon turned towards Mae and Claire as well. "Both of you, as well. My food has come, it is time for you to leave as promised. Why don''t you both just leave me alone? I need peace when I eat." Not holding back anymore, Greyson quickly indicated for both of the girls to leave as well. It was now time for Claire to blush and realize that her promise had already come into effect as she looked at the food now on the table. Nibbling at her lip, she made a teary-eyed look fishing for sympathy, but none was to be found with Greyson. Finally, unable to shamelessly stay, she got up and walked down the steps. Although Anshelm did not understand the situation, he could tell that the young lady was now upset so it was his chance. Without even needing a second warning, he voluntarily left the third floor of the restaurant rushing after his crush. Seeing both of them leave, Greyson couldn''t help but sigh, "Peace and quiet." ... After a successful meditation session, Greyson asked around for the tavern that the caravan was supposed to stay at. Not too long after, he had found the place and his assigned room. Flopping onto the bed, Greyson felt physically and mentally exhausted after the array test and the earlier emotional drainage from Claire and the young master. His eyes drooping, he could feel the drowsiness winning him over. However, before he could fall asleep, there was a light knock at the door. "Sir Greyson? Are you awake?" Recognizing the voice as Eden''s, Greyson rubbed his eyes before answering. "Ms. Ley, is there an issue?" Feeling impatient and tired, he couldn''t help but sound brusque. "Actually, there is something really important I need to speak with you about..." Listening to the graveness in her tone, Greyson finally concentrated and looked up at her curiously. "Well, come on in and we can talk about it." 74 Brother? Although she was trying her best to hide her anxiety, Eden could barely keep still after being invited in by Greyson. The two of them sat in silence for a good amount of time. Greyson could tell that she still felt conflicted about whatever she was going to say, so he did not interrupt her thoughts and continued waiting. While Eden continued her inner battle, Greyson decided to walk over to the night stand and pour out cups of water for the both of them. Before handing the cup over to Eden, Greyson''s eyes flashed red as he heated up the water. The night was cold so he just thought warm water was more appropriate. However, when he looked up to hand the cup over, he realized that Eden was looking at him in a daze. In the next moment, she suddenly grabbed his arm violently. "Do your eyes always change color? Is it when you use magic?!" Confused by her excitement, Greyson frowned and wrenched his arm from her grasp. "Ms. Ley, I have treated you with nothing but respect and I would request that you reciprocate, otherwise I really do not see a future friendship between the two of us. It is none of your business, but if you must know, yes, my eyes always change color when I activate a certain element''s mana. I''m starting to feel very uncomfortable with all the personal questions you ask me. There is not really any problem with telling you, however, asking so many just leaves me suspicious about your intentions." After such a long day and having to deal with Claire, Greyson used up all his patience already. Now, even Eden shows up and continues her odd habit of asking odd questions. Well he has had enough of just playing along. "I can tell that there has been something on your mind for a while, why don''t you just tell me already? I sense no ill intent from you, so I answered your questions, but I am tired of this one-sided back and forth." Hearing his words, Eden''s face turned pale and she nibbled on her lips. She really did want to tell him, to the point it was driving her crazy. Only, she was finding it hard to get over the leftover trauma from her last encounter. Nobody understood the pain she endured throughout her stay as the glorified dog of the Argentum family. All she ever thought about was reuniting with her family and maybe eventually getting revenge, these thoughts kept her going. The moment she thought she discovered her youngest brother, she cried tears of joy for an entire week every time she saw his face. For six whole months, she spoiled him and tried her best to provide him everything to make up for the family he lost. All she could think was that he suffered a worse fate than her, because he believed his family abandoned him and grew up an unloved orphan. Blinded by her joy, only when Anne finally brought undeniable proof of that boy''s lies did Eden finally wake up. His death threw her back down into hell and it took her a couple years to forget about it. Many more signs appeared on Greyson than the other boy, therefore she felt more and more confident that she was not too desperate this time and making assumptions. Thinking back to Greyson''s eyes changing color, Eden finally hardened her heart and decided to let everything go today. "I... I think you might be my youngest brother..." After slight hesitation, Eden grit her teeth and blurted it out finally. However, she did not see the expected shock or maybe happiness on Greyson''s face after she said this. Curiosity was there and maybe some doubts, but not anything extreme. This lackluster reaction was not because Greyson was not glad about possible news about his biological family, but more because he did not want to allow himself to get too happy and excited before things were clearly explained. What if this was a mistake in judgment? Greyson longed for family and knowledge of his roots, but this did not mean he felt desperate enough to believe anyone who comes and claims to be his family. From all of Eden''s questions, Greyson already formulated some inferences about what her curiosity was about. After all, her questions never deviated from his background, his age, even his hometown. "Why do you think so? There are probably millions upon millions of other orphans with similar situations to me all over the world. Could you explain clearly? I do not mean to say you are lying to me, I just want to be sure before celebrating to early." Eden at first just froze, not knowing how to respond to Greyson. This boy''s attitude was so completely different from the other one, as that jerk''s eyes lit up with greed the minute, he thought he was related to her. Finding more confidence, she began the story. "I am not originally from the Idris Kingdom. 13 years ago, I was the princess of a now fallen kingdom called the Ley Kingdom. To be exact, I was the 5th princess. When an unknown enemy attacked, I was only 5 years old so I am not completely sure of any of the details of who it was and why they attacked. However, after destroying most of the kingdom and its citizens, the enemy just left and the land became wasteland. However, our mother was not human even though she was the queen of a human kingdom. She was an elf and a very powerful one. Father was a mixed blood, half-human and half-dragon. Although the Ley Kingdom was only a tier three kingdom, most people misunderstood as that meant we were weak. Our mother and father were extremely powerful, they taught all of us siblings magic. The overall power of the kingdom was tier three, but the royal family was much more than that. Our mother and father had seven children. The first was a boy, then a girl, two more boys, two girls, and then the youngest was a boy. I was the fifth child and second daughter. While the kingdom was under attack, our closest servants brought all of us on separate routes that our parents already thought out for us. The only issue was with the seventh child. He was only just born the day the imperial capital burned to the ground and mother and father did not have enough time to raise a strong servant for him. Therefore, during the escape, it was highly likely that he would not survive. This was where my questions for you came into play. The Willow Town you speak of is one of the closest towns to the border between the old Ley Kingdom and the Edysa Kingdom. You were born 13 years ago and found in the woods the day after the attack. You obviously have elf blood and you look uncannily similar to our mother. Even your eyes changing color is a signal of your identity. I am not completely sure of the details, however, a little before you were born, there was some sort of mishap in your birth. Mother started experiencing great pain and your life force was weakening. Trying their best, mother and father sought all sorts of doctors and physicians to stabilize the fetus. Using expensive and powerful magic herbs, they prolonged your life. Until one day, a very mysterious, yet powerful, man arrived in the kingdom. He trespassed actually and injected something into the queen while she was too weak to fight back. In his anger, after father discovered him, he quickly attacked. In that moment the man''s eyes glowed different colors before a powerful attack rained down and pushed father back. In the next moment, the man was gone. Afterwards, you no longer had any issues and mother soon gave birth to the healthy you. Both mother and father were still extremely worried about what the man injected and not knowing had put both of them under a lot of stress for you. Looking at you now, that man must have injected something related to him, like a bloodline of some sort." No longer able to stop herself, Eden let the entire story just flow out of her. Greyson listened carefully and could not help but agree than Eden''s assumption sounded correct. So many questions popped up in his mind, however, he could tell she did not have the answers. What could a five-year-old know about the kingdom''s affairs? Excitement to know his identity grew with sadness to know that his family could possibly be dead except for this sister. "Are the queen and king still alive?" Although he believed her words, Greyson could not yet bring himself to call them mother and father. "A lot of people claim they both fell after the battle in the imperial capital. However, I know how powerful our parents are. I do not believe they actually died. Maybe they are injured or in hiding currently. I can only pray that our siblings also made it out. During the escape, only Anne made it out of the 10 powerful guards who came with me. The enemies managed to strike me and severely injure me. It took me three long years to heal from that injury. During that time, the Argentum family found me and helped acquire herbs for me to heal. I was young and gullible, and thought they were just a kind family who wanted to help me. Only later did they tell me that although my old injury healed, there was a new kind of slow-acting poison in my body that chained me to the family." Even now Eden''s hands clenched into tight fists as she recalled that terrible moment. "From that time on, I stayed in that family as they pushed me to further my magician level and forcefully dragged me into dangerous areas to hunt for treasure." Greyson could only feel stabbing pain in his heart for this girl. Although his life as an orphan was not easy by any means, Sister Lily was extremely benevolent and caring. She cared for all the orphans like her own children. Eden''s fate was much worse than his. Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and wanted to comfort her. However, before he could get his words out, the door to the room was swung open in a hurry. "Sir, the City Lord''s son is here asking for you. My small inn cannot keep them out..." The inn''s owner was wiping sweat off his brow nervously as he was not sure what he to do as the middle man. "He said he wants to duel you on top of the city''s battle stage. He is waiting outside for your response." His curiosity piqued, Greyson glanced out the window and saw a familiar arrogant face waiting with a new group of guards and that same servant. "A battle?" A wide grin started spreading across Greyson''s face. "Sounds perfect. I will go out and tell them, no need to worry about it." Even Lucius sent over a mental message, "Hahahaha, you let them go the easy way and yet they crawl back with the perfect excuse for you to beat them up. Too convenient!" "True, plus my hands have been feeling itchy. An annoying face delivered itself right into my hands, of course I need to take advantage of it." 75 Yousre the Real Embarrassmen Normally, Greyson would describe himself as a calm and rather patient person, but with the sudden bomb dropped on him by Eden and the pestering of Claire, he felt that his nerves were on end. Just when he felt like he needed an outlet, an arrogant idiot walks up and aggravates him. If this was not a sign, then what was? Cracking his knuckles, Greyson smiled widely as he made his way to the entrance of the inn. It was there that he came face to face with the unfortunate punching bag. Unaware of his situation, Anshelm''s face lit up in excitement once he saw Greyson appear. Gesturing his hand towards his servant, he quickly received a piece of paper in return. "Well it looks like you at least have some guts, seeing that you did not run away and came to face me. Here!" After his words, he threw down the piece of paper in front of Greyson. "This is my letter of challenge. Everything was done according to the rules, just sign it. I''m just giving you fair warning, but, once you sign, you are claiming that you will not seek revenge for any damage done to you during the duel. No one around you can interfere either!" "Oh? Does that mean you are agreeing to the same thing?" Greyson could not help but chuckle. "Huh? Well of course it does." Slightly puzzled by the question and accompanying laughter, Anshelm still answered anyways. He did not know why, but he suddenly felt that something was not right about the situation. "Then of course I agree!" As if he were afraid that Anshelm would go back on his word, Greyson quickly picked up the paper and signed his name using mana. Once he finished signing, the letter lit up before two lights flashed onto the back of both the boys'' hands. Surprised by this sudden change, Greyson quickly looked down to see a blade tattoo on the back of his hand. "Hmph, obviously, a country bumpkin. Let this young master enlighten you. This is a magic contract, therefore, whoever breaches the contract will have this blade on the back of their hand stab your heart and kill you. Bahahaha, regretting yet? Well, it''s too late for regrets, let''s quickly go to the battle ground!" Ecstatic after seeing the contract completed, Anshelm started skipping over to the battle stage. After he turned around, Greyson finally released a knowing smile towards Lucius who was evilly smirking back. The fish took the bait! He was even walking himself up to the chopping block. In no rush, Greyson took the time to glance at the blade tattoo on the back of his hand once more. He had heard of magic contracts before, but this was his first time seeing it in real-life. Magic beast contracts like the one he had with Lucius were similar, yet different from this one. Magic beasts'' contracts are completed with one''s blood and an ancient vow, however, these magic contracts are usually like charms or curses. They fall under the non-element magic category. A magician signs the contract with their mana which activates the contract. Everyone included in the contract is then marked according to the matching punishment. Unless an extremely powerful magician creates the magic contract, they normally have a time limit before the mana fades and the punishment is no longer a threat. The weaker the magician, the faster it fades. This is where it differs most from magic beast contracts which are for life whether the magician and magic beast are weak or strong. Take this contract for example, Greyson could tell that Anshelm was the one who created it so the dagger would probably fade after ten years or so. Ten years seems like a lot, but in the long span of a high-level magician''s life, ten years is barely anything. Lucius was already 28 years old, but he was still considered a baby looking at his life span. Analyzing the mana marking, Greyson tried to see if there was any way to break it. Usually weaker contracts did have a lot of loopholes and a powerful enough magician could forcefully break the contract as well sometimes. However, he was not at that point yet, so he could only fulfill the challenge. Shrugging, he stopped thinking about it.It was not him that would need revenge anyways. The battle stage was rather grand and was located in the middle of the city. It was an open stage with seating surrounding it like a grand stadium. Word of the battle had already spread out throughout the city. As the large battle stage suggested, the citizens of this city loved to watch these challenges as a fun pastime. Greyson slowly made his way into the stadium, but paused in shock once he saw the crowd of people already cheering and shouting. He knew beforehand that people would be attending, however, it seems the City Lord''s son had more pull than he previously believed. Audience members filled almost every seat leaving only the most undesirable seats open. Seeing Greyson''s momentary surprise, Anshelm smugly grinned thinking instead that Greyson''s surprise was panic. Panic that he would embarrass himself in front of so many people. Eventually, Greyson turned and faced Anshelm only to see that smug look. Reading off the expression, Greyson had a fair idea of what was going on in his head to which he could only shake his head. Thankfully, idiocy was not contagious otherwise he would seriously have to reconsider being this close. Only pity filled his eyes once he met Anshelm''s gaze. Greyson obviously would not realize the pity he leaked out, however, Anshelm was infuriated by the look. "Hurry and come up! Slowly walking will not make my beating any less hard. It''s too late even if you are scared." He shouted arrogantly. Greyson just rolled his eyes not even bothering to answer. Quickly jumping onto the stage, without any backtalk, he just signaled for Anshelm to come at him. This was obviously going to be over in a matter of seconds. An advanced level stage two magician wants to verse up against him? Bristling in anger, Anshelm, oblivious to the danger, burst into action. A flaming sword revealed itself to the crowd as it came swinging down in front of Greyson. With a bored expression on his face, Greyson willed two rock hands to come up and grab onto Anshelm''s ankles. The two hands swung the poor boy down into the stage hard enough to cause the ground to cave in. Although surprised, Anshelm had managed to protect himself and cushion the impact with his flame armor. Groaning, he got himself up again. Concentrating more this time, he got into a proper ready stance as a fire armor formed around his body and flames covered his sword. Seeing his opponent get serious, Greyson decided to play for a little longer and test out his sword skills. After leaving the Dalia Kingdom, Greyson mostly practiced combination spells and archery with his Elder Sweetbow. Vivienne''s swordplay definitely was not as fresh in his memory anymore. Facing Anshelm properly, Greyson brought out Genesis. Smirking, he matched his opponent spell for spell and also summoned a fire armor while flames formed around his blade. Anshelm was startled that his opponent was a multi-element magician, but he grit his teeth in anger seeing Greyson copy him. He felt that his opponent was mocking him by trying to beat him with the same spells. Attacking first, he struck down towards Greyson. Easily parrying, Greyson quickly stabbed forward with his own move. This back and forth fighting continued for a while as the audience watched in fascination over the high-level swordplay on display in front of them. Even Greyson was pleasantly surprised by the arrogant idiot''s ability with the sword. Each time one of the boys got a shallow cut in, the wound would also burn the skin. Anshelm looked obviously weakened from the multiple wounds and felt frustrated watching all of Greyson''s wounds heal right away. At first, he did not realize, but after feeling that his opponent''s strength was not diminishing, he started looking at the openings in Greyson''s clothes where cuts and burns should be only to see the perfectly healed skin. The light element, too?! Biting his lip, Anshelm finally realized that his opponent was not in his league. Only, backing out now was not possible in front of all these people after all the trash talk he kept spewing earlier on. Mentally smacking himself, he wondered why he could not just keep his mouth shut. With his determination weakening, Anshelm''s strikes were also severely dropping in strength and speed. Tired of this half-hearted fighting, Greyson made one last strong parry that knocked Anshelm''s sword away before closing in and slamming his palm into his opponent''s chest. Sparks of lightning flashed as the electrocuted Anshelm fell to the ground while seizing. Letting out a sigh of relief, Greyson felt all the troubles weighing down on him float away. All his excess anger and frustration burned away during the fight. Putting Genesis away, Greyson dusted off his clothes and wiped his sweat before leisurely walking off the stage. "Someone find a healer for him." He offhandedly spoke out to no one in particular. Nearing the exit, Greyson heard a weak shout from behind him before he could leave. "Wait..." Turning around, Greyson could see Anshelm struggling to sit up as someone was healing him. "You were just misleading me this entire time in order to make me look like a fool, weren''t you?! Hmph! Well, you wait until my father hears of this. He won''t forgive you for embarrassing me like this!" Half coughing during his shouts, Anshelm angrily glared at Greyson. Greyson could only roll his eyes at this idiot''s thick skin. Who was the one chasing him and challenging him in the first place? However, before he could retort, another cold voice echoed out. "He does not have to wait; your father already knows." Anshelm''s face visibly brightened hearing the voice, while Greyson could not help but feel wary. A new man walked out onto the stage. With long blonde hair pulled back and serious blue eyes, the middle-aged man exuded strength and charisma. Without an introduction, Greyson knew right away who the man was from the noticeable similarity in the man''s features to Anshelm. He was Anshelm''s father, the City Lord of Acernis. "Father! You must avenge me. This commoner played me for a fool and embarrassed our family in public. How will I walk around the city later?" Anshelm quickly began shouting his complaints, failing to realize the cold expression on his father''s face. The City Lord''s piercing blue eyes flicked towards his son before a loud slap rang out. Anshelm held his face in disbelief. "Well, call me blind, but I cannot help but see that the one who has embarrassed the family is none other than you. Your opponent cannot be blamed for your own weakness and inability. He is obviously many years younger, but look at yourself, beaten to this point. You have brought shame to my good name. How can I confidently lead this city with such an embarrassment for a son?" His cold voice rang out with no sympathy towards his son. Wincing with each word, Anshelm blushed in embarrassment while hanging his head low to avoid the audience''s ridicule. Greyson was still standing there, rather astonished by the unbiased attitude of the City Lord. His senses returned after feeling those sharp blue eyes finally turn in his direction. He could see the hidden anger in those eyes that the City Lord was holding back and finally understood. It was not that the City Lord did not care his son was beat so badly, he was just not able to lash out do to his position and pride. Thus, nothing happened. There was just a long silence during the silent stare down before the City Lord sighed and waved his hand. "Leave. I will not sink so low as to attack a young child. It is my son who is weak." Although his words were merciful, Greyson could see his slightly clenched fist that showed restraint. Without another word, Greyson quickly turned around and left to go back to the inn. ... The inn quickly came into view. Greyson wanted to quickly return and rest, but looking at the entrance, he saw a familiar figure impatiently waiting. Grimacing, Greyson halted his steps as he did not feel ready yet to face her. All the complicated feelings he had just forgot during the fight came rushing back. Even if she was telling the truth and he believed her, suddenly having a sister after 13 years of being an orphan was not an easy transition. He could tell she wished to be closer with him, but he was not ready to accept anyone so easily. How should he act towards her? 76 No Longer Welcome Noticing that Eden had yet to notice him, Greyson went the long way around and entered his room through the window. Although avoiding her was not a long-term solution, he just needed some time to come to terms with all the new information. Treating her as his sister so quickly was impossible, for now he would try his best to become friends with her. If anything, being an orphan taught him that blood relation does not define what makes people family. Just because they were maybe biologically related did not mean he would immediately play the part of her younger brother. ... Greyson did not realize, but Eden noticed him from the beginning only she did not approach him. Watching him dodge her pricked at her heart painfully. "Granny Anne, will he not accept me? I am almost one hundred percent sure that he is my seventh brother and I am pretty sure he believes me, as well." "Milady, it has less to do with you and more to do with the boy I believe. I do not doubt your judgment, I also believe it is probably this boy. However, if someone came into your life who you did not know and suddenly tried to act as your family, wouldn''t Milady feel uncomfortable? Just give him time to adjust and get to know him slowly. I think your excitement to make up for lost time is making him feel pressured. No matter if you are family or not, it takes a long time to become sincerely close to people. Milady should understand this logic, no?" After a long silence, Eden started to nod. "You are right, Granny. I let the excitement of finding a family member get to my head. We have tons of time to get closer and learn about each other, I should just take it one step at a time." After leaving these words, she made her way back into the inn and to her room. ... The next day came about quickly with news from the City Lord. Greyson was on the first floor eating his breakfast when a messenger from the City Lord arrived with a decree. Claire and Mae quickly made their way downstairs to receive the message. However, once the words on the parchment were made clear, both their expressions sank. Mae took this opportunity to glare at Greyson, but Claire quickly grabbed onto her maidservant''s arm to stop her. A bad feeling growing in his stomach, Greyson got up from his seat to walk over. "What is it? Is there some sort of bad news because of me?" "Hmph! Was winning so important? Couldn''t you have let the City Lord''s son beat you a little and walk away? Did you not think of the Argentum family''s awkward situation? We were kind enough to allow you to travel with us, but you repay us by causing trouble!" Uncharacteristically worked up, Mae stabbed her finger into his face. Brows furrowing, Greyson knew there was some sort of revenge from the City Lord, however, Mae''s words were out of line. "I appreciate the caravan helping me, however, you cannot say that the caravan did not also benefit. Without my power and fighting capabilities, this caravan might not even be able to make it to this city. Plus, just sit there and let him beat me? I''m sorry, but it was not me looking for a fight, but him badgering me. I did not even injure him heavily despite the disrespect he showed me, so I do not see where I was causing trouble." Frowning, Greyson decided to make his position clear, otherwise, these people would continue to look at him like some sort of freeloader. He never even at their food or slept in their tents due to the harassment! Protection? Ha! What a joke, he was the one protecting them. The only help they gave him is allowing him to enter cities with relative ease. "Greyson is correct, Mae. Do not make such a big deal about it. Quickly apologize." Although her face still looked troubled, Claire did not look towards Greyson with blame. "Milady! The Argentum family can no longer trade in Acernis, and we can no longer take one step into the city anymore. The decree says we are no longer welcome. The family will surely place this blame on you since you are in charge of this venture and your status as heir will be even weaker." However, Mae still felt anger in place of her master as she was aware of the situation back at the family. Greyson was already left speechless. The City Lord certainly did not take any physical revenge or even send an assassin in secret like Greyson worried about. Instead, he caused large damage towards the caravan that Greyson was traveling with using his power as City Lord. He had to admit that he did not expect this scenario at all. After thinking about it, though, Greyson realized the City Lord must have misunderstood his relationship with the Argentum Family. Obviously, the City Lord thought that he would be in serious trouble with the family after causing this mess. A real hidden knife; if he was really a guard under the family, they might kill him themselves to appease the City Lord and keep their trading rights. Instead of paying attention to Mae, he looked over at Claire to see her reaction. Surprisingly, she was not looking at him with any blame as of yet. "It is not to that point yet, let me go to the City Lord''s mansion and try to negotiate the issue with him." Claire quickly got up and started on her way over. Knowing that his assistance might aggravate the City Lord, Greyson stayed put and waited for her to return. Hours continued ticking by as daytime turned to nighttime. Tension stayed in the air as everyone in the caravan was waiting for Claire to return with any news. Echoing hoof beats sounded out marking her return. Everyone turned towards the entrance only to see that Claire''s expression turned from bad to ugly and realized the negotiations fell through. Even Greyson could only feel guilt since he knew that Claire would be largely affected by this turn of events later on when it came to her position in the family. However, before he could offer his help to alleviate the situation, he saw Claire''s eyes turn to him with newfound killing intent. He swallowed back any words of apology because he knew that she was now contemplating whether to try to kill him and offer his head for peace. Her intent was there, but she would not move on it because their party was too weak compared to Greyson. Like the last nail in a coffin, her murderous intent made Greyson no longer feel any reason to continue traveling with the caravan. He would find his own way to the Beast Empire. "I will leave the caravan. Tell the City Lord that you guys have nothing to do with me. I would hope he would not be so petty to keep forcing you guys. It is not like we really had any connection in the first place. It seems this is where we part ways Miss Argentum." Lucius in tow, Greyson barely looked at Claire before walking out the door of the inn. Unlike before, she did not say a word to stop him and just watched him leave. ... "I told you we should have done this way earlier. Those people are not only weak, but also treacherous. Staying with them only holds you back." Lucius snorted angrily while glancing back at the tavern. "I just wonder if Eden will be alright. I did not tell her before leaving and I didn''t see her at the inn earlier." "It will be fine, you at least know where she is now and know more about your biological family. That girl, Claire, did not have good intentions towards you after she came back. The only option was to leave." "You''re right..." Although reluctant, Greyson continued walking to the city gate in order to leave. He knew the general direction and had a map that Sweetbow gave him, so he would first head out in that direction. He had his suspicions, but it really did not take long after he was outside for assassins to show themselves. Although they were hiding their faces and wearing ordinary clothes, he could tell they must be soldiers sent by the City Lord by their tight fighting formations. He was outnumbered; however, the level of the assassins was not high. It seemed that the City Lord underestimated Greyson''s power. Seeing the waves of people rushing at him, Greyson stopped suddenly and pulled out his bow and arrows. His eyes turned black sending shivers down the spines of the attackers, before pulling and arrow back and sending it into the ground in the middle of the crowd. A large black hole spread out from the arrow and all the assassins inside the circle were grabbed by shadow hands and restrained to the ground. Although this spell stopped more than half of them, Greyson could feel his mana stores were also halved in the process. Jumping over the restrained assassins, Greyson broke through the encirclement and quickly released Zephyr from within him. An excited roar boomed out as a large silver dragon revealed itself. The chasing assassins all stopped momentarily in awe. Taking advantage of their shock, Greyson quickly hopped onto Zephyr''s back and the dragon cast an innate spell on its wings before bursting into flight. In but a moment, Zephyr and Greyson were miles away. This was one of Zephyr''s innate spells that allowed his flight speed to increase exponentially. More experienced assassins cursed under their breath realizing their distraction and summoned their own partner beasts. Only around 20 of the hundreds of men also had a partner beast capable of flight, so they set off in chase of Greyson while the rest could only stay back and wait. Although dragons were supposedly the fastest in the skies, Zephyr was still young and his mana came from Greyson so the assassins still were able to slowly catch up. When the chasing assassins were not too far behind and they began to fire off long distance spells. Seeing the incoming attacks, Greyson quickly cast a vortex around Zephyr to block them. However, his face was turning pale as sweat started to drip down his face. Zephyr''s flying spell was draining Greyson''s mana at a concerning pace. "Lu, you are going to have to take over. If I want to sustain flight at this speed, I must also meditate so that I am recovering some of the mana I am losing." "Alright I''ll cover us, you just keep us in the air. It will be like target practice, I''ll just keep shooting them down." Smirking confidently, Lucius bounded over to the back of Zephyr to face off with the assassins. Soon large arrows made of ice formed around him and he sent each of them flying towards the flying partner beasts. Some managed to dodge the arrow at first, however, Lucius used his spatial element to quickly teleport the arrows right back towards them from behind. Smashing down half of the magicians from his surprise attack, Lucius also sustained an ice wall to block the coming attacks of the enemies. His offense and defense were staying strong, and he was successfully picking off the chasers one by one. When he finally shot down the last magician, he let out a sigh of relief. However, just when he relaxed, his fur stood on end as he quickly cast another ice wall reinforced by a wind vortex to block. Turning around, he saw a large earth hand slamming down towards them. Blocked by the defensive spells at first, the hand soon cracked open the spells and slammed down onto Zephyr. Although the dragon dodged to the side, his side and wing were both damaged under the attack. Greyson coughed up blood as Zephyr slowly dissipated and flew back into Greyson''s body. Greyson was already unconscious due to the damage done to Zephyr, so Lucius could only move towards him and activate a spatial spell. Both of them instantly teleported safely to the ground, however, Lucius did not let his guard down and instead looked around for the hidden enemy. The attack from before meant that the attacker was at least at the magister level. Already exhausted from the fighting earlier and injured from the backlash after his defensive spells were forcefully broken, Lucius felt the pressure. Looking over at Greyson and feeling his weakness, he knew that he would have to rely on himself to do something. "And he always says I just sit around sleeping all the time while he does all the work! Well, this will teach him to say that again." Hardening his expression, Lucius climbed on top of Greyson and bit his paw to draw out a symbol on Greyson and himself while his forehead lit up and another eye revealed itself. Large amount of mana started flowing towards both of them while the symbols glowed brighter and brighter. Finally, Lucius'' eye fully opened and both man and cat disappeared. By the time a figure came out from the shadows, there was no longer any trace of them. Confused, that figure circled the area looking for any traces but could not find any signs. Bringing out a tablet, he wrote down a message with mana. "Tell Milady the assassination failed. Targets have disappeared." 77 One-Star Dungeon When he finally started to regain consciousness, all Greyson could feel was a hard, cold stone floor underneath him. Opening his eyes, all he could see was a dark blackness. Panicking for a moment, he quickly cast a simple light spell that lit up his surroundings. Now capable of seeing the stone tunnels around him, Greyson could let out a sigh of relief. At least his sight was still there. His entire body was still aching and he was not able to get up just yet. Touching his chest, he found Lucius lying there unconscious. Looking closely, the cat''s originally luscious silver hair started to dull slightly. Placing his hand on his partner''s body, Greyson used his light magic to check Lucius'' condition. After checking the situation, Greyson realized his partner''s blood force felt weak which was very important for magic beasts. However, it was only a matter of time before Lucius could wake up. He just needed to continue resting while his body recovers. Luckily, Lucius was still a young magic beast and using his bloodline was not very dangerous since his body would quickly recover. Still confused on where he was and how he got here, Greyson deduced that Lucius must be responsible looking at his partner''s condition. Since he still needed to recover, Greyson pushed all these thoughts to the back of his mind and started to meditate. Slowly, he recovered his mana stores while allowing his light element to travel through his body and heal him. The only problem was that wherever he was did not contain a lot of light element inside. His healing process was significantly slowed down by the scarceness of light element in these tunnels. After one week, he could sit up. After two weeks, he could stand up. After one month, he could finally move around. Due to Zephyr taking a powerful hit, Greyson''s body took a lot of damage. Even after one month, his body was only 80% recovered. However, he felt that if he continued sitting in this same spot for any longer, he would be driven insane. Picking up Lucius and placing the cat on his shoulder, Greyson chose a direction and began walking. The tunnels continued for what seemed like forever, a never-ending scene of the cold stone tunnel walls. Trying his best to keep his wits about him, Greyson decided to one-sidedly complain to Lucius about everything so he could let out some frustration. This tunnel is cold, smells moldy, boring, and he feels like he is about to lose his mind. Maybe it made him look crazy, but it was a type of catharsis. Step by step, he continued walking down the long tunnel. When he was tired, he would stop and begin meditating against the wall. Finally, he saw the end approaching that was better lit. An ecstatic expression spread across his face as he began running towards the exit. Once he entered the new area, his eyes took a minute to adjust to the light again. His eyes finally focused and he could see that he had entered an enormous room that was brightly lit by light mana stones. There were 3 exits all labeled differently on the other end of the entrance that Greyson came from. Turning around, he realized that the opening he just came from disappeared. Seeing that there was no way back, Greyson continued walking into the room. In the middle of the room was a large stone table with words carved into it. "There is no turning back, the test has already begun. Choose your path wisely, as some will lead to prosperity and others to death." The minute he read the words, Greyson finally understood where he was currently. He had arrived at a dungeon! While he was studying with Elder Sweetbow, there were a lot of new things that he became aware of. One of these things was dungeons. Dungeons were mysterious creations usually left behind be extremely powerful magician emperors and some believed that the most amazing dungeons were left behind by the legendary elemental gods. They usually contained an inheritance or special magic tools, pills, and treasures. However, each discovered dungeon was ranked by star level. From one star to five stars. One-star dungeons were challenging for advanced level magicians, but rather simple for higher level magicians. Each star up the dungeon becomes challenging for the level above: two-star match with magister, three-star to great magister, etc. If an advanced level magician tries to go into a two star dungeon by themselves they will most likely die from the tests or escape severely injured. The prizes and inheritance usually reflect the star level which is why higher-level magicians do not even pay attention to lower level dungeons. Fired up by the new challenge, Greyson decided to keep going through. Although he was not sure of the level of this dungeon, he still had to try his luck. Otherwise, if he left without trying, he would regret it later. Making up his mind, he looked up to the three entrances in front of him. Each one was labeled with a different color. Red, black, and green carved in large letters sat above each opening. His instinct was to believe that the colors represented different elements, as he knew that dungeons were mostly straightforward. Some of the higher-level dungeons did have tricky problems to solve depending on the creator. However, he did not know what the element labeling meant. Did it mean that fire element magicians should go through the red entrance or that they should avoid it? After a moment of contemplation, Greyson almost started laughing as he realized that he was taking this too seriously and missing the fact that these issues did not apply to him the same as other people. Even if the hallways were specifically made so that some element magicians suffer, he used seven elements so no matter which one he chooses he should be fine. Staring at the three entrances, Greyson finally made his way towards the green door. After some consideration, he decided on this one because if going this way helps wind magicians then both he and Lucius could benefit. The tunnel this time was not long and after a couple minutes of walking he made his way into a valley. Fascinated, Greyson could not help but look around. Suddenly, it felt as though he were outdoors. The sky above was blue and the deep valley around made of rocks. The scene was very peaceful, but Greyson did not allow himself to easily walk through the valley without any precautions. Carefully observing, he sent a large rock flying through the valley. Arrays on the walls of the valley lit up and sent sharp waves of wind to slice apart the rock. Sweat dripping down his face, Greyson was glad he decided to first test out the valley. Instead of getting impatient, Greyson sat on the ground and continued throwing in boulder after boulder until his body finally tired out. After almost an entire day of observing, he started to understand the patterns of the wind attacks. Three more days of testing passed before he could finally get passed the first batch of arrays. Securing Lucius inside a makeshift pouch across his body, Greyson''s eyes lit up with a pretty green glow as he activated Air Steps. Leaping through the air, Greyson gracefully dodged the multiple wind array attacks that sliced at him. Landing in the middle of the valley, Greyson stopped again because the arrays from this point on were different. Although he got through the earlier attacks it was not completely perfect as he had a couple of shallow cuts in multiple places. Sitting down, Greyson tried activating Heal only to realize that after healing his wounds, the light element mana could not be replenished. Only the wind element was present in this valley. It seems his earlier guess that the color represented the magicians who would have the advantage was correct. Any weak non-wind magicians could definitely die in this challenge since they could not replenish their mana unless they were wind element magicians and they could not turn around and leave after entering. After he finished meditating, Greyson began the same rock test. However, the difficulty went up for the second batch of arrays. Instead of separate wind blade attacks, the arrays formed large wind vortexes. This time it took Greyson around a week to figure out the patterns of the vortexes. They followed specific paths that only allowed for small openings. Even Greyson was worried about beginning until he had each spot memorized. Finally ready, Greyson activated Air Steps once again. Triggering the arrays, Greyson jumped to one spot then continued to observe the vortexes spinning around. Waiting for the perfect moment, he jumped to the next spot. This continued for hours while slowly wearing down on Greyson''s mental power. Right near the end, he got too impatient and jumped a little too early. His leg grazed against the wind which cut up his leg fairly deeply. Sharply inhaling, Greyson grit his teeth while waiting in the next opening. Two more jumps later, Greyson finally escaped the second batch of arrays. Tenderly placing his leg down, Greyson was forced to use up the last of his light element mana stores to heal his leg. The bleeding slowed and the cuts closed up. Looking up, Greyson could see the exit from this wind valley. It was the last third of the valley. If it was similar to before, Greyson knew that this array would probably go up in level compared to the earlier two. Meditating to recover, Greyson decided to sleep a little as well. This entire time in the dungeon, he kept meditating instead of sleeping. Advanced level magicians could go without sleep for a good amount of time, but in order to rest his mind, sleep was the best solution at this point. Well-rested and healed, Greyson began the same test. Even he could not help but scowl at the results of his first test. Instead of blades and vortexes, multiple wind beasts formed. They could use the same attacks as the first two arrays, but they actually had intelligence to them. He was worried about the next parts of the test after this wind valley, so he did not use his other elements after running out of light element mana this entire time in case he needed certain spells later. He would have to fight these beasts with just the wind element which he was not used to at all. This time just the rock test would not work, he would have to fight with them in order to figure out their weaknesses. Preparing himself, he stepped into the array and faced off with the first wind beast. Roaring, the beast sent multiple wind blades towards Greyson. Easily dodging, Greyson brought out his bow and arrow and fired off multiple wind enhanced arrows. However, none of them hit as the beast was extremely quick. Furrowing his brows, Greyson retrieved his bow and arrow and instead pulled out Genesis. Long distance attacks gave the beast too much time to dodge. Activating Air Steps, Greyson burst into action and slashed down at the beast. Swing after swing, the wind beast continued dodging, however, Greyson''s eyes soon lit up with understanding. The wind beasts were not capable of dodging up or down, they could only move side to side. Moving further away, Greyson held Genesis and slashed in a circular motion that sent a circular wind blade spreading out in every direction. The wind beast could no long dodge since it could not jump up to avoid, letting out a screech the beast dissipated. Understanding he beat the first one, Greyson moved on to the next wind beast array. Fight after fight, he continued beating them all. Nearing the end, he had to fight many of them at once. Thankfully, they all had the same weakness that he continued to take advantage of. Making his way to the end of the valley, Greyson collapsed onto his butt while breathing heavily. Laying onto the ground, he stayed completely still and began to meditate to recover. For what felt like half a day, Greyson continued laying their and recovering his energy. This entire time, Lucius continued to sleep inside the makeshift pouch. At this point, he could only feel slightly resentful watching his peacefully sleeping friend, since he was pretty sure that it was due to Lucius that he suddenly entered a dungeon after a strong enemy attacked. At this point, he was extremely grateful for this opportunity since he was almost completely sure that this was a one-star dungeon. The fact that he could pass this stage of the test with relative ease was a good marker of the level. Therefore, he had a great chance at reaching the end and receiving some sort of special reward. Opening his eyes, he got up and looked towards the exit. It was completely black so he had no way of knowing what to expect on the other side. However, he could not turn back at this point so he steeled his heart before firmly stepping into the doorway to the next part of the test. 78 Family... "Greyson! It''s time to wake up! Mother made her favorite flower cake and tea for breakfast today." A young girl''s voice called out. Hearing the voice calling out, a young boy lying on his bed opened his beautiful blue eyes. Yawning and rubbing his eyes, Greyson slowly sat up on his bed. "Get up, get up!" A teenage girl burst into the room. Her long grey hair and serious grey eyes were an exact copy of Eden Ley. Hands on her hips, she glared out the still drowsy boy sitting on his bed. Walking over she slapped the back of his head and splashed a cup of water in his face. "Alright, sister, I''m getting up!" Rolling his eyes, the young Greyson rubbed the back of his head, wiped the water from his face, and began to get dressed for the day. "Hmph! How much longer will I have to wake you up like this? You are already 13-years-old, start waking up on your own. You have to help mother at the shop, as well." Snorting, the girl''s words were angry, however, if one looked closely, they could see the endless indulgence in her eyes. Greyson just shrugged before walking out of his room into the living room. There was an older woman''s back facing him in the kitchen while she waited for the cakes to finish baking. Hearing footsteps, she turned around and warmly smiled. She was an exact replica of Sister Lily. "Good morning, Grey." Petting his head, she pulled him to sit at the table. "Good morning, mother." Following her lead, Greyson sat in his seat. Before long, delicious looking cake and fresh hot tea were placed in front of him. His sister and mother sat next to him and they all began to eat quietly. The entire scene was extremely peaceful and while no one really spoke much, there was a closeness that anyone could see. After breakfast was over, both siblings followed their mother out of the house and into town. As they walked through the town, everyone greeted them happily. Before long, the three stopped in front of their family restaurant. Per usual, they went about their own roles. Greyson cleaned the floors, tables, and chairs while Eden helped their mother prep the ingredients. The day wore on with customers filing in and out. Greyson and Eden took the orders and waited the tables while their mother worked tirelessly in the kitchen. Night arrived and the family of three closed the restaurant for the day and cleaned the inside. Although exhausted, they walked back to the house. Seeing is mother sit and hit at her back and shoulders, Greyson stepped up and helped to massage her. These days were boring and repetitive, but filled with calm, happiness, and love. Deep in his mind, Greyson felt there was something wrong that he was forgetting, however, something was blocking him from understanding the lasting uneasiness. Week by week, month by month, life continued moving. Another normal day at the store, Greyson and Eden were taking orders. However, today the restaurant was filled with a group of drunk customers. The men continued to bother Eden and tried to take advantage of her. Luckily, the other male regulars from the town helped kick them out. Letting out a breath of relief, the family continued on their normal routine and soon were walking back home. At this moment, multiple figures appeared from the dark. Expression sinking, Greyson could tell these were the earlier drunks that they chased off. Decisive in her actions, their mother stepped out and offered up their earnings for the day asking them to let their family off. Laughing wildly, the men took the pouch of coins but continued to attack the two women. Greyson tried to fight them off, but was continuously beaten up. He saw his sister and mother getting beaten and their clothes torn. Something... anything... I have to do something. The blue in his eyes became even deeper as all the men were stabbed through by ice spikes. Spitting blood and with eyes wide in shock, the men all fell to the ground dead. His mother and his sister all puked in disgust, but soon got a hold of themselves and grabbed Greyson to run back home. Greyson stayed silent this entire time. Everything was so familiar to him and tugged at his mind. He kept feeling like he should know something. Grabbing his head in pain, Greyson could feel something was blocking his memories. "Greyson! You need to wake up! Greyson!" A familiar voice echoed inside his mind. In shock, he looked around the room only to realize his mother and sister were not hearing the same shouts. Bewildered, Greyson felt a burning sensation down on his wrist as a red rope tattoo glowed on his wrist. Looking down at the tattoo, Greyson felt something arriving at the back of his mind. A name. There was a name to the voice. He should know it. Why couldn''t he remember it? Furrowing his brows even further, Greyson massaged his temples trying to think of the identity of the familiar voice calling out to him. "It''s Lucius! Greyson you need to wake up! It''s a mist spell, it''s causing you to hallucinate!" Hearing the name Lucius, Greyson felt as if the fog in front of him completely cleared. All his memories returned to him. The entire scene of the house in front of him cleared and he only saw a thick mist surrounding him. Looking down, he saw the now awake Lucius. Finally understanding what just occurred, Greyson could feel a cold sweat drip down his back. If not for Lucius, he did not know how long he might have been trapped inside the illusion. This area must be the second stage of the trial that he entered. "Thank you, Lu. Are you alright now?" "Well, much better now that I don''t have to keep shouting my lungs out at you. I still have to recover somewhat, though." "What happened after I fainted? How did you get me here?" "It''s an innate spell that all Destiny Cats can use after they reach the magister level. We have to burn some lifeblood to activate it so I cannot use it often, however, it allows us to teleport ourselves and our contractor to the closest location full of good luck or possible fortune. I didn''t realize it would actually transport us to a one-star dungeon. This is well against my expectations. I thought it might have just been a place with high density of mana or maybe a natural treasure. Those places are also usually abandoned so I thought it would be safe for you to recover." Lucius explained the spell he used. Greyson''s eyes widen in surprise. There was actually such a spell that existed? It was a shame they could not use it often, otherwise couldn''t he always be automatically transported to treasures for himself. "I know what you are thinking, but nothing can be that easy. If we mess with this spell too much, we will both die. Destiny is hard to understand and difficult to control or take advantage of. Until I am stronger, I can only glance into the near future. These kinds of powerful spells use up lifespan, so don''t even think about relying on it. You will have to search for your own fortunes." "I get it, Lucius. I was just thinking it was a shame that things couldn''t be that easy." Greyson scratched his nose in embarrassment. "Hahaha, well, now do you understand your supreme luck forming a contract with me? You should be honored that I use your shoulder as my resting place, think of all the other people of this world who would love to have a partner like me!" Puffing out his chest, Lucius smugly smirked. Greyson just rolled his eyes and finally got up. After he was transported into this place, he was quickly under the spell of the mist, so he had been laying on the ground. Looking around, he could not see through the mist, so he could only slowly walk forward. Lucius hopped up onto Greyson''s shoulder and continued sleeping as he had not fully recovered. Walking around, Greyson did not notice anything strange. He did, however, have to continually burn the air around him to evaporate the mist. The more he breathed in the mist, the more he was affected by the hallucinations. By using his fire element, he could keep the air around him unaffected by the mist. Albeit slowly, this constant usage of his fire element was still draining his mana stores. The longer he walked, the more he was getting desperate to find the exit to this awful place. Feeling the pressure growing while the fire element was slowly running out, Greyson could only sit down and try to meditate. Unsurprisingly, he could only absorb the water element in this area. Knowing that his fire element mana remaining was finite, he decided to spend his time trying to analyze the spell being used in this mist array. If he could become immune to the mist, then he would have nothing worry about while walking around. Without paying attention to the time, Greyson continued observing the mana patterns within the spell. Sitting and meditating for hours, then days, then weeks, he continued to observe. Finally, his eyes lit up and he stood up. "I understand!" Standing up and rushing over to a certain spot, Greyson could tell that this was the center of the array. Summoning Genesis into his hand, he stabbed the sword straight down. The ground cracked and the array broke apart and the mist started to dissipate. After the thick mist was gone, Greyson could clearly see the room he was in. To his surprise, it was actually not that large, the mist must have had him walking in circles. The exit became apparent to him after the mist dispersed. Walking over to the opening, Greyson paused because he was a little nervous about what could happen on the other side. If not for Lucius, just the second stage could have kept him stranded for much longer. Determination filled his eyes as he straightened his shoulder and decided to continue walking through. No matter what, he had to keep going and try to gain something from passing these trials. Slowly making his way over, his approach seemed rather dramatic. Standing in front of the entrance, he tried to enter the doorway. *BANG!* Shocked, Greyson slammed into an invisible wall blocking the door. "Bahahaha!" Almost snorting from laughing so hard, Lucius began to tear up from the hilarity of it. "You were walking so seriously, I could not stop you. Oh, I haven''t laughed this hard in so long, I feel like the last time was that time you were learning shadow escape." Upon mentioning that moment, Lucius started to burst out laughing again. "LU! You knew there was some kind of wall here?!" Blushing red, Greyson could not help but feel extremely embarrassed. "Stop laughing! Now help me get passed it." Forcing his expression to go back to indifference, Greyson tried to return to the earlier seriousness. Lucius tried his best to stop laughing but the minute he saw the red mark that was forming Greyson''s forehead, he began giggling all over again. Greyson just continued to glare fiercely. "Alright, alright. I''m done. I don''t know how to get passed it, I just knew it was there because it was a spatial element barrier." Lucius finally responded. Greyson felt the vein in his forehead pulsing. This stupid cat! Calming himself down, Greyson started looking around with how to get around it. It did not take him very long however, because he soon realized that he just needed to cover himself in the wind element to pass through. Maybe because he chose the green door in the beginning? He could not be sure, but it did not matter as he stepped through to the final door. 79 Comprehension Stepping through the doorway, Greyson kept his guard extremely high to avoid getting caught in the same situation as before. However, his vigilance was all for naught as the room he stepped into was completely normal. The only thing that caught his eye was the booklet floating in the middle of the room inside a sphere. Carefully looking around for any arrays or traps that could be activated, Greyson slowly let his guard drop as nothing out of the usual could be found. Step by step, he approached the book in the middle until he stopped right in front. Still worried about possible repercussions, he used Genesis to try pushing the book out of the sphere. In contrast to his worries, the sword easily knocked the book from the sphere and it dropped to the ground. Pausing, Greyson waited to see if something would happen. "For goodness sake, Grey, it''s fine! For real, just watching you be so careful is stressing me out more than the fact that there could be traps." No longer able to continue watching, Lucius finally spoke out. At this point, even Greyson was feeling ridiculous, so he hurried over to the book and picked it up. However, the minute he touched the cover, Greyson could feel his body get sucked into the sphere in the middle of the room. When his senses finally returned, his body slammed into hard ground. Looking all around him, he could see was on top of a floating stage with space all around him. No exit in sight, Greyson first glared at Lucius. "This is what happens when you aren''t careful! Now, what am I supposed to do?" "Hmph, now don''t blame this on me, you probably would have ended up here even if you were more careful." Rolling his eyes, Lucius snorted back. Annoyed, Greyson realized that the cat was probably correct, so he held his tongue and instead began looking around. Only there really was not much to look at, the stage was flat stone ground with nothing in the surroundings. Restless, Greyson finally realized that the book was still in his hand. With no other choice, he opened it for an answer. On the inside cover, he found his trial: "To the destined one who made it through the wind trial, I congratulate you on making it this far. However, who knows whether this will be your fortune or your doom. The final trial is to test your talent at comprehending spells. In this book is my strongest wind spell that I created later during my initial years as a magician king. Although it has become obsolete to me, this spell could be an enormous fortune for those below the magician king level. In this trial, you must completely comprehend the first part of this spell and defeat opponent that will appear 3 months from the moment you enter. You cannot defeat the opponent with anything but the spell or else the dummy I left will attack you with a full power spell that will kill anyone under the magician emperor level. If you cannot defeat the opponent then you will also die. I wish you good luck. If you pass, you can take this spell book with you and be directly teleported to the outside so you can leave." Furrowing his brows, Greyson felt helpless listening. This was definitely a slightly twisted dungeon owner. It was pretty much: pass the trial or die. There was nothing he could do at this point, so he stopped wasting time and quickly flipped the page to the first page of the book explaining the spell. Once he began reading, he could not tear his eyes away from the page. The spell was called Wind Suit and it was both a defensive and offensive spell. One was to form a special brand on their body which would absorb wind elemental spirits and store them. Then, the absorbed mana would act on its own to block and return attacks. The first level was to place a brand on the right shoulder which would mean that the entire right arm would be protected. First, they would act as a shield and then they would form into a sharp slash and retaliate against the opponent. Feeling the excitement rise within him, Greyson wanted to quickly learn the spell. However, he continued reading just in case and found the downsides of the spell. Thankfully, the original creator was honest and laid out all the weaknesses. The spell meant there would be a minuscule, yet constant, drain on his mana stores for as long as he stores the wind mana. The reason the spell was split into steps is that each level and stage can only sustain so many brands without the drain being too much. His advanced level could only handle the first level on his right arm. Unless he battled someone, the drain would be negligible. The wind element stored does not last forever and it is up to the user to meditate and constantly refill the brand. The shield also can block an attack from magicians one full level ahead, however, it will break apart after blocking that one attack. Although there were obvious downsides, just the fact that the spell would block the attack without him willing it was the biggest advantage. Diving right into studying the spell, Greyson forgot everything else and just focused on learning. This was his first time actually learning the spell circle that goes along with the spell, so it really was a test on his actual comprehension. It was this moment that he realized how hard learning spells were. No wonder many people took so long to learn. Memorizing all the spell pattern lines was similar to learning inscriptions, though, so Greyson caught on rather quickly. The first month went by without much progress as Greyson meditated while envisioning the brand again and again. However, the marking on his arm would not appear. Trying his best to stay patient, Greyson continued his studying for the second month which finally saw some results. Midway through the second month, Greyson awoke from his meditation from a strong burning sensation around his shoulder. Knowing what this meant, instead of showing pain, his expression lit up with extreme excitement. Rolling up his sleeve, Greyson glanced down and saw that half of the brand finally formed on his skin. Feeling the wind elements starting the gather near his arm, Greyson continued his meditation trying to take advantage of this feeling. By the end of the second month, the brand fully formed on his shoulder. The more wind element he gathered inside, the more the black lines turned beautiful emerald green. Ecstatic by his success, Greyson quickly woke up the napping Lucius. "Lu! Lu! I did it! Quick, try attacking my right arm!" Roused from his comfortable sleep, Lucius could not help but feel annoyed. Hearing such an enthusiastic request to attack, he happily obliged. Flicking his tails, two wind blades went flying into Greyson''s right arm. The brand on his arm lit up and wind twirled around his arm blocking the two incoming blades. After the attack was blocked, the wind around Greyson''s arm quickly flung out and retaliated against the unprepared Lucius. Eyes widening awake, Lucius quickly dodged out of the way. "Hey, Grey! Are you trying to kill me?" "I told you the effects of the spell, didn''t I? It attacks back on its own, I did not mean for it to happen." Shrugging noncommittedly, Greyson did not mind his friend''s anger. Ignoring Lucius'' next words, Greyson quickly observed his brand. One-fourth of the lines reverted back to the black color. A little more than he expected, but if he was a magister level magician as well then the drain would be a lot less. The gaps in power between levels were a lot harder to surmount than the gaps in power between stages. Already attaining success in the spell, Greyson decided to practice fighting with Lucius to become comfortable with the new effects of the spell for the rest of the last month. He could not have the opponent appear faster, so he would just have to wait until the third month ended. Without the same passion for learning, waiting became boring and long. In what felt like much longer, the last month finally passed. A light shined and a dummy appeared before Greyson. Knowing that other spells were forbidden, Greyson had to remind himself again and again during the fight to hold back. Thankfully, the opponent was designed to attack only the right arm since learning the first part of the spell was all that was required. After the final attack left from the brand, the dummy fell apart. Greyson felt a little surprised by the result, but he could tell that the creator of the dungeon calculated the power correctly so that if the person learned the first part of the spell they would easily be able to leave. After the opponent disappeared, the exit appeared. Grabbing the spell book and putting it safely away in Al, Greyson stepped through the doorway. He knew that the exit led back to the outside, but he did not realize it would be outside in the air. Once he was through, he realized he was right above the trees. Not having enough time, Greyson stumbled through the trees and branches until he finally hit the ground. Lucius gracefully landed on a branch unharmed while rolling in laughter at Greyson''s state. "I''m starting to really like this dungeon creator. He has quite a sense of humor." Snickering to himself, Lucius was amused by the little pranks of the creator. Spitting out dirt, Greyson ignored the comment and dusted himself off. Quickly using Heal, all his cuts and bruises healed themselves. Seeing the rips on his clothes, Greyson removed a new fresh set of clothes and got changed. Breathing in deeply, Greyson felt refreshed to be outside again. Never before was he so thankful to see the sun and feel the dense mana around him. Looking around in the dense forest, he did not recognize where he was at all. With a thought, Alexus appeared. However, he was only around the size of a small cart this time. Jumping onto Al''s shell, both Greyson and Lucius laid down and allowed the turtle to walk in whatever direction until they ran into people while the both of them slept. His nerves were mostly on edge while he was in the dungeon, so once he was out, he felt exhaustion crash into him and his eyelids began to droop. Boy, turtle, and cat slowly crawled through the forest. ... "Hahaha, keep running little brats, you cannot escape!" Greyson''s tired eyes finally opened and looked around due to the shouting. He realized that it was already late at night. Hearing the snapping of branches, he looked towards the right of him and could hear approaching bodies. Quickly activating his disguise spell, his long silver hair turned black while his eyes remained an icy blue. Lucius had also awakened and jumped onto Greyson''s shoulder. Soon, two bodies burst out from the bushes in front of Greyson. The older one was a girl around Eden''s age while the younger one was a boy around Greyson''s age. They both had green hair and green eyes and beautiful clothes that most likely signified their high status. Once the girl saw someone else, her eyes lit up. "Boy, could you help hide my brother? I will lead them in a different direction! If you can just get him to Iris City, the Greentree family will award you handsomely. I am Yvette Greentree, and this is my younger brother Lucas. He is the heir and the enemy family from the city is trying to kill him due to his talent, the family will definitely thank you for your efforts if you can safely escort him into the city." Without any pretense, she quickly requested his help. Greyson narrowed his eyes as he looked back and forth between the siblings and contemplated the situation. After a slight silence, he finally opened his mouth. "How powerful are the people chasing you?" "They are mostly advanced level magicians, however, their leader is a magister level stage one magician." Another silence ensued. Yvette was getting noticeably more and more nervous while she could hear the approaching footsteps and her expression sank. Finally, she was about to bring her brother to continue running, but Greyson instead waved his hand and the two disappeared. He allowed them to hide inside the spatial space in Al''s shell. "Why are you helping them?" During the silence, Greyson and Lucius were actually communicating via their mental connection. Lucius had opted to leave them since they were strangers and there was no need to help them. However, Greyson decided to help them after hearing the level of the chasers. Even if he could not sneak past them, he could beat them anyways. He needed a way to get into the closest city since he was no longer traveling with the caravan and it seemed that these two siblings could be his ticket inside. Even without the reward the sister spoke of, rescuing the two of them was worth it. "You know why. I wouldn''t get involved if those men were stronger, but since they are weak what is the harm?" "Hmmm... alright, whatever. I just hope that you rescued people worth the effort." Greyson sat cross-legged on top of Al and began to meditate while the turtle continued walking slowly through the forest. Unsurprisingly, a group of men soon appeared around them. "Boy, have you seen a pair of siblings run through these woods?" A gruff voice spoke out. "Siblings? I think I might have seen something fly by, but they were moving too fast that I did not get a good look at their faces." His expression the picture of innocence, Greyson gave off a weak and guileless feeling. The expression combined with his slightly androgynous features made the group''s eyes light up. Coughing awkwardly, they nodded as if accepting the explanation and motioned that he could leave. Inwardly praising his acting ability, Greyson had Al start moving again. "Wait!" Before he could leave, however, a different voice appeared in front. Seeing the new arrival, Greyson could tell that this was the magister level leader by the power he was giving off. "Let me see your beast." His dark eyes stared suspiciously at Al as if he had an idea. Thinking deeply, his face finally showed he had thought of something and a threatening look appeared in his eyes. Seeing this, Greyson knew that the charade was over. The childish expression was now gone and replaced with coldness. Drawing Genesis, he pointed the sword at the leader. "I''m afraid I will have to say no." 80 Whos Telling The Truth? When the group saw Greyson draw his sword, they immediately got into formation. Every face grew serious and the atmosphere grew cold. The blue in Greyson''s eyes grew deeper as ice particles grew around the scene. Jumping off Al''s back, Greyson made the first move and slashed down at the leader while the ice particles coagulated into spikes that attacked the rest of the group. Obviously trained, the group quickly dodged while the leader summoned a rock wall in front to block the sword attack. Seeing the wall form, Greyson quickly opened his mouth and blew out cold air. Ice formed around the wall before he lashed out a quick kick. The wall smashed into pieces and Greyson quickly followed through with a quick follow-up swing of his sword. Caught by surprise, the leader could only quick try to dodge and allowed for the sword to make a large cut down his chest. Spitting blood, he landed on the ground, however, he quickly cast a spell that formed an earth dome around himself for protection. Greyson meant to quickly attack, but the rest of the group had already recovered and started their own attack. They created an array and all cast out the same water strike from all angles. Before any of the attacks got close, however, a wind burst through that completely dissipated the attack. A silver blur flashed in between the group and Greyson. "8 to 1? That seems a little too unfair, don''t you think? I''ll even the playing field a little. Grey, you just take care of the head while I get rid of the others." Greyson looked over and raised an eyebrow. "You, helping? Why the sudden enthusiasm?" "Hmph! When have I ever not been useful? I just don''t act most of the time because I want to allow you to experience hardship and continue growing as a magician. Imagine if someone at my strength acted out all the time for you, wouldn''t I be babying you? You would never learn to be independent!" "I just see a plain case of laziness..." Greyson rolled his eyes. "LAZY?! Why of all the ingrates I have ever met!" The two partners continued bickering as the rest of the group looked on in shock. Were the two of them just ignoring their presence? Glancing at each other, they all imperceptibly nodded to each other before attacking. "Well, aren''t they rude? Interrupting two people talking like this..." Lucius stopped fighting with Greyson and turned his attention back to the group. His tails lashed out and wind slices followed. In harmony with Lucius, Greyson focused his concentration towards the dome that was still protecting the leader. Steadying his stance, Greyson brought Genesis above his head. Focusing his mana, it began focusing on the sword forming a cold storm. Propelling himself towards the dome, Greyson brought his sword down and the earth smashed apart. The leader was sent flying back from the explosion into the trees. Following quickly behind, Greyson blew cold air again at the leader''s body. Putting out a weak hand, the leader tried to block the air to no avail. Inch by inch his body froze over except for his head. Greyson slowly approached and reached out towards the mask. Yanking it off, a handsome, but cold face was revealed. "Why are you chasing the siblings?" Greyson continued asking. However, the man did not say a word and closed his eyes. "I really dislike killing anybody, but if this will lead to future problems, I will do what I have to do." Coldness leaking from his voice, Greyson stared down the leader. "What relation do you have with them?" Finally opening his mouth, the man did not answer and instead voiced his own question. Thinking about it, Greyson could not find any reason to not answer, so he just shrugged. "No relation. I just met them a couple minutes ago. However, I have some use for them so I decided to step in. Your group was also too weak, so it did not endanger me in any way." Hearing the last sentence, the leader opened his eyes and glared. "Well, you are in this state, and I am like this, so I did not say anything wrong. Give me a reason to not take their side." "They most likely did not tell you the entire story, if they even told a remotely truthful story." "What is your take on the situation, then? You must have a good reason for chasing them through the woods." "Those are just the spoiled brats of the Greentree family! You would not understand. They run amok in the city and kill whoever, steal whatever, and their family allows them to get away with it all. This group of people is a bunch of victims or family of the victims. We waited for the perfect moment to finally ambush them and take revenge. We were finally about to have that until someone interfered in the middle." At this point, he glanced up and angrily looked over at Greyson. Shrugging again, Greyson did not respond right away. However, his eyes did narrow slightly. Definitely a different side to the story from earlier, but he did not immediately believe the sob story from the leader. He still wanted to use the siblings to get into the city, since regular citizens did not work only the powerful ones with connections did. Which person did he trust? At this point, Lucius had already come over after knocking out the rest of the group. Greyson mentally gave him the rundown and asked for his opinion. Both of them began fighting about who to help and who to trust. Lucius stopped talking at one point and looked to be deeply thinking about it. "What is it, Lu?" "Ugh, I really didn''t want to do something like this since I just recovered..." Lucius just sighed helplessly. "Can you create some cover for the both of us? This is something that other people cannot see." "Cover?" Nodding, Greyson quickly created a rock wall around the both of them. "I''m presently too weak to use this bloodline spell fully, so I will only be able to see if we will have bad luck if we trust the leader or the siblings. I will probably sleep again for a while afterwards, don''t be surprised later." Speaking thus far, Lucius spat out some blood and drew a pattern on the ground. His body started to weaken once more and the mana started to gather in the middle of his forehead. Greyson looked on in worry and could feel the red bond on his wrist burning. Finally, an extra slit appeared on Lucius'' forehead. Little by little, the slit slowly opened. Lucius could only manage to get a sliver of the eye to open, however, it was enough to forecast for this situation. He could feel his body rapidly weakening and his consciousness growing dim, so he quickly turned towards Greyson and spat out three words. "Trust the siblings!" After these words were uttered, the blood pattern on the ground shattered and the third eye disappeared. Lucius weakly fainted to the ground and entered another deep sleep. Greyson rushed over and gently placed the sleeping Lucius inside his robe. A cold glint in his eyes, he will the walls to collapse and faced the leader once more. "I''m afraid I will believe in the siblings this time." The man''s expression sank as he understood the implication of Greyson''s words. Looking towards the leader and the rest of the group, Greyson summoned ice into the air and froze all of the bodies. Slashing down with Genesis, he sent blasts of fire to burst apart the bodies. Seeing that no traces were left behind, Greyson looked on with sadness and sighed. Killing people would never get easier, however, if he let them go, who knows what kind of revenge plot would follow. Walking slowly back to Al, Greyson reminisced to his first time killing a person. He could still feel the wave of nausea that came over him. Even these strangers today pricked at his heart, but he knew he could not be weak. Hardening his gaze, he made it back to where Al was waiting. Gesturing to the turtle, Greyson was soon face-to-face again with the siblings he had just saved. Both sister and brother took a couple minutes to orient themselves again and looked around the forest in confusion. As if suddenly remembering their situation, their guards went up and they quickly glanced around. "No need to look. The group that was chasing after you is already taken care of." Greyson''s cold voice rang out. Hearing his words, the siblings both looked completely shocked, but then let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you! Do not worry, my words were not false. You should follow us back to the city for your rewards." Yvette quickly calmed herself and retrieved her original dignified demeanor. "I do not need your rewards, that is not the reason I made a move to save either of you." "Then, for what reason did you assist us?" Furrowing her brows, Yvette and Lucas both looked slightly wary for his answer. "Due to some unexpected circumstances, I ended up getting separated from the caravan I was traveling with, so I have no way into the nearest city. I was hoping that you could use your connection to help me." "Oh, just something like this? Of course, we can help with that! I will do you one better and have my father get you a permit and identification so you can easily travel into other cities as well." Inwardly relieved to hear such a simple request, Yvette''s face quickly returned to a polite smile. "Well, that would be really helpful. I will have to thank you in advance." Finally letting out a smile, Greyson felt pleased by his earlier decision to help them. In his happiness, he missed the fact that both siblings blushed looking at his smile. Although, Greyson''s elf features were hidden, the tied back long black hair and sapphire blue eyes emphasized his handsome features. Even the silver dragon tattoo on the right side of his face added a mysterious charm. Oblivious, Greyson willed Al to grow bigger and soon the three were off towards Iris City. ... During their travels, Greyson was surprised by the information he was able to gather. According to the siblings, he had been stuck in that dungeon much longer than he previously believed. In half a month, he would already be turning fourteen. They had also skipped over the first two outer countries and were only another two away from reaching the closest Beast Empire border. Currently, he was on his way to the capital of the third country. Iris City was the imperial capital of the empire of Rainbow Country. Similar to Lunar City of the Moon Empire back in Snow Country. The Greentree family of Yvette and Lucas was a powerful noble family and one of the top four powers in the country. Lucas and Yvette were technically part of a branch family since their father was the second son and thus the brother to the current head of the family. Both of them were also born with inferior magic talent compared to a lot of their cousins which was why they were still so weak even now. Greyson had already seen through both of them. Yvette was only an intermediate level stage five magician while Lucas was an advanced level stage one. As the heir of the second family, Lucas received preferential treatment which was why he was able to surpass his older sister. Apparently, though, the young master of the family was a young genius. He was 20 years old and a magister level stage one magician. Although this seems less impressive in front of Greyson, most outer region children do not reach the magister level until they are 25 or even later which means they will most likely be magister level magicians their entire lives due to the sparse resources. The Greentree family were all earth magicians, however, the young master was born a dual water and earth magician which made his position as the next head extremely solid. Listening to Yvette and Lucas brag about their older cousin made Greyson even more desperate to hurry to the Beast Empire. At that point, he could eat the Calming Fruit and finally advance to the magister level. His preparations were finished ages ago for this advancement and he was just missing one last step. After three days of traveling, a humongous outline of a city finally came into view from afar. Greyson could not help but be in awe of the city. It was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. Lots of beautiful nature remained inside the city with glass-like building structures that reflected rainbows from the sunlight. He could see where the name Rainbow Country came from if this was what the capital looked like. Yvette and Lucas could see the fascination in Greyson''s eyes and they puffed out their chests and lifted their chins a little higher. They were extremely proud of their home city and believed it to be one of the most beautiful cities in the entire Human Empire. 81 Lets Fight! "Beautiful, isn''t it?" Lucas happily remarked while looking at Greyson''s expression of admiration. Greyson simply nodded. It was a truly remarkable looking city. "It''s only another day''s walk to get to the city gates. If we hurry, we should be able to get there before they lock the inner gates. Otherwise, we might have to wait outside for the night at local inn." Yvette explained. Hearing her words, Greyson furrowed his brows before glancing at the siblings once more. After thinking through it once more, he decided that even if they had bad intentions, they themselves were not a threat to his safety. A bright flash appeared outside his chest before a loud roar rang out. Yvette and Lucas quickly covered their ears in shock before getting knocked backwards from the sudden gust of wind. Opening their eyes once more, they saw a beautiful silver dragon in front of their faces. Careful purple eyes were observing them back. It was of course, Zephyr. After the last fight, his wing and side were seriously injured, however, after such a long time of recuperation, he was completely healed now. "Grey... Greyson, is this your partner beast?" Still slightly in shock, Yvette stuttered. "Yes, this is my partner, Zephyr." Smiling, Greyson intimately pet the dragon''s neck. Zephyr responded by rubbing his face against Greyson''s before licking his face. Laughing, Greyson felt extremely happy to see his partner healed. "Zephyr, these are two new friends I have met on the way, Yvette and Lucas." Greyson gestured to the two beside him. Turning towards the strangers, his clever purple eyes blinked in hello. Unconsciously, both the siblings felt flattered by the acknowledgement. This was their first time ever seeing a dragon as most of them were almost extinct and lived in the deep recesses of the Beast Empire. They barely ever showed their faces towards other magic beasts, let alone humans. Although, the one in front of them was still a spirit form partner beast, it was still a dragon. Nodding back in hello, they could not keep the obvious awe from their eyes. "Okay, well, don''t resist you guys!" Greyson remarked before leaping onto Zephyr''s back. "Resist wh...!!" Both of them felt confused before they were suddenly grabbed by Zephyr''s claws and flown up into the sky. Shouting out in surprise, it took them a couple seconds to calm down and enjoy the view. With Zephyr''s speed, it only took them an hour before they were only a couple hours walk away. Greyson decided for Zephyr to land still a little far away from the city so that he would not make a large commotion. Giving a little whine in complaint, Zephyr still disappeared back into Greyson''s body. "I know, buddy. I will try to let you out more often." Sighing to himself, Greyson could not help but feel guilty. Usually, people would let out their partner beasts daily, however, a dragon just drew way too much attention and was an easily recognized trait. Glancing over to the sister and brother pair, he could not help but laugh. They could not block the wind during the flight, so their hair was thrown everywhere, all their clothes were disordered, and they were still sitting on the ground completely dazed as if they had not snapped back to reality yet. They had completely lost all their earlier noble and elegant semblance. When they heard his laugh, Yvette and Lucas both blushed before finally getting back their bearings. Bolting up, they began fixing their clothes and smoothing out their hair. Awkwardly coughing, they tried to pretend their earlier look was all Greyson''s imagination. "Haha, it''s no big deal anyways. Let''s head out, we don''t want to get locked out tonight." Greyson tried his best to hold in his laughter and keep a serious face. Quickly nodding, they both sped off towards the distance so they would not have to keep facing Greyson. Still chuckling when he thought back to their earlier state, Greyson slowly followed after. Maybe because they were blowing off steam after feeling embarrassed, the siblings led Greyson to the gate at a much faster pace than before. It took much less time than Greyson expected before he could see a bunch of people and carts lined up before the gate. Per usual, Greyson moved to stand and wait in line for his turn. Only to realize that Yvette and Lucas were giving him an odd look. "What?" Instinctively, he touched his face and hair before looking down at his clothes looking for anything out of place. "We are just shocked that you are lining up. I guess we just assumed that you were from another noble family from around here. Nobles of a city never have to wait in line and just use their identity to go through." Yvette finally stopped staring and elbowed her brother as well realizing she was being rude. "Ah..." Scratching his head, Greyson realized that he really never experienced any special treatment before. "No, actually, I am just a commoner. However, I was luckily born with high talent for magic and joined a magic academy. I do not have any spectacular origins." After hearing his words, the siblings looked shocked before an almost imperceptible change occurred in their attitude. If Greyson was not paying attention, he might not have noticed the swift look of disdain that passed through their eyes. It disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared, but Greyson knew exactly what he saw. A slight chill ran through his heart. Maybe, everything that man earlier said was not completely wrong. Greyson''s attitude also took a colder turn after feeling their change. His background had never once made him feel inferior, nor did he see it as something to feel embarrassed about. Even if he really was royalty according to what Eden said, it did not change who he was or how he was raised. Throughout his short life, there were not many people he loathed. However, those who looked down on others due to their powerful families and no accomplishments of their own were of the few that caused instant dislike. They had powerful families? So, what? Obviously, these siblings still had to beg for rescue from him, a commoner, due to their own personal weakness. Feeling the atmosphere cooling slightly, Yvette brought the polite smile back to her face. Before leading Greyson and Lucas to the front of the line at the gate. Before the guard could even say a word, she flashed her family insignia. Stopping in his tracks, the guard saluted and quickly cleared the way for the three people. Regaining some of their confidence finally after seeing the guard''s deference, both Lucas and Yvette straightened their posture and assumed a new stance. "Greyson, why don''t you follow us back into our estate and we will ask our father to get that permit and identification for you." Although her tone was still polite, the awe and respect were no longer present. "Okay." Taken aback by the sudden change, Greyson only coldly nodded. Glancing at the cat on his shoulder, he could not help but wonder if the prediction was correct. Their attitude really did not inspire any good feelings in him. "What are you doing just standing there? Are you expecting us to walk home?! Quickly, call for a carriage!" Lucas impatiently shouted at the saluting soldier. His face sinking even further, Greyson could only keep the discomfort in his heart. After he received the permit and identification, he would quickly leave. Associating with people like this really made his mood drop. Panicking, the guard called for a carriage to come as quickly as possible. Barely a minute passed before a carriage arrived. Lucas and Yvette gracefully boarded with Greyson following after. Slightly fascinated by the inside, Greyson glanced around before his eyes landed on the middle ball in the middle. It was made out of some sort of crystal that he did not recognize. The siblings quickly placed their hands on the ball and allowed their mana to flow through it. Lighting up, the ball powered up before long and the carriage began to move. Unable to hide his surprise, Greyson looked closely at the ball before realizing that this carriage must be another Magic Mechanic''s handiwork. Noticing Greyson''s inexperience with such a carriage, the disdain grew in Lucas and Yvette''s eyes. Looking back, they felt embarrassed they treated such a country bumpkin with so much reverence. But no matter what he did save their lives and was extremely strong so they could not openly express such an ungrateful attitude. Hopefully, this person would just take his reward and leave. If he saw their wealth and decided to cling to them for favors, what would they do? When this thought crossed their minds, they both could not help but glance at each other feeling worried. Little did they know that Greyson could not wait to leave them at the fastest possible moment. The dislike was completely mutual. Each person sat inside the carriage with different thoughts weighing down on their minds. Thankfully, the awkward atmosphere did not last long before the carriage stopped in front of a large gate. It was exquisitely made with sturdy wood and beautiful flowers growing around it with a large tree insignia painted in the middle. Just one glance was enough to connect these to the Greentree last name. Excited by the sight of their home, Yvette and Lucas quickly leaped off the carriage and almost ran into the house. Greyson followed closely behind while they bypassed the guards and other servants near the gate. They headed straight towards a side house of the estate. From the doors of the house exited a well-built middle-aged man who looked fairly similar to the siblings followed by some servants. "Father!" Almost as if answering Greyson''s thoughts, the brother and sister duo quickly called out to the man. The man turned in surprise at the familiar voices. Yvette and Lucas both burst into tears upon seeing his face and ran over to hug him. Shocked, the man did not know how he was supposed to react and looking over and seeing Greyson''s unfamiliar face, he felt embarrassed by the immature showing of his children. "Stop! How old are you both that you are causing such a scene? I thought you both were going to the neighboring Spring City to represent our family at the City Lord''s birthday. Yvette, you know how important that engagement between you and the first son of that family is for us. How could you back already? They could possibly misunderstand our intentions like this!" Pulling the children away from him, he kept his voice stern as he was sincerely confused as to why they were back already. It was only at this moment that he saw the state of their clothes. Although, they were still neat-looking, it could not hide the wear and tear that occurred while they were running in the forest. Seeing their distressed and tired looks, his expression turned ugly and he seemed to understand. "What happened? Where are the prepared gifts and the guards?" Finally holding in her tears, Yvette explained everything that had happened. With each word, her father''s face sank deeper and deeper. When he heard of Greyson''s deeds, he could not help but glance over at the young boy in surprise before turning back towards Yvette and Lucas. "The gifts?" He asked again. "After the guards died... We could not take, take them with us... so we left them... and... ran..." Slightly shaking, Yvette drew her chin down towards her chest with each word and losing confidence. Irate, her father quickly slapped her hard. Even Greyson winced after hearing the loud sound. "Stupid thing! You know how much money and preparation went into those gifts to solidify the marriage alliance. What will we give now? All that money and effort is completely wasted now! You should have at least carried away the most important one. It was not even heavy, you could have easily run away with it as well!" "I''m sorry, father. I did not think of that in my moment of panic." Lowering her head, Yvette bit at her lower lip trying to hide her feelings of disappointment. Though Greyson did not like her much, he could not help but feel pity for Yvette and Lucas at this moment. Glancing at the father, he felt disturbed by the sheer lack of concern for the lives of his children. If he were to say the same things to Sister Lily, she would surely burst into tears and pray to thank God that we came back safe instead of worrying about some gifts. Just as he was thinking this, Greyson heard a loud shriek and crying coming from the doorway. Moving his attention in that direction, Greyson noticed that a beautiful older woman came running out in a panic. She was just like an older Yvette, so Greyson could guess at her identity easily. "Boris! What kind of father are you?! The children almost died and the gifts is all you can think about? What would the gifts matter if you had no daughter to marry over!? The engagement would go to another branch!" Running over and embracing her children, the siblings'' mother looked over at their father with a hard glare. Seeing their mother finally taking their sides, Lucas and Yvette began crying again in distress telling their mother of all their struggles. Watching all this drama, Greyson could finally see where this brother and sister get their nasty personality from. A father that is strict to the point of almost doubting blood relation creates resentment while the mother is indulging on everything her kids do. Pretty much they have one parent that gives them anger with nowhere to vent and another parent who would cover up any wrongs they might commit while venting that anger on someone else. He was not even participating in this over-dramatic scene personally and he was already exhausted just listening. Rolling his eyes, he decided to lightly cough to assert his presence once more. Otherwise, who knew how long he would be left standing here. Just as he hoped, both the parent and children glanced over at him. Seeing those icy blue eyes filled with slight satire at their family show going off, all of them could not make another noise. Looking around at the servants surrounding them as well, they all shut their mouths for a couple seconds before looking at each other and blushing. "Ahem, well, I am glad that you both are back safe and sound. I must discuss with elder brother what to do about the lost gifts and how to explain the situation correctly. Why don''t the both of you and your mother invite your savior in to eat and rest." Softening his facial features, he almost could play the part of a loving father if not for that fact that everyone had already seen his earlier performance. The fake expression on the man''s face disgusted Greyson to the point he loathed to look at his face for another second. Taking advantage of this moment, Yvette, Lucas, and their mother quickly got up and brushed off their clothes before smiling at Greyson to invite him in. Inwardly sighing in relief, Greyson immediately followed them in to prevent any further hold-up. In the end, they led him a richly decorated guest room with plenty of space for a large family to live in. Looking around, Greyson could not help but bitterly think of the suffering orphans back at the church all cramming together on the floors of the bigger room while only the older ones could get their own tiny room. Tightening his hands into fists, he vowed to use the money he earns to build a humongous estate where the church is to help house orphans. Nothing too fancy with unnecessary decorations like these noble houses, just something simple and large that holds everything they made need and the space to house everyone. It actually was not until the next morning that someone knocked on Greyson''s door calling him for breakfast. He decided against going to eat with the family and just asked for his food to be sent to his room. Going and eating with that strange family was just asking for drama to occur. The same servant returned with his food and a message that the head of the family would like to meet with him after breakfast to give him the requested rewards and to thank him personally for saving Yvette and Lucas. Nodding his head, Greyson dismissed the servant and began to eat while thinking of what the Greentree family head would be like. Going by relations, he was Yvette and Lucas'' older uncle and their father''s older brother. Thinking back to the middle-aged man he met earlier, Greyson grimaced and hoped that the reason the older brother became the head was due to a better personality and not just his age. After he finished breakfast, Greyson called in the servant outside the door to lead him to meet the head. They both quickly made their way through the side mansion and made their way to the main mansion in the middle of the estate. Walking in, Greyson could tell that this mansion was definitely a step above the earlier mansion he stayed at. Saying nothing of the larger size and richer decorations, just the fact that there was a dense mana presence in the mansion impressed Greyson. He felt it must be caused by a Mana Gathering array which is very difficult and expensive to keep running for long period of time throughout such a large area. While he continued admiring the house, Greyson unknowingly had arrived at the door to the main hall. The double doors opened in front of him only for him to see a single chair in the middle with two side chairs. The middle chair sat a good-looking older man with the same green hair and green eyes as Yvette and Lucas. A younger man was also present on the side seat with similar looks to the man in the middle and the woman who sat to the other side. Thinking back to the information he received during the journey to Iris City, Greyson assumed that this young man must be older cousin that the siblings mentioned. The double element magister level magician who was also the young master of the Greentree family. Sensing the power behind the young man, it was not hard for him to feel the higher-level pressure given off by the young master''s magister level. At first, Greyson saw him as a very dignified and calm person with an apathetic expression. However, when he laid eyes on Greyson, his eyes lit up with passion and enthusiasm that put off Greyson immensely. The young man even got up in excitement and moved towards Greyson. Each moment he got closer, Greyson''s expression sank in anger. Until the new person was already in front of him and grabbed onto Greyson''s hands. Shivering in disgust, Greyson tried to pull his hands away to no avail. "Let go!" He spat. Why was this happening again all of a sudden? Most people no longer mistook him for a girl lately. He felt depressed by this sudden return. Instead of letting go, the young master looked at Greyson in excitement and finally said a sentence. "Let''s fight! I heard you are very strong and I have not had a suitable opponent in ages." Eyes glowing, he looked at Greyson expectantly. 82 New Music Speechless, Greyson did not respond for a moment. It was definitely not the request that he was expecting right away, however, his fighting spirit was definitely evoked. At this point, most advanced level magicians are no longer much of a challenge, so Greyson focused on finding magister level stage one magicians. When Yvette and Lucas spoke of their genius cousin, Greyson already thought then that he would like to fight him. "... Alright." After a moment''s hesitation, Greyson''s eyes became determined and nodded seriously. "Hahaha, a real man! Great! I can tell we will get along great!" Laughing heartily, the young man slapped Greyson''s shoulder repeatedly. Wincing, Greyson could not help but feel exhausted by this person''s enthusiasm. "I am Elon Greentree! What''s your name?" Finally backing away to a comfortable distance, the young master held out his hand. "Hello, Elon. My name is Greyson." Smiling lightly, Greyson introduced himself while reaching out to shake Elon''s hand. Only, right before he could grab Elon''s hand, a loud slap rang out. "Ouch! Dad! What are you doing?!" Rubbing the back of his head while looking wronged, Elon turned around to complain to his dad. Greyson looked up in surprise to realize that the middle-aged man from earlier was already behind Elon. His expression was part embarrassed, part angry. Looking at his son, he just let out a long sigh before walking back to the middle seat while rubbing his temples in frustration. "I''m sorry for that, Greyson. Who knows what possessed my perfectly normal son these days, but all he does is run around challenging people. The complaints that come to our door are not few in number. You don''t have to indulge him." "No way! He already agreed! Greyson you can''t back out now, or you are not a man!" Glaring at his father, he quickly turned to Greyson and shouted back. "Fool! All you ever do is throw your father''s face! Leave, do not speak of challenges again." Waving his hand to dismiss his son, the head of the family glanced over to see his wife giggling. Furrowing his brows, he could not help but complain. "This is all your fault, you know. You always indulge his behavior..." He wanted to continue, but after seeing his even-tempered wife suddenly coldly glared at him, he could not let out another peep. "Hm? What were you saying?" She spoke out sweetly. "Me? Was I saying something? Probably that I still cannot believe how lucky I am to marry such a wonderful woman." Sweating slightly, a lonely father could only give in. Greyson could not help but chuckle looking at such a scene. Even Elon puffed out his chest as if he just won something and walked back up to the chairs to sit next to his father once again. At this moment, the three of them returned to their earlier regal aura, but all Greyson could see was the earlier scene. "Well, sir, I don''t mind getting challenged. I have been meaning to look for some opponents who could challenge me, as well. Hearing of your son''s prestigious talent, I have been looking forward to meeting him and trying out my abilities against him." Coughing a little to clear the air, Greyson spoke his own honest thoughts. Although he acted harshly to his son, hearing Greyson''s words, the head could not resist a proud smiling spreading across his face. "Hm, well, if that''s what you want then we can arrange a match between you guys tomorrow. I just invited you today to thank you for lending a hand to rescue my niece and nephew. They lack in a lot of things, but this uncle of theirs still cares nonetheless for their safety." Smiling warmly, Elon''s father stood and bowed a little before sighing and speaking his last sentence. Just from this, Greyson held him in higher esteem. Even their own father did not care for the siblings or sincerely thank Greyson for saving their lives, but their uncle bowed his head for their sake. "You are too polite. I must say that saving them was not a spur of the moment kind act. I, of course, had my hopes for certain remuneration." Slightly embarrassed due to such heavy thanks, Greyson spoke out honestly. He would be lying if he stood here and claimed that he saved the siblings out of the goodness of his heart. He only saw their background as a way to solve his current issue. However, the head''s smile only deepened hearing Greyson''s words while appreciation filled his eyes. Such a young boy, but clearly had the correct attitude. Most people who helped those in their family would come here with fake auras of saints while asking for more favors in the dark. "While this may be true. No matter your reason, you still helped nonetheless, so you should receive your expected reward." Snapping his fingers, a servant came out from behind the door carrying two things. One was a paper of identification while the other was a beautifully carved wooden tree token. Eyes lighting up, Greyson quickly received these things with thanks. "Both of these should allow you to get anywhere you want to go in any outer countries and foreign empires. However, if you want to enter an inner country, that permit is not enough." "This is more than enough. Thank you!" Not bothering to pay attention to his words, Greyson quickly thanked the head for providing him these things. He was not going to the inner countries anyways so that was not a worry for him. As long as the permit and identification could get him to the Beast Empire, the rest did not matter. "Good! Now that everything is settled, we should speak about our fight!" Not wanting to wait another second, Elon sprung up from his chair and began question Greyson. "I am fine with whenever and wherever you believe is appropriate." Shrugging his shoulders, Greyson''s tone was noncommittal. "Hahaha, perfect! I know exactly the place. There is a large battle stage in our estate where our family members constantly duel one another. Let us meet there tomorrow at noon!" Ecstatic by Greyson''s easygoing nature, Elon could not hold in his excitement. "Alright, I will meet you there tomorrow." "It''s a deal then, Grey! You cannot forget!" "..." Forget? Greyson did not know whether he should get angry or not. How could he possible forget something in just a day? And, Grey? Since when were they that close? Not knowing how to respond to such overzealous reactions, Greyson could only awkwardly smile while nodding his assent before quickly leaving the room. Exhaling, he felt relieved to get out of that situation. Although he could easily tell that Elon meant no harm, he could not get used to such a hyper character. Most of his close friends were all calm and even-keeled like Lyle and Ronan. "Oh well, thankfully they kept their promise, so I just have to fight with Elon tomorrow and then head out. I have wasted too much time in the dungeon." After finding out how much time he had until he was fourteen, Greyson started to feel more pressure. When Sweetbow informed him of the apparent records for the youngest to become a magister, Greyson could feel an ambition form to break them whether it was the human record or the other races'' records. ... Early the next day, Greyson got up and went outside to meditate. The closer he traveled to the Beast Empire, the more the weather became agreeable. Living his entire life in the Snow Country, Greyson had to adjust to seeing green and bountiful life around him. Although snow and ice were beautiful and pristine in their own way, other countries had an inexplicable vibrancy that his home lacked. A warm breeze that brought the smell of flowers and greenery or the comfortable morning dew on the grass that felt refreshing as he laid down. Inspired by the comfortable weather, he decided to pull out Mesmer. Closing his eyes, a pleasant brown aura surrounded his body as he brought the flute to his lips. Going with the flow, a new song brought itself to life. All the servants slowly walked towards the irresistible music and felt shocked to see the bountiful plant life that suddenly grew around Greyson. Flowers and trees bloomed while the grass seemed to wave with the sounds. This was one of Greyson''s largest improvements during his five years in the Idris Kingdom. A lot of magicians cast spells in two different categories. There were some who also liked to fight and they used their favored weapons as a way to cast their spells. A lot of people with weaker magic talent would choose this way so they could gain reputation and position in their kingdom or empire through war. While others preferred less-physical aspects and used some form of conduit for their magic. The size and type of forms were innumerable. A relative few were like Greyson and chose to split their attention. Usually, they still leaned more one way than the other. Enjoying the thrill of a great battle, Greyson leaned towards learning to actually fight with magic weapons. However, he upgraded Mesmer after learning new information from the Music Association at Idris. Not only wind magic, but also any element could be cast through his flute. Playing music could speed up his normal meditation and attract element spirits faster. The only downside is that usually he could only meditate one element at a faster speed at a time. He learned some support spells during his free time, but those would only be effective in a group and when he took the backseat to the fighting. They had their definite uses; however, he did not want to stay behind the others so his music became more of a meditation augmenter than his main style of fighting. Feeling the higher density of earth elements, all of the servants looked at each other warily before they sat down and began meditating. If Greyson were watching, he would be surprised to see that even the servants of the Greentree family were of the earth element. Ecstatic, the servants could feel their mana growing at a faster rate than normal. Awe-filled eyes all turned towards the young teen in the middle of this change. This group meditation continued until noon. Not breaking his concentration, Greyson continued sitting in that same spot. If not for a brave servant approaching him slowly, he would not have awoken and realized that the appointed time was approaching. All sounds of music stopped the moment his calm blue eyes opened once more. After speaking with Eden, Greyson realized that his irises changing color signified something that he was still unaware of. Therefore, for the sake of precaution, he started splitting his concentration to make sure his disguise spell kept his eyes the same color. Only in challenging circumstances would he be unable to control the change. Feeling the mana density return to normal, the rest of the servants also ended their meditation with a small sigh. While Greyson could always enjoy this type of feeling, they felt it was a shame that their time was too short. His eyes focusing again, Greyson looked around with confusion to see so many others sitting around him. Realization dawned on his face once he saw that they were all meditating. Smiling and nodding in greeting to them, he then looked up at the servant that broke his meditation. Getting up, he followed the servant through the estate until he reached a large stage with seating all around. He was slightly dumbfounded by the sheer size of the stage and the amount of people who came to watch this fight. Almost all the seating was filled while the audience chattered with excitement. Noticing Greyson''s confusion, the servant leading him spoke up. "Every fight is advertised throughout the family and even the city depending on the people fighting. Our young master is the most talented magician in the younger generation, thus the amount of people who come to watch his fights are usually high. Some want to just see exciting fights while others want to try to find our young master''s weaknesses." "Ahh." Nodding his head, Greyson now understood the enthusiastic response. Looking up at the stage, he could see the same green hair and green eyes of yesterday staring back at him. Elegantly smiling and waving towards the crowd, Greyson could hear the screams of fans in the audience. His mouth twitching, he almost did not recognize the person in front of him. Where was the eager, fight-fanatic of yesterday? Making his way to the stairway on the opposite side of the stage, he could feel the eyes following his movements. The loud audience slowly quieted down into an eerie silence as their eyes all fell on this new opponent. Most eyes held curiosity towards this stranger, while some held slight disdain towards what they felt was an ignorant newcomer. Over the years, many people built up a strong confidence towards this talented young master of the Greentree family. Countless battles occurred on this same stage and they all ended with similar results. Ever since he became a magister level magician, the amount of people who accepted Elon''s challenges dramatically decreased. Although they were not sure of this new opponent''s specific level, looking at his age, they knew he could not yet be a magister level magician. Therefore, they thought that he was just another arrogant young master who wanted to challenge Elon after hearing of his reputation. 83 Insurmountable? Trying to stay calm, Greyson did his best to ignore the heated stares. Seemingly used to the situation, Elon smiled and bowed slightly towards Greyson. Slightly awkward, Greyson tried his best to imitate the motion without looking too tense. Both got into standard ready positions with Greyson drawing Genesis and Elon pulling out normal staff, each waiting for the other to start. Raising his brows, Greyson was a little unprepared to verse a non-combat magician. Obviously, a bit excited, Elon made the first move. With a wave of his staff, thick vines grew from the ground and quickly approached Greyson while sharp water knives simultaneously formed and attacked at different angles. Getting serious, Greyson summoned a water wall with his left hand while his right slashed down with fire. His defensive spell was one of his favorites called Rubber Wall, it absorbed his opponent''s attack''s power before flinging the same attack back towards them. All the water knives bounced back in Elon''s direction while the fire from Genesis burned down the vines. Smiling slightly, Elon hit his staff onto the ground and the water knives in front of him dissipated. Not too shocked, Greyson knew that unless he activated this spell from close-up, the opponent could usually deactivate their spell fast enough. Both of them were just trying to gauge their opponent''s abilities. This time, Greyson attacked first. Using a body lightening wind spell, he quickly burst out in a frontal charge while electricity arced on his blade. Elon was caught off guard by the sudden change in elements and only reacted in time to activate Earth Wall. Sneering, Greyson quickly blew apart the wall with his first swing before switching into another strong slash into Elon''s body. Feeling his strike hit, Greyson showed some disappointment by his opponent''s weakness. However, he soon was surprised to see his opponent''s body completely turn into water and disappear. Scowling, he realized that he was tricked and quickly escaped into his shadow as he landed. Right as his back was disappearing into the ground, strong water bullets rained down on his exact spot. When he resurfaced, he winced in pain and could feel that some of the water spell had hit his back before he could completely escape. Looking around quickly, he saw that Elon was still on the opposite side of the stage from him. However, Elon''s face was not as calm as before. Counting in his head, he realized that this young opponent in front of him had already revealed five different elements. Realizing that Elon looked distracted, Greyson took advantage of this pause as a golden glow grew around him and healed his surface injuries. Speechless, even Elon could not help but feel envy towards Greyson''s multi-element abilities. At the same time, through this series of attacks, Elon and other high-level magicians in the audience could feel that Greyson was still at the advanced level stage five. While still startled by his level and assumed age from his looks, slight disappointment filled their faces. Greyson was obviously highly talented, but it was not easy to surpass the stark difference between a magister level magician and those below. The result of this battle seemed to be already decided. However, Elon did not let up at this point and still treated his opponent seriously. Glancing at Greyson''s sword, Elon smirked as a simple idea formed in his mind. Seeing Elon''s expression, Greyson suddenly felt uneasy, but he could only continue healing his injuries. Whispering a chant under his breath, a large grey cloud formed above the stage. Dark rain soon poured down that held a shiny glint. Greyson stopped his healing light spell and instead formed the light into a shield around him. After the first impact began, his expression turned ugly and he realized that the rain held metal elements as well so each drop was heavy with hard impact that began to break apart his shield. After he finished casting this first spell, Elon switched to an earth spell summoning metal spike from the ground. Jumping around while keeping his shield up, Greyson could feel his mana stores depleting faster than he was comfortable with. Every time he tried to approach Elon, a new spell would block his approach and the consistent metal rain kept his concentration split. During this time, Greyson finally realized his biggest disadvantage in mana stores. Although Elon was continuously keeping up different spells simultaneously, his drain in mana was not as rapid as Greyson''s. This advantage allowed him to continually cast spell to keep Greyson at a distance so that his close combat inability does not hinder him in this fight. Furrowing his brows, Greyson knew he was just wasting mana at this point and kept still. Kneeling on the ground, he had a metal wall form around him so he could remove his attention from the rain. Putting away his sword, he instead pulled out his bow. Nocking two arrows immediately, he gathered his lightning and fire elements in the bottom one while he filled the top arrow with the light element. In just a matter of seconds, he released both. The top arrow blocked the rain and allowed the bottom arrow to smoothly speed towards Elon. Unprepared for such a sudden change in strategy, Elon tried to create a wall but his spell was too slow and the volatile lightning and fire exploded against his defense, blasting him backwards. Coughing blood, the injured Elon could no longer continue the spell in the sky causing it to slow down until the cloud dissipated. The crowd was thrown into disorder as everyone was taken aback by the new turn in events. They thought that it would end after Greyson either ran out of options or mana. Wiping the blood from his lips, Elon''s expression turned grave. As good-natured as he normally was, of course he held pride towards his own level and ability. Knowing his opponent was a level below and also younger, he could not allow Greyson to defeat him especially in front of his family members. Taking a deep breath, his eyes showed his determination. His chest lit up as a crocodile-like creature appeared. Hesitating slightly, Greyson finally summoned Zephyr. He was reluctant since his partner was hurt not long ago. However, he could feel Zephyr''s anxious desire to fight when it felt Elon''s partner beast come out. A loud roar echoed across the stage as a silver dragon also appeared on the stage and Greyson jumped onto his back. Though slight, one could tell that Elon''s beast looked more corporeal and radiated more strength. There was another large qualitative change in a magician''s partner beast each time they reached a new level. Making a signal, Elon gave his beast an order as Greyson watched carefully. With shocking speed, Elon''s partner burrowed into the ground. Elon cast an ice spell this time that sent sharp shards of ice flying towards Greyson. Swiftly avoiding the attack, Zephyr moved to the side only to suddenly hear a bang to the side it dodged towards. Glancing sideways, Greyson saw Elon''s beast come up from the ground and send hard earth boulders towards Zephyr. Responding quickly, Greyson was able to block the attack but the force still pushed Zephyr back. In this instant of confusion, Elon also followed up with another water attack. Unable to respond in time, Greyson could only allow the water bullets to hit hard. Letting out a roar of pain, Zephyr flew high in the sky to avoid more attacks. Gripping his chest, Greyson could feel that he and Zephyr both were injured from that attack. Another large drain occurred in his mana stores as Zephyr absorbed it to continue fighting. Inwardly, Greyson could only admit his inferiority in experience to his opponent. Elon obviously challenged a lot of people and fought many times. He took control of most parts of this battle. Seeing Elon''s great coordination with his beast, Greyson realized his own inadequacy at working in sync with Zephyr. Feeling his partner''s gloom, Zephyr quickly roared in defiance. Greyson could feel his meaning. Apparently, there was an innate ability that Zephyr had not used before, but he wanted to try it now. Although he was worried, Greyson decided to trust in his partner. However, his face grew pale when he felt the mana leaving his body at an exponential rate. Zephyr opened his jaw and a multi-colored ball formed in front. Amazingly, this ball contained four elements: wind, water, fire, and earth. Right before he reached his limit, Zephyr finally stopped absorbing mana. The ball then shot out towards Elon who had cast a defense spell in coordination with his partner beast. In front of this attack, all the walls of defense were blown apart and Elon was sent flying out of the stage. Before he could slam into the ground, his father acted and caught Elon before digging his feet into the ground to slow his son''s momentum. Even he could not believe the force behind his son''s body as he was continually pushed back. Greyson was not in much better shape. Zephyr had almost overdrawn his mana and he could barely stand in his state. Zephyr also could no longer stay present and disappeared back into Greyson''s body. Falling to the ground, Greyson forced himself to land properly only to stagger afterwards. Pulling at Genesis, he stabbed it into the ground to balance himself and try to stand. Elon''s father stood holding up his son who could only lean on him to stay up due to serious injuries. Elon looked up showing an unwillingness in his eyes. That attack was definitely powerful after combining four elements, but somehow, he felt that he did not lose in terms of ability, but talent. This discovery left him feeling slightly disheartened since he could change anything. "You''ve won this match." Allowing himself a wry smile, Elon still humbly admitted defeat. Distressed by his son''s injuries, the head just nodded towards Greyson before quickly taking his son away for healing. The audience was eerily silent as all of them still could not quite believe that result. Seeing that the match was over, Greyson could no longer hold himself up and fell onto the ground. Feeling weak all over, he decided to just start meditating on the stage to recover his mana. For the first time in a while, he felt completely void of any mana. His hair reverted back to the platinum silver, but no one was paying enough attention. They all quickly ran out to spread the news of the battle result. In next to no time, Greyson was the only one left in the arena. Until the sun set and night set it, Greyson continued meditating and recovering. Finally recovered enough, he got up and walked back the way he remembered to the guest housing. Exhausted, he passed out onto his bed. 84 First Midnight Order Encounter His deep rest lasted until the complete dark of night arrived. In the midst of eerie silence, sudden shrieks and screams echoed throughout the Iris City. Bolting upright, Greyson blocked his ears and fought the disorientation after just waking up. Bewildered, he quickly walked towards the nearest window to take a look at the situation. Instincts acting up, he dove backwards away from the window right before a loud explosion blew apart that side of the wall. Eyes adjusting to the dark, Greyson''s eyes darted around to find any traces of an enemy, however, he could not react until he saw the cold gleam of a blade slicing towards his neck. Hairs standing on end, Greyson rolled backwards to dodge. A cold trickle of blood ran down his neck as Greyson pulled his hand up to run his fingers across the spot. His face immediately turned ugly, however, when he felt the quick paralyzing of his neck. Poison! A sinking thought ran through his mind thinking through the entire scenario. Almost on cue, the echoing screams grew closer and a horrifyingly deformed flying creature with no eyes approached and allowed a dark cloaked man to hop onto its back. "Midnight... Order..." Revolving his light element, Greyson struggled to get his words out of his restricted throat. Blood red eyes stared back at him before flying off. Even Greyson was shocked that his first encounter with this group would be so random. Sweetbow spoke to him about the most dangerous group around the world. The Midnight Order did not belong to any specific country and instead had thousands of branches all around since their power could not be used in an aboveboard manner. They specialized in forbidden death spells and extremely bloody magic experiments. Sweetbow explained to Greyson that although the Midnight Order was demonized throughout the world, every country and powerful family had shady dealings with them. Assassinations, hard to obtain goods, slaves, even new experimental equipment. As they are not bound by any moral constructs, although unsavory, the Order truly makes remarkable discoveries. They also have fatal attraction for people with weak to no talent as there are spells which include killing others to steal talent or use their mana to boost your own. Many wanted criminals were these exact people who continued to kill in order to increase their level. Pushing the poison out of his system, Greyson quickly grabbed the still sleeping Lucius from the bed and jumped out of the building through the new hole in the wall. He could see many black flying figures twirling around the city with eerie shrieks continuing to echo around. Multiple places in the city were on fire and he could see the blood staining the ground. Spells lit up the sky as the soldiers and families all worked together to defend their home. Pausing in thought, Greyson hesitated to get involved. After all this was not his home and he did not understand the level of the opponents. Would he be running to his death to defend a random city? His morals fought against his rational thinking. Slowly hopping around the city, Greyson saw the corpses on the ground and the crying families. Feeling sicker and sicker, he could not prevent his face from turning pale. Nausea hit him in waves as he could smell the burning flesh and the metallic stench of blood. Knowing he could not ignore the attack with his conscience intact, he hardened his expression before shooting towards the middle of the city. Finding the open city square, Greyson sat down in the middle and created a metal dome around himself. Trying his best to mentally flip through the spells he learned recently, he finally opened eyes thinking of the correct one. Biting his finger, he started tracing out a mana gathering array to help boost the power of his spell. After he finished the array, Greyson could feel the intense mana flowing towards him. Flipping his hand, Mesmer appeared in his palm. The gentle sound of flute starting to ring out from the square. A beautiful golden light spread out as far as Greyson could push it. Underneath the warm light, the fighting citizens could feel their exhaustion fade, injuries close, and their mana slowly recover. It continued to spread until around half the city was covered by this light. Although he wished he could cover the entire city, even now sweat beaded down his forehead. Without becoming a magister, this area was the limit of his support. Large concentrations of light element radiated from inside the metal dome. Even Greyson could not believe that the support spells he learned would come in handy so quickly. He was worried before that he wasted his time learning them. As he expected, attacks soon began to bombard the shield he put up earlier. Trying his best to keep his concentration, Greyson continued to play to try to lengthen the time people could run under the light to heal. He knew he could not keep the spell up for long, but just this amount of time could make the world of difference. Dent after dent appeared on the shield as the ground shook. Feeling the weakness in the shield, Greyson finally pulled the flute from his lips and the gold light began to recede from all parts of the city. Putting away his flute, he pulled out Genesis. Allow the shield to fall away, he spun and sent wind blades in all directions. Only a couple of the group fell to the ground from the attack, however, Greyson still counted around 10 surrounding him. Preparing himself, he could not help but inwardly sigh. The mana gathering array definitely assisted him greatly, but his mana stores were still half gone. Pushing any thoughts of regret from his mind, sharp fighting intent radiated from his eyes. Before he could attack, though, a horn sounded. Almost immediately, all the attackers broke the charm on their necks and their bodies faded into the shadows disappearing. The fighting came to a dead stop. Confused, Greyson could not understand what just occurred yet. They came suddenly and left just as quickly. As he reflected on this to himself, a bunch of flying figures came towards him. Landing on the ground, Greyson finally looked up due to the noise. He recognized the Greentree family head as one of the people. He stood behind the man in the lead and with three other figures. The one in front was surprisingly a middle-aged, average-looking woman with deep red hair and brown eyes. Not an ounce of warmth could be seen from her expression as anger pulsated off her person. Greyson glanced at the three other people. One was a decrepit old man, the other a good-looking young man, and lastly a beautiful woman. Put together with the Greentree family head and leading lady, they made an oddly mismatching group. "Ahem, uh, Greyson, we would like to know if you saw who cast the light spell earlier." Stepping forward and breaking the silence, the Greentree head coughed awkwardly before questioning Greyson. Raising an eyebrow, Greyson looked at them with slight irony in his eyes. "Well I would not say I saw him per se, but I definitely know who it was." "You know him?! Great, could you tell us?" "Of course, you are looking at him." Finally, unable to continue in this play, Greyson just honestly told them. He was curious as to why they were looking for him instead of the Midnight Order that just came and attacked. All five of the group''s eyes widened as they looked Greyson up and down. Feeling slightly peeved by the obvious disbelief in their eyes, Greyson''s brows furrowed. "Greentree Family Head..." Greyson began. "Please, just call me Rollin." "Mr. Greentree, I believe you witnessed me using light magic before. I don''t see why this comes as such a surprise." Feeling that they were not on a first name basis, Greyson kept the address simple. Looking slightly embarrassed by Greyson obviously drawing a line, Rollin just laughed to break up the atmosphere. "Ah, yes, however, your level was not high enough for such a large and sustained output of mana for that kind of large spell." "Oh, well, I guess that is true. I used a mana gathering array to boost the power and range of my spell." Seeing the man''s point, Greyson just shrugged and explained simply. Understanding dawned on the group''s faces as appreciation filled their eyes. Suddenly, the cold-looking woman at the front walked in front of Greyson and bowed deeply. The rest of the group looked shocked as if they wanted to stop her, but, after thinking for a moment, they followed her lead and also bowed towards Greyson. Not sure how to react, Greyson quickly motioned with his hand. Supported by a gust of wind, all of their bodies once again straightened. "There is no need for this. I just could not stand by and watch all this happen with a peaceful conscious." Scratching his head, Greyson glanced in a different direction. Noticing Greyson''s embarrassment, the beautiful lady in the group covered her mouth and began to giggle. "A real cute kid, aren''t you? Auntie, here, really appreciates your efforts. Our City Lord and us, Family Heads, are thanking you from the bottom of our hearts. A lot of lives in this city and a large portion of our fighting forces were saved through your spell. The results of today''s surprise attack would have been much grimmer without your help." Although she began speaking in a light-hearted tone, the further she spoke, the heavier and heavier her tone got. By the end, her beautiful face showed signs of uncontrollable rage. The rest of the group also grit their teeth and clenched their fists angrily. Noticing their outrage, Greyson could not hold in his curiosity. "Why did the Midnight Order attack?" After he spoke, all their faces turned ugly. "They wanted to steal the heart of our city: the seven-petaled Rainbow Flower. The faction of the Order that attacked was the Poison Corps. We think they must have lusted after the flower for some type of powerful poison, or maybe a medicine that they received a request to make. They distracted everyone by attacking the civilians first and some people sneaked into the City Lord''s mansion and dug out the flower. If you try, you could feel the mana density of our city has dropped dramatically. The original founder of Iris City found the seed to this flower and grew the city with the flower as its foundation. A rare and long-living flower like this one blesses the city with high mana density and even the beautiful rainbow-like colors all over the city." Rollin was the one who ended up answering Greyson after a long pause. His eyes widening in surprise, Greyson did as Rollin suggested and tried to meditate. A couple seconds later, his eyes shot back open as disbelief filled them. Rollin was correct, the city itself felt much more barren of mana than before. There was still much more mana here than say Edysa Kingdom, but it was nowhere near what it was before. Greyson could even feel that the mana was continually decreasing without getting replenished. Sweetbow had taught him about such situations. The entire Elf Empire was an example. They were extremely close with the Fey race. Young Fey cannot transform out of their plant form and require a lot of time and mana to be able to mature. Therefore, they usually request their friends, the elves, to allocate their young to different cities. These young Fey would help the cities create dense mana environments while the city would protect that plant with their lives to allow it to eventually mature. The cycle has continued for centuries. A lot of other kingdoms just use large advanced mana gathering arrays to make their cities dense with mana since these kinds of plants which create such a naturally amazing environment are extremely rare and coveted. "The Poison Corps..." Tracing his hand against his neck where the old wound was, Greyson definitely believed this assessment. Although they were not the most powerful Corps of the Order, they were still extremely dangerous because as long there were not skilled light magicians or physicians present, entire cities could fall to their poison. Thinking up to this point, Greyson realized another issue. "Why did they actually attack? Don''t the Poison Corps specialize in large scale sneak attacks where they just release their poison into the city and kill off everyone silently. Plus, those Terrors are usually used by the Nocte Corps." Shivering slightly listening to his own words, Greyson remembered how frightening it sounded when Sweetbow told him of the Poison Corps modus operandi. "We were shocked by this, as well. They used their poison to sneak into the mansion to steal the flower which is why we were not notified by anyone of their attack. Almost all the guards in the City Lord''s mansion are dead. We were misled by the screeches of the Terrors that it was the Nocte Corps attacking who specialize in just straightforward killing. We thought we would have to battle with them and did not think to defend the mansion. The Poison Corps must have pulled in a favor with the Nocte Corps to be allowed to use the precious Terrors." Helplessness filled Rollin''s eyes as he continued explaining. Everyone''s faces turned grim, especially the City Lord''s. On mention of her mansion''s guards, glistening tears could be seen to appear on her eyes. However, the minute they appeared she forced them back down. "Hello, Greyson, I am the City Lord of Iris, Brynn Fenmyar. I am eternally grateful for the assistance you provided to our city. I would normally award you in this type of situation, however, our city''s condition is too serious for any celebrations as of yet. I can, though, still afford to give you an award for your help. To just send you away without anything does not sit well with me." The red-haired woman soon spoke up and introduced herself. Flipping her hand, a sack appeared in her hand. Opening the strings, the City Lord soon pulled out an object. Looking closely, Greyson saw a beautiful flower petal in her hand. Shocked, Greyson could see that the petal glowed a rainbow of colors allowing him to quickly associate this petal with a shocking name in his head. "This is an old petal that dropped off the Seven-Petaled Rainbow Flower. It has amazing healing properties and also works wonders if you are in need of a sudden refill of mana." Confirming his thoughts, City Lord Fenmyar introduced the petal before handing it off to Greyson. At first, Greyson thought about denying the flower since he did not help them for a reward, however, after hearing the effects, he could not help but look down at the still sleeping Lucius on his chest. Annoying as he felt this cat could be awake, without his constant presence and advice, Greyson felt slightly lost. Not that he could not make decisions on his own, it just felt good to consult with someone he could completely trust. This petal would probably be able to expedite Lucius waking up by a lot. Greyson was in the dungeon for close to five months and Lucius only woke up around the last month of that time which could mean that Greyson would have to keep waiting for a couple months under normal circumstances for Lucius to wake up. Sorting his thoughts, he decided to reach out and accept the petal. The rest of the group''s expressions also relaxed seeing Greyson accept the gift. They were worried he would be too adamant about not taking a gift as they were happier to give Greyson a gift then to have to owe him some kind of favor. As ungrateful as their thoughts might be, too many cities have fallen into difficult situations due to vague promises of owing someone a favor. Greyson did not happen to notice their expressions so he had no idea of the complicated thoughts in their minds. "Mr. Greentree, I actually would like to take this moment to inform you that I am going to head out today. Since I have already received what I was searching for and battled your son, I accomplished all my goals for staying in this city." I also do not want to stay in such a chaotic and half destroyed city. Greyson decidedly swallowed these last words and hid his real reason for leaving now. "Thank you for your great hospitality over these past few days." Seemingly exhausted after such a crazy night, the Greentree family head just nodded and smiled. "I am glad that we could host such a talented magician as yourself. It seems I also did the city a favor by keeping you around. Hopefully, we can meet again at better times." Not making any effort to keep Greyson, Rollin just waved and walked off with the rest of the group. They all nodded and waved goodbye to Greyson, as well. Too much of the city was damaged with their citizens scared and in shock. They could not split their attention to other matters at this point. Understanding their situation, Greyson just smiled and nodded his head back before flying through the city and jumping past the crumbling gate. After looking through multiple maps during his time in Iris, Greyson already planned out the rest of his journey. Heading towards the southwest direction, Greyson looked back at the destroyed city. In the shine of the dawning sun, the beautiful city of yesteryear that he saw upon his arrival was already gone. A slightly depressed expression appeared on his face. He could not understand quite how he felt about the Midnight Order. Not all of them were crazy murderers, some were genius creators or outcasts that other races and kingdoms did not accept. His teacher did not seem to actually hate the Order as much as other people did. In effect, Greyson was also not completely against their existence either. Only, after actually experiencing this attack, he became unsure of his earlier acceptance. 85 Halcrem Armand Greyson continued to travel to the Beast Empire through the main roadways. His new identification and permit allowed him easy access into all the cities in the Rainbow Country. Along the way, he signed up to escort some low-level caravans. This way he could make some money while still heading in the right direction. No major attacks came to these groups since what they were carrying was not too precious, so Greyson did not run into any trouble yet. Quickly passing through the country, he made it to the last city, Mist, before going over the border into Greenwolf Country. Approaching the city entrance, Greyson could see that the name of the city was quite representative of the surroundings. He had heard the legends beforehand, but actually seeing the thick fog covering the city, Greyson could not help but marvel at the sight. Creeping closer and closer, Greyson started to realize that he could not see ahead of him well. At first his vision started to decrease to only tens of feet around him then to a couple feet finishing to almost no vision even a foot in front of him. At this point, Greyson activated his wind magic allowing a small vortex to form around him. It cleared the space around him by a couple feet. Although he could not see the actual gate, he could see the paved road. His feet just followed the road until he could feel himself entering a large array. Once he was passed this invisible shield, the mist surrounding him cleared significantly. Not completely gone, there was still a mysterious thin covering over the entire city. Everything was visible, but the remaining mist gave the city a rather ominous feeling to it. Greyson heard rumors of this city on the way. Lots of the others in the caravans that he helped out informed him that this was a black market city that smuggled a lot of things. Its largest market was slaves. The mist surrounding the city was actually a natural phenomenon, however, criminals took advantage of it to turn this hidden city into a crime haven. Staying on his toes the minute he entered the city, Greyson knew he could not let his guard down for a second. Some areas in the alleyways of the city were still covered in fog and lots of people suffered muggings and sometimes murder. The natives of the city already adapted to seeing through the fog after growing up surrounded by it. Greyson decided on a very unassuming disguise for this city so he would not catch any attention. Dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and a bony stature. He looked like an average commoner teenager who did not get enough in the day to eat. This way people would not really look to rob him. Making his way to the common square of the city, Greyson expected to find a posting for help. However, all he found was an enormous crowd of people all surrounding a makeshift wooden stage. On top of the stage, he saw slaves getting pulled up and put in a line one by one. Some of them were young children, some naked women, some fit men each of them bringing a slightly different skill but all equally hopeless. Greyson could see the dead look in their eyes, even as people shouted out bids. No change in expression as they were walked to their new owners, the ones who could decide their life and death in an instant. Almost apathetic to such scenes, Greyson could tell that it no longer riled him up as it once did. The feeling was disturbing to realize. Slavery was definitely not something he supported as he saw a fair share of orphans who grew up with him captured and sold later on. Somewhere in his mind, however, he just let the issue go because he felt there was nothing he could do to change it. A lot of times in the past, he would try to secretly free slaves only to see them running right back to their owners. Most slaves already went through extensive training that pretty much breaks them. They were even branded with an array that could kill them as long as the owner breaks their copy of the seal. Taking one last glance, Greyson began to turn away and continue on to find the request board for another caravan heading into the Greenwolf Country. "Now, a rare commodity on the market! A Beastman! We captured him on the border of the Beast Empire. He is half human, half Sun Lion. His strength is enormous and he can transform into a human form and lion form, so he would be great as a mount. Although slightly dull, his intelligence is much higher than normal beasts. You will not find many of these types of slaves outside of the Beast Empire! He will start at 50 gold!" The announcer''s voice began to echo through the square. Stopping in his tracks, Greyson turned around to look at the stage with his attention piqued. Although he had information about the Beast Empire, he already was thinking that he would need to find a guide to teach him the ins and outs of the tribes. Up on top of the stage, four heavy-set men tugged up a heavy cage carrying a massive man. He was probably over two-meter-tall with rippling muscles. Although most of his features were human, his eyes were the orange-brown of the Sun Lion and spiky orange hair that was shaped like a mane. Unlike the other slaves, this man was furious and continued to bang against the cage even with his entire body chained. Seeing the surrounding crowd begin to shout out bids, his anger rose and he let out a thundering roar which showed the sharp teeth present in his mouth. Sweetbow taught Greyson about the Beastmen in the Beast Empire. Most denizens of the empire were actual magic beasts and most of them could not transform into human forms until their power grew to about the equal level as Magician King in human magician levels. Sometimes, the higher-level bloodlines would allow for magic beasts to be born in human form as they are born powerful from the beginning. However, these races usually have extremely low fertility and have maybe one or two children in their entire lifespan. The hierarchy of the different tribes was by bloodline. Weak magic beasts with low intelligence were pretty much the bottom. The more powerful and more intelligent the beast, the higher that beast''s position in the tribe. Most of the magic beasts lived simple lives, however, the intelligent and sophisticated ones need to trade with the humans. Some races, like the dragons, love treasures and valuables. So, they trade the abundant natural resources of the Beast Empire with the humans for valuables. This is where Beastmen come into play. This race of people are slaves in the Beast Empire. Using their human form, they are able to communicate with other Empires for trading. The largest reason for their bad treatment, however, is the fact that they are mixed race existences. Bloodline focused magic beasts, disdain the weak human bloodline that calls for almost no natural talent other than their cunning. Watching the bidding war, Greyson felt the urge to throw out a bid himself. However, he knew that the moment he did this, it would attract the attention of everyone and make him a target. Thinking through his options, he knew that he did not want to give up this chance, though, of finding a guide. Continuing to wait and observe, the final winning bid was 500 gold. Sharply inhaling, Greyson was shocked by the large number. Refocusing, he made sure to get a good look at the winner. Activating his dark element, he shifted into the shadows of the city and decided to continue following the man who won the bid. The seller handed the man a sheet of parchment which most likely was the other half of the slave seal planted on the Beastman. That man then had his men lift up the chained Beastman and exited the square. Skulking through the shadows behind, Greyson could tell that he was only one of many tailing this man. Grinning wryly, Greyson could only feel helpless towards such a large criminal tendency. Patiently waiting, Greyson felt speechless at the amount of attacks that occurred to this man. Half of the attacks were to rob the money while the other half were to rob the Beastman slave. One by one, the original buyer''s guards were dwindling down in number. Although he was tempted, Greyson continued to wait because he could tell that he was still not the only person waiting. From his feeling, there was at most two more people who were waiting it out with him. Seeing that the buyer''s guards were down to only around five from the original fifteen, both the remaining men struck out at the same time. Watching closely, Greyson could tell that the guards and the robbers were all at the advanced level, however, they were only around stage two or stage three magicians. He could overpower all of them. The fighting turned extremely bloody and the conflict grew louder. Efficient fighters, the robbers managed to take out most of the guards until it was a one on one fight. Taking all of this in, Greyson stayed inside his shadow. Surreptitiously pulling out his bow and arrow, Greyson allowed just his upper body to come out of the shadow. Knocking two arrows, he reinforced them with the earth element and added the wind element enhanced speed. Releasing the arrows, they arrived almost instantly into the backs of the robbers and tore straight through those men into the last two guards. Spitting blood, they all collapsed to the ground injured. The buyer''s face drained of color as if he could feel his impending death. Suddenly, he regretted his overconfidence in making such a high profile buy. "S-s-sir, maybe we can negotiate about this. I don''t have much money left, but I can give you this slave..." Stuttering in fear, the man could only shout out to no one since he had yet to spot the last attacker. Raising an eyebrow, Greyson decided that he could strike a deal with the man. Disappearing back into the shadow, he appeared right behind the trembling man. "Give me the seal." The man jumped in surprise after hearing the voice show up right behind him. Turning slowly, he came face to face with an average looking teenager. Trying his best to analyze the face for redeeming features, he only came up empty. "The seal!" Holding out his hand impatiently, Greyson raised his voice. Shivering in fear, the man finally realized he had been staring so he quickly pulled out the parchment from earlier and handed it to Greyson. "You can scram now." Waving dismissively, Greyson allowed for the man to run away. With no need for a second reminder, the man ran away faster than he knew he was capable of. No longer taking another look at that man, Greyson quickly ran over to the Beastman. Even chained up, he did not lose the rebellious look in his eyes. Growling at Greyson, he did not have an ounce of gratefulness in his eyes since he believed that Greyson was just another slave owner. "Do not worry, I am not taking you to make you my slave." Greyson tried to reassure him before having Al hide him inside his shell. Once the lion man was put away, Greyson switched his disguise. Sporting black hair and green eyes, he also switched his outfit. Although he looked a little bit well-off, he still was not too noticeable. Leisurely walking from the scene to avoid looking suspicious, he found a main street in the city and began walking towards the back gate to exit. With no resistance coming to stop him, Greyson easily made his way out of the city. Starting his wind magic, he jumped up into the air to try to avoid the thick mist and quickly made his way far away from the city and in the direction of Greenwolf Country. Making it to another forest, Greyson traveled to a deep part of the woods before finally resting. After looking around to make sure there was nobody around, he allowed for Al to let out the Beastman. Still glaring hostilely towards Greyson, the lion man did not say a word. "I am going to break your chains. I will also release you from the slave seal if you just do me a favor. I know you understand me, as well, so don''t try to play a fool with me." The Beastman continued to silently observe Greyson as if looking for a sign that he was lying. After slight deliberation, he finally decided to speak. "What favor?" A deep and gruff voice asked. "I need to go to the Beast Empire to look for a Calming fruit, and I was hoping to find someone who could guide me and help communicate with the tribes." "Calming fruit? Why do you need one, human?" Scanning Greyson suspiciously, the Beastman did not lower his guard. With a thought, Greyson stopped his disguise spell and allowed his original features to appear. Soon, his beautiful long platinum silver hair returned. However, instead of just stopping there, he also lifted up his hand and summoned his dragon bloodline. Silver scales appeared and his nails turned into sharp claws. The Beastman was obviously surprised as his eyes widened, and a new unexpected expression appeared on his face, one of sympathy. Although minute, Greyson could feel that the lion man''s attitude toward him softened. Maybe it was the connection of knowing that Greyson probably suffered in a similar fashion to himself. "Elf and dragon? No wonder you need the fruit." Taking in the new information, the Beastman became silent before nodding his head. "I need to go back to the Beast Empire anyways. Those wretched slave traders caught me while I was on my way back with items that my young master asked for. I could probably take you back to my tribe to see if you could buy a Calming fruit. I will agree to help you as long as you get rid of this awful seal." "Great!" Eyes lighting up, Greyson smiled happily before he sliced apart the chains and took out the parchment. Allowing his mana to flow into the array, he unlocked it before burning the paper. Staring at Greyson in shock, the Beastman could feel that the seal was really gone. "How could you do that? What if I just ran off after you released that seal?" "I knew that I could trust you. I have heard that those of the Beast Empire take their word very seriously." Plus, I knew that you could not escape from me with your level of power. However, Greyson decided to exclude that piece of information and just smiled. Booming laughter came from the large man as his expression towards Greyson warmed up and respect filled his eyes. Seeing this, Greyson inwardly sighed in relief while thanking his teacher once again. Sweetbow had told him that magic beasts and Beastmen were simpler and respected those who respected them. They were easy to make friends with as long as you assumed the right attitude. "Hahaha, small human, I think I quite like you. What is your name?" "Greyson, how about you?" "Me? I am Halcrem Armand of the Sun Lion tribe." "Nice to meet you, Halcrem. I will be counting on you, then." Greyson smiled while holding out his hand. Smiling back, Halcrem shook his hand. 86 Greenwolf Country Halcrem had two forms: one as a large lion-like man and one as an actual lion. Greyson could only sigh at his inability to look inconspicuous. When he was a man, he was like a large muscular giant and when he was a lion, he was a flaming orange and yellow lion. At first, Greyson worried that he would have to hide Halcrem away in Al''s shell until they were in the Beast Empire to prevent anyone from wanting to attack and capture Halcrem again for the slave trade. In the Beast Empire, Beastmen were extremely common and thus not targeted, however, the humans all desire to have Beastmen as their slaves due to their strength and rather simple minds. Once he arrived at the border city of Greenwolf Country, Forstford, Greyson''s worries were quickly washed away. All over the city, he saw Beastmen of many different forms. Some looked related to a bear type beast, other serpent type beasts, even cat beasts. Seeing the scantily clad cat women, Greyson could not help but glance over at Lucius still sleeping on his shoulder. Almost right after he left Iris City, Greyson fed Lucius the flower petal. At first, he could not see the effect, however, he could feel that Lucius would wake up any day now. It had only been around half a month, so he was feeling very pleasantly surprised. It seems that the City Lord was not lying when she spoke of the petal''s wondrous qualities. He could not help but wonder about the original flower at this point. No wonder the Midnight Order decided to attack, just an old petal could work so well, he could only imagine what the real flower itself could do. Plus, he was not aware how old this petal actually was. Apparently, they do not wither after falling off the flower, so that petal could have been hundreds or maybe thousands of years old after being placed in storage. Shaking his head, Greyson decided to force such distracting thoughts from his mind. It was not like he would ever get to see the flower, so there was no point wondering about it. Seeing the high population of Beastmen, Greyson walked to a rather covered alleyway and allowed for Halcrem to appear. "It seems that you will not stand out much at all here, so it''s fine if you just walk around in the open with me." Greyson remarked. "Makes sense. This country is so close to the Beast Empire, the slave traders must catch Beastmen leaving the Empire all the time." Nodding his head, Halcrem was not surprised. "If you thought as much, why did you not just tell me?" "Hm? Well, I just assumed you would know better than me. I do not leave the Beast Empire very often." Scratching his head innocently, Halcrem slightly blushed looking embarrassed. Speechless, Greyson could only agree that in theory he looks like he should probably have known better then someone from another Empire, however, he was also someone from extremely far away. Thinking about it, though, the logic behind the large population of Beastmen was not hard to understand. Just like Halcrem, there must be a multitude of Beastmen getting captured all the time after they leave the Beast Empire. All of them would not hope to get rescued either, according to Halcrem, because the beast clans did not really care about lost Beastmen. They had an unlimited supply as long as they could capture a human woman or man. "Well, let''s just go." Waving his hand dismissively, Greyson proceeded to walk out of the alleyway to try to find some kind of escort mission to continue on his way towards the Beast Empire border. He imagined there must be a lot of caravans moving in that direction anyways. As Halcrem and Greyson walked together, Greyson could only grumble in unhappiness. Before now, he had never really felt small since he was around the average height of anyone his age. However, in front of Halcrem, he was but a child. He could not keep up with this giant''s stride and continually had to almost run just to keep up. Chuckling, Halcrem could easily see that Greyson was having troubles, thus he quickly picked the young boy up and placed him on his shoulder. "Hey!" Greyson quickly huffed angrily. However, after sitting there for a little, he could finally understand why Lucius liked laying on his shoulder so much. It was rather comfortable. Looking around, he realized his vantage point was much higher now and he could easily spot the posting board in the common square. "Alright, Halcrem, I get it. You are big and large. You can put me down, I see the board. Hmph, just you wait, don''t you know that humans grow extremely fast once they hit their growth spurts? It''s just because I am too young now." Although he knew he would definitely never be as big as Halcrem, he could not admit defeat so easily. Halcrem just continued chuckling in response and slowly put Greyson down. Quickly walking over, Greyson scanned through all the postings for help. Around half were for help inside this city while the other half were for missions leading outside of the city. Looking for a relatively easy one with decent pay was still hard. Usually the people giving out the reward would either be too generous meaning that the mission was probably extremely dangerous and hard while the rest would give too little because they wanted to save money and did not need really strong people to protect them. Finally, his eyes lit up as he found a suitable escort mission. Actually, he could not help but notice that most of the rewards were higher here than usual. He started to have a sinking feeling that traveling in Greenwolf Country was not easy. Before making his way to the meeting spot indicated on the posting, Greyson decided to eat in one of the taverns in the city to gain some information. ... "Hey, have you heard about the recent Blood Wolf Bandit attacks?" "Of course! Everyone in this country has heard of them, why are you bringing this up?" "I heard that Old Ray''s son was killed in the most recent attacks. He was delivering the smith''s newest weapons and tools to Worcester City." "Damn! These bandits keep getting worse and worse, aren''t they?" "Ugh, everyone knows that they are definitely part of the imperial family. Who doesn''t know that the imperial family of Greenwolf Country were originally bandits? Where do you think the Greenwolf name comes from? The Greenwolf bandits that used to terrorize this area!" "Shhh! Keep your voice down! Do you want to get us killed? Who doesn''t know that this stuff is taboo to talk about!" In on the secret rooms, it would have truly been difficult for anyone else to listen in, however, with Greyson''s elf bloodline, he had superior hearing ability. Eavesdropping in on their conversation, Greyson finally began to understand why the rewards were higher in this city. With such rampant bandit attacks happening everywhere with suspected ties to the imperial family, how could the low-level commoners not try to pay more for security. Although this could make this job a bit busier, Greyson was not too concerned at his level of power. Halcrem was actually equivalent to a magister level magician, he was only captured so easily because the slave traders had tricked him into drinking a poison. Thinking about this, Greyson had cold sweat form on his back thinking of his reckless actions from before. He assumed that since those weak slave traders were able to capture Halcrem, he was therefore weak which gave him such confidence to break the seal and chains so early on. Such a powerful being suffering from a simple plot...Greyson could only shake his head in pity towards the simple-minded nature of Beastmen. Lucius had once told me that a lot of magic beasts were similar, only high-level bloodline beasts were born with intelligence similar to humans. "Hal, it seems that we won''t meet much trouble before arriving at the border." After spending a couple days with the lion man, Greyson soon grew much friendlier. Much to Halcrem''s chagrin, he, too, was added to the list of friends that suffered from Greyson''s horrible naming sense. However, no matter what, he was thankful to Greyson so he decided to not pick a fight about it and just accepted his fate. "You speak correctly, Benefactor." Halcrem spoke with slight reverence in his voice. Greyson could only feel helpless. He had mentioned multiple times for Halcrem to just refer to him by Greyson, but he insisted that Greyson was his savior so he needed to be treated with respect. " The real problems start when we enter the Beast Empire..." Coming to this point, Halcrem could only look at Greyson with slight worry. "Hm? What is it?" "Benefactor, might you have any way to transform into a magic beast? Like a dragon since you have some dragon bloodline in you. I think you might be underestimating the hostility that beasts feel towards humans. Yes, there is trading which occurs, but that is only with the really powerful tribes whom the humans do not dare to offend or attack. What about the thousands of other tribes and beast species that suffer due to humans enslaving and killing them for materials? They have barely any contact with humans and they will attack on sight. I can lead you to my tribe, but I worry that before we even get there we will suffer from multiple attacks. Normally, there is a lot of infighting between different magic beast bloodlines and tribes, however, against humans they unite quite easily under the banner of the magic beast race." Looking slightly grim, Halcrem could only speak the truth otherwise it would be too late for regrets later. Greyson''s expression could not help but change at this point. It seems even his teacher was not aware of the true level of hostility towards humans. "What about elves? I can make myself look like a full-blooded elf fairly easily." "Elves?" Halcrem paused for a moment before shaking his head. "Benefactor, it is not that I want to make things tough on you, but this truly is no solution. The Beast Empire''s relationship with the elves is definitely not as hostile as it is with humans, however, that does not mean much. Both races are extremely proud and they see any race that is not theirs as lower. You can imagine the type of fights that commonly occur then between two such arrogant races. The only reason there is more cooperation is because elves are so proud that they disdain to resort to tricks. They believe their race is blessed and extremely powerful so they have no reason to resort to underhanded methods. Therefore, the beasts are less wary in interactions with elves." Hit by such a truth, Greyson could only sink into deep contemplation. He really did not have a solution at this point. He could only transform up to his shoulder into the dragonform. He did not tap into enough of his dragon bloodline at this point since he started concentrating on awakening his elf bloodline first. Eden had once shown him her own full body transformation, so he knew that he should be capable of at least that. Although he would only be seen as a Beastman, that was still better than being a human or an elf. "Hey, Hal, I have actually been quite curious, how come you look so much like a beast even in your ''human'' form? My sister and I both have the dragon bloodline, but we look much more human. I could understand myself since I also have a stronger elf bloodline, however, my sister only inherited my father''s dragon bloodline and the human bloodline." "Ah, well, this is actually a simple concept. Your father must not have been a full-blood dragon. He must also have been a Beastman. You see, my father was a Sun Lion while my mother was a Beastwoman from the same Sun Lion tribe. This way I inherited much more of the Sun Lion bloodline than the human bloodline. My strong bloodline presence is also why I can use all the inherent abilities of the Sun Lion and transform into a lion. Usually, Beastmen have a lot of differing bloodline amounts. It''s very muddy water. For you and your sister to even form dragon scales and have some inherent abilities means your father must have at least been half dragon." "Oh, it is quite simple isn''t it? Do you have any advice on how to help tap into my dragon bloodline?" "Advice? I''m not really sure... Benefactor must understand that these bloodlines originate from magic beasts. Magic beasts, no matter how intelligent, are still very violent and brutal deep down. Beastmen in the Beast Empire do not have any trouble tapping into this because we are constantly kept under brutal conditions from the moment we are born. I imagine that the first time you were able to transform into a dragon for was in a moment of strong blood lust. Maybe you should try to tap into those feelings once again and it could help you communicate with your bloodline once more." Although Greyson could understand this logic, his face couldn''t help but fall. For the longest time, he has kept that event in the deep recesses of his heart and mind. Every time he thought of Aria''s death, it felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing his heart. Halcrem saw that Greyson''s expression looked ugly and he could infer towards the situation. "Benefactor, do you know what happened that triggered my transformation? My mother, the Beastwoman, she was raped and killed in front of me. While the assaulters mocked and taunted me, I suddenly felt this murderous rage so strong that I could not control myself. I awoke all my abilities and broke through to the magister level at that point and ripped out their throats." As he said this, Greyson could hear the low growl in Halcrem''s voice. Surprised, Greyson looked over at his friend. "What about your father, how could he let that happen?" "Hmph! Him? I was born from ****, as well. Beastwomen are treated as sex slaves most of the time. My mother treated me extremely well and did not abandon me like most Beastwomen do." Greyson could not help but feel that the Beastmen condition was really bad. "Why does your race never try to revolt? A lot of you guys have talent and there would definitely be some of you that would grow strong." Halcrem just bitterly smiled hearing those words before shaking his head. "Benefactor, you must have never experienced bloodline suppression. It''s an extremely nasty thing. High level bloodlines can easily suppress the magic beast bloodline inside of us and cut down our power almost by half. It''s the same for normal magic beasts, as well, not just Beastmen. Why do you think bloodline is so revered? Because it''s that important! Most races cannot suppress your bloodline, but dragons most certainly can. Your bloodline concentration is too weak compared to real dragons so they could easily suppress you. Well, actually, since benefactor also has the elf bloodline, it might make this condition different." ... Greyson spent the rest of the night sort of spaced out. He did not really desire to sink back into the experiences of that day. It was an open wound that is only temporarily stopped up. If he tore off the bandage, the pain was almost too much for him. However, Greyson knew that he needed the Calming fruit. He had to break through to the magister level! Giving up here is not what Aria would want either. Going back up to his room, Greyson sat down in the middle and began to close his eyes. He thought of all the moments he had with Aria. Although short, it was all still fresh in his memory. The adventures and the fighting together. Each scene caused a single glistening teardrop to form on the edge of his eye. As it slowly fell down his face, Greyson thought again to his anger and hate. He could feel his blood boil as the feeling almost became uncontrollable. Silver scales formed again on his arms and they stretched a little to his chest this time before stopping. Groaning, Greyson could not help but feel pain from this violent change. His eyes slowly opened and glowing purple eyes with black slits revealed themselves. His hair had also changed into the same grey of his sister. Checking his body, Greyson could only shake his head in disappointment. Looks like it would take a lot more tries before he could get a full body change. However, at least he got it to stretch passed his shoulders. That means this was working! There was nothing he could do other than get to work... 87 Isll Break His Legs! Taking Halcrem''s advice, Greyson decided to continue working hard at resonating with his dragon bloodline. Due to this task, he held off and canceled his earlier decision to seek out the merchant caravan right away. He decided to just keep staying in an inn until he has a better handle on his bloodline. After that conversation, he knew that life would become much more complicated if he only came as a human. Day after day, he continued working hard, but the progress was not easy. The scales barely covered his torso even after 2 weeks of practice. Greyson was slowly becoming more and more impatient with the progress since he had never been this slow in anything. Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm himself down after realizing that he was getting too impatient. All his earlier success was getting to his head and making him impatient for instant success. Lots of people took years to get to his level of power, he was sufficiently talented. Maybe it was this underlying stress he had to rush himself that was preventing further success, but as he started to relax, Greyson realized that he was contacting his dragon bloodline a lot easier than before. Slightly unnerved by the inexplicable improvement, he sought out Halcrem for answers. Halcrem simply answered that he was thinking too deeply about it before. A lot of his contact with his beast bloodline was through more basic and instinctual feelings then complex thought processes. Feeling reassured after this news, Greyson renewed his trials but without thinking of the same pressure. One week went by and this time he saw major changes. Not only could his whole body transform, even his basic features also started to change. His height changed by a couple inches making him slightly taller than most almost 14-year-olds. His body grew firmer and his muscles more defined. His hair no longer took on the elf platinum silver but turned back to his original white. His eyes rested at a purple color most of the time which was different from his violet purple from the lightning element. It was a lighter lilac purple that was warmer than before. Even Zephyr showed the same changes as his scales turned white as well and he showed matching purple eyes. Again, Greyson tried to see if Halcrem had any information about dragons and his friend''s answer surprised him. "Benefactor, if I''m not mistaken, then your father must hail from the royal bloodline of the Snow Dragon Clan. They are the number two clan after the Golden Dragon King clan. Though I say number two, in reality they are tied mostly. The biggest reason is because the Dragon Kings are born with bloodline superiority that allows them to put innate pressure on the rest of the dragon clan. However, the Snow Dragons are unique because they are born with more than one elemental talent whereas even Dragon Kings are born with talent only in the light element. Snow Dragons can specialize in ice element magic and can also use spatial magic which is extremely rare. They are usually betrothed to the Dragon King race every generation, so I can assume that your grandparent must have made an extremely controversial decision when your father was created." Listening to Halcrem, Greyson became very interested. While Sweetbow told him the basics, he could only identify the different races of magic beasts but he was not super privy to all the information. Plus, Sweetbow was definitely biased towards informing him only about the Elf Empire and bragging about bow amazing it was and how much he wished he could go back. Therefore, Greyson''s world knowledge was slightly skewed. Greyson could not help but be disappointed when he heard that his original dragon ancestors could use spatial magic because that made him realize his bloodline must really be too weak. His sister, Eden, actually used spatial magic and ice magic as well. She told him that almost all his siblings except his second and sixth sister had those abilities. Making some easy inferences, he realized that the children who inherited only the dragon bloodline inherited the Snow Dragon''s talent and the children who were born with the elf bloodline of his mother could use one or two of his mother''s original four. Slightly upset thinking of his once again estranged sister, Greyson could not help but frown. The element information came up naturally in conversation when he asked what type of magician she was; however, he was not able to completely ask her about his mother and other siblings before the chaos of leaving occurred. Not only did he still not know his father''s original dragon bloodline before this, but he also did not know the names of his family members. Since Eden just referred to them as first brother and fifth sister or mother and father, he never learned the actual names and features of his siblings. He was also starting to discover that maybe his issues before birth were due to the fact that he inherited both bloodlines. Learning some things from his sister, Greyson realized that all of his siblings only inherited one or the other. Seeing Greyson''s suddenly foul mood, Halcrem was surprised before wondering if he said anything incorrect. "Benefactor, do not worry. The dragon clan are extremely proud and would never purposefully chase you down or give you trouble. Most likely they did not do much to your father, either, other than the usual disrespect. If he was really from the Snow Dragon clan, then if his parent was high ranked enough then he would still get better treatment than normal full-blooded dragons." Misunderstanding what Greyson was upset about, Halcrem quickly spotted a problem and comforted Greyson. Broken out of his thoughts, Greyson could not help but feel speechless. When did he say he felt concerned about his father''s grievances? He has never even met the man, it was not like he about to hold any grudges for him. "Hahaha, no, I''m not thinking about that. I was just thinking what a shame it was that my bloodline was so weak that I did not inherit the spatial element talent of the Snow Dragons." "Gosh, if anyone else heard your complaints would they not just be angered to death. You, with your seven elements, quibbling about not having another. Please." Hearing such a familiar voice dripping with sarcasm, Greyson''s expression could not help but light up immediately. Turning around to his bed, he saw familiar blue and green eyes looking back at him. "LU! You''re awake!" "Nonsense! Even if I was dead, I would still rise up hearing such ridiculous complaints!" Rolling his eyes, Lucius made his usual scathing remarks. Grinding his teeth slightly, Greyson''s smile could not help but crack. Calm down, calm down. Just be magnanimous this time, he just woke up after all. After meditating this in his head, Greyson continued to smile and reigned in the urge to slap this stupid cat. "Well, how do you feel?" "Hmph! I''m not like some people who took months to heal and wake up. Of course, I woke up new and improved. I even rose a level and am now equal to a magister level stage two magician." "Hey, you can''t say stuff like that! You only woke up early this time because I fed you a special herb. It probably helped with your cultivation, too! Plus, last time you stayed asleep longer than me if I remember correctly." Finally, not able to keep his good mood, Greyson suddenly had the desire to just knock this ungrateful cat out again. "That was because I was saving our lives, unlike a certain useless person who fainted from getting injured by the enemy before the fight even really started. By the way, do you have any more of that herb, it''s some real good stuff." Lucius continued on in a shameless matter with his thick-skin. Greyson felt his blood pressure rise in anger as his head started to ache. More herbs?! Such a priceless thing, why don''t you go and find some yourself?! "Wait, Benefactor, did he just say seven elements?" Completely ignoring the later conversation, Halcrem was still stuck on the first thing that Lucius mentioned. He had yet to really witness Greyson use all of his elements, so he was shocked to suddenly hear of the amount. Taking another look at Greyson, He suddenly realized that he was still underestimating this young genius magician. Maybe it was the two powerful bloodlines that he had? "Hm? Who is this oversized oaf?" Lucius glanced over in confusion. "A Beastman? You look related to the Sun Lions..." "Oh right, I forgot. Lucius, this is Halcrem Armand, also known as Hal. Hal, this is Lucius, also known as Lu. He is my equal contract magic beast, he is like my older brother. Halcrem is a Beastman who I saved from slavery and will help lead us around the Beast Empire." Greyson quickly coughed awkwardly before introducing the two. Hearing their nicknames, both Halcrem and Lucius could feel their lips twitching. Such terrible naming sense... Looking at each other, they sensed this quick connection as if finding a fellow sufferer. "Nice to meet you, I am Lucius." "Ah yes, nice to meet you, too. I am Halcrem Armand. You were correct earlier, I do hail from the Sun Lion tribe." Watching as the large man stuck out his humongous hand and the small paw that met with it, Greyson couldn''t help but giggle a little at the scene. Such an interesting juxtaposition... "Well, now that introductions are done, I should tell you both that we will be heading out soon. I can already disguise myself as a Beastman easily and blend in with the rest. Lucius is already a magic beast so there shouldn''t be any issue! I want to leave as quickly as possible. We have already spent a lot more time than I originally planned in this city." Feeling that the time was ripe, Greyson quickly announced his thoughts to the group, who quickly agreed. Halcrem quickly wanted to go home and leave the human empire territory, while Lucius did not care either way. His whole goal was to travel around in the first place and he would definitely feel a lot more at home in the Beast Empire then he would elsewhere. At least in the Beast Empire, there were no people who wished to capture and control him. Although there were rivalries and constant fighting between tribes it was more to keep a competitive edge, the magic beasts were still a very cohesive group that never hunted other beasts for their talents. Slave positions were mostly reserved for the Beastman since the magic beasts looked down on other races. "Benefactor, maybe you could try to search out for your father''s family in the dragon territory! They could maybe have ways to boost your bloodline. I don''t know how well they will receive you, but seeing that you have such high talent, they might not treat you that badly. My young master also treats me with respect since I have more talent than normal Beastmen of our tribe." Find his father''s family? Unlikely, but he might do it on a whim. He only hoped that his father was alive and did not disappoint him later, he could not help but always fantasize about a powerful man who was courageous and upright... ... *ACHOO!* "Oh? My dear wife were you thinking of me just now? I can feel it all the way from here." A seemingly frivolous voice spoke out. The man owning the voice was a tall, broad-shouldered and good-looking man with grey hair similar to Eden''s with streaks of a beautiful white. He had playful purple eyes and a mischievous smirk pasted on his face. He looked lovingly across the room to a beautiful elf woman. She had classic platinum silver hair and light grey eyes. She kept a stern, no-nonsense expression on her face as she looked at the man with disdain. "Of course not." Not even sparing another word, she treated every word she uttered like gold. Crestfallen, the man could not help but bemoan his cold wife''s attitude. "I miss my darling children~! They would all look up to me with such cute faces of admiration, especially my Eden she was such a cute girl who only knew how to act all adorable with daddy. All my wife does is look down on me~." Faking a sob, the man suddenly started to complain. "..." "Darling, when will you think you will be able to heal the both of us. I can feel the rage grow within me day by day. Just thinking of all the days, I missed with our children, we don''t even know if all of them are alive... Years have gone by, my Eden is already almost 19-years-old! Even little seventh... he was just born when he left! We didn''t even have a chance to name him!" Just like the flip of a coin, the playful expression suddenly turned bloodthirsty with noticeable distress in his face. He clenched his fists till they turned white before slamming it down into the stone table next to him. Immediately turning to rubble, he finally took a breath before calming himself down. Even the calm woman''s face dropped and with a cold glint flashing in her eyes. "Soon. We will have our vengeance. We will also find our children. All of them!" The moment she spoke of her children, the woman''s face softened as warmth suffused her eyes. Thinking of her youngest child, her heart ached as tears rolled down her cheek. Completely horrified, the man appeared before her in an instant and wiped away her tears. "Don''t worry, my dear. Nothing will happen to them. Whose children do you think they are? Of course, they will be powerful and awesomely talented like us!" Resuming his previous light-hearted joking attitude, the man quickly cheered up his wife, who chuckled after seeing such a stupidly doting and proud look on his face. "They obviously take after their mother if they are talented." She spoke again. As if cold water had just splashed all over him, her husband''s face looked aggrieved. "My wife, can''t you encourage your husband, at all? What will the kids think if they saw? The boys and even my Alice always looked down on me because of you. No! This time I will make sure that our seventh doesn''t turn out like them! He will be a daddy''s boy for sure! Who said sons all have to be mama''s boys?! My cute Eden and Rosalie will love me for sure, too! Hmph, you can just keep the older ones, the younger ones will be mine." "Biased parents are no good. Our youngest is already almost fourteen, as well. You have probably missed your chance." Shooting him a cold look, the woman said no more after this. "..." Looking like he wanted to cry, the man just drooped his shoulders before sitting down and meditating as well. However, before long, he burst out with energy again. "Wait! If my Eden is almost 19, she must be drop-dead gorgeous by now. Do you think boys are hitting on her?! I''ll kill them all! Oh, oh, my Alice and Rosalie, too. Oh, what to do? Even our seventh must be so handsome, I mean look at my face. Girls are probably already throwing themselves at him. Darling, do you think we already have grandchildren. Oh my god! Just look at us, how could we already be grandparents?! My goddess you don''t look a day over 20, even I look so young and handsome still. If that Aiden got some girl pregnant and made me a grandfather without permission, I''ll break his legs the next time I see him!" Almost snarling, the woman could her the literal growl in her husbands shouting. Rolling her eyes, she no longer paid any attention to the idiot. She felt her IQ was lowering after only having him as company for these long years... ... Many many miles away... A young man could not help but shiver. He felt as if someone just walked over his grave... how ominous... 88 Too Good To Be True Greyson went out the next day in search for some missions which would fit his means. Glancing through almost all of them, he could not help but furrow his brows. Why were they all so hard and taxing? The pay was not an issue and they were even offering more money than he would normally make per mission, however, they were too high which meant danger. Suddenly, Greyson felt stuck in a conundrum of whether to take the risk or to just go out on his own. Although making money was great and all, he wanted to be alive to receive it for the reward to mean anything. Nothing was more precious than life, right? After thinking it through, Greyson decided to take the notice for the relatively easiest mission. He thought that the reward was not so high that the danger would be beyond the level he could handle, and if, worse comes to worst, he would just ditch the mission and head to the Beast Empire on his own with his group. Their current power could not be easily overlooked. Greyson had powers equal to weaker magisters and Halcrem and Lucius both were equal to magister level magicians. With the rareness of magisters in outer human countries, Greyson was not particularly worried for their wellbeing. Bandits and other criminals could only hope their luck was not so bad to run into Greyson''s group. Walking back to the inn, he grabbed Lucius and Halcrem and hauled them over to the meeting spot mentioned on the notice. When he arrived, Greyson was surprised to see that the destination was a jewelry store! Seems that the danger during the transport was due to the price of the goods. Although caravans transporting food were usually the most targeted, precious jewels, especially magic stones, could sell for extremely high prices. The store was named Elegance. Impressed by the grand, yet classy, exterior, Greyson walked to the front door only to be stopped by a frowning guard. "Name? Appointment?" Speaking just these two words, the guard coldly glanced at the rest of Greyson''s group before directing his eyes back towards Greyson. "My name is Greyson. I don''t have an appointment..." "No appointment, no entry. I do not recognize the name Greyson from the list of VIP customers." Holding firm to the rules, the guard quickly interrupted Greyson without letting him finish. Peeved by the man''s short temper, Greyson just squinted his eyes dangerously. "I do not have an appointment but I am here to offer my services for the mission that was posted on the notice board in the city square. I saw they were hiring escorts to help guard a transport." Stating his business clearly, Greyson then moved to go around the guard once more. Not completely convinced of the young boy''s reason, the guard moved to stop him once more. "What now?" Greyson looked over upset that this man continued to stop him. "I need to see proof of your power. The escorts for this mission need to at least be advanced level magicians as said in the notice." "Proof?" Feeling that the request was not too unreasonable, Greyson allowed his mana to radiate outwards towards the guard. Sweat dripping down his face, the guard could feel a heavy pressure come down on him that originated from the boy in front of him. Shock clear on his face, the guard knew that the boy in front of him was actually an advanced level magician, perhaps even stage four or five. Respect appeared on his face as he no longer blocked the way and allowed for Greyson to go passed him. "Follow me, sir. I will notify the master of your arrival." Such a quick change in attitude was hard for Greyson to adjust to, so at first he just blankly looked at the guard. Lucius quickly poked his paw into Greyson''s face to get his attention. Breaking out of his daze, Greyson nodded towards the guard and followed behind him into the jewelry store. From all around him, Greyson spotted multiple different shining colors. He had never seen so many jewels and precious stones all at once before. After observing quietly as he walked up the different floors, Greyson realized that the first two floors contained normal jewelry for regular wealthy citizens or nobility, however the third floor and up contained jewelry decorated with magic stones. Each one was precious and had different effect. Looking at the expert craftmanship of each piece of jewelry, Greyson could not help but feel extremely impressed. Lucius and Halcrem barely even spared a glance towards such precious merchandise, completely unaware of its value. Sighing and shaking his head, he knew that jewelry did not usually have a strong impact on magic beasts. Some were born with a natural affinity and desire for such things like dragons. Eden''s innate ability specifically came from this and allowed her to sense treasures in the surrounding areas. When he heard of the gift, Greyson felt slightly envious of such a useful gift. However, he knew that it wae a double-edged sword. Just like Lucius'' gifts, Eden''s abilities were the reason she was targeted and tricked into serving the Argentum family. Wordlessly following, the group finally arrived at the topmost floor. After two large wooden doors opened, a large office opened up to them. The decor of the office was simple with jewelry identification equipment on one side and a large desk with a table and two couches in front of it on the other side. Eyeing the equipment, Greyson could tell that the owner of it was most likely a jewelry appraiser who tested the authenticity of the stones brought it. Their position was of paramount importance to any jewelry store because buying fake stones would cause a store to quickly go bankrupt. Moving his eyes toward the large desk, Greyson glanced at the figure sitting in the chair. The owner of the room was a surprisingly young man. His face looked around mid-twenties, however, the more powerful one was, the harder it was to determine true age. The young man had chestnut-brown hair and when he glanced up he showed his light green eyes. "Charles, what is it? You know I do not like to be disturbed without prior notice." A frown forming on his face, the young man completely ignored Greyson''s group and turned to the guard who led them in. "My apologies, master, however, this group is here to report for the posting about the escort mission. They already proved to me that they have the strength requested for in the notice." Nervously bowing, the guard was quick to explain the situation. "Hm?" Raising his eyebrow in slight surprise, it was at this moment that the man finally turned his attention towards Greyson. "You are an advanced level magician?" Inwardly rolling his eyes and complaining, Greyson decided not to say anything and directly showed his power. The young man''s expression showed some approval, but his reaction was considerably mellow compared to the guard. Greyson knew that this young man must be at least a magister level magician from the ease which he dismissed Greyson''s pressure. "Hahaha, I apologize for all the testing. I just do not want to waste my time with liars and weaklings. Direct shows of strength are the easiest. Let me introduce myself, I am Wayne Tattersall. I am the owner of this branch of Elegance. There will be a trade going to the Beast Empire with a couple of rare jewels and stones that we received. Although there should not be any large issues, we do not want any bandits getting in the way so I decided to hire some people. Just make sure the packages get to the border and your job is done. There are guards waiting by the border to take over security. At that point, the packages are also no longer my responsibility so you will not have to worry about them." "If we run into serious trouble, I will run away and not protect the packages. Are you still alright with this?" "Well, aren''t you refreshingly straightforward. Do you think I would not expect as much from random hires I made? Of course, you are not going to lay down your life to complete this mission and I was never expecting you to. If you really have such bad luck as to run into those extremely strong bandits, I really would have nothing to say. I guess it would mean this trade was just not meant to be." "You are surprisingly relaxed at the prospect of your jewels getting stolen. Won''t your business be severely affected?" Greyson could not help but feel confused at Wayne''s words. "Are you not from Greenwolf Country?" Wayne suddenly asked. "No, I am not. Why do you ask?" "If you were from this country, you would not ask such a question. Bandit attacks are so common that most people expect such things to happen. Merchants have a real tough time thriving here. Luckily, I have a lot of people in this city who can help me with their purchases so I still make a considerable amount. Plus, this city is right on the border to Rainbow Country, so I can constantly trade with them. Most merchants do that unless there is a really nice deal somewhere else. This deal with the Beast Empire could mean a lot of money, however, I know that a caravan carrying precious goods across the Greenwolf Country was easier said than done. Therefore, I am taking a chance, but this chance will not ruin my business so easily. It will hurt, but only for a little while. I have already calculated a means to which I can have a speedy recovery even with that loss. That is why I hope for your success, but I do not expect it." Shrugging his shoulders, Wayne quickly explained his reasoning. Greyson''s eyes widened in surprise. It seems that the bandit problem in this country was worse than he previously thought. However, he felt pleasantly surprised by Wayne''s easygoing attitude. He quickly was able to avoid feeling any pressure to make sure the mission is a success. If everything goes well, then great; if it doesn''t, oh well, it is not too important. ... The group traveled quickly through most of the cities on the way in a quiet manner and no one was seemingly making any trouble. During this time, Greyson silently turned fourteen. He did not feel any different, other than a burning desire to quickly break through. He felt that he had been stuck at this point forever! When he thought about it, since the beginning of his journey he had not spent more than a year in a stage other than this one. Normally, the breakthrough came quite naturally to him. Recently, he started to realize why he could not without the fruit. After working so hard to be able to freely activate his Snow Dragon bloodline, the presence of this bloodline grew and won over the elf bloodline. This resulted in the white hair and light purple eyes and his physique growing stronger. At night, he started to feel like his body was fighting internally. Occasionally, he would feel this painful burning sensation as his body continued morphing between dragon scales and his elf features. The conflict between these overpowering bloodlines was starting to damage him against his will. Starting to feel more of a rush, Greyson did not hold back against the weaker opponents and completely took them down. The other members of the caravan actually grew extremely frightened of Greyson after such a show of aggression. They thought he was a devil hidden underneath the misleading beautiful features. Such a contrast disturbed them even more than if Greyson looked like a violent man. Flashing a mesmerizing smile while slashing down bandits, they could not help but shiver at such a sight. Greyson also started to feel worried that his emotions were becoming slightly unstable, as well, not just his physical body. Normally, his temper was extremely even-keeled, however, when he saw weak bandits trying to hold them up, his fury would flare up and he would take them out. Noticing such changes, Greyson decided to constantly play his flute. Originally, he learned calming spells to help others and himself to keep clear minds during fights. He never expected that such spells would come in handy in his situation. As the caravan continued traveling around, peaceful music spread throughout the forest. Rare tranquility engulfed the surroundings. The caravan could not explain the unprecedented peace they felt when they listened to the music, even the magic beasts of the forest followed along and relaxed. The spells were very effective at calming Greyson down and, since he could meditate and play at the same time, he did not need to stop. His music actually affected even potential attackers, so the caravan did not run into any trouble for a very long time. They were quickly closing in on the Beast Empire border. "This mission is going surprisingly well." Halcrem yawned. Greyson could not distract himself, so he refrained from answering and just continued to play. Lucius, on the other hand, did not show the same relaxed feelings. "I don''t know. I feel as if something bad is about to happen and my intuition is almost never wrong. Halcrem, do not let your guard down. You, too, Greyson, be ready to fight." Finally speaking up, Lucius warned both of them of his feelings. Halcrem did not quite trust Lucius, but that was because he was not aware of Lucius'' abilities nor his identity as a Destiny Cat. Greyson, however, frowned deeply. All things stayed quiet for another two days, but Greyson continued to stay wary, as did Lucius. Halcrem observed the both of them and could not help but think they were too cautious. "I say, Lucius, I think your instincts were wrong this time. It''s already been two days and we will arrive at the border after one more." "No, my insti-..." *BOOM!* Before Lucius could finish retorting, a large fireball flew towards the front of the caravan as if on cue. Sensing it early, Greyson quickly set up a water barrier. The fire-ball slammed into the shield and exploded causing the loud noise. Although his barrier did not get smashed apart by the attack, Greyson could tell that the force was still strong and that the fire-ball was a mere probing attack, nothing serious. His expression turned serious and grim. "Such a peaceful trip was just too good to be true for me, I guess..." Sighing lightly, Greyson felt that he attracted trouble wherever he went. Thinking of this, he couldn''t help but glance at Lucius. "Are you sure you bring good luck? Why do I feel like bad things continue to happen after you woke up. I had no troubles traveling through the entire Rainbow Country as you slept." Lucius glared over, however, eventually he just snorted and did not say anything. It seemed he was more concerned about the enemies. Seeing Lucius treating the opposition so seriously, Greyson knew they must be more powerful than he previously assumed. In almost no time, four figures approached out of the smoke from the earlier explosion. Squinting his eyes, Greyson finally managed to make out the features of the approaching figures. One was an extremely tall and muscular woman, a scrawny middle-aged man, an old man, and a good-looking young man around Eden''s age. Judging from the power radiating off of all of them, they seemed to be magisters except the young man. He felt weaker in comparison, around advance level stage four. Others repeatedly told him about how powerful bandits in this country could be, however, seeing for himself, Greyson felt himself inhaling sharply. Such powerful opponents... Other than himself, Halcrem, and Lucius, the rest of the caravan was negligible. They were just too weak. The real issue, though, was that Greyson could not tell what stage magister these people were at. He started to wonder if he should just quickly escape. He had his own issues now and the Beast Empire border was so close. Wayne, himself, did not expect him to throw away his life. Watching the figures approach, Greyson still could not make up his mind. 89 My Goddess?! Greyson felt the situation was grim, looking to the caravan members behind him, he could not help but sigh. What was the point of hiring such weaklings? Well, to be fair, advanced level magician were not technically trash, just in the grand scheme of things they were completely useless in any situation that Greyson could not handle. All they had were numbers, but actual strength put together was barely the same as Greyson as an individual and that was if they completely ignored death and attacked the opponents in a suicidal manner. Furrowing his brows, he looked toward them and waved his hand dismissively. "You all should scatter, none of you are any use against magister level magicians. You will only get in the way." Since they could not help, they might as well not get in the way. Fear built up in them after traveling so long with Greyson, the others in the caravan quickly ran away in different direction without even looking back. Surprisingly, the four bandits did not act out and just allowed for the rest leave as if such weakling were a waste of their time. After taking care of the rest of the people, Greyson stepped to the front of the party with Lucius and Halcrem in tow. "Oh? You know our level?" The old man remarked in a creepy tone. His face was completely filled with wrinkles and even his teeth were rotting as he let out an odd smile. Shivering slightly inwardly, Greyson did not like the feeling the old man was giving him at all. However, the fluctuations he felt made him determine the old man was a darkness element magician. Although there was a slim possibility that the old man was a multi-element magician, Greyson decided not to worry about it too much since the probability was so low. "It''s not too hard to guess. If you were advanced level magicians, there would not be any need for trouble since you all would be defeated instantly. Since I can feel the threat from you and those two others, it means that you must at least be magister level magicians." Looking straight at this old man without any fear, his tone showed no doubt as he exposed his knowledge that there were three magister level magicians. His words sounded arrogant, but they were the complete truth. With his level, including his friends'' level, they were more than enough to handle the normal opponents. "Hahaha, it seems there are at least some smart ones in this caravan. He even has such a good-looking friend. Such stature and muscles... Come let big sister show you a good time. I promise I won''t hurt you too much if you follow me." The muscular woman laughed loudly as the pressure of a fire element magician extended from her. Completely ignoring Greyson, she closely scanned Halcrem''s body while obscenely licking her lips. Halcrem almost puked in disgust as he felt violated by her eyes. Seeing Hal''s reaction, Greyson forgot about the situation for a second and started cracking up. Lucius joined in and was even rolling around on the ground unable to stop his laughter. "Halcrem, why not entertain the lady? It''s hard to find someone with such heavy taste, you know?" Lucius continued giggling while taking pleasure in Halcrem''s misfortune. With no experience with such things, Halcrem only blushed deeply not knowing what to say. Greyson finally could stop laughing as he also joined in on the fun. "Why not Hal? Such an attractive woman, she would be good for you!" "Oh, little boy, don''t fall in love too quickly. Big sister is not into pretty boys like you." Completely unaware that they were making fun of her, the woman looked at Greyson with disdain. "..." Speechless, Greyson did not know what to say back. Should he be insulted or thankful this woman did not find him attractive? Just as they were distracted by such a funny event, a cold glint flashed in the scrawny middle-aged man''s eyes. In just a flash, he swooshed in front of Greyson and sliced down with his dagger. However, although Greyson gave the facade of being unprepared, he closely paid attention to the movement of all the enemies. His hand transformed into white scales as he gripped onto the dagger''s blade and stopped the strike completely. The hardness of his scales and his strength could not be underestimated. Only taking a moment, Greyson retaliated with a strong kick with a transformed leg. However, the man already recovered. At first his eyes flashed in surprise, but the man rode the wind quickly back to his original spot. "Tsk..." Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Greyson realized that he was dealing with experienced people. That man had almost no hesitation after his attack failed to retreat. Looking through the opponents, Greyson realized that the three magisters were dark element, wind element, and fire element magicians. Looking towards the last young man, Greyson was still curious as to what his element would be. "Lucius, why don''t you take that scrawny middle-aged man who attacked. Halcrem, you take your future missus over there. I will deal with the old man. Both of you try to keep an eye on the other kid, as well. Although he is not strong, he could attack at the moment we are tied up in a difficult position." Greyson quickly divided the opponents up. Some people believe that those who have the same element should not verse each other because it''s too hard to determine the winner, however, he thought that Lucius was faster with his wind and spatial element. Greyson also had a lot of belief in Halcrem''s abilities and the innate abilities of Sun Lions compared to normal human fire magicians. As for himself, he could only take the old man who was left. Greyson also had the dark element and the light element which was the enemy of the dark element. Therefore, he assumed that he would be able to at least handle the old man until Lucius and Halcrem could help him. At least, that was the best-case scenario, unless these people were all a lot more powerful than he originally believed and one of them was a high stage magister level magician. That could screw everything up and he might have to summon Zephyr to fly away at a moment''s notice to prevent any serious injuries again. Quickly following Greyson''s lead, Lucius and Halcrem started battle with the two other magisters. Greyson saw their fights begin and then focused all his attention on the old man. "You think you can be my opponent?" The old man''s cold raspy voice questioned. "I will not arrogantly believe I can defeat you, but I should be enough to stall you!" Greyson did not dare to underestimate his opponent, but he also would not belittle himself. The old man just coldly snorted in response, as he removed a circular disk from his inner robe. Tossing it down onto the ground, it spread out until a dark half-sphere spread out around the old man and Greyson. His eyes enveloped into complete darkness, Greyson''s first response was to panic a little. However, as a dark magician as well, he quickly adjusted. Closing his eyes, he felt around for the movement in the darkness. He could feel the elements rustle behind him so he quickly dodged and lashed out with a kick. Making hard contact with the old man''s arm, Greyson widened his eyes in surprise feeling how hard the old man''s bones were. Normal people''s arms would have cracked under such a direct hit not matter if they were magisters or not. The dark element did not have many body strengthening spells like the earth element, so he was expecting the old man to be physically weak. Barely letting out a grunt, the old man quickly retaliated with another dark spell. Greyson could feel the cold, shadow hands wrap around his body. Reacting quickly, Greyson''s body quickly exploded into bright light. The spell restricting him dissipated underneath that light as the old man''s face turned ugly. However, he was not prepared for Greyson''s next move. After the burst of bright light, Greyson slashed down at the old man with a flaming Genesis while switching to the fire element. Although he was slow, the old man slipped into the shadows. Greyson smirked, though, because he could feel that his sword did make a little contact. He could feel his fire still burning into the old man''s skin. It was a nasty spell he learned called Everburn, unless one was a fire element magician, it was hard to put out the fire and keep it from continuing burning you. Only, it seemed the difference in level was too much and the man managed to get the spell under his control and stopped the fire. Slightly disappointed, Greyson did not mind much, though, since he was not expecting the fight to end that easily. The old man, however, was lamenting his bad luck. How could he run into a magician who so perfectly countered the dark element? Both fire and light element magicians were hard for his spells to work against and he just happened to run into an opponent who could use both. Through this encounter, though, he knew that his opponent was still an advanced level stage five magician which meant he held the advantage no matter what. He was already a magister level stage two magician, if he could not beat such a weak opponent, where would he show his face later? Greyson pretended to be paying attention to the old man, however, he was actually searching around for the black plate from earlier. He knew that was the trigger for this formation that was allowing the old man to be like fish in water. With shadows and darkness all around, the old man could pop out and faze out in whatever location he wanted. Greyson knew was at a severe disadvantage in this kind of situation. While the old man was still lost in his thoughts of bad luck, Greyson managed to find the disk. Trying hard to hold in his excitement, Greyson quietly prepared to attack it, but only after the old man made his next move. Then, he would strike out and destroy the disk while the old man was still distracted and unprepared for such an attack. His wait was not long after he felt sharp black blades shot out from the ground. Disguising his jump towards the plate, as a dodge away from the attack, Greyson got close enough to swing Genesis down with a strong light element attack. "NO!" Realizing Greyson''s target too late, the old man shouted out in anger. However, would Greyson really stop? Of course not. Smiling in mockery, he smashed apart the disk as the dark sphere faded to nothing. "I''ll kill you, you damn brat!" Seeing his prized formation plate smashed to pieces, the old man could feel his blood boiling. He spent almost his entire life''s savings on that formation! How did that brat manage to find it? Getting serious, the old man launched two spells at the same time as he threw daggers into a shadow and looked into Greyson''s eyes. Cursing in his mind, Greyson realized that the old man knew a dark element eye spell that kept Greyson tied to his shadow. The daggers sent through the shadows reappeared behind Greyson almost immediately to stab into his back from his own shadow. Trying to stop the daggers, he summoned an earth wall, however, before it formed, his blood reacted. Turning pale, he could feel his bloodlines start to fight again. Oh, no! Not right now! Biting his tongue, Greyson kept himself conscious as he tried his best to dodge. One of the daggers only managed to graze his arm, however, the second one stabbed right into his left thigh. Not able to spare his attentions to his injuries, Greyson fell to the ground holding his body. His hair and features were constantly changing between the dragon form and his elf form. His mana was not under his control and he could not defend himself as he watched the old man slowly approach him. When Greyson looked up again at the old man, his eyes were a never before seen light grey and his hair turned back to the platinum silver of the elves. Only panic remained in those eyes, no longer containing their earlier calmness. He could not help but feel resentful towards his problems acting up now all of sudden. Glancing around briefly, he could see that Lucius and Halcrem were winning but did not have enough time just yet to beat their opponents. His stomach sinking, Greyson could only watch as the old man approached. Just when he thought the old man was going to attack, he finally heard a new voice shout out in surprise. "My Goddess?!" Greyson could not pay attention to the voice at this moment, however, as he was still suffering the pain of his bloodlines attacking each other. Not noticing any attacks, he realized the old man was no longer looking at him. Although he was not sure of the reason, he quickly removed Mesmer and began to play his calming song trying to take advantage of the pause in fighting. Under the tune, he could feel his body begin to relax and the inner conflict started to recede. When he opened his eyes, he realized in surprise that the fighting already stopped on all fronts and that same young man he was worried about was now standing in front of him. Greyson could tell that he was trying to protect Greyson, but he had no idea why this stranger would do this for him. Listening to the young man''s voice, Greyson recognized him as the person who shouted out earlier. What was going on? Why did this guy keep shouting about some Goddess?! 90 What Did You Say? "No! You can''t hurt him!" Greyson finally started paying attention to what the group of people were saying. "Riley, move out of the way! He destroyed my formation plate! You know how long I had to save up to buy that. If I don''t kill him, what will happen to all those years of hard work!" The old man continued to shout angrily. "No!" "Why are you getting in our way?" Finally, the middle-aged man who was fighting Lucius walked over. He narrowed his eyes in thought looking over at Greyson then back at the young man, Riley. "Has your taste changed? He does not look like any goddess to me..." Hearing those words, the young man coughed and sputtered in disbelief. "What kind of man do you think I am? I am not calling HIM my goddess, I am talking about the girl who rescued me back when that group of enemy bandits chased me across the borders of the Beast Empire. You remembered me speaking about it, right?!" "Of course, you would rave about that girl nonstop since you finally made your way back. We are also grateful for what she did since you know that we felt devastated thinking you died back then. What does she have to do with you trying to save this boy right now?" The muscular woman spoke up this time, clearly confused. "He looks just like her! They must be related." He started saying. Now, it was Greyson''s turn to feel confused. Who does he look like? Who are they talking about? "Wait, what are you saying?" Greyson spoke up feeling disoriented. His hair turned back to white and his eyes were the original light purple. When Riley looked back over again, he realized the change and was now not as sure as before. "I... I was trapped by a group of some of the enemy bandits in the area that wanted revenge for my friends beating them up. We have taken control of this area for a little while now, but there are tons of bandit groups everywhere because the law is rather lenient. I got caught in a revenge scheme and ended up running away into the Beast Empire, but I was severely wounded. I ended up fainting in unfamiliar woods, and, when I woke up, I came face to face with my goddess. After healing me, she silently left and I had no choice but to come back here. It was only a couple months ago, so her face is still fresh in my mind! I know I''m not mistaken. She looks a lot like you, really, I swear she does. Well... now I cannot be sure... But when you have that elf hair and those grey eyes you guys look so similar almost twins..." By the end, he started trailing off as he was no longer completely sure. The features still looked extremely similar, only, the boy in front of him did not seem to be an elf like his savior. However, then, what was that change earlier? Unaware of the whole story, he could not seem to understand what just happened. His body just automatically reacted earlier when he saw that face. As his life''s savior, he etched her features in his mind completely. "A girl? Who looks like me? Elf hair... Grey eyes?" Greyson could only take all that information in and start making his own deductions. However, the more he thought about it, the more excited he became. There were only two siblings who ended up looking like his mother. None of his brothers inherited the elf bloodline, only two of his older sisters did: his second sister and his sixth sister. This young man said they looked similar and that they met recently. His second sister was around 10 years older than him. Although those with the elf bloodline age slowly, she should not still look similar to him especially since she was not a full elf. By this time, she should at least look like a mature young woman past her twenties, but Greyson was still fourteen. He had yet to grow into fully mature features. He had a feeling, that if this young man is correct, then he must have met his sixth sister in the Beast Empire! Eden told him that his sixth sister was only two years older than him, only he was not aware of much else about her other than her age. Thinking of the prospect of meeting more of his family, Greyson felt ecstatic about such a happy coincidence. "Where did you see her?!" Quickly trying to get up and approach the young man, Greyson ended up faltering and falling back down. It was only then he finally felt his left thigh bleeding out from the earlier dagger attack. Hissing in pain, he removed the dagger and began to heal himself with his light magic. "Are you alright?" Riley approached quickly with worry obviously spread across his features. Even though he was not completely sure of the boy''s identity, he could not help but worry when he saw that face. Seeing his wound quickly close up, Greyson turned his attention back to the young man. "I''m fine, but where did you see that girl? Are you sure she looks like me? How old did she look? Do you have a picture?" Easily dismissing his injuries from his mind, Greyson bombarded the young man with questions. He felt anxious to find more of his family, and he knew that Eden has also been hoping to find more of her family again. If she was not forced to stick with the Argentum family, she probably would have already left and gone searching for them. Apparently, they did all have specific places they were supposed to go to, but it was unsure who made actually made it to those locations. Eden guessed that she, their sixth sister, and him probably were the worst off of the siblings since their guards and personal powers had yet to grow. His oldest brother was already thirteen when the kingdom fell and Eden claimed that he was an advanced level stage three magician at that point. Eden had only just started learning magic at that point and his sixth sister did not learn any while he was literally born on that day. "I... I''m not sure, you didn''t look like this earlier, but just going off your facial features and structure, you really do look like her." Closely examining Greyson''s face, the young man was even more sure. Although the hair and eye color were different, their faces were still extremely similar. This person in front of him was clearly a boy, however, and he knew his goddess was a girl. As he was still deep in thought, Riley suddenly realized that the hair and eyes of the boy in front of him changed again. He saw beautiful grey eyes and shining platinum silver hair. In a daze, he could feel his heart stopping seeing such a familiar face. "I look more like her now?" Greyson asked, but he could see that the young man in front of him was stuck daydreaming. Frowning, he could not help but feel uncomfortable seeing such a starstruck gaze directed towards him. Clearing his throat slightly, he asked again. "Well?" "Huh?... Oh! Yes! You look exactly like her!" Nodding his head after Riley''s confirmation, Greyson allowed his dragon bloodline to dominate once again. He realized that if he let one bloodline take the lead, his features and personality would change along with them. Like now, his muscles grew more defined and his body''s stature was a little taller even this inexplicable urge for bloodshed and violence awoke within him. His dragon bloodline was much more brutal and instinctive than his normal personality. While his elf bloodline slimmed his body and made his features seem more effeminate and he felt inner peace that felt slightly cold and apathetic like everything mattered less to him somehow. The more the bloodlines fought within him, the more emotionally and physically unstable he became. With even his emotions and normal attitude getting affected, Greyson worried about somehow losing parts of his original self. By now, the fighting completely stopped and the three other bandits felt speechless. Even Lucius and Halcrem could not believe what was happening. Greyson and Riley got sucked into their own world as they spoke and completely forgot about the rest of the people who could only awkwardly stand around. "Hm... Looks like that boy might really be related to Riley''s savior. How about it, old man? Still want your revenge?" The middle-aged man seemed to believe in Riley''s words so he looked over to the old man in black since he was the one with the largest grudge. Both the middle-aged man and the woman could not care less whether they all continued fighting or not. There were tons of caravans to steal from, it did not have to be from this one specifically. "Ugh... I... guess I could let it go." Highly disgruntled, the old man still managed to spit out those words through his gritted teeth. No matter what anyone says about bandits, this group always cared for each other like family, so he knew when to feel gratitude towards his family member''s savior. Even if this boy was completely unrelated to her, he did not want to take the chance since Riley seems so certain that this person looks just like her. With his extreme infatuation with that girl, how could he be mistaken? Therefore, he decided to swallow his unhappiness. Another formation plate could always be bought... "Oh? Did you hear that, darling? Big sister no longer has to fight with you. Why don''t we have some fun another way?" Hearing the old man was willing to let things go, the muscular woman smiled happily as she quickly looked over at Halcrem. After she finished speaking, she winked coquettishly and licked her lips while she was practically feeling him up with her eyes. Disgusted, Halcrem could feel the nausea building up within him. "Bahahaha, listen to what the beautiful woman says, Halcrem! I, personally, feel that you two were meant to be. A real match made in heaven." Laughing obnoxiously, Lucius could not help but poke fun at Halcrem''s plight. Clenching his jaw, Halcrem shot Lucius a glare. Suddenly, he sincerely sympathized with his benefactor. No wonder he always wants to beat up this cat. Even he could feel his hand aching to just punch that sarcastic looking face that always spoke so hatefully. ... While the others started talking normally, Greyson instead continued interrogating Riley for answers. However, he was quick to realize that this young man really did not know much of anything. This mysterious girl treated his injuries in a makeshift house, but the minute she felt that he recovered enough, she silently left without a word. For the entire time they were together, she also spoke only a couple words in total and it was usually some kind of command during treatment. Riley said she was a very cold girl who came off unfeeling and unsocial. In contrast to her outer appearance, though, she still rescued a stranger and treated him so Riley always believed that she was a soft-hearted and kind individual on the inside. Nodding, Greyson listened closely to Riley raving about his so-called goddess. As happy as he was to hear news about someone who could potentially be his family, he also felt completely frustrated that he would probably have an extremely hard time finding her. How large was the Beast Empire? Who could be sure that she would stay there, either? She might have just been passing through the empire on business. Sighing, he felt he should be happy to have any news in the first place. Maybe fate would bring them together and he would not even have to search. Technically, he still ended up meeting Eden even though they started so far apart. Life ended up bringing him right near the Argentum family even though there were thousands of other routes he could have taken. "I am not sure if the person you are speaking of is really my relative. My family ended up splitting up to different parts of the continent when I was very young so I am not completely sure what my family members look like. However, the person you described does somewhat match with my sixth sister especially since she looks like me. She could also be a complete stranger to me, though. Are you sure you want to shield me?" Greyson did in fact feel touched by this bandit who decided to protect him, someone that could only be suspected to have relations with his savior, so he did not end up lying. In a way, Riley did save his life since that old man was going to kill Greyson while he was incapacitated by his bloodline issues. Plus, he was not worried about this group anyways even if they decided to attack anyways. They were not powerful enough to kill him and his friends, it was more accurate to say they were evenly matched. "Ah, well, to be honest, I just cannot bring myself to watch someone hit a face that looks so much like hers. I guess you could say that you are lucky you look so similar and maybe I am just unlucky that today''s target would look so much like my goddess. Guess this just means I will have to work hard to find another big catch..." Taking one last look at Greyson''s face, the young man just sighed and began walking away. Seeing Riley leave, the rest of the bandits followed suit. The muscular woman did not forget to wink and blow one last kiss in Halcrem''s direction. Feeling a cold shiver down his spine, Halcrem quickly looked away and walked over to check on Greyson''s condition. "Benefactor, are you alright?" "Mm. I am fine. These wounds healed quickly." "Do you really think that he met your sister?" Lucius also walked over and asked. "I really cannot be sure. There are tons of coincidences in this world, maybe she just looks like me. But I would like to believe that it is my sister. Hopefully we will run into her in the Beast Empire, that way I be sure." "Benefactor, I could ask around for you if you want once we are back in the Beast Empire. I feel like anyone with her looks and race would be rare. Though, I am not sure if it will yield results or not. The empire is just too big for everyone to know everyone. There are tons of beasts and even other races who live in seclusion in the uninhabited places around the empire." "I understand. I will leave it up to fate if I can meet her. I won''t try to force the issue, though, I have tons of things to do and places to see and I cannot wait around in the Beast Empire forever. My biggest goal will be to buy the Calming Fruit and quickly break through to the magister level. The bloodline conflict is getting worse as time goes on. I need a solution soon or else I will be completely vulnerable like before at random moments." 91 Separation The rest of their journey ended up going smoothly with no interruptions. Most of the bandits who even attempted to attack were weak. Greyson''s continuous flute playing actually turned all of them away after the calming spell affected them, as well. However, the calming music was starting to wane in effect for Greyson''s own problems. His bloodlines continued creating internal injuries as they fought for supremacy in his body. At this point, Greyson finally understood why he almost died in the womb. Both the dragon''s bloodline and elf''s bloodline were high level, his mother must have been either part of the royal family or a close branch since he already knew how powerful the Snow Dragons were. Trying to use both instead conflicted in his body since there was no dominant choice. Normally one bloodline was stronger than the other, so mixed blood people would take the appearance of the stronger bloodline while the weaker one faded to the back. Some moments, white scales covered his body and he looked the part of a part-dragon Beastman; some moments, his hair turned the same platinum silver and his eyes the same light grey. Inching closer and closer to the Beast Empire, Greyson could only give up playing the flute as it no longer had any effect on his condition. He started to worry since occasionally he would lash out and kill any bandits who tried to approach and he could no longer control his emotions. Everything made him angry or want to lash out, his mana was flowing out without any effort on his part. In the end, Greyson decided to put himself in deep sleep. One of the light spells that he learned put people in a suspended state that was originally for healing. It gave people more time to find some way to help the injured or sick person by inducing a state where the body almost shuts down other than basic functions. His body would keep absorbing mana to keep him alive, but that was it. This was not the best option, since he would be pretty much defenseless in such a state. However, Greyson could not help but start to worry that he would cause problems otherwise for Halcrem. There was the saying that a weak teammate does you more harm than a strong enemy. If he could not control himself, what would happen if he randomly attacked members of a beast tribe creating enemies for no reason? Halcrem was doing him and Lucius a favor by bringing them to his tribe and explaining the situation inside the Empire, Greyson did not want to cause unnecessary trouble for him. Already some of the bandits were trying to chase after their group for revenge because he kept brutally killing them. Albeit weak, they were still an annoying presence. After sealing himself, Greyson was placed inside Al''s shell while Al, Lucius, and Halcrem all arrived at the border. Once they arrived, the group realized that Greyson''s decision to hide away in Al''s shell had other advantages they did not think of before. After they arrived at the border, they were quickly let through without many hoops to jump through. Halcrem was a Beastman with identification while Lucius and Alexus were both magic beasts. This group fit right in and most would not be too suspicious of their goals. "Wow, it was pretty anti-climactic how easily we arrived inside the Beast Empire. It has been this whole long journey, but we were let through in just a couple of minutes." Lucius remarked while sighing. Thinking of all the troubles that he and Greyson went through to only get to the border and come in smoothly, he couldn''t really adjust to things being so easy. "Well, yes, I was also expecting it to be much harder if benefactor were to still be trying to get in with us. Magic beasts are completely welcome without the need for any checking. Although this seems like a foreign and rather reckless practice to humans, magic beasts are rather simplistic with a strong sense of loyalty and belonging to their tribe so they were not overly worried of letting magic beasts into the Empire. Elves, dwarves, and Beastmen also have their uses so they were let in fairly easily, as well, just humans were not. Magic beasts always thought that humans were up to no good and wished to take advantage of the Beastmen and magic beasts who are easy to trick." "Hmmm... well they aren''t completely wrong in their assumptions. Only humans try to enslave magic beasts with contracts and the like. There is a justifiable reason behind their hostility." Lucius did not find such a situation odd. Even in his case, he does not really like to interact with humans other than Greyson and some of Greyson''s friends. However, a large amount of the time, he tells Greyson to leave them and travel on his own because he finds them weak and stupid. "Yes, well, we should quickly leave towards the Sun Lion tribe. We should try to wake up the benefactor up as quickly as possible." Halcrem could not help but feel anxious. Thinking of the bad condition Greyson was in before inducing the coma, he felt the need to rush to his tribe and try to find a Calming Fruit. All large tribes had them, so he was not worried that they would not have any in stock. His Sun Lion tribe was one of the largest lion tribes and they housed almost all fire-element lion species. Lucius nodded in agreement before both of them headed off. Alexus quietly rode on top of Halcrem''s shoulders as the lion man led the way. The part of the Beast Empire they were in was called the Northern Savanna. The heat of the outer parts of the Savanna was unforgiving. Most of this area was desert until one moved further in and reached the real savanna. There, although at times dry, the climate was not too bad and there was more plant-life. Lucius had to expend his mana just to use his water element to keep him cool. This type of solution was not sustainable, though, since the Savanna was the complete opposite of Snow Country. The presence of water element here was scarce and Halcrem mentioned that almost no water-element. Thankfully, the temperature cooled considerably at night so Lucius did not need to suffer for too long. Since he was born in the Snow Country, Lucius had no issues with the cold. Since Halcrem did not spend much time in the desert area of the Savanna, he also was suffering through the intense heat. Cat and lion both tried to move as quickly as possible through the desert. Once he was back in the Beast Empire, Halcrem decided to stay in his lion form as he usually stayed in this form at home, as well. Some beasts could not even tell the difference between him and a real Sun Lion, so he did not get as much bad treatment compared to other Beastmen. He only switched to his Beastman form in the human country for ease of communication. On the way, they ran into some nomadic tribes which Halcrem explained were usually weaker and smaller tribes. They had no choice but to move around looking for temporary food and water sources before moving once again after they emptied these sources. Only stronger tribes could defend large and permanent resources. Halcrem''s Sun Lion tribe was one of the five strongest tribes inside the Northern Savanna. The other four were the Black Scorpion tribe, Titan Serpent tribe, Gold Elephant tribe, and Devil Lizard Tribe. There were other smaller tribes all around, but they were under the top five in terms of strength and size. Most of these nomadic tribes completely ignored Halcrem and Lucius and let them pass right by, a few decided to try attacking due to desperation. Both Lucius and Halcrem did not particularly suffer from a lack of food and water since Greyson stocked up on supplies before leaving Greenwolf Country after Halcrem advised him to do so since they would be passing through the desert. All their food and water were kept within Al''s shell. These starving nomadic tribes saw how healthy Lucius and Halcrem were and knew that it must be because they had food and water supplies which spurred the attacks. These few tribes were too weak to really cause any trouble and the group quickly passed through all these situations. Barely stopping for rest, Lucius and Halcrem made it to around halfway till their destination after 4 days of travel. "We have to be extremely careful at this point. Lots of sandstorms occur around this area. They are not so simple as just losing visibility. The winds are so violent and strong that they could pick us up and send us flying in different directions almost like a vortex. There are many instances of people getting lost or dying in these storms, so we must be careful. Hopefully our luck is not that bad." Halcrem could not help but turn grim. Although he was advising caution, he knew that there was really nothing they could do in prevention. If a sandstorm really came, then they could only do their best to find shelter and not get torn apart, especially with Greyson in his current vulnerable condition. "Al, if we get hit with a storm, just transform into your largest form so that we can use you as shelter." Lucius did not seem as apprehensive as he looked towards the small turtle on Halcrem''s shoulder. He witnessed how large Alexus could become, so he did not think that anything bad would happen even if they were stuck in a sandstorm. The situation was akin to carrying around a portable mountain. Visibly relaxing, Halcrem realized he overlooked the small magic beast on his shoulder. He became so accustomed to this small size that he forgot how large Terra Beasts originally are. ... "Grandfather, are you sure you sensed a new member?! It has been so long since another one of our species has been born. Where is he or she? Should I go pick them up now?" A young voice started questioning in excitement. "Patience. I am trying to locate the one now. You know these spells take time. I can only sense when they have stepped foot into the Beast Empire, to actually pinpoint their exact location is tricky." The voice that replied showed age and wisdom. Gracefully sitting atop a cushion in the center of a garden was an ancient looking old man with his eyes gently shut. Although he could not see the person in front of him, he accurately turned his head to the young voice''s owner. A small toddler was walking into the garden with obvious elation. He was adorable with big eyes, red lips, and white teeth. Looking closely, one could spot cat ears poking out of his fluffy hair and a tail trailing behind him. Hearing the old man''s answer, the young boy shut his mouth staying quiet to let the older man continue, however, his anxious foot tapping gave away his obvious impatience. "Just leave if you are going to continue disturbing my concentration with such noise." Letting out a slow sigh, the old man spoke once again to the young man feeling annoyed by the constant tapping. "No! I''ll stop, I''ll stop!" Swiftly sitting on the grass, the youngster crossed his legs and began to inhale deeply. Trying to focus his attention on meditation, he did not allow himself to cause any further distraction, being the picture of obedience. As if witnessing this scene without opening his eyes, the old man chuckled feeling amused by the child''s antics. Seconds turned to minutes which turned to hours as time continued to tick on without any noise. The quiet garden resumed its tranquility as both the young boy and old man sat silently. In next to no time, they already sat in this state for four days. Finally, on the morning of the fifth day, the old man spoke out once more. "Oh? I have found him! He is in the Northern Savanna. No wonder it took so long, he was actually so far away." "Northern Savanna? Okay! I''ll go get my brothers and sisters and we''ll go and pick this new one up!" The little boy suddenly stood and looked to leave. "Wait, wait! I''ll just summon him here! Why the need for anything complicated and long?" "Hmph! Grandpa, you are no fun! You should definitely realize I just want to stretch my legs for once. Staying here all the time is so stuffy." "No more of your nonsense. You know why we cannot leave." Losing his earlier peaceful tone, the old man turned serious and scolded. Looking wronged, the little boy''s ears fell back against his head as he kicked at the dirt. "I know, I know. You say this every time we talk about me leaving." The old man no longer spoke and just gently sighed, his expression tinged with helplessness. The next moment, he bit into his finger and allowed the blood to drip onto the floor. Ancient symbols lit up around the old man and a doorway began to form next to him. After the mana gathered reached a peak, the old man finally opened his eyes. One green and the other blue, while on his forehead another slit slowly opened to reveal a blinding light. ... The entire time that the group was traveling, Lucius felt really apprehensive as if something terrible was about to occur. As a Destiny Cat, he took his premonitions very seriously. For most of the morning, his nerves stayed on edge and he continued to stay prepared for anything. Halcrem did not understand Lucius'' change in attitude since he was used to this cat companion''s laziness and inattentive behavior. No matter how close Greyson and Lucius might feel towards Halcrem, they still could not bring themselves to trust him with such a large secret. They did not know each other long enough or gone through enough together to have that sort of trust. Without asking any questions, Halcrem decided to just let it go and keep moving along. However, Lucius continued feeling worse as they kept moving. He felt like a pair of eyes were following him, but he could not see anything around him. Even he was starting to doubt whether he was getting paranoid. His third eye began aching and burning. "Halcrem, move away from me!" Holding his forehead in pain, Lucius shouted for Halcrem to leave. He could feel his third eye was starting to open, but he was not in control of it. Some sort of spell was activating without his awareness. His warning came too late unfortunately as the slit on his forehead opened up. A beam of light shot through and three doorways opened around them. "Grey!" Lucius panicked as he was pulled into one of them. Halcrem tried his best to grab onto Alexus, but the pull was too strong. Both Alexus and Halcrem could only allow themselves to get pulled through separate doorways. ... Tumbling out of the doorway, Lucius quickly got up and looked around in a panic. Confused, he only saw an ancient looking old man smiling at him and a cute-looking toddler standing next to the old man. "Who are you?" ... Halcrem fell straight from the sky and slammed into the ground. Spitting out the sand from his mouth, he tries to orient himself. However, the spatial transport got to him and he ended up puking from the overwhelming nausea. After he got up, he was shocked to see that he was right in front of a familiar gateway. This was the front gate to his Sun Lion tribe! ... "Hm? What game is that Old Man Destiny playing by sending me this weak beast?" In a dark cave, one large purple eye opened as a bright doorway opened up and sent the confused Alexus flying in. A large white claw moved and tapped onto the Terra Beast. "Well? Isn''t this that boy Brevre''s bloodline?" Sending another tap onto Alexus, Greyson appeared in front still locked in sleep. "Oh, an elf bloodline as well. Seems like royalty... How interesting! He looks like my little Rose, is he another one of Elbianth''s children?" 92 Hes Insignifican Greyson could feel his consciousness slowly returning. He could hear all sorts of sounds around him that started off a garbled mess but became clearer. At first, he could barely hear anything other than the rustling of clothes and quiet murmuring. After a while, his sensation of his body returned and he began to feel someone either touching his wrist as if checking for injuries, holding his hand, or even touching his face. Although he felt rather disgusted by anyone''s touch, there was one pair of hands that felt so warm and comfortable he wished they would never leave. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not get his eyes to open. When he could finally feel his mana again, his first goal was to check his body once again to see if Lucius succeeded in getting the Calming Fruit. Ecstatic by the results, he realized that his bloodline was similar to a tamed animal. No longer fighting rampantly but they all mixed together. Although they were not completely one, both of his bloodlines were twisted together in harmony. After a while, he realized that only one person continued to visit his room. He also started to worry because he could tell that Lucius was nowhere near him. With their connection, he would be able to feel Lucius even from a fairly long distance away. In the beginning, he could tell there were many bodies constantly filing in and out of his room all talking about something, but he could not gleam much information from their random comments. Now there was only one person, but this person never spoke so Greyson could not make out their identity. He was, however, touched by their persistence and gentle care. A little while after, some of the questions in his head were finally answered. "Rosie, why do you keep spending all your time with this weakling!? He is not waking up any time soon no matter how much you stay here beside him. I don''t know what the ancestor was thinking either by spending so many precious resources on this guy! There were obviously other owners of those treasures who deserved them. Not some random nobody who got picked up out of nowhere." A young man swung the door open with so much force that Greyson could hear the loud *SLAM* when the door collided with the wall. Following such a loud entrance was the whining and loud voice that Greyson automatically disliked. It was the first time he experienced such inexplicable dislike. He obviously had not even seen the person''s face but just his voice and words full of disdain triggered Greyson''s disgust. However, he soon felt like bursting out in laughter after hearing his caretaker''s response. "First of all, my name is Rosalie, but to you, I am either Young Lady Ley or Miss Ley. We are not close, nor will we ever be close enough for you to call out so familiarly to me. The sound of that name from your mouth disgusts me. Second, my business is not your business. So, just leave me alone. Seeing your face puts me in a worse mood. At least this person''s face is nice to look at and is quiet, he is already an infinite amount of times better than you." A frigid and apathetic voice calmly responded as if she was speaking about the weather and had not just completely slapped the poor guy across the face. Even Greyson could not help but feel some pity for the guy. The only solace was that there was only the two of them in the room so no one else was able to witness such an embarrassment. "Rosalie, huh. That''s a nice name." Greyson thought to himself after hearing her speak. "Wait, wait, wait... did she just say Miss Ley? Ley?!" Suddenly Greyson could not compute what was happening. Where was Lucius, why was he not around? How did he end up already finding his sister? Where was he? Thrown into immense confusion, Greyson longed to quickly be able to open his eyes and finally get up. Stuck in his position for so long was driving him crazy! The young man had no idea what to say in response. Greyson could hear the poor guy spluttering in shock, obviously not thinking that Rosalie would respond so strongly. It was almost as if he came just to stick out his face and take a beating. He could not very well start scolding and getting angry at Rosalie since he was trying to court her and the only other person was unresponsive and in a coma. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he could only turn to leave with his tail between his legs. Greyson was not able to see his expression, but he could pretty much imagine the immense embarrassment and frustration showing on that person''s face. Inwardly chuckling, Greyson''s impression of his older sister rose exponentially. She was a stoic person with a poisonous tongue, it seems. Though it was quiet, since they were so close together, Greyson was able to hear her tired sigh after the other boy left. His heart hurt listening to the exhaustion in that sigh, as if her burdens were too heavy. The desire to speak out and comfort her overwhelmed him, he wished he could reach out and hold her hand and tell her that he could help her. Maybe this was the bond between family; even though they did not know each other, there was a subconscious pull that drew him closer to her. He feigned coldness with Eden because he was frightened by the fact, he could feel so close to someone so quickly. To prevent himself from disappointment, he tried to take it slow. Even with Rosalie, he was not sure how to interact with her once he woke up. Would she repel him just as she did that young man earlier? ... All sorts of thoughts ran through Greyson''s mind as he continued to lay quietly. Days slowly passed while Greyson could feel his body waking up. If one was watching closely, they could see his toes and fingers twitching occasionally. Greyson mentally sighed in exasperation and made a promise to himself to never use this spell on himself anymore. It was such a pain to undo! Another morning rolled around, Greyson could feel the presence of Rosalie again. She slipped her dainty, cold hand into his and just silently sat at his bedside. He was shocked that she could handle sitting around in silence, however, he could tell that the situation actually suited her calm personality. In the midst of the silence was the sound of slowly flipping pages. Greyson wished he could ask what book she was reading, but all he could do was passively lay on the bed and wait. The scene felt tranquil as the chirping of birds in the morning leaked through the open window and a nice breeze blew through and rustled the curtains. Warm rays of the sun shone down on his face, leaving him feeling comfortable and content. If he could, he would have whipped out Mesmer and play some music. Somehow, he felt that his sister would like his music. Good times never lasted long as the door swung open once again while breaking the peace inside the room. "Let''s go, Young Lady Ley, the Master is waiting for you to accompany him to his meal." A gruff voice spoke. His voice was even-keeled and strict, as he spoke without any extra words. "Tell your Master that I am not feeling well and would have to ask to be excused from breakfast this morning." Her cold voice not changing one bit, Rosalie did not try to mince words with the newcomer. "I''m sorry, Miss, but the Master is no longer going to take your excuses. He ordered this servant to make sure that you came over this time." Leaving no room for rejection, the man once again sternly spoke. "Leave. I lose my appetite sitting anywhere near that man." "I''m sorry, Miss. This one has no other options other than to use force." Greyson could not see anything, but he could hear the struggle and the force pulling Rosalie''s hand away as she kept her tight grip on his hand trying her best to resist. The hand was slowly slipping from Greyson''s hand as he began to panic. Knowing that she did not want to leave, Greyson wished to quickly get up and help. Nobody should be able to force his sister to do anything. He kept chanting at himself to wake up in his hand almost screaming it. Right as the last bit of her fingers were about to slip from his grasp, he could finally grip the hand that was in his. Rosalie gasped in shock when she felt that limp hand suddenly grab onto hers with a surprising amount of strength. Looking over to the person laying down, she could see his eyes twitching before his long eyelashes began fluttering. Soon, piercing light grey eyes were staring at her face in confusion, obviously trying to get his eyes to focus. His platinum silver hair flowed down from his shoulders and color returned to his cheeks. At that moment, Rosalie could feel her heart stop. Not because he was so good-looking, but because his face was almost a reflection of hers! The only difference was the slightly masculine touch on his features that differed from the feminine touch on hers. Even the man behind her was shocked by the similarity and stopped pulling on Rosalie''s arm. Everyone saw his face before as Greyson was laying down, however, they could not see the similarities until his eyes actually opened. Greyson did not notice their confusion, as he was distracted by his own delight for finally being able to get up. He looked around the room only to see that it was rather bare other than for the bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. Turning back towards the two people in room, he finally recoiled in shock. Although, he and Eden looked relatively like siblings, they did not look that similar. Eden had told him it was because she most took on their father''s features while Greyson looked more like their mother. The Rosalie in front of him had obviously also inherited their mother''s features because even he had to admit that they looked really similar. Only if he activated his Snow Dragon bloodline would they look slightly different since his hair and eyes would change. "Hello..." Greyson slowly spoke, not knowing how to really begin. The room sank into awkward silence as everyone was no longer sure what to say. "Ahem, hello, my name is Greyson. Who are all of you guys? I left my body in the responsibility of my friends, so how did I end up here? Where are my friends?" Trying his best not to overwhelm them with questions, Greyson decided to calmly ask the most important things. As if his voice finally kick-started her brain once again, Rosalie awoke from her stupor and blushed after realizing she stared for so long. "Hello, my name is Rosalie Ley. Nice to meet you. This is the Snow Dragon tribe location; however, I am just a guest here so I am not really aware of why or how you arrived here. None of your friends were here when you showed up, therefore I am not aware of their current location. You would probably have to ask the ancestor since he was the one that brought you over. He also allowed for the Calming Fruit and a couple other of herbs that help with bloodline incorporation to be used on you, so I do believe you should make sure to thank him if you see him." Her face returning to its original calm, her voice was just as cold and apathetic as before. "Snow Dragon?" After learning his location, Greyson could finally understand why he would run into his sixth sister here. Although she did not inherit the dragon bloodline, she is still descended from one of the tribe members. Maybe her guard brought her to the Beast Empire as her location? With the power of the Dragon tribe, this location would definitely be safer than most. Did any of his other siblings come here, as well? "Since you are awake, then you can take care of yourself. Young Lady Ley, you should come with me to join the Master." Turning his cold eyes towards Greyson briefly, the other man pulled on Rosalie''s arm once again. "Tell your Master that I''m not interested!" Annoyed by the man''s persistence, Rosalie finally pushed away from him and a large gust of wind followed that slammed the man into the wall. Smashing the wall apart, the man was sent flying out of the room. Widening his eyes in surprise, Greyson did not realize she would just throw him out like that. "You should have done that earlier. He obviously was not taking your opinion into consideration, so you should just beat away people like that." Chuckling happily, Greyson did not worry about the other man since he was the one acting out of line from the beginning. "Who is his Master anyways?" He asked just out of pure curiosity. His sister was obviously not interested in this man one bit. "A disgusting man from the tribe. His position is rather high and his power is as well, so I cannot really just ask him to leave me alone. I can only take out my frustrations on his stupid dogs." Grimacing, Rosalie spat her words with disdain. "But, enough about him. He is insignificant." Waving her dismissively as if shooing away thoughts of that man, she looked again at Greyson with confusion. "You... not to be weird, but don''t you look way too much like me?" Waving her dismissively as if shooing away thoughts of that man, she looked again at Greyson with confusion. If one looked close enough, though, they could see the shimmer of excitement and expectation in her eyes. "Well... I am pretty sure that you are my sixth sister. You are from the Ley Kingdom, right? The one that used to be in the Snow Country. I could tell from your last name. I met another sister with the same last name and she was the one who told me about my origin." He felt she probably already had some assumptions about him since she stayed with him and took care of him for so long. She did not really seem like the type of person to do so otherwise. "Then, you ARE the seventh child! The one who was born the day the kingdom fell!" Genuine pleasant surprise filled her face as she smiled brightly. "Rain spoke to me about you, but she knew the least about you since you were only just born on that day. No one from the kingdom was able to get to know even what you looked like other than Mother and her maidservants. I had my suspicions from the beginning, but I could not be sure." She continued to grip his hand tightly as if afraid he would disappear. "Rain?" "Yes, she is my head guard. She and a couple other of my guards led me to Greenwolf Country since they thought that the chaotic situation there would help hide me. However, after a while, they decided to send me to the Snow Dragon tribe. She was worried, though, that they might not accept me. Grandfather and the Ancestor were really welcoming and they made sure to shut anyone else up. Ironic that most of those disgusting flies that are chasing after me were the ones who shouted the loudest for me to leave the tribe when I was younger. Oh, how the tables have turned, right?" Sneering, Rosalie explained the current situation a little. Greyson had gotten a glimpse of her struggles just laying down. He would constantly hear a couple different young men come and go. Each one was turned away in embarrassment, but they did not give up. Scanning his sister from head to toe, Greyson did have to admit that his sister was definitely prettier than most. Way more than Ezra and Natalie, her elf bloodline led her features to look almost flawless. As if she could feel his vision, Rosalie blushed a little before looking closely at Greyson and laughing lightly. "Hahaha, maybe you will lighten my load by arriving. You look so much like me that some of those guys might start chasing you!" Giggling at this thought, Rosalie''s mood became much brighter. Hearing her words, Greyson furrowed his brows while grimacing. His mood completely souring. "Alright, alright, don''t be upset. I''m just messing with you. Everyone knows you''re a boy. Maybe if you were a little younger, they would still make that mistake." Looking at his expression, Rosalie held in her laughter and tried to be serious. "Why don''t you tell me about your life? I really want to hear about it." Her eyes sparkling with curiosity, she felt that his life was probably much more interesting than hers. ... Calming down, Greyson nodded and started talking about his life. She nodded and smiled hearing of the happy moments while cursing angrily at the sad moments. Her expression turned especially bad when she heard about Eden''s situation. "I have to go help her! Snow Dragons are extremely proud and Grandfather and Grandmother love us like his own even if we are mixed bloods. He would never allow for one of us to suffer like a servant. Hmph, treasure-hunter? Seriously idiotic, of course that''s all they could think of." Greyson agreed with her and looked forward to meeting his grandparents. They seemed like really loving people. He continued on with his story until finally reaching the last memory that he remembered before putting himself in a coma. "Wow, your life has been so much more exciting than mine!" Rosalie sighed in envy. "I have been stuck running for my life then staying in this tribe since I was five. I have never left the Beast Empire. Although there is ton to see here, it is all for magic beasts and Beastmen. Most of these things do not help me at all, nor do they interest me. I would have to visit the Elf Empire, but Grandfather always says no as if there is some kind of issue there." "I would actually rather my life would not be as exciting, maybe it would save me a lot of trouble and danger." Greyson gave a wry smile thinking through his life thus far. 93 The Grandparents Greyson still required a couple more days to recover full mobility in his limbs. Everything became stiff and weak after such a long time of rest. During these couple of days, Rosalie would continue to come and talk with him. She was not overly expressive, but she would still smile happily when they spoke. Greyson could feel that they were compatible and could find things to talk about easily. They both were not talkative, so sometimes they would just sit in peace doing their own things. She would read and he would keep exercising his body in order to recover. One of the days, Greyson was feeling especially happy so he took out Mesmer and began to play a relaxing tune. Beautiful flute notes carried through the breeze around the mountain and allowed unknowing bystanders to sit in and listen. Charmed by the beautiful music, Rosalie closed her eyes and savored the calming music as she sipped her tea. Eventually, the song finally ended and Greyson pulled the flute from his lips. There was a faint atmosphere of disappointment as everyone, including Rosalie, wished for the music to continue. "You still play the flute? You said you originally learned from your teacher back in the Dalia Kingdom, right? What was his name again?" Opening her eyes again, Rosalie turned towards Greyson while questioning him. "His name is Carlyle. Music is another conduit with which I can cast spells. I find that I really cannot give up this hobby, I still paint in my free time as well." Showing a small grin, Greyson felt himself reminiscing about his silly old teachers. Maybe he would be able to go back and visit them soon. He was sure that they would be really happy with his improvement. "I also learned two side occupations." Rosalie suddenly mentioned. "Really? Which ones?" His interest piqued, Greyson quickly concentrated his attention in his sister. "Dancer and physician." "Dance?" Greyson shot her a confused look. Physician, he could understand. Elves were normally highly talented in healing even without the light element, plus his sister had helped that one bandit heal his wounds before so he already assumed, she had skills in that area. Dancing, however, was a rare occupation that not many took up. Most people who learned were females and usually dancing held the connotation of being used by women to momentarily bewitch their viewers. The women who learned were usually similar to Ezra in demeanor: seductive and flirtatious. Glancing at the cold and emotionless expression on his sister''s face, he could not see her enjoying dancing at all. "Hmph! Don''t think I don''t know what you''re thinking! Only you dirty men think of the occupation as only used for things like that. A lot of respectable dancers use this art to express. It also helps in fights because it trains my flexibility and balance." "Well, we should put on a performance sometime then! I will play the music and you can dance. I would really like to witness how amazing your dancing abilities are." Letting loose a cheeky smile, Greyson put forward his idea. "Performance? Hm, I have never danced in front of anyone except my teacher before. I could dance for you, but I don''t plan on letting anyone else watch... Who knows what kind of ideas those dimwits would get if they saw that I could dance?" At first Rosalie mused the idea with a smile on her face, but as a thought passed through her mind, her expression once again turned dark. Greyson could not help but frown when he saw his sister''s troubled expression. He was about to ask her about it, but she spoke up before he could. "Enough about this, tomorrow I will take you to see our grandparents, make sure to get up and make yourself look presentable." Her cold expression disappearing, Rosalie winked back at his mischievously before almost running out of the door. Greyson felt frustrated that she would not let him in on her struggles, but he was glad to see that she seemed to let her guard down around him. Whenever he saw her before the most she would show was a warm smile, this was the first time that she showed such a lively and childish expression. ... Early the next morning, a light knock sounded from the door. "Come in." Rosalie heard the answer and slowly opened the door. What greeted her at first was Greyson''s back, however, he quickly turned around to greet her. When he swung his body around, Rosalie couldn''t help but stare a little. Greyson was sporting a new robe he received from the tribe that was white with purple lining. His long white hair was loosely tied back with a purple rope. His light purple eyes still showed signs of cute drowsiness as his long eyelashes fluttered to keep open. He was her brother, but even she had to admit that he was very good-looking. Simply someone that anyone would want to bring around to flaunt. Thinking if this, she smirked a little before hooking her arm around his. "Alright, looks like you are ready. Let''s go." Pulling her slightly dazed brother, Rosalie quickly led them out of the room and onto the outside of the cave. The dragons all lived relatively close to each other and took up a large percentage of a mountain range. Right now, Greyson was staying on one of the mountains inhabited by the Snow Dragon tribe. All along the mountain are manmade caves for the tribe members to live in. While they were "caves", each one was exquisitely made with windows and beautiful interior. Greyson''s housing was slightly high up so he had a good view of the mountain from the window, however, seeing the surroundings up close made him gasp in admiration. The entire mountain range was blessed with high mana and element density, thus allowing beautiful and plentiful vegetation to continue to grow. Other than the very top of the mountain which was cold and snow covered, the rest of the mountain was filled to the brim with life. In the midst of his awe, Greyson suddenly stopped to look around after feeling multiple piercing glares. Noticing the owners of the glares were all men and they were all staring intently at where his sister''s arms were wrapped around his. Easily inferring the origin of their anger, Greyson wanted to cry but had no tears. Obviously, they were siblings, he was not their love rival. He could not help but feel unfairly wronged. Subtly, he tried to pull his arm away from hers so that he would not keep inviting unnecessary hate, but his attempts were all stopped by the vise grip of his sister. "My sweet younger brother, should you not help your older sister discourage her suitors? The brother should learn to protect his pretty sister, right?" Keeping her voice low so only the two of them would hear, Rosalie explained her unwillingness to let go. Rolling his eyes, Greyson did not think much of her words. "I think I''ll die under their murderous glares before I can protect you." Rosalie did not respond and only shrugged her shoulders. They continued walking together arm-in-arm up the mountain. As they got higher and higher, Greyson could feel the temperature dropping and even felt that it was getting harder to breathe. He looked over and realized that Rosalie was not having any issues which surprised him. He was fine due to the physical strength that the dragon bloodline gave him, but the elf bloodline did not give him such physical advantages. "Most of the dragons have such tough bodies that such a change does not affect them, just like you. I can only say that I am used to it now. At first, my body had a lot of difficulties, but I lived up on the top with our grandparents for a while so I ended up adapting to the environment." Seeing his confusion, Rosalie decided to explain. Greyson nodded in understanding. The rest of the walk up, they continued in silence. There were no awkward feelings, though, as the both of them just admired the view. Although the both of them could quickly use their magic to arrive at the top of the mountain, they tacitly agreed to slowly walk up. From an outsider''s view, they looked like a pair of immortals silently walking through the snow. Both garbed in clean white with their good-looking features. Others would feel that they would be intruding in a picturesque moment if they were to approach. Eventually, Rosalie led Greyson to the front of a large cave entrance. Many times larger than his own entrance, Greyson felt dwarfed by the sheer size. Suddenly, he could not help but feel nervous and his hands started to sweat. He wondered whether his grandparents would really be glad to meet him. Most people were very disdainful towards mixed bloods. In his anxiousness, he completely forgot that they already treated his sister well, so they obviously showed they had no such bias. He wanted to pause his steps, but Rosalie was already dragging him into the cave. Making his way through the spacious tunnel, they both arrived in a brightly lit space at the end. At the front were two humongous white dragons. Both of them looked to be sleeping as their eyes were shut. Continuing to be pulled by his sister, Greyson arrived next to the two dragons'' faces. He realized that he was not even as tall as their heads. "Grandma... Grandpa..." Rosalie''s soft voice called out to the two dragons. The two eyes facing Greyson and Rosalie slowly began to crack open revealing two light purple eyes not too different from Greyson''s own eyes. One of the eyes glanced at both of them with humor and warmth while the other one barely glanced at Rosalie before glaring in Greyson''s direction. He could feel the immense pressure from the obviously unhappy second dragon. His back soon became drenched with sweat as he tried to continue standing upright. Gritting his teeth, Greyson did not want to allow himself to have to fall so easily. He thought this could possibly be a test, and he wanted to pass to give his grandparents a good impression. "Hmph! Old man, what do you think you are doing?!" He heard an older woman''s voice echo in the room before the pressure he felt suddenly disappeared. Confused, Greyson thought that maybe things were not as simple as he believed. "I heard our Rosie found a boy she liked, who knows where the Ancestor found such a pretty-looking pipsqueak. He thinks he is worthy of my granddaughter?!" Another older man''s voice responded. Instead of anger, though, one could say that he sounded petulant, like a child who just lost his favorite toy. It was at this point that Greyson finally understood, it seems his grandparents were not aware of his identity yet. Looking over at Rosalie, he questioned her with his eyes. She looked helpless as she realized that she really had not told her grandparents about Greyson yet because she assumed the Ancestor would have told them like he told her. Although the Ancestor did not come right out and say that Greyson was her brother, he definitely hinted towards it. She just assumed that he would let her grandparents know of his suspicion. However, looks like the Ancestor was playing tricks again and wanted to surprise them. Inwardly shaking her head, Rosalie really wondered what she should do with such immature elders. "Grandfather, you have misunderstood..." Rosalie''s tired voice began. "Misunderstand?! What could I misunderstand? You have been taking care of this boy for almost a month now. You think I don''t know your personality well enough? How could you even spend this much time taking care of someone, a boy at that, if you did not like him? Touch your heart and ask yourself if you have ever treated anyone of the male species this well!" Quickly interrupting her, the old man did not allow Rosalie to finish explaining. "Grandpa! Would you let me explain?!" Finally raising her voice in annoyance, Rosalie glared over to the dragon to the right. Greyson heard a cold snort in response and there was no longer anymore shouting. Seems his sister had more influence then he previously believed. He felt slightly amused to see such a large, dangerous looking dragon to listen to such a small girl''s orders. "It is not what you think. I do not like him that way. Yes, I like him, but as family. He is my brother! Your son''s son! Do you now understand?" Crossing her arms, Rosalie finally was able to explain the situation. "...My what?" After a long pause, the old voice finally spoke out again but this time in disbelief. "Your. Grand. Son!" Enunciating each syllable correctly, Rosalie had to keep herself from chuckling at her silly grandfather''s response. "Proof! I want proof!" Hearing this, Rosalie glanced over at Greyson before approaching him. Seeing her look, Greyson felt some apprehension about what was happening. However, before he could back away, Rosalie grabbed onto his arm and cut his arm with a dagger that she pulled out suddenly. His blood spilled out a little, but his skin quickly healed itself. Giving his sister an accusatory glance, he could not understand what was going on yet. Rosalie did not look back at him, and instead walked over to her grandfather with the dagger still covered in Greyson''s blood. He still watched in utter shock as she took that dagger and stabbed it into their grandfather''s hand. The dagger stabbed cleanly through the scales. "Ha!... HAHAHAHA! It is my grandson! Good boy, come over and let grandfather take a closer look at you!" Instead of anger, the dragon responded in great happiness. The other dragon also looked towards Greyson in excitement. The object of their pleasant surprise, however, was still trying to figure out what just happened. "Only the blood of their kin can injure a dragon so easily. Granted, if you were much more powerful you could also stab through grandfather''s scales, however, you clearly are much weaker. Which can only mean that your blood causes his scales to weaken, thus allowing such a plain dagger to be able to stab him. A rather violent way to ensure relation, but easy and accurate nonetheless." Rosalie''s cold voice once again explained everything to him. Finally understanding, Greyson felt speechless. So, there was such a crazy way of determining relation in the dragons? "Yes, yes, Rosie is correct! Hahaha, how did you end up here? Good grandson, come over and tell grandfather and grandmother all about you!" Hearing this request, Greyson suddenly had a feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu from when he woke up and saw Rosalie. Sighing to himself, he decided to just bite the bullet and explain his life story once again. Comfortably sitting down, Greyson began from the very beginning at the church orphanage... 94 Who Is He?! During the peace at the top of the mountain, the rest of the Snow Dragon tribe was freaking out with big news. Rosalie definitely had a large number of suitors and admirers in the tribe and even the females were her fans. Girls looked up to her due to her strength and fierceness while boys admired her due to her beauty and temperament. All throughout the mountain word was spreading that their goddess walked up to the elders'' cave to introduce the person she fell in love with. They walked up the entire way with their arms linked. Suddenly feeling like their idol was stolen by some stranger out of nowhere, all the Snow Dragons were riled up. "Are you sure it was our goddess, Rosalie?" "Of course, how could I mistake her beauty for another''s?!" "They linked arms you said?" "How could he touch our idol so easily?!" "No, I can''t accept this!" "Are they still in the elder''s cave?" "Where did this guy even come from?" "Right, who is he?!" All sorts of shouting conversations were exploding all over the mountain as everyone started gathering in front of the cave to get a better look at the newcomer. All sorts of hostile feelings were growing in their minds, hoping that the elders would kill him immediately on sight. Everyone knew how much the Elder Brevre dotes on this granddaughter of his. Part of the reason all her well-known suitors were extremely powerful was because all the weaklings were too terrified of Elder Brevre to openly pursue Rosalie. They either had to have personal power or a powerful background to even think about trying to chase after her. That''s why they were feeling extra disgruntled about some nobody coming and their goddess actually taking a liking to him. She actually nursed him to health for almost an entire month! Every single day she went over to that guest cave and spent all day with him. The jealousy and envy they felt was overwhelming. ... Meanwhile, inside the cave, this family was completely unaware of the riot that was about to begin outside. The two grandparents were closely listening to all the details that came out of their dear grandson''s mouth. Similar to Rosalie, they showed their nervousness and anxiety when he got to some of the close shaves and almost tore down their own home when they heard about Eden''s situation. "They DARE?! These pathetic humans actually enslaved MY granddaughter?! Who do they think they are?!" "Exactly! Greyson you must tell us where this kingdom is! We will go rescue her and bring her back here where she belongs." "Actually, I think you just need to pay attention to the border where I came in from. The reason we traveled together back then was because she also needed the Calming Fruit for her bloodline to blend better." Greyson responded back after finally remembering this fact. His grandparents'' eyes lit up at this comment and they promised they would send people to keep an eye on the border. When Greyson wrapped up his story, he realized his grandparents were still looking at him with their eyes sparkling with interest. He could not help but feel confused why they still looked like they wanted something from him. "It''s nothing. They are just overly excited to meet you. In general, it is really difficult for dragons to have offspring, so they only have one son, our father. However, our father managed to have so many children that they were ecstatic. Yet, to this day, they only were able to meet me until you came along." Noticing Greyson''s confusion, Rosalie quickly dispelled his doubts. She also went through this back when she first arrived. They would even transform into their human form and follow her around all day like she was the first child they had ever seen. She was so young back then, so of course she was frightened by the unfamiliar faces that kept popping up. However, now she knew their intentions and loved them all the more for their affection. Rosalie knew that she was lucky to have such accepting grandparents who did not look at her mixed blood status. "Wait..." Greyson suddenly remembered an important fact. "Don''t most of our siblings have either the dragon bloodline and human bloodline or the elf bloodline and human bloodline. Where does the human bloodline come from?" In front of him looked like two full blown Snow Dragons, and he did not understand where the human bloodline came from. "Hahaha, you picked up on that rather quickly didn''t you?" At this time, his grandmother transformed into her human form. "I am actually a Beastman, however, I was also the product of a pure-blood Snow Dragon and a Beastman, so my human bloodline is weak and I can still transform into my dragon form. The human bloodline is always the most potent, though, and our Elbianth inherited more of the human bloodline from me than the Snow Dragon bloodline which is why he seems to be more of a Beastman. You children also seemed to inherit more of the human bloodline. Your mother was part of the royal family in the Elf Empire, which is why less children inherited her bloodline and more of you inherited the Snow Dragon bloodline. Although the Snow Dragon bloodline is also hard to pass on, after it was diluted and mixed with the human bloodline, it became easier." Greyson was shocked. He did not realize that the amount of human bloodline inherited could be so random. It started from such a small starting point but the amount became larger and larger in the later generations. "Hmph! It''s because humans are so weak so their bloodline does not carry any real talents. That''s why it''s so easy for them to pass on and have lots of offspring." This time Elder Brevre spoke out with his voice carrying heavy disdain. Greyson felt slightly uncomfortable hearing this, however, he knew that it was true nonetheless that humans were all born severely weaker than other races. The only advantage they had was that there was a lot of room for growth and a lot more chances for a real powerhouse to be born. It was always harder for the other races to have extremely strong members because their birth rate was so low. However, humans gave birth to couple hundred thousand babies a day. Even if only one was talented in that batch, that would mean 365 talented children are born in a year. Suddenly, Greyson was not surprised that humans now were in charge of the largest territory on the continent. Despite their lower talent and starting point, humans just multiplied too quickly. "It''s always so frustrating when there''s a war. Those humans are nasty beings who just throw out their weakest soldiers wave after wave to be killed. We are obviously more powerful, but they just have these unending numbers. Our heart hurts every time a soldier dies, however, the humans barely seem to bat an eye before sending out millions to their death." Brevre spoke sounding obviously disgruntled. However, his words set off an explosion in Greyson''s mind. Whose side would he be on if war broke out again between the races? Each had their downsides and not one was perfectly in the right. He wondered who his parents would support if they were around. Would they fight for the Human Empire? Or for the Elf Empire or Beast Empire? Shaking his head, Greyson decided to leave those kinds of complicated thoughts for when fighting actually breaks out. It had been centuries since the last wars, he did not believe another one would be happening anytime soon. "Elder Brevre! Elder Freizon!" The conversation between the two was interrupted by shouting. Furrowing his brows, Elder Brevre also transformed into his human form and decided to walk out and see who was so daring as to make a fuss in front of his cave. Almost no one in the tribe would ever dare to bother him unless they were summoned. After all, not including the Ancestor, they were the most powerful of the Snow Dragon tribe. Rosalie and Greyson looked at each other before nodding and deciding to follow their grandparents to see what was going on. This group of four quickly arrived at the entrance of the cave and were in shock by what they saw. Crowded in front of the entrance was a large percent of the tribe. Most of them were young boys and girls all looked incensed. They did not understand why this group would suddenly be so angered that they would approach the elders'' cave. "Insolence! Where do you think this is that you are shouting around? Speak. What is your purpose?" The kind grandfather image completely wiped away, Greyson now saw how powerful and commanding his grandfather could be. He had to admit that he looked impressive. Little did he know that the admiration in his eyes was clearly noted down by a certain old man. Lifting his chin even higher and puffing out his chest, that old man felt extremely proud to see his grandson look up to him. "Elder Brevre, we apologize for disrupting you. We all just could not accept the fact that our goddess suddenly chose some random stranger as a lover. We all just wanted to come and see what type of man he was and if he deserved her." A brave soul decided to actually walk to the front and stand out to speak. "Hm? You want to see if he is worthy? Do you think my eyes are so old that I cannot make such a judgment for myself? Who are you to try and judge who my granddaughter gets together with? That''s completely none of your business. You are not her family, nor her lover, you are not even a friend. You have no say and your opinion is of no consequence. If this is what you all are here for then go back, I will not listen to such nonsense." Sneering, Brevre quickly shut down the young man who stood out. Hearing his words, Greyson could actually understand where his older sister got her poisonous tongue from. Each word that shot out of his grandfather''s mouth was like a knife that drove straight to where it hurts. Even Greyson could feel himself wincing for the young man under such a strong attack. "Elder Brevre, your words are too strong. We should at least be able to fight this new suitor, should we not? If anything, all dragons respect strength the most when it comes to chasing partners." While the rest of the group starting backing away in fear and embarrassment, another new suave voice spoke out. Greyson was surprised that someone dared to speak up against his grandfather after such a resounding slap, looking over in the direction of the voice, he could see a young man in deep blue. He had matching long blue hair and blue eyes. His looks were handsome; however, they were marred by the obviously arrogant and lustful look about him. Glancing over at his sister, he could see that her expression turned dark after this new character appeared. "Diemre, just because your grandfather can speak to me, does not mean a young one such as yourself can be so rude. Plus, our positions in our respective tribes may be similar but at least your grandfather is aware that I could still beat him to point he can''t tell north from south. You Water Dragons are no match for the Snow Dragons just because we have a similar element between our races does not mean a thing." Brevre did not back down, however, and continued his insulting tirade. It was now the young man''s turn and his expression turned equally ugly as Rosalie''s. From these couple of lines, Greyson could gleam the identity of this new person. He must be the grandson of the elder of the Water Dragons. Seeing that the young man was without retort, his grandfather must actually be much stronger than the Water Dragon tribe elder, too. Seeing that there was no way to speak to the elder, Diemre turned his attention to the head of white hair he could see behind both of the elders. "Hey, boy! Are you too afraid, that you can only hid behind the elders like a coward?" He shouted out. Greyson knew that it was he who was being referred too, but he could not help but feel aggrieved. He was obviously his sister''s brother. Why did all these suitors want to come and find him for trouble? Thinking that he could clarify the issue, he decided to step out anyways. Once he was out in the open, there were a couple of gasps all around. Greyson definitely did not lose out to his sister in terms of looks. All the females present began to swoon once he stepped out. His loosely tied white hair and matching purple eyes were similar to the other Snow Dragons, but somehow, they felt that his features were so much more mesmerizing on Greyson''s face. Even some of the men blushed at the sight of Greyson until they realized that he was a male and turned pale with fright. Each of them began to mentally rebuke themselves. Diemre''s eyes started to show intense envy before it turned to cold killing intent. "Oh, so you do have the guts to step out, then why don''t we capitalize on this meeting with a fight? Surely you don''t think you could just end up with Rosalie without proving your strength, right?" 95 The Ultimate Battle Greyson looked over at Diemre and flashed a bright smile. Everyone felt enchanted for a second even Diemre. "NO." Clearly pronouncing his words, Greyson cleanly rejected Diemre. His rejection shook Diemre out his daze and angered him. "What are you too large of a coward to accept a battle?" "No, I just see it as pointless. It was the fact that you are not attractive and charming enough that you did not get my Rosalie to like you. She is of the elf bloodline and does not think similarly to dragons. Strength means nothing to her, otherwise, the strongest of you suitors would already have her heart by now, right? She already likes me more than you guys so what point is there in fighting? I have already won the ultimate battle, no?" Raising his eyebrow, Greyson just shrugged. His tongue was no less fierce than his sister and his grandfather when he tried. Although he and his family knew that he and Rosalie obviously had no such relationship, he thought this might be a good way to keep all these rotten suitors off her tail. "That''s just a coward''s way out!" Diemre shouted. "Think whatever you like. I have no reason to have to indulge you." Waving his hand, Greyson looked to almost loathe to look at Diemre another second. Such arrogance triggered Diemre''s anger and his eyes flashed with a moment of madness. Without another word, a whip appeared in his hand and he lashed out at Greyson. Greyson''s purple eyes showed his annoyance as his scaled hand grabbed onto the whip and he stomped his foot down. Immediately the earth responded by slamming to Diemre''s stomach and sent him flying away. At this moment, the entire crowd turned silent along with Greyson, the elders, and even Rosalie. Looking down at his own hands, Greyson was shocked by the amount of power that just flowed out of him at that moment. It was many times more than before he was in a coma. During this time, he had only focused on recovering his body and did not focus on looking into his mana condition and level. It was only now that he realized that he was already at the magister level stage three! Shocked, he could not understand why he so easily surpassed two levels. Even the dragon scales appeared with barely a thought and responded quickly to his needs. Before it would take a lot of effort and thought to try to use his dragon bloodline during any kind of fight. Therefore, he would never use it in a fight because he would be too distracted. Seeing Diemre stagger as he tried to get up from the ground, Greyson frowned before walking away. It seems he needed to focus on learning the new abilities of his body and what breaking through to the magister level has brought him. Earlier he did not even really need to think before the earth responded. This power was all extremely new to him and he did not know what to make of it. Rosalie quickly followed after her brother, leaving only the crowd and the elders who were still surprised. Then, they suddenly began to laugh happily! With their power, they could of course now see Greyson''s current level and they were also aware of his age. A 14-year-old magister level stage three magician! That was their grandson! Pride filled their minds and they did not even bother to dismiss the crowd before following after their good grandson and granddaughter. The rest of the admirers were all left in silence feeling awkward. They suddenly did not know how to react to such an ending. Some of them looked over at Diemre''s pathetic state and sneered because they did not particularly like this arrogant young master. While others scowled after seeing the power of Rosalie''s new love and the fact that they could not compare to such a rival. The women were all stuck in a daze thinking of Greyson''s good looks and fierce power when he fought. Some of them started to convert into his fans and supported his relationship with their goddess, while others were seething with envy and jealousy towards Rosalie. There was a large mix of expressions as the crowd slowly started to scatter in different directions. Diemre caught most of the different looks and could guess what most of them were thinking. He was at a loss at how to react. Despite his arrogant attitude and normal debauchery, he knew that he could only act like this because of his grandfather. He was not stupid. In reality, he was not narrow-minded. Many others in the different dragon tribes were also stronger than him so it was not the first time that he was beaten. This time was actually the tamest of the times he was hit. Especially out of Rosalie''s suitors, he was probably one of the weaker ones. So, he did not go crazy in anger, but instead felt some excitement towards future fights. All those other suitors were always so arrogant as well and loved to flaunt their power. He wondered how they would all fare against this new rival. As if he would warn them about the new guy''s power. Although the crowd also witnessed the same fight, no one understood better than Diemre that this new guy barely put into any effort into beating him. His power was definitely not to be underestimated. Hmph! He''ll watch as those egotistical suitors get their faces pounded into the ground as well. Thinking this much, he smirked as he watched Greyson''s retreating back. ... "Greyson, wait!" Rosalie called out. However, Greyson was completely distracted as he continued to walk down the mountain. Huffing angrily, she sped up and grabbed onto his collar and yanked back. Choking slightly, Greyson finally looked back and acknowledged Rosalie. *Cough, Cough* "Sister, what are you doing? There are gentler ways of grabbing onto me." "Well, this will teach you to against ignoring me again!" "Sorry, I was just stuck in my own thoughts. I wanted to quickly start practicing and figuring out my current strength. I haven''t used my magic since I before I was in the coma and clearly lots of things have changed since then." Scratching his head, he apologized when he realized how far he was away from the elder''s cave and thinking about how far she had followed him. "Where were you going anyways?" "I was just going back to my room." Rolling her eyes, Rosalie pointed in the opposite direction. "Your room is in that direction." "..." "Forget it! Just follow me! I will take you to the practice fields that the Snow Dragon tribesmen use." Pulling on his arm, Rosalie dragged her brother further down the mountain. They soon arrived at flat ground with open stages. Rosalie jumped onto one of them and gestured at Greyson to also come up. "Now, fight me." She said simply. "What? But I don''t know if I can control my strength yet." Greyson said while his brows furrowed with worry. Rosalie''s eyes filled with disdain as she flicked her hand and Greyson felt a strong gust of wind slam against his body. Before he could fly off the stage, an invisible wall stopped his body as he slammed hard into it. Feeling the wind knocked out of his lungs, Greyson gasped. "Now, do you still feel worried? You should be more worried about your own well-being. Don''t underestimate your older sister." Hands on hips, Rosalie looked at him tauntingly. Grunting in annoyance, Greyson finally got serious. Placing his hands on the ground, vines popped out all over looking to grab onto Rosalie. However, the wind swirled around her cutting them all up. Greyson did not give up as he quickly closed in on her and sent a flaming kick her way. Her eyebrows rose in slight surprise before he smirked and grabbed his kick with her hand that was covered in water. Countering the flames on Greyson''s leg, she lashed out a quick kick reinforced by the wind into his chest. Reacting quickly, Greyson blocked the kick with rocks around his arm. However, his movement was obviously less trained and slightly slower than hers. The kick broke apart the earth and sent Greyson flying back once again. "Looks like you have already figured at the best part of becoming a magister." She spoke plainly. However, Greyson still looked at her in confusion. Sighing, she placed her forehead in her hand as she looked at his "obviously-not-comprehending" face. "Spells start to change once you become a magister. You can start internalizing spells. Don''t you understand what you just did? The flame-covered leg when you kicked or blocking my kick with the earth-covered arm. Before you become a magister, most of the spells are all attacks outward or defense out of the body or maybe using a staff or weapon as a conduit for your magic. Now, you can use your body directly instead. Although, you can still cast large spells with your larger mana storage. The biggest difference is this internalization of your mana and a larger connection to the elements." Patiently teaching him, Rosalie pointed out all of the different points in his fighting. "Watch this!" Sticking out her right arm, Rosalie got his attention. The next second, her arm was no longer solid but instead completely liquid. Using her other hand, she slammed down on it and the water dispersed and sprayed everywhere, but quickly reformed. Dismissing the spell, her arm returned to normal and was completely unharmed. Greyson''s eyes widened in wonder as he had never seen something like this before. "I can also do this with the wind element and earth element. It takes a lot of practice and I can only do it for one limb at a time. It''s a sort of harmonizing with the elements that is really useful during fights to prevent injuries or even for stealth. Usually, one has to wait until they are a grand magister for them to be able to transform their entire body. I hear that magic emperors can even send messages through their elements. Grandpa is very powerful; however, I have never been able to see him go all out and he never tells me about the different levels until I reach them." Soon Rosalie''s eyes showed pride and excitement. "Well, enough about that. I guess you understand my point now. I will leave you to continue practicing, maybe the next time we fight you''ll actually be to touch me." Smirking at Greyson, Rosalie waved goodbye before quickly shooting off into the distance. Both of the elders hiding in the surroundings also smiled at each other before leaving. Since Rosalie did her job in teaching him, there was no reason for them to need to step out. They were excited to see how quickly their grandson could figure all these things out. His talent was so high that they guessed it would probably only take him a couple months, maybe half a year at most. Greyson already was not paying attention to Rosalie when she left and was instead replaying the scene over and over again in his head trying to figure out how she did that. It was not really a spell since there was no chant. It was like her arm became the water element at that one point. He purposefully looked closely at the elements surrounding Rosalie''s arm at that moment. The blue spirits actually entered her arm until her arm was completely made up of the water element. However, they quickly dispersed after she stopped concentrating. He could slightly understand the theory of it, but soon learned that it was truly not an easy feat. His first tries, he could not absorb enough of the element at once and it instead became more like meditation as the mana was absorbed into his body to replenish his mana stores. Confused, he was not sure how to make the water element stay in his arm. Days and days of practice passed by with only little progress. Greyson quickly realized in the beginning that he was biting off more than he could chew by trying to start with his entire arm. So, he started focusing on a single finger. Starting with his pinkie finger since it was smallest, he now could make his pinkie finger turn completely to water. Although this was fairly tiny improvement, Greyson was just glad to see any progress. After almost half a month of practice, he could finally make his entire hand become water. After a certain amount of time, he could finally turn his entire arm into water just like Rosalie. After this success, he started training in the other elements and with different limbs. Sometime later, Greyson ran in excitement to get Rosalie and fight with her again. Rosalie thought that he finally understood some points of what she showed him, so she was happy for him. She did not tell him, but it took her an entire year to figure out how to get her arm like that. In order to push him, she did not give him a time so that he could figure out as fast as he could with no pressure. Maybe she could give him more pointers at this point. She guessed that he probably got to his fingers at this point. Little did she know that she was completely incorrect about the level of her younger brother''s talent! 96 Sisters Real Power Greyson quickly had one of the people surrounding him to call for Rosalie, so that he could quickly show her the results of his training. After spending some time here, most of the members of the Snow Dragon tribe were all used to him. There were constantly groups of younger dragons that started to follow him around and watch him. Apparently, they decided on him as their new idol. At first, he felt super uncomfortable with the thought of them following him around with that starstruck look in their eyes, however, since he could not get rid of them, he just decided to let them be. One of them quickly returned with a curious-looking Rosalie. When she got there, she scanned him top to bottom as if she would gain some clues to his progress through this. "So, I heard that you wanted to invite me here to show me your progress?" "Well, I want that and a rematch! You won''t be able to beat me down so easily this time." Smiling proudly, Greyson was excited to try out his power against his sister again. "Well, aren''t you confident? I wouldn''t underestimate your big sister so quickly. Alright, I am here now, so show me what you''ve got!" Rolling her eyes, Rosalie felt that her younger brother maybe had too large of a confidence boost. But, at the same time, she started to feel suspicious. Greyson did not seem like an idiot who would let himself get overconfident after only minor progress. Maybe he got a lot further along with the spell than he thought? Trying not to look down on her opponent, Rosalie prepared herself properly. The pair quickly climbed on top of one of the stages before facing each other. Raising her brow towards Greyson, Rosalie gave a confident smile before waving her fingers at him signaling for him to ''bring it on.'' Without further ado, Greyson burst into motion. Stomping his foot down, a crack opened underneath where Rosalie was standing trying to swallow her. She tried dodging away before some vines snapped onto her feet. Snorting slightly, her leg turned into wind and escaped straight through the grip. The wind also continued slicing up the vines, as well. During Rosalie''s slight distraction, Greyson approached quietly. His body disappeared into the shadows and reappeared right underneath her. His hand shot out and grabbed onto her ankle, which almost immediately turned into water, causing Greyson to smirk. Although he could no longer grip onto her, lightning arced through his fingers. Uninhibited by the water, the lightning gave Rosalie a hard shock to her body. Unprepared for his attack, Rosalie held in her pain before riding the wind to the far opposite side of the stage. She knew that she had to build a bit more distance from Greyson. Rosalie furrowed her brows as a serious expression formed on her face. When he was telling her about his past, his seven elements did come up in the conversation. Just like everyone else, she was shocked to hear that he could use so many, but it was only now that she realized how difficult it was to fight someone with that type of variety under their belt. Just when she prepared herself to counter one element, he would come out with a completely different one that he did not show before. The variety of spells was also hard to keep up with. Not letting her take too long of a break, Greyson once again ran up close to her and punched towards her with a flaming fist. She blocked with water covering her palm before slicing down with a wind blade. Quickly dodging, Greyson let his entire arm form into water and made it into a whip. It wrapped around Rosalie''s waist and dragged her back to him as he timed out a strong kick. Not prepared for such a move, Rosalie could only put up her arms to block the kick but the strength sent her flying back as her feet dug into the ground to stop the momentum of her body. The shock on her face did not disappear as she realized what just occurred. It was his entire arm! Counting the days, only a month had passed. She admitted that she could have underestimated her brother''s talent, but she didn''t realize just how much she did not understand him. Thinking through all those confident and arrogant young masters that chased after her, she realized they were all nowhere near as talented as her younger brother, even their looks were not as good. Suddenly, she could feel pride welling through her. This was her brother! Although she was the older sister, she felt that she could also rely on this talented younger brother of hers. She knew their grandparents would be ecstatic after knowing about how gifted their grandson is. Looking around, she started giggling at the faces of her brother''s little fan group that was recently formed. Most of them did not know that her brother could control seven elements, let alone that he was a genius at learning new spells as well. Sooner or later, she could see his fan group growing even larger than her own. Her eyes moving back to her brother, she smiled confidently once again. Although her younger brother was definitely a genius, she could not lose too much face as the older sister, right? ... Rosalie was not aware, though, that her grandparents were already watching the battle the entire time. They were keeping track of their grandchildren''s movements. As they observed all the different moves in the fight, they were pleasantly surprised by their young grandson''s ability. "Hahaha, look at him! How talented, just like this old man! You can tell that he takes after me." Laughing happily, Elder Brevre took all the credit. "Hmph, old man! What part of him takes after you?! He obviously is just like this old woman in her youth. Why did you think you had to work so hard to court me? Back then, everyone looked down on you for being less talented than me who was a Beastman." Elder Freizon''s voice rang out like a splash of cold water. Slightly withering, the old man felt embarrassed thinking about the past once again. "Why are you bringing up ancient history now?" He pouted. "If I didn''t keep you grounded, your head would swell to the point your body would no longer be able to hold it." Chuckling to herself, Freizon felt her husband was still cute. "Alright, alright. My wife is always correct." Seeing his wife so happy made Brevre decide not to continue. Their son being lost somewhere in god knows what condition really took a toll on her. She was depressed for a really long time before Rosalie finally arrived and brought up her mood. They both believed that their son, Elbianth, might really be dead but they held out hope. Most of the Snow Dragon tribe ended up shunning Elbianth after he decided to marry an elf. Although the magic beasts did not particularly hate the elves like they did the humans, it did not mean there was not sufficient enmity between the two races. Mixed race unions were looked down upon in the entire continent. Both Brevre and his wife had no prejudice towards the elf race personally and they could tell that their son was head over heels for that girl. She treated him well and their love was strong, so they could find no reason to pull the two apart. Only, the couple could not stay in either of their homes because, though they were not kicked out, they decided to leave because they did not want their children to grow up in such a toxic environment. The elders tried to stay in contact with their son and keep tabs on his life, but there was a definite lag in the information since the places were so far apart. It was not until it was too late that they finally received information about the attack on the Ley Kingdom. The King and Queen were both missing, presumed dead, while all their children scattered across the continent. They knew it would too difficult to try to find the children, especially since the older ones would probably be trying their best to stay low key and hide. Thoughts of finding the culprit and getting revenge passed through their mind, yet there was no target. No one knew why the kingdom was attacked. It was a complete mystery to the surrounding countries, and the bigger countries could not care less about such a small kingdom in the middle of nowhere. "Well, that boy seems to have gotten confident now. However, if it was so easy to beat our Rosie wouldn''t all those suitors be put to shame? Plus, who does he think has trained our granddaughter until now?" Elder Freizon smirked at her husband''s waving of his white flag before turning her attention back towards the battle. Seeing Rosalie''s confident expression, she knew that the girl was about to get serious. "No matter what, she is two years older. Although at our age this seems like such a short time, during their explosive growth period, two years means a lot." Brevre nodded while agreeing with his wife''s words. ... Greyson felt there was something wrong with his sister''s expression which made his expression sink. Soon his apprehension was answered by a drop in temperature. A beautiful ice lotus formed on his sister''s head complementing her hair. It was not the beauty that caught his attention, but the small blue Fey sitting on top of the flower. Having experienced one Fey before, Greyson could recognize it right away, only he could tell that this one was much stronger than the Ezra''s. He was not sensitive to the cold, but even he could feel the biting chill enter his body. Rosalie flipped her hand and a pure white bow appeared in her hand. The small Fey on her head blew cold air and formed seven icy arrows for Rosalie. Her wind element enhancing her movement, Rosalie shot out all those arrows in record time. Greyson also already reacted by trying to sink into his shadow, however, he realized the cold temperature was not just that, it also acted like a poison of sorts that slowed down his mana flow. Although he started the spell early, his body could not move fast enough. Realizing this, Greyson quickly took out Genesis to block the arrows the old-fashioned way. The blade sizzled with heat as he ran his fire element through it. Slashing down, he tried to knock down the arrows flying at him from different directions. The mana in his body slowed, but his body was still light and quick as he dodged around and smashed the ice arrows. What he did not expect was that the pieces of the arrow did not dissipate after getting smashed apart but instead continued flying at him. No longer able to dodge all of them, small cuts formed all over Greyson''s body. In a bout of frustration, fire exploded around his body while increasing the temperature around him several fold. This time the ice did melt away. Finding his sister once again, he realized that her complexion was paler. Thinking she used a lot of her mana in the earlier attack, he thought that he could win this since he still had a good amount of mana remaining. Feeling his vision, Rosalie looked back, but not with disappointment like he expected. Instead she still had that same confident smile while her eyes had a hint of laughter. Furrowing his brows, Greyson felt that he was underestimating her and that it was not over. Just as he expected, the small cuts over his skin began to burn. Hissing in pain, he realized that ice was starting to form all over his body. He tried the fire element first to melt it, but when that was not working, he tried the light element to heal the wounds. However, the ice continued to spread all over his body and leave him frozen like a human icicle. Unable to move his body, he watched as his sister slowly approached. "Hahaha, little brother, it seems that big sister still has the advantage, no?" Laughing happily at Greyson''s state, Rosalie felt that she taught him a good lesson. Being proud of her younger brother was one thing while fanning his ego was another. She could tell that he had an innate confidence and arrogance in his talent which was clearly backed up by real ability, but she felt that it could also be his undoing. There was always work to be done to improve, right? Although her talent may not be as high as his, she was still a genius in her own right. "You''re a magister level stage five magician?" Greyson asked, however he was already clear on the answer. When she used her mana earlier, he could feel the level of fluctuations. "What kind of Fey is that?" "That''s my good friend, Ira, an Ice Lotus. She is probably the most powerful out of the Fey I have. I also have Umir, originally a Star Windweed, and also Bronx, a Wicked Willow Tree." Holding out her hand, Rosalie summoned a green Fey in one hand and a brown one in the other. Both were actually male Fey which he was seeing for the first time. Then, with another wave of her hand, they all disappeared. The ice holding Greyson also disappeared and his body was released. He had to admit that his sister looked pretty cool at this moment. It always felt bad to lose no matter what, but he was slightly comforted by the fact that she was his sister. He was stuck between whether he should just be proud that she is so powerful or be upset with his loss. Thinking about it, some healthy competition would not hurt. He would still work hard so he could defeat her next time. "I know that you have really high natural ability and I am really happy to see how well you have grown. However, you have to realize that at one point you have to filter through your knowledge and pick a couple to create really strong attacks. You have a lot of tricks up your sleeve, but nothing extremely substantial. At this point, your greatest advantage is that you can switch it up a lot in a battle, but against someone who trains in one extreme this versatility might not work well. I use my Fey to combine with three different strong attacks that I train in and constantly try to improve. I''m not saying to completely abandon certain elements or anything, but you should have one good offensive and defensive move that you feel could trump any opponent." Trying her best to give him advice, Rosalie laid out what was on her mind. Greyson lowered his head in thought and reflection hearing her criticisms. He really was a large mess. There were a lot of useful spells that just get abandoned somewhere in his mind. He focused so much on the new things that he forgot about the old skills that he used. Even forgetting about that Wind Shield spell that he got from the dungeon. With his increase in level, he could now cover more of his body with the spell which would exponentially increase his defense. There were also the combination element spells that he created, he did not use any of those. Suddenly, he felt that he spent the entire fight just trying to use the new move that he learned without tapping into his arsenal of spells. Seeing that her brother was sincerely reflecting and understood her heart, Rosalie stern expression was replaced by a content smile. Reaching out her hand, she ruffled his hair. Greyson glanced up in surprise. "Don''t feel too down. It''s inevitable that it would be hard to focus on one thing when you have so many elements to use. That''s why it sometimes better to just be talented and have a single element that way it''s easy to dedicate yourself to one route. I''ll keep fighting with you, so I hope you can continue to practice and improve. I''m still super impressed that you could already transform your whole arm in just a month. As expected of my younger brother!" A warm feeling spread throughout Greyson and he stopped thinking about these things for now. "I look forward to fighting with you!" A determination lit up in his eyes. This was a good time to settle down again and reinforce his power instead of just trying to increase his level. 97 Another Suitor? Without him even realizing, time quickly moved on. Greyson had already been staying on this mountain for two months. Some days, he would practice by himself, whereas other days he would battle with his sister, Rosalie. Each time they fought, it was mostly Greyson getting pounded into the ground one more time. However, as he continued to assimilate with his new power level and experimenting with spells, Greyson began to fight back better than before. He had yet to actually defeat her yet, but he knew that it was only a matter of time. His time on the Snow Dragon Peak was extremely relaxing as he was surrounded by resources and powerful grandparents who showered him with love and wise teachings to increase his prowess. The only thing that would make him worry time to time was Lucius. Through their contract, Greyson could tell that he was alive and well and that he was not coming into any harm. The red string around his wrist was still solid and strong, meaning that Lucius did not run into any danger. Although this was true, this made Greyson even more confused about how he ended up with the Snow Dragon tribe by himself. Why would Lucius drop him off here and leave? Was there a situation he was not aware of after sealing himself off? He tried to shake any negative thoughts away from his mind and focus on training while he was in such a paradise, however, it was not easy to push away the unavoidable anxious worry and panic. Forcing all his thoughts into passion for meditating, Greyson started to understand that his connection with the world only grew stronger after this breakthrough. If before, he always felt that he had to purposefully pull mana into his body, now, it felt natural as if he and the world were already connected. This type of connection was new and still weak, but Rosalie told him that this connection would only grow stronger as he grows stronger. She explained that this was the reason that a human''s lifespan will increase upon reaching higher levels. At one point, the world becomes an endless source of energy for the body and prevents it from breaking down per usual. Although this is not immortality, it was the closest a human could get to living forever. Legends say that if one becomes an Elemental God, they become immortals, but no one could corroborate this statement so most people believed it was false. Some people even believed that such a level does not exist. Otherwise, how could billions of years of history not record one single occurrence of an Elemental God? Greyson was also unsure of his beliefs. However, there were many Elemental God believers throughout the different races. For the humans, it was the Church of Elos. Sister Lily was a believer of this church. Their message was not particularly harmful or bad. Elos was the name of a Light Elemental God who started as a doctor for the sick and a foster father to many until he became a God. His followers are all pacifists who work to heal the sick and raise the orphans. Actually, no one was even sure what the real gender of Elos is, his believers just like to imagine him as some peaceful and magnanimous old man. Greyson never really fed into the lessons he learned in the church, but he still respected the Church because he respected Sister Lily. "Greyson, are you ready for our fight today?" A quiet voice broke Greyson out of his thoughts. Opening his eyes, he looked over towards the doorway towards his sister. Excitement filling his eyes, Greyson quickly rose from the ground to follow her out. Maybe today would be the day! ... "Master, I do not know where this new boy came from, however, he will severely impact your plans the way things are heading." A cold monotone voice spoke out. If Greyson were here, he would recognize this voice as the one from the man who was trying to pull Rosalie away the day that he first woke up. "Hmmm... Heinios, have you done your research on this new person?" "His identity is a complete mystery. Even using our connections in the surrounding areas, there was nothing about this boy. However, I can tell you, that he is also part elf like Lady Rosalie. When he first awoke, he had extremely similar features to her. Only, now, when I see the pictures drawn of him, he looks more like a Snow Dragon Beastman. My guess it that he is a mixed blood who miraculously has both a dragon bloodline and elf bloodline. A lot of the Snow Dragon tribe was upset because of the resources that were fed into his body while the boy was comatose. One of those was a Calming Fruit. Your servant is guessing that it was needed to allow the bloodlines to calmly interact. Recently, Lady Rosalie spends almost every day with this newcomer which does not bode well for any of her suitors. It seems that she may be thinking accepting him as her lover." Never once did the man''s voice waver as everything he said sounded like a plain everyday assessment. "Hmph! Don''t even mention those suitors around me. All of them are not worthy of being my rivals. This mixed blood thing also is not even worthy of being my servant. Rosalie has become arrogant just because she is Elder Brevre''s granddaughter. Does she really think I want to marry her or something? Her looks are just enough to be my maid. I have been trying to take the nice route by allowing her to be full of herself and think I will chase her normally. However, some half-elf weakling like her wants to reject me? She doesn''t know her place!" Pure pride reflected in this new voice. Heinios made no reaction, however, as he cast his eyes upon the man lazing on a Grecian couch. This new person looked to be around 30 years old. His entire body was rippling with toned muscle and beautifully bronzed skin. Golden hair and golden eyes peaked through the curtains on the bed. He sprawled himself out and allowed the female servants around him to massage and feed him. His face was undeniably handsome carried with obvious arrogance. "What level is this new person at anyway?" "From his battles with his sister, he is a magister level stage three magician." "That''s it? Then it seems I don''t even have to make a move personally. Just send one of my guards to take care of him. I''ve been missing Rosalie''s company these few months. Since she is so inclined to avoid me, I want you to make sure she is brought before me even by force." Waving his hand dismissively, he gave out his orders as deep possessiveness reflected in his golden eyes. "Your servant understands." Saluting, Heinios took his commands and quickly departed. "Snow Dragons? They are just trying to fight the inevitable. They think they can be the kings just because they control two elements? I''d like to see what they can do against me. I will receive what I desire!" ... Greyson was unaware of the new storm that was brewing. He was walking back with his head drooping in disappointment after eating another loss. Rosalie tried her best to hold in her giggles, but she could not help but think that her younger brother was too cute. Patting his head, she ruffled his fluffy hair. She wanted to speak a couple words to console him, but she was interrupted before she could get out a word. "Oh, Rosalie, my goddess, my world~! Dear beautiful flower, you brighten my world just by existing!" A disgustingly familiar voice echoed from behind the brother-sister pair. Even Greyson shivered hearing such obviously flattering words in such a flippant tone. Turning around, he came face to face with a good-looking youth around his early 20s or so. He had short green hair and seductive looking green eyes. His lips seemed to be curved in a permanent smirk that made him always look like he was up to no good. Greyson frowned deeply before pulling Rosalie behind him. Out of all the suitors he had run into thus far, this man gave him by far the worst impression. "Oh, oh, oh? Who is this beauty? Such young and innocent charms... I could eat you right up!" Licking his tongue suggestively, he eyed Greyson up and down. This time Rosalie pulled Greyson into a protective hug. "Cerul! Don''t you even think about it! You keep your dirty claws to yourself!" Bristling like a mother bear protecting her cub, she summoned a strong wind to push the newcomer back. However, the man just chuckled before easily blocking her attack. However, Rosalie just smiled instead as a large earth hand slammed the man into the ground with a loud smack. Crushed into the ground, Greyson flinched thinking that the guy was swatted away so violently just like a fly. *Cough! Cough!* "Rosalie, my dear. What did I say about attacking me? If you are so upset just say so, I do have an image to upkeep, you know?" Without a hint of embarrassment, the man quickly pulled himself up off the ground. Covered in dirt, all his former grace was no longer present for a moment. Getting the wind to blow off all the dust and flipping his hair cleanly, Cerul quickly restored himself to the earlier playboy look. "My, my. What a bad habit my loose mouth has! If I knew he was so important I would not have said anything." Slightly narrowing his eyes into crescents with a subservient smile, he did not seem to blame Rosalie at all. At this point, even Greyson realized that his sister did not actually treat this man with disgust. If anything, there was some annoyance and even helplessness towards his attitude, but she did not reject him like everyone else. "Hmph! Whatever. Your philandering ways will never improve. Take a good look with your eyes, this is my younger brother! He is off limits permanently. If I see you within even a 10 feet radius of him, I will smash your face in until you can no longer see anybody for months. Shoo, shoo!" Flicking her hands towards him, Rosalie glared at him while indicating he should leave. However, the man just laughed and looked at Greyson with interest before sticking out his hand. "Hello, little brother, I am Cerul from the Wind Dragon tribe." Although hesitant, Greyson decided to reach out to shake the man''s hand and introduce himself. "Hello, I''m-" Before he could shake Cerul''s hand, Rosalie yanked him back. "Don''t touch him. Who knows what diseases he carries with him?" Looking wronged, Cerul grasped his heart like he just took a critical attack before trying to defend himself. "Hey, now, Rosie, you can''t just go saying anything you want about me. What kind of dragon do you think I am?" "A dragon in heat." "Well..." Suddenly, Cerul could not help but look speechless. "Sister?..." Greyson finally spoke out in a questioning tone. This was the first time he ever saw his sister acting so friendly with anyone excluding himself. "Ah, Greyson, this is Cerul. Cerul, this is Greyson. Although I do not approve of including this disgusting thing, he is part of my closest friend group here in the Dragon Mountains. Do not fall for his friendly demeanor. Greyson you may not be aware, but each dragon tribe has a severe flaw. They are all born with extraordinary talents and powerful bodies. They are one of the most powerful magic beasts, but they each have a flaw. Wind Dragons are lustful, Water Dragons are greedy, Fire Dragons are violent, Light Dragons are exceedingly arrogant, even the Snow Dragons are stubborn to a fault. All of them have this weakness that overrides their intelligence at times. It has caused a lot of the dragons to fall into traps and be easily captured or killed. The more powerful the dragon, the easier it is for them to control these impulses. Cerul does not have any morals when it comes to beautiful people or beasts. Even gender does not matter. Our group continues to try to fix his distasteful habits, but it is carved into his very existence to flirt." Rolling her eyes, Rosalie quickly explained her relationship with the newcomer. Greyson listened with interest as he had not heard of this information before, he did not focus on knowing all the specifics of each magic beast. More just knowledge of the common magic beasts and their abilities so that he could have better survival skills. "Who are your other friends?" Deciding to ignore Cerul, Greyson followed up with another question since he was curious. He had yet to meet anyone else that his sister was close to, so he was shocked to know that there was actually a group. "Well, that''s right, I guess you haven''t met them. They all went out on a little search mission for an herb that one of our friends is in need of, so they were not in the Mountains. I''ll introduce them to you when they all come back. That''s right, Cerul, didn''t you go with them? Is everyone back already?" "Oh, I got back a little early, you know that I have always been the fastest." Winking charmingly at Greyson, he still responded seriously to Rosalie''s question. Snorting angrily, Rosalie once again glared over at Cerul. Greyson, on the other hand, just felt speechless towards this guy''s attitude. However, after interacting for a little while, he realized that he may be lustful but he was not overwhelming about it. For some reason, his forthrightness with his desires actually did not make Greyson feel repulsed. Instead, he just felt that Cerul was an interesting person. "Alright, alright, it is enough. I can protect myself." Greyson spoke out. "Hello, Cerul. My name is Greyson." Reaching out his hand, Greyson reintroduced himself. This time Cerul smiled without any shadiness and shook Greyson''s outreached hand. "Hello, little friend." "Sister, why did you not go with them?" Returning to the earlier topic, Greyson was confused as to why his sister stayed around. "..." Suddenly Rosalie turned silent as she looked extremely displeased by the question. Cerul just continued to chuckle. "Oh my goddess, you are too cute!" He remarked. Glaring daggers at Cerul once again, she summoned another earth hand to smack him, however, this time, Cerul dodged easily. "Tsk, tsk. I didn''t dodge last time because I felt bad, but I can''t just let you hit me all the time now, can I?" Greyson looked over with obvious questioning in his eyes. Rosalie saw his look before pausing. "... I am the weakest." She murmured almost incoherently. "The weakest?" Greyson''s eyes widened. "Don''t let their human forms fool you! Cerul, here, is almost 200 years old! All the rest of them are around that age as well. Greyson, dragons mature much slower than humans. They are still teenagers in the eyes of other dragons. They can almost naturally break through as long as they wait long enough. All of my friends, including Cerul, are all already Great Magisters. The strongest is already at stage two, but that dragon is also the oldest." "200?" Greyson felt dizzy just thinking about it. To this day, he had lived for only around 14 years. He could not imagine what he would be like once he turns 200. "Don''t be so shocked, Grey. It''s really, really difficult to become a Great Magister. Although, I am already at stage five right now, I might not become a Great Magister until I am 30 or so and that would still be breaking records. Plus, our grandparents pushed me through the magister stages so my foundation is still weak. You have to understand, that with each level, each stage also gets considerably harder. Due to your increasing lifespan, the golden period also becomes older and older. Before it was 10 years old, then it continued to grow right? Well the cutoff for Great Magister is 50 years and the cutoff for Magician King is 250 years old. That''s only the human standard too since our natural talent and lifespan is lower so we have less time. Dragons have very different standards and talent thresholds they need to meet. You will have to start building your patience because sometimes luck is also involved in breaking through to the next level. Just meditation will no longer be enough." Taking this chance, Rosalie once again started lecturing Greyson. Maybe it was to hide her own embarrassment for being so weak, but Greyson was too deep in thought to think about teasing her about it. He was already pretty smug and happy with his fast progress that was breaking records, but listening to Rosalie, Greyson realized how young and weak he was still compared to the rest of the world. 98 Rosalies Friends After parting ways with Cerul, Greyson went back to his room. Rosalie did not walk back with him and instead went to her own room seemingly inspired to start practicing now that her friends were back. Cerul said that the rest of the group were all going to meet up with each other the next morning. They would probably get back to the mountain tonight but would have to report to their families and leaders before resting after the long journey. Greyson looked forward to meeting all these new people. He thought about maybe sparring with them as well even if they were a lot more powerful than him. He wanted a challenge. Although he still could not beat Rosalie, it would be good to experience different sorts of fighters so that he can build a more versatile style for himself. Meditating for the rest of the night, Greyson only awoke after a faint knocking on the door sounded. Opening his eyes and looking towards the doorway, he was surprised seeing a new face. Almost every single day it was his sister who got him from his room, but today it was a blue-haired, blue-eyed young girl. From her features, Greyson could easily infer that she was from the water dragon tribe. Her features were not particularly striking; however, they had a feminine softness making her look like a vulnerable small creature. Furrowing his brows in confusion, Greyson finally asked, "Who are you?" "Ah, hello, I am Lariah of the Water Dragon Tribe. I just wanted to introduce myself. I, uhm, really admire you for your bravery. I have been watching your fights and think that you are really amazing!" Slightly blushing, she politely curtsied before introducing herself. Normally, all the other male dragons would have felt seduced by such a cute and shy act but it seemed to go right over Greyson''s head. "So?" Still not understanding what this had to do with him, Greyson did not soften. "So... I-... Nothing, I guess I just wanted to let you know of my existence..." Biting her lip with tears springing to her eyes, Lariah tried her best to stutter her way through an unexpected reaction with a wronged expression. "Oh, well, okay. Lariah, right? I will remember." A little stunned at why this girl would suddenly start crying for no reason, Greyson decided to answer nicely. "Hmph, Grey, there is no need to waste your time remembering nobodies. This fox is especially someone not worth your time." A cold voice suddenly cut through from behind Lariah. Greyson''s eyebrows rose in surprise, recognizing Rosalie''s voice. Lariah''s expression paled as she bit her lip harder. "...?" "You might not know, but this little Water Dragon may look young and weak but she is a wild temptress. Many of the different tribes have been her victims, nowadays, all men steer clear of her and all women sneer at her." Rosalie walked in while slowly enunciating each word. "Oh, actually, if I remember correctly, the only person who interacts with you these days is that Young Lord of the Dragon King tribe." Spitting out the last words in disgust, Greyson started to understand what was happening before turning his cold purple eyes to glare at Lariah. Still looking the part of a shivering scared young girl, Lariah''s face lost all color at Rosalie''s words. "Don''t ma-malign me! I''m not like that!" Fighting weakly back, she ran over to Greyson to grip onto his arm. "Greyson, you have to believe me! Rosalie is just trying to keep other people of the tribe away from you. I just want to be your friend, I have no other intentions." Pouting unhappily with tears spilling out of her wide doe eyes, she was the picture of a girl suffering injustice. Only, she obviously tried this act on the wrong person. Almost shivering in disgust, Greyson pushed off her grip from his clothes. Using his magic, he washed off the piece that was touched. Walking over to Rosalie, he did not look over once at the crying Lariah. "I dislike strangers touching me." His unfeeling voice spoke out. "Please leave this room. You are distracting me from my training. I hope that you do not interrupt me again. To answer your request, I do not think we can be friends." Hearing his words, Lariah did not respond as she was still in shock from being pushed off like some dirty beggar. Her crying stopped as her expression was blank. Finally, she reared her head towards the two at the doorway with an ugly expression on her face. "Well, looks like you do not know what''s good for you! Messing with the Lord''s women, I was trying to give you an easy way out if you just came to me." Getting angry out of humiliation, her facade finally faded away. Greyson and Rosalie just looked at each other before letting out a laugh. "Hm, seems the farce is over? Be a good dog and go back to your owner and tell him that he is going to have to come back with higher quality women if he wants to seduce my Greyson. He has to make sure that he takes a good look at who would be the rival, obviously not just any random person can match up to me." Rosalie linked arms with Greyson before leaning her head on his shoulder possessively. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Greyson decided to just stay still and allow her to use him. She was his sister after all, he could help her with this much. Lariah looked back and forth between the two of them before suddenly feeling like she was just a clown jumping up and down forcing a show. Blushing further, Lariah looked as she just swallowed a fly. Not knowing what to say, she just got up off the floor and pushed past the two of them in a huff. "Really, if that man wants to set a honey trap, he first has to make sure the woman is up to par. Such an intelligence level is just asking for it to fail. My little brother is so great, of course he would have high standards in women." Rosalie''s cold expression did not change as she scoffed at the leaving Lariah. "Grey, don''t just talk to any woman. Who knows what their goal would be?" Turning her vision towards her brother, Rosalie decided to concisely lecture him. Rolling his eyes, Greyson suddenly felt that his sister might be too protective. He could deal with these things himself. "Alright, alright, I know, sister. I will be careful. Plus, just because I said I would remember her name did not mean I actually wanted to be close to her. It''s just that minute she said her name, of course I would remember it, not that I would put any extra effort or something. My memory is good." Shrugging, Greyson did not see the big deal about earlier. There was no need to be so hostile, but he thought he should back up his sister and show a united front towards others. "That''s just because you haven''t ever met that disgusting man. Who know what his plans were by having that woman approach you? Stay on your toes. As much as I abhor him, he really is powerful and his servants are all cunning." Rosalie''s expression turned serious as she warned him. "That Young Lord of the Dragon King tribe? The Light Dragons? Why did she say you were his woman anyways?" Rosalie''s expression quickly darkened. "Irumen. The current son of the Dragon King. He wants me to be his woman and thinks that just because he says that, he has laid some sort of claim on me. Delusional as he may be, I really cannot do much against him and neither can grandfather or grandmother." Greyson also grew silent. "Well, no matter, we will deal with it when it comes. He has not acted on anything yet so I have just tossed it to the back of my mind most of the time along with the rest of those nonsense suitors." Trying to lighten the atmosphere, Rosalie decided to divert the subject. "Hey, I was coming to get you, so you could meet my friends. Follow me! I''ll take you to see them. They''re all really quirky but have kind hearts." Deciding it was best not to mention anything at this moment, Greyson let Rosalie change the subject and pull him along down the mountain. ... As the brother and sister pair got closer and closer to their destination, Greyson began to spot a group of six that was laughing and chatting loudly in the midst of a quiet circle garden. Glancing over each person, he realized there were five different type of dragons in the group. There were three males and two females. One female Dark Dragon, one female Earth Dragon, two male Fire Dragons, Cerul, and one male whom he could not tell. His hair was dark grey almost as if he were an old man, however, his features were still young and in his prime. All of them were mostly good looking except for this mysterious male whom Greyson felt had extremely ordinary features, almost to an easily forgettable extent. As if even though he just saw his face, he would forget it the next second. His interest piqued, him and Rosalie quickly made their way over as Greyson was able to catch the tail end of their conversation in secret. "A younger brother?" "Oh, that means she found one! Which one is it? An older or younger brother?" Both the Fire Dragons asked enthusiastically. Greyson could tell now that they were actually related, and looked identical to one another. "Younger brother." Cerul gave his signature lopsided smile before answering. "How is this younger brother? What do you think of him?" "Just as beautiful as his older sister! You guys should look forward to meeting such eye candy, especially when him and Rosie are standing together. It just automatically multiplies the beauty in the area. He could be her little sister instead of her little brother!" The arriving Greyson had three black lines form on his forehead. Was this a compliment or an insult?! Not pleased by the words he purposefully snorted loudly signaling his arrival. The rest of the group held in their laughter as they had seen Greyson coming but Cerul''s back was facing Greyson so he did not realize. Cerul paused before turning around. "Oh, Grey~ Looking great today as well, you handsome devil!" Quickly bounding up from the ground, it looked as if Cerul wanted to grab Greyson into a hug. However, before he could get close, a hard foot slammed his face back and sent him flying. "My goddess, Rosalie, what did I say about hitting my face!" A distressed cry rang out from Cerul as he got back up. "Well, what did I say about the 10 feet radius?" Rosalie fired back. It was at this moment that the rest of the group finally burst out into laughter. Their eyes filled with familiar amusement. Rosalie smiled towards them ignoring Cerul and dragged Greyson over to introduce all of them. "This is my younger brother, Greyson. Greyson, these are my friends. The twin Fire Dragons, Ferno and Fervis, the Dark Dragon is Hayze, the Earth Dragon is Sloan, and lastly the Time Dragon is Aeos." Hearing the last introduction, Greyson glanced over to the earlier mysterious looking man. A Time Dragon? Although he had heard of the existence of people who could control the time element like the space element, it was much rarer and extremely difficult. Until they reached higher levels, it was apparently one of the most useless elements. They could only minutely effect time before they become powerful. A lot of them turn to divining the future. Since they are in tune with time, they can sometimes have a picture of what is to come. However, it is not super reliable as things can change all the time. Thus, their reputation for being useless. Elder Sweetbow had told him that once a time element magician reached the Great Magister level, he could start to control time with much better mastery and became a much more difficult opponent than before. They could start to slow time for others and speed it up for themselves or vice versa. Some could even reverse time back 1 minute at a crucial moment. These types of spells obviously took up a lot of mana, but in a battle, they could be deadly with just one move not needing one more. Understanding Greyson''s curiosity, Rosalie decided to educate him some more. "Time Dragons are a rather rare tribe in the Dragon Mountains. They do not reproduce as well and thus their numbers were dwindling. However, their leader is one of the most powerful and mysterious Ancestor of the different Dragon tribes. His control of time is feared by many, he can even predict the future with fairly high accuracy. They are not as talented as the Destiny Cats in this aspect, but they are much easier to find so a lot of different tribes try to enlist the Time Dragons'' help." Hearing of the Destiny Cats, Greyson was no longer too interested with the Time Dragon in front of him. "Destiny Cats?" He decided to play dumb. Although he felt he could tell his sister about Lucius, he did not know her friends well enough. "Oh, it would make sense if you have not heard of them. Barely anyone in the Beast Empire knows about them, too. They hide away in a different part of space most of the time without leaving until they have a certain amount of power. Their special abilities are extremely coveted by other races and even other magic beasts. They''re an extremely reclusive tribe that almost never shows themselves to avoid inviting any trouble to themselves. They can divine future, bless their owners with good fortune, they even have an ability that lets them directly bring someone to a site of treasures." Rosalie did not seem to interested, but she knew how much other people always wished to catch a young Destiny Cat. Hidden away in Greyson''s eyes was a trace of unease, but there was nothing he could do now since he was not able to locate Lucius. Seeing that Rosalie was done speaking, the rest of the group all chimed in with their greetings. "Hello, Greyson! It''s nice to meet you!" In unison, the two twin brothers shouted their hellos while ruffling Greyson''s hair. Pouting slightly, Greyson straightened his hair before saying hello back. Hayze did not say anything but just nodded with a small smile on her face. Greyson nodded back with a similar smile. Sloan and Aeos both gave him warm smiles before also welcoming Greyson. "Well, Cerul was not lying when he said that you were a good-looking one like Rosalie." Sloan mentioned with a wink. Although she was also pretty in her own right, Sloan was almost as tall as most guys with lean muscles showing her power. She held herself with strength and charisma that was more heroic. She did not have the same reticent attitude of Hayze or a cold beauty like Rosalie, but stood out with her own individuality. "I will take that as a compliment." Greyson mouth twitched into a smile as he looked over to the still sulking Cerul who was touching his face in pain. Looking at the large round bruise around his left eye that was swelling badly, Greyson couldn''t help but chuckle at Cerul''s new face. Sensing Greyson''s amusement, the rest of the group looked over before laughing out with mocking laughter. Cerul just pouted at all of them but did not say anything before sighing. Suddenly, he disappeared from his spot. Before anyone could react, he picked up Greyson and gave him a tight hug. Everything happened so quickly that even Greyson was not able to react before he was already let down. "I should at least have actually gotten a hug to be punished so, or else it is just too unfair to my handsome face." Everyone just shook their heads while Rosalie glared at him in anger and looked to hit him again. Watching the two of them go at each other, the rest just laughed and began chatting happily. Greyson joined the rest of the group and started getting to know all of them better. Honestly, he was not that disgruntled about the hug, he just chalked it up to being a habit that comes with Cerul''s odd personality. ... The talked and caught up for almost the entire day. Once night rolled around, they all decided it was time to go back and went their separate ways. Greyson flopped down onto his bed once he was back at his room in exhaustion. He had never spent so much time talking to people before and while they were all great people, he felt tired from socializing for so long. Before he could even change, his eyelids grew heavy and he fell into deep sleep. *ROAR!* Greyson was lulled from sleep by a loud roar from some beast. Thinking it sounded really close to himself, he decided to get out of bed to take a look. Walking from his room, he looked around but did not notice any magic beasts in the surrounding. Feeling like it might have been something actually far away, Greyson turned to go back inside until a faint smell of blood wafted his way through the night breeze. Turning towards the scent''s direction, Greyson followed it until he saw a mess of white and black fur that was stained with blood. Trembling on the ground was a small injured Cloud Leopard cub. Unsure what to do, Greyson thought it would still be better to save it. Gingerly picking up the cub into his arms, he used his water element to clean off the traces of blood and cut off the trail before he carried it to his room. He was not sure how the cub was injured so for now he believed it would be safer if no one was sure that it was him who saved it. Summoning his light element, the cub was slowly healing from its heavy injuries. Although he got through some of the surface wounds, Greyson still would have to continue the next day. Draining his mana to heal the cub, Greyson quickly fell back asleep after setting the cub down on the floor wrapped in some blankets. 99 Daddy! When Greyson woke up the next day, he looked over to where he left the little Cloud Leopard on the ground. Shooting up from the bed, Greyson realized the little beast was shivering looking to be in pain. Furrowing his brows, he began checking the with his light magic. He could actually see a black substance wreaking havoc inside the Cloud Leopard''s body. Frowning, Greyson quickly tried to get his light mana to touch it, but this dark thing would continually dodge around. He allowed his light mana to lead this black substance in one direction before suddenly trapping it with his other open hand. Trapped inside his light mana, Greyson managed to pull it out. Trapped inside a light ball, the black thing screamed and slammed around inside. Grimacing, Greyson poured more of his mana into the ball to reinforce the spell. He recognized this as one of the evil dark magic spells of the Midnight Order: Soul Poison. They were created by refining a live person into a poison and injecting this into someone. The poison would then have some form of consciousness and could even give magic kings grief if they could not find a light magician in time. However, its bane was clearly light magic and this Cloud Leopard luckily met Greyson. His eyes burst into a golden color as a bright light extinguished the Soul Poison inside the cage. After this problem was eliminated, the Cloud Leopard stopped shaking and fell into a deep sleep. Greyson sighed in relief and used the remainder of his magic to heal the rest of the wounds inside the cub. He kept going until his mana ran low once more and he stopped the constant flow of light mana and changed to his own meditation. Surprisingly, Rosalie did not stop by today so Greyson continued to meditate before turning around and healing the cub''s wounds one by one. Light magic was not a miracle worker and Greyson could not just heal all wounds with a snap of the finger. This Cloud Leopard was deeply injured and almost dead when Greyson picked it up so he had to spend an extended time using his light magic. Once all the wounds were healed, two days of quiet meditation and healing passed by for Greyson. Using his light magic so much actually deepened his understanding of the element so Greyson did not feel it to be a waste of time. A new plan for practice started to form in his mind through this experience, as well. In the end, Greyson was very happy with the results. Being a Good Samaritan for the day was not bad. He should rescue things more often. Laughing and shaking his head at his own ridiculous idea, Greyson suddenly felt the empty space of Lucius missing his snarky comebacks. As much of a pain that cat could be, they had been together for so long, it was like every moment was too quiet that it was unfamiliar to Greyson. "I should leave here as soon as possible to go looking for Old Lu...I wonder what a Cloud Leopard like you is doing at these mountains, though. I hear it''s very hard for outsiders to try to climb these mountains." Greyson felt this was fairly strange. Picking up the small cub into his arms, he stroked its soft fur. Sitting cross-legged, he placed the cub on his legs and decided to meditate the rest of the day. The morning sunlight peaked into the room through the window and hit Greyson''s face. Feeling the warmth on his face, Greyson opened his eyes slowly. Looking down, he saw the Cloud Leopard was still sleeping so he placed it onto the bed before stretching. Fully energized and refreshed, he felt like he should go out to train today. As if on cue, his sister, Rosalie lightly knocked on his door and walked in. She walked in to see her little brother in loose white shirt and brown pants yawning cutely like a little cat. Without even noticing, her hand rose and pet his head. "Good morning! Are you ready to fight again today? Maybe today will finally be the day you beat me! You can break that forever losing streak of yours." Giggling happily, Rosalie teased her little brother. "Hmph! Perfect, I was about to go looking for you today. My body is itching for a fight." Lightly slapping her hand away, Greyson tied his hair back before putting on his boots. "Oh, well we shall see if I will beat that itch out for you or not." Rosalie smiled, before seeing a spot of white on the bed out of the corner of her eye. "Hm? What''s that, Grey?" She walked passed him to approach the bed. "I picked up an injured Cloud Leopard a couple days ago and healed it. It was even afflicted with the Midnight Order''s Soul Poison so I haven''t told anyone else about it because there are a couple suspicious things." Greyson told his sister all of the story because he also wanted her opinion on what to do. This situation was rather odd no matter how he thought of it, so he did not know if keeping this leopard cub would bring on some sort of issue or not. "Soul Poison?" Rosalie widened her eyes in shock. Closely examining the small cub, she also made a noise of surprise. "This is not a Cloud Leopard, it''s a Sun Moon Leopard. How rare!" She exclaimed. Picking up the cub, she showed him the crescent moon shape on its chest. "Sun Moon Leopard? I don''t think I have heard of this race." "That''s not surprising. They are very rare and have gone almost extinct. The entire race is very talented and they all have an interesting condition. They are both male and female until they have found their mate and then will choose which gender to be. Until then, they control four elements. The female Moon Leopard is a dark and water dual element beast while the male Sun Leopard controls the light and fire elements. The female side is extremely good with defense and escaping speed, while the male side is strong at attacking. Their tribe used to one of the most powerful in the Beast Empire during ancient times, however, they were too greedy. Of course, they are more powerful if they never choose to mate. Therefore, the amount of offspring produced in the tribe was extremely small because not many in the tribe chose to give up this ability. The tribe tried to get this under control and only pick a select few of the most talented in a generation to stay this way while the rest had to choose a mate. However, this only created bitterness and unhappiness within the tribe as to many ambitious individuals were forced to choose. The tribe imploded from within and now there are very few Sun Moon Leopards left within the Continent." Greyson was shocked hearing this news. A whole powerful tribe fell just like that and not from any outside force but from infighting. "Was it really because they did not want to give up the power? I feel like the majority would not be like that." "Well, that is the explanation in the history books because the tribes try to use this plight as an example of why certain figures of the tribe must learn to yield. However, grandfather told me that in reality, the problem was more emotional. Sun Moon Leopards are almost like two personalities in one body. They feel the other half of them is like a brother or like a sister. To choose only one form would mean that part of themselves would die off and disappear. For some, the feeling of just killing a part of themselves was very difficult and led to a lot of anger or depression." Nodding deeply, Greyson could suddenly understand the feeling. If someone told him that he had to kill Rosalie, he would never be able to do it, no matter what was at stake. It would hurt him deeply. "It should be fine to keep around. Not many would recognize this Leopard anyways. Most of them would just think it''s a Cloud Leopard like you. However, the Sun Leopard form is a little less common looking so you should just try to teach the cub to stay in its Moon Leopard form. Sun Moon Leopards are very intelligent creatures because their bloodline is powerful, only, this one seems to be very young. I do not know to what level its intelligence has developed. We should just hold off on the fight for now. You should watch over this cub until it wakes up. If it wakes up without you here it could go running around and get captured or injured again." Listening to his sister, Greyson sat back down to just quietly meditate and wait for the cub to awaken. Part of breaking through to new stages was the accumulation of mana anyways, so it was not like he was wasting his time. Around the morning of the next day, the cub finally stirred from its sleep. Greyson could feel the movement since he was making sure to keep his attention partly placed on the leopard. Flipping his eyes open, he watched closely while slightly worried about how this cub might react. After opening its eyes, the cub was shocked for a second before noticing Greyson beside it. Frightened by the sight of him, the mark on its chest lit up and transformed into a sun. The black spotted white fur turned completely golden as the small cub crouched down and began to growl. Greyson was unsure of what to do, so he first put his hands up trying to look as non-threatening as possible. Seeing that the cub was not calming down at all, Greyson decided to start radiating his light mana. It was then the cub finally showed a reaction. It closed its eyes and softly purred feeling the comfortable and familiar aura. Slowly approaching, Greyson finally arrived in front of the cub and stroked it gently. By now, the small cub leaned into Greyson''s touch before licking his hand gently. Smiling, Greyson could tell that this cub recognized him now. Instincts were a crazy thing with beasts, he guessed that the cub might be familiar with his light mana since he was constantly healing the cub with it. "Daddy!" He heard a young voice suddenly shout out. Choked for second, Greyson coughed violently. Shocked, his purple eyes glanced downwards to see the little cub staring back at him with stars literally shooting from its golden eyes. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Greyson was not sure how he was supposed to respond. "No, I am not your daddy. I am Greyson." He tried to patiently explain. "Daddy!" Shaking its small head, the cub was stubbornly set. "No, I''m-" "You are Daddy!" Speechless, Greyson did not know how to proceed. "Little sister says that your mana is familiar and comfortable so you must be our daddy. Little Snow is smarter so Gold will listen to her." "Snow and Gold? Who named you two? How old are you?" Feeling he would get nowhere trying to convince the cub, he decided to ask different questions. "Hmmmm... I don''t know. We have always been Gold and Snow..." The little leopard showed confusion in its two eyes clearly not able to remember. "Do you remember what happened? How were you hurt?" "Hurt... Gold does not remember... Little Snow was escaping... Everything was so painful." Trying its best to remember, Gold struggled to through what it remembered. Greyson soon realized, though, that the Leopard''s memory must have been damaged from the Soul Poison. Deeply sighing with helplessness, Greyson decided to just let it be. "Little Gold, can you let me meet Little Snow?" Greyson remembered what his sister reminded him of. Looking over the Sun Leopard form, Greyson agreed that there was no particular name that came to mind seeing this form so it was much more of a giveaway than the Moon Leopard form. "Little Snow? Sure!" Nodding its little head, the sun on the cub''s chest once again glowed before turning into a crescent moon. Its golden eyes turned an icy blue while its fur became white with black spots. "Hello, Daddy!" Snow happily greeted. Greyson just wryly smiled back. "Little Snow, do you think you could stay out for now? If people saw Gold, bad guys might try to take you guys away." Trying his best to simplify the situation, Greyson pretended he was talking to some of the little kids from back at the orphanage. "Take us away from Daddy?!" Snow gasped and widened her eyes. "Okay, Little Snow will stay out. We don''t want bad guys to take us away." Innocently nodding, Snow agreed with Greyson''s words. Although he saw her agreement, Greyson still had to wonder if she understood. Feeling a headache coming, he felt concerned about this situation. His only real experience with magic beasts before meeting the dragons was with Lucius. Every single magic beast he has met has always been older and experienced. This was the first time he had to deal with such a young magic beast. Usually this was the best for others when they wanted to rear a magic beast. They would capture it while it was young and impressionable to make it loyal to them. Greyson looked at the bright-eyed, cute little cub staring back at him in happiness before sighing yet again. What a disaster... 100 In Trouble Greyson did not know what to do with this new addition, however, no matter how hard he tried, Gold and Snow seemed to remember nothing about their past. They had no place to return to and could not remember if they have any enemies either. Part of him had a bad feeling about keeping the two of them near him since they were obviously so severely injured by another person or group that chased them down. He wanted to avoid pointless enemies, but the bright and innocent eyes staring back at him made it hard for him to bring up any word about sending them away. Thinking that he could just keep thinking about it the rest of the day, Greyson got dressed to go out and visit his grandparents. Racing up to the top of the mountain, Greyson nodded to say hi to some familiar faces while Snow happily bounded behind him introducing herself as well. Some of the Snow Dragons felt that keeping such a low-level beast like a Cloud Leopard was slightly weird, but they decided not to make any comments. Maybe Greyson had a soft spot for cute looking magic beasts? "Grandma, Grandpa!" "Oh, is that Greyson?! Come in, come in. You have such great timing, let me ask you. Looking at your grandfather''s good looks, would you not say that your grandmother was the lucky one? Even now, you can see that I used to be such a valiant and handsome fellow in my youth." Hearing his grandfather''s questions after walking in, Greyson suddenly fell silent not knowing what to say. Not sure what to say, Greyson just looked between the two of them. Seeing that they were still in their dragon forms, he did not know whether he should laugh or cry. How was he supposed to tell?! His taste was not so strong that he could tell who was good-looking or not between dragons. Pursing his lips and grimacing, he thought about the results for answering one way or the other and quickly came to a decision. "Grandma''s scales are such a glossy white with such shining purple eyes that are filled with wisdom. I bet she was a big beauty when you guys were young. I think grandpa was the lucky one." Shamelessly thickening his skin, Greyson decided to compliment his grandmother instead. After much observation, Greyson knew who really held the power and control in the relationship. Insulting his grandma was a big no-no. Just as he thought, after he said such, his grandma looked over at him clearly beaming over his flattery while his grandfather looked deflated but did not dare to say anything more. Although he pouted, Elder Brevre decided that he would just let his wife win this one. He knew the truth so it was fine. "Hahaha, Grandpa don''t be too upset. I know you probably were also- Ah!" Greyson tried to gloss over his words so his grandfather would not be too upset, but before he could finish his words, his arm began to burn. Groaning in pain, he held onto his arm watching as a brand was burned into his skin. Reading each letter, Greyson read out the word "ALTAR." Breaking out into a sweat, Greyson could not process what the word meant before he passed out. "Daddy? What''s wrong? Why are you sleeping?" Snow had no idea what was happening so all she could do was prod at Greyson in confusion. "Greyson! Old man, what is happening?!" In a panic, Elder Freizon quickly approached her grandson and watched as a word form onto his skin as it burned. Although she was confused as to what Cloud Leopard cub this was, she knew now was not the time to try to figure these things out. She also noted the word, but she was more worried about her unconscious grandson. Looking at him, she could feel his life-force getting slightly weaker out of nowhere. In her anxiousness, she carried him over to their herb garden and brought out some of their most powerful life-preserving herbs while telling her husband to call for a light dragon healer. Although Greyson was sustained for the moment, Elder Freizon could feel him getting weaker. When the healer finally arrived, Freizon pulled him in a hurry to check on Greyson. "Elder, I believe that he is being affected by an equal contract with another magic beast. His partner in the contract must have been almost fatally injured. Therefore, your grandson is suffering along with this injured beast." "Equal contract?!" Elder Freizon and Brevre were both shocked by this finding. Greyson had omitted Lucius'' information from his stories because he was worried about the Destiny Cat information getting out. Although he was fairly certain he could trust Rosalie and his grandparents, this information was very important. From what Rosalie told him, even in the Beast Empire, the Destiny Cats needed to hide in another space to prevent from being found. He promised Lucius that he would not tell anyone without the cat''s permission. In the end, it was not his secret to tell. "Why did he not tell us of something so important? Being apart from such a person is extremely dangerous, you could just die without knowing how. Why would he enter such a terrible contract in the first place?! Whose bad luck is causing our grandson to suffer like so?!" Elder Freizon could not help but shout and curse in her anger. Elder Brevre did not say anything but his face was also dark in distress. "Don''t keep shouting. If you curse this person, what if they actually die from their injuries, wouldn''t our grandson have to join him. You should be praying that this beast has good friends who could heal him so that Greyson can still get up again." Elder Brevre calmed his wife down trying to get her to sit down. "Oh, old man, I cannot bear if he just dies like this. We only just got reunited..." Her face falling into her hands, Elder Freizon could not help but weakly weep. Her emotional state was in a constant fragile state after hearing about the attack on her son and his family. Not knowing whether any of them was alive really hit her hard. It got better after meeting Rosalie and improved again after meeting Greyson. But if she had to suffer helplessly watching this cute grandson dying, she really did not know how she would be able to go on normally. How could she ever explain this to her dear son, either? That his young son died under their care? The atmosphere of the room continually sank as silence pervaded. In the midst of this despair, the door flung open as another body quickly entered. Her silver hair flying around and all over her face showed her rush to get here. Rosalie took a look at her pale brother while his skin felt cold to the touch. Feeling the temperature after reaching for Greyson''s hand, Rosalie recoiled in shock. "He isn''t-" She could not complete her question as her voice clearly shook. "No, he is still alive. Just barely." "What is happening? He was completely fine earlier?" Just yesterday, she saw him in pristine health while waiting for the Sun Moon Leopard cub to awaken. Thinking of this, she turned to Snow. "Was it you? He was obviously fine before you arrived!" Deep in her heart, Rosalie knew she was being ridiculous, but she had so much anger she wanted to vent. "Rosalie, don''t be ridiculous! How could this young cub hurt your brother? Greyson entered into an equal contract with another magical beast and that beast has been fatally injured. Their lives are tied together, so Greyson is also suffering from the incident." "What is that beast doesn''t survive..." "Then..." Not able to finish his sentence, Elder Brevre just stood in silence while his expression said everything that needed to be said. "Is there nothing we can do other than hope?" Rosalie''s voice quivered in fear of the worst-case scenario. "Don''t worry, I don''t believe that your brother would enter into a contract with some weakling who would die early! He will wake up just fine tomorrow!" Elder Freizon did not keep wallowing in her depression and instead decided to firmly believe that her grandson would make it through. "Just the fact that he is still fine now should mean that the beast has gotten to help and is getting treatment. Otherwise, Greyson would already be gone." Sitting back down, she gently stroked Greyson''s hair and moved the messy strands from his face. If one looked closely, they could see her hand shaking. Rosalie did not say anymore and just continued to sit at her brother''s bedside. The family sat in anxious wait for the next morning. They were not able to get a good night''s rest at all as Greyson continued to flare up the entire time. Multiple times, the family were already in tears thinking that they would really lose him. Both the elders could barely hold on psychologically with all the ups and downs. Rosalie just held Greyson''s hand and would not let go. All of them refused to eat or drink and just continued to watch the situation. A week like this passed, but they could finally let out a breath and relax. During this week, they could clearly feel Greyson''s life force growing stronger instead of weaker. They knew this meant that the other side of the contract was out of the woods for his injury. By the last day of the week, Greyson finally opened his eyes once again. Looking at the worried faces around him, he did not register everything at first. The memories of what occurred beforehand started to flood back into his mind as he quickly looked down at his forearm. Still seeing the word "ALTAR" carved onto his skin, Greyson did not understand what the word meant. However, he knew that the earlier predicament was because Lucius clearly almost died and brought Greyson along. "Grey!" Rosalie quickly shouted in happiness before slamming into him with a hug. Elder Freizon cried in relief while Elder Brevre also wiped a lone tear from his eye. Seeing the sincere worry that he caused them, Greyson felt warm yet also guilty. "Sorry for making you guys worry." "You, boy! How could you make such a dangerous contract with someone?! You even let the travel around outside at who knows where without you being around. Do you really want to suffer such an unjust death? If that other beast dies somewhere, you could just drop where you stand and go die with them." Elder Freizon''s earlier anxiety and sadness now turned to frustration and anger as her temper flared up once again. "Grandma, don''t say that. We are really close; I didn''t even mean to get separated from him. A lot of things just seemed to happen while I was unconscious. I left my body with him when I put myself into the coma, I don''t even know how I ended up here." "What kind of beast is he anyways?" "His name is Lucius... As for what beast..." Greyson paused as he wondered if he should just come clean now. Before, there was still suspicion in his heart whether he could trust this family of his. No matter what, although they were blood-related, plenty of blood-related family still betrays each other all the time. This moment showed him their sincere concern and love for him, so he felt that it would really be unfair to them to continue hiding things due to his mistrust. "Lucius is a Destiny Cat. I really apologize for not telling you guys earlier. Lucius just asked me to keep his identity a secret and you must know that a lot of people are always chasing down news for his kind." The elders and Rosalie all widened their eyes in surprise. Destiny Cat. They had not heard news of this race in many years. The last leader and strongest member of the Destiny Cats decided to sacrifice himself to cast an extremely powerful space spell that allowed the race to hide in a different dimension. They tried their best to keep track of all the newborn Destiny Cats and bring them to the separate space quietly. No one has heard of a Destiny Cat in the outside world in years. "No... We don''t blame you. News about Destiny Cats is extremely popular and lots of people would quickly betray you if you were to spread word of this. You had yet to really get to know us, even if we are family. It is good that you kept cautious. Actually, it would have been fine even if you didn''t tell us because we can respect your privacy. Since you have told us, we will not let a word of this spread, don''t worry. We only just got to meet our grandson, you almost dying was too much of a shock to us." Elder Brevre expression turned serious as he quietly responded to Greyson as if in fear that this conversation could be overheard. "Thank you." Greyson smiled before his expression turned uneasy. "Actually, since all of you are here now. I have to tell you that I need to leave. I have to go and find Lucius. His situation and this message on my arm are making me very anxious. This ominous feeling of apprehension will not leave me." "Leave?" Rosalie seemed surprised at first before she nodded in agreement. "This is correct. You cannot leave such a ticking time bomb of danger outside. However, you should let someone travel along with you. Maybe we could have one of our loyal tribe members follow you?" Elder Freizon agreed with Greyson''s suggestion, but she still worried about sending him out on his own. "I don''t need someone to guard me. I will move faster and unnoticed easier if I just travel alone." Greyson frowned and did not agree. "I''ll go with you!" Rosalie suddenly stood and shouted. "And don''t even try to say no. You can''t control what I do!" "But-" "No buts! You barely have basic knowledge of the Beast Empire and you want to go travelling randomly to try to figure out what altar means? Do you even have any clue as to what that could possibly mean?" Greyson paused but quickly realized there was nothing he could say back to that. "Fine. We will leave tonight!" Greyson grudgingly nodded. "Alright!" Jumping with excitement, Rosalie quickly darted out of the room to get ready. 101 The Beast Altars "Hehehe, you can''t beat Rosie just yet." Not letting this chance slip by, Elder Brevre poked fun at Greyson. It seems his son and grandsons were all destined to suffer the same fate as himself: stuck beneath the power of the females in the family. Greyson could tell that his grandfather was just happy looking on at his misfortune so he just bitterly smiled without saying anything. "Hmph, old man! Don''t think this lady does not know that you also were a slave to Rosalie since the beginning. Anything that girl wanted you would give." Rolling her eyes, Elder Freizon had no qualms throwing her husband into the fire. "In the end, you are my wife. Can''t you save me some face around our grandchildren?" Through clenched teeth, Elder Brevre hissed out. "Face, what face do you have that you don''t already lose all by yourself?" Snorting, Elder Freizon gave him a look of disdain before walking out." Greyson giggled warmly to himself watching their antics before also getting himself out of bed. With Lucius being fine now, he could also feel his body quickly restoring to its former healthy state. Getting changed, he only now realized that a certain furball seemed to be missing. Searching around his room, he finally spotted a cute white tail sticking out from beneath the bed. Unable to contain his smile, he laughed a little before pulling out Snow by her tail. "Ah!" The little cub jumped up. "Daddy, are you alright now?" "Yeah, I am fine. Why were you hiding underneath the bed just now?" "That Auntie was really angry with Snow, so I hid underneath the bed..." Pulling her paws over her eyes in a cute manner, Snow looked slightly embarrassed. "Just because she yelled at you? You can''t be such a scaredy cat later on!" "Snow is the best at running, Gold fights better. That''s because Gold is stupid, though. Snow is smart, so Snow makes the best decision based on her strength." Huffing in anger, Snow looked extremely indignant over such a comment. "Alright, alright, I know that you are the smartest." Smiling, Greyson pet her smooth fur before starting to pack his bag with some supplies. Al actually arrived with Greyson and mostly stayed right outside the room just sunbathing. Since he was leaving for a long period of time, Greyson made sure to bring Al along so that he could store more things for the journey. Though the Terra Beast was not much stronger than before, its innate ability was nonetheless extremely useful. ... When Greyson arrived at the bottom of the Snow Dragon tribe mountain, he easily spotted Rosalie, but he was surprised to see that she was not alone. Standing alongside her was a familiar group of people. It was the same group of friends he met before! "Sister... Are they sending you off?" "Huh? I wish, no, they all want to come along..." Grumbled Rosalie underneath her breath. "They are all coming with us? Does this really require such a large group to go?" Greyson looked confused at the rest of the group, not understanding why they would want to come along. "Oh, Grey Grey, it''s because you do not know how boring it is waiting for missions to come rolling around. Staying in the mountains all day is the worst thing ever! So boring~." A chill ran down Greyson''s spine as he heard this voice call out, but he pushed down his rising unsettled feeling to focus on the words before looking towards Cerul. "So, you guys just want to tag along for the fun of it?" "Exactly!" All of the immediately responded in unison. Almost face-palming, Greyson just sighed in resignation without another word. It would not hurt for more to come along, so there was not really much he could say to deny them. In the end, they would just follow them if they really wanted even if Greyson and Rosalie both did not want them to come along. "Hehe, well we are not just coming along to be hindrances. I, for one, can be the transportation. Wind Dragons are the fastest beasts in the skies!" Cerul patted his chest trying to look reliable, yet Greyson could not even bring up an inkling of confidence in him. "Huh? What with that look of doubt? Don''t look down on me! I am really extremely fast. Why do you think I always get back to the mountain the fastest?" "Cerul, don''t exaggerate. What, fastest beast in the skies? Yeah, right. That''s if you do not include any of the wind element bird magic beasts that could either match up or fly circles around you." Aeos had no qualms calling out his friend''s lies. "I will give you ONE of the fastest, but you guys are definitely not THE fastest." "Well, at the least, I am much faster than all of you guys." Pouting slightly, Cerul did not continue to quibble with the specifics. After saying so, he jumped up into the sky before his lean, good-looking figure became an extremely large green dragon. The emerald green colored scales reflected a glossy shine. Those familiar mischievous eyes looked towards them and gestured with his head for them to get on his back. Looking around at each other, the rest of the group just shrugged before jumping onto the spacious back. Greyson was not prepared as Cerul shot off into the distance. The rest of the group did not let him know, and just watched with laughter as he was almost thrown off Cerul''s back. Using his wind magic, Greyson eventually stabilized himself while glaring over at his sister. All of them did not mind his glares and just laughed among themselves. Even Cerul''s body was laughing as he could imagine Greyson''s plight, everyone who rode on him for the first time goes through the same thing. "What clue do you have for the word ''altar''?" Changing the subject, Greyson turned towards Rosalie asking about her ideas. He was not really certain what it meant. Elder Sweetbow taught him about the basic tribes of the Beast Empire and Halcrem spent most of his time talking about general interactions and manners. However, he was not really sure about actual important places or historical sites in the Empire. "It''s actually not a well-known fact, but there are 4 Beast Altars spread out across the empire. Each of them was created by the legendary Black Phoenix. Another such variant phoenix has yet to be born, so this Phoenix was one of the most powerful magic beasts during its reign. Tales say that the Phoenix could still be alive and it was only through word of mouth that people believe that the Phoenix passed away due to old age. Each altar represents one of the four elements of the Black Phoenix: wind, earth, fire, and water. They are like dungeons with different tiers. While each level has a test. No one has been able to pass all four altars before. It''s treated like a test for the young magic beasts and tons of them travel to them all the time. I cannot really think of anything else in this empire that altar could be referring to other than those." Rosalie kept smiling to herself, however, she still answered his question seriously. The rest of the group nodded with her words. All of them had gone to the altars before and tested themselves. Each one has seven layers and they all got to the fifth layer in most of them while the twins got the sixth in the fire altar, Cerul got to the sixth in the wind altar and so on. They all received some cool magic tools, but nothing more than the usual geniuses of the tribes. "Which one are we heading to right now?" "Well, we have no way of knowing which altar that your friend, Lucius, went to, so we are just going to the closest one to us right now which is the Earth Altar." "Earth Altar?" "Even if Lucius is not there, we can still stop in and let you try your hand at it. Going through it could let you earn a powerful magic tool from the Black Phoenix''s collection." "How long would it take?" Greyson just frowned in response; he was not sure that he could calm down enough to test himself. "Hahaha, don''t worry about the time! Each altar''s creation was helped by an ancestor of mine that owed the Black Phoenix ancestor a favor. The time is sped up. The most you should take to get to your limit in the altar is a day. Most people finish in a couple hours." This time Aeos spoke up instead of Rosalie. Greyson was a little surprised to hear that these altars had a different time flow. He had heard legends of such places that some powerful families allow their children to use to speed up their progress, however, a time magician needs to be at least a Magic Emperor for him to be capable of forming such a complicated space. He started to look forward to the altar and it brought his attention away from Lucius. Greyson continued asking about more specifics. Hearing of their results, Greyson set his minimum at the sixth level. Almost no one has ever reached and passed the seventh level ever since the altar''s creation, so Greyson would not expect that from himself. But he expected that he should at least be able to get to the sixth level like all the other geniuses of the world. After everything that needed to be said was put out, all of them dove into meditation and stopped talking. Cerul flew extremely fast, but he ended up putting his own wind shield up so that the rest of the group could focus on meditation instead of blocking the wind. Greyson almost forgot that he was even travelling on anything because the ride felt so smooth. ... "Guys, incoming!" A shout broke through the tranquility of the group. All of the opened their eyes quickly and looked around in preparation. A large fireball slammed into the wind shield that Cerul was keeping up. Following the attack, Greyson could hear the neigh of an approaching group. When they arrived, everyone''s expression grew strange except for Greyson''s. He gazed over the newcomers and identified them as Amians. These were four-winged horse-like creatures who all controlled the fire element. Their manes were all made of fire instead of actual hair. Two curved horns grew out from their forehead. Amians were known for their aggressive and proud temperaments, however, they were also straightforward and rather unintelligent. While Greyson continued to look with curiosity since it was his first time seeing Amians in the flesh, Ferno''s and Fervis''s expressions both darkened as an irritated grimace formed on their faces. "Ferno, Fervis, I know the both of you are there. Who else would Cerul allow to ride on his back? Aren''t you going to come out and greet your fianc¨¦?" A high-pitched and whiny voice called out among the group as they parted ways and allowed for one of the larger Amians to come forth. Her presence was obviously stronger than the rest and seemed to be their leader. However, Greyson did not pay attention to her but instead paid attention to her words. "Did she just say fianc¨¦? As in singular woman? But there are two of them..." Greyson glanced over at Rosalie who also was fairly speechless. "We met this psycho on one of our missions. She got in it her head that she needs to mate with the most powerful and talented fire element magic beasts so that her children could possibly have a stronger bloodline than herself. An idea, sadly, which her family completely supports. They continued to bother and bribe the Fire Dragon tribe so that they would betroth the twins to this Amian. She is the princess of the Amian tribe and was born with six wings which shows her superior natural talent. The Amians are not a weak tribe and just the Fire Dragon tribe alone cannot defeat them. The rest of the dragon tribes love to watch the others suffer when they can and can almost never reach an agreement to work together. Thus, the current situation." Aeos answered instead while clearly trying to hold in his laughter, but his quivering lips gave his amusement completely away. "The twins have been trying to reject and ruin this marriage forever, but nothing seems to deter her as she has started to take their rejection personally. We think that even she knows how much the twins loathe her, but she just wants to continue at this point to spite them." This time it was Sloan who spoke up. She did not seem to take the same amusement from the situation and instead looked at the twins with pity. "Ah..." Greyson nodded silently not really knowing what to say at this point. He just joined the rest in watching the situation play out. 102 The Earth Altar The twins both glanced at each other with a tinge of helplessness and disgust. Seriously considering whether to step forward now or just pretend that they are not present. Maybe they could just ask their friends to lie for them? Looking at the rest of the group, they wanted to cry. All of their expressions pretty much wrote out "you are on your own." They could not help but think they needed to find new friends later, obviously they were blind choosing this group of heartless people. Even the new kid, Greyson, just looked away while shrugging at them. Sighing together, they both told Cerul to pull down his wind shield. "What do you want Afina? We have some business to take care of right now and time is tight." Fervis stepped forward and spoke up towards the group. "Do I need to have something specific to say when I want to speak with my fianc¨¦?" "Well, we are going to leave if there is nothing." "Wait! I want to go with you guys." "We don''t need company, thanks. We are not really doing anything dangerous, it''s just a harmless trip. If anything, an even bigger group would be inconvenient." Without even giving her a chance to say more, Ferno interrupted with his reasons why she could not come with them. Afina snorted angrily as fire was released from her snout clearly showing her anger. "If I let you leave right now, then you need to come over to the tribe later and accompany me after this mission is done. You have not said hello to my family in ages and even the talk of marriage has been indefinitely delayed. It has been almost 30 years since our family suggested the marriage!" "And we keep telling you to just get married to someone else if you are in that much of a rush! We will obviously live extremely long lives, why the rush to get married and settle down?" Ferno exploded in anger. "You should not just back out of things so easily. I don''t understand what is so terrible about myself that you both do not want to even give me a chance!" The flames around Afina''s body continued to grow in heat and volume which reflected her own fury. "Forget it, we obviously cannot come to an agreement. You are just stopping us for no reason!" Fervis waved his hand and Cerul followed by putting up his wind shield again before flying off. Afina huffed angrily and did not leave but instead followed behind the group. "Hey, you know she''s following us, right?" "Leave her be. She''s always like this." "Anytime we run into her, she ends up following us for most of the mission. She''s too prideful to actually approach us and get rejected, but also too obsessed with the twins to just turn and leave. They avoid her like the plague, so anytime she runs into them she wants to follow them around." Hayze surprisingly spoke up this time. Greyson looked over at her and then glanced at their back. Shaking his head, he wondered why she could not just let them go. Maybe there was more to the story than what the group thinks? He did not think this was just an obsession due to the twins'' strong fire element talent and dragon bloodline. ... After that last interruption, the entire trip was smooth sailing. Every stop in a small tribe was followed by the Amians. They would even sit next to them in the tavern while they ate food, however, no one would talk to each other and they would act like strangers. After he saw Afina''s human form, Greyson started to understand why the twins were not super attracted to her. He had heard from Elder Sweetbow that a magic beast''s human form is normally a translation of their attractiveness towards other magic beasts. If they are attractive, then their human form is attractive as well. Afina had charisma and she was extremely handsome. However, the issue was that she was a female! No matter how Greyson looked at her, though, she exuded the charm of a still beautiful but more handsome young man. She was tall, broad-shouldered, and had lean muscle which showed her strength. The female magic beasts were the ones swooning after she walked into the tavern instead of the men. She looked like she could pick up girls better than either of the twins... Ah... Thinking of this, Greyson sneaked a peek over at the twins. Was this why they were so adamant towards rejecting her? It somehow hurt their manly pride to have a wife who is more handsome than they are? Knowing they would not react kindly to such a question, Greyson just kept it to himself as he wondered privately about the truth. After a couple more days of travel, they arrived at a large mountain range. Right in the middle, at the tallest mountain, was where the Earth Altar was located. As he approached, Greyson stared in wonder at the massive structure. The entire mountain was carved into a building like structure that reached to extremely high heights. From his view, Greyson could not get a clear view of the top since it was covered by clouds. Fascinated by the grandness of the altar, Greyson did not rush inside and instead observed for a little. The bottom of this mountain was extremely busy with a constant crowd of people filtering in and out. When their group arrived, they brought a lot of attention with them. It was hard to miss a large Wind Dragon landing in such a crowded space. Most of the groups quickly looked away after realizing who the group was. Rosalie''s group of friends were the geniuses of their respective tribes and had built up quite a reputation for themselves in the empire. It would have been strange if they were not recognized by the others. The braver ones continued staring, some eyes showed curiosity while others greedily took in the beauty of the girls in the group. Particularly disconcerting were the eyes that followed Greyson and Rosalie. Although not identical, the pair of siblings were definitely enough to catch everyone''s attention. Greyson was dressed in the Snow Dragon tribe''s classic white robe with purple lining with brown boots fit for travel and his white hair sporting a new cut. Around a week or so before, Rosalie thought that Greyson''s hair was too long and she cut it for him. Now his hair was shorter with one thin braid running down his back from his original long hair. Rosalie had her silver hair pulled up into a long ponytail with a silver dress tied at the waist along with leggings and black boots. Distracted by the Earth Altar, Greyson did not notice the attention at all, however, Rosalie''s expression turned cold. Feeling such heated and suggestive stares sent chills up her spine as disgust burned in her stomach. "Let''s quickly get moving. Once we are inside the altar, we will get separated. Everyone must stay on their toes. Grey, there is a chance that you will meet another participant in the trial as a test and they can kill you. There is no protection. Although less common, there are definitely some nasty individuals who will not mind killing you instead of finishing the test." Rosalie dragged all of them closer to the entrance while giving her final warnings to Greyson. "Do people die often?" "Hm... If they are not from an important tribe, then yes. Common magic beasts and Beastmen die in the altar all the time. This is not necessarily because of others, either. The test is also extremely deadly for those whose talent does not match up to the standard. I don''t think you will have to worry about this, though. Since I could get through just fine before, I really do not see you getting into any lethal danger. The test is always different depending on your level and stage as the Black Phoenix wanted to set up these altars as more of a way to unearth talent in the Beast Empire not to find the strongest. Magic beasts live so long, that sometimes they are just powerful because they are old not because they are actually talented in any way. The Black Phoenix ancestor always wished for the Beast Empire to expand and for them to take down the humans who try to enslave their brethren. The only problem was that magic beasts normally take too long to mature and increase in power. To help the tribes filter through the most talented even in the distant branches or mixed bloodlines, these altars were created so that the genius could experience a boost in power over a short period of time because of the time difference and also give them a corresponding treasure to help protect the future generation''s talent. Grandma started to gain support in the tribe after she went through the altars. She ended up reaching the seventh and final level in the water altar. Although she did not pass, it was still a rare feat to even reach the seventh level." "Grandma reached the seventh level?!" Now, this grabbed his attention. "What about Grandpa?" "Grandpa? He only reached the sixth level." Smirking slightly, Rosalie still remembered the look on her grandfather''s face when her grandmother first told her about this. Clenching his fists, Greyson aspired to reach the seventh level as well! He believed that if his Grandma could do it that he definitely could too. "Alright, no more chit-chat. Let''s all go in! I want to see if I really can''t reach that seventh level!" Sloan rushed them all to the front before going through the entrance without any warning. The rest of the group all laughed at her enthusiasm before nodding to each other and also walking through the entrance. Greyson felt the space around him warp until he was alone in a grey space. "Sit peacefully and meditate." A deep, charming voice spoke in the emptiness. One could not tell the gender as if the voice was purposefully kept neutral. After getting a rundown from the rest of the group, Greyson knew that this was the first level''s test. It was quite simple and straightforward; however, a majority of the participants fail at this level. Apparently, a certain amount of mana will flow through this space of all the elements and your absorption rate and element affinity was tested. This was a basic test that everyone goes through and tells a lot about natural talent. Knowing this much, Greyson exhaled slowly before quickly entering his meditative state. Freely absorbing the elemental spirits into him in streams, Greyson was overwhelmed by the comfortable and warm feelings that arose. It almost felt like the mana in this space was never-ending. Only this state was, of course, temporary. In what seemed like an instant, his test ended and all mana was cut off. Stopping himself and awakening, Greyson waited for the announcement of his result. "Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark, and Lightning absorption rate and affinity extraordinary. Also, some space element detected, however, absorption rate and affinity are low and average accordingly. Other elements meet standard, participant will now proceed to the second level." The same charming voice spoke out once again. Although it was great he passed, Greyson did not move and was instead still hearing the last words ringing in his mind. Space element! The extra talent of the Snow Dragons which he believed that he did not possess. Some excitement welled within him, only, thinking back to the judgment of the voice, he knew that he could not get ahead of himself. His talent in that element is almost nonexistent. Maybe he would be able to fix this issue, but for now he could not think of pointless ventures now. In front of him, a black opening appeared that he quickly walked through. The space distorted around him once more and he took a moment to orient himself to the new environment. He was surprised to see that it was actually an extremely beautiful place. Every part of the land was covered by different kinds of plant life. All the colors of the rainbow and then some covered the ground. He was told that the second level was two different ones. Either Hell Garden or Blade Mountain would appear, and it seems that he was transported to Hell Garden. Greyson already knew to be wary because although it looked beautiful, almost all the plants were alive and extremely dangerous. "Kill the leader of this garden." A new voice commanded. It was gruff and no-nonsense while definitely being male. The minute this voice finished speaking, Greyson''s surrounding came alive. Without hesitation, bursts of flames also appeared around him. All of the group told him that the fire element was the best one to use to solve this level and he could tell why immediately. A lot of the plant life actually began screeching as their bodies burst into flames and turned to ash. Somehow Greyson actually felt a little cruel, but he knew this was a test so he couldn''t hold back. 103 Brother-In-Law! Sharp blades of grass shot towards Greyson that were not affected by his fire element. Quickly trying to dodge, some of his clothes got sliced up. Furrowing his brows, Greyson tried to use his own earth element magic to stop the plants, however, to his dismay, nothing was responding. He could not feel the normal presence of earth mana. Frustrated by the situation, Greyson used his anger to fuel his flames making them blaze even hotter and actually melting the metal like blades of grass. Taking a breather, Greyson looked down and grimaced at his pathetic looking state. His robe was sliced up with even his undershirt and pants ripped up as well so even patches of his skin were visible. There were some minor cuts and bleeding but he quickly healed himself. Trying to take out a new set of clothes, Greyson finally smacked his forehead realizing that he left his bag with Al. Knowing that he would get separated, he left Al outside hiding in an inconspicuous spot while his shell looked just like any rock in the surrounding. Greyson was not too worried about any of the beasts taking notice, Terra Beasts were also well known for hiding in plain sight in the mountains. Earlier his thoughts were not clear and did not think to take out his bag with his supplies in it. Wryly smiling, Greyson decided he would just have to live with his state and try to not let it get any worse. Otherwise he might be almost naked by the time he gets sent back out. The only blessing was that he could summon his magic tools if need be and they did not need to be right by him. During his time in the Idris Kingdom, Greyson did learn new engravings at this Blacksmith Association. One of which tied his magic tools to himself so that he could summon them from anywhere and also prevented from others from being able to steal them. Pulling his attention back to his surroundings, Greyson saw that the garden was actually fairly small and hit flames had burned pretty much every to ash. However, there was no sign that he cleared this level and he knew this was because he did not yet find the leader. But where was it? What type of plant was the leader? Looking around there were no more remnant plants, so he was not sure what he was supposed to be searching for. Just as he was doubting himself, Greyson realized in surprise that all the plant life began resurrecting and coming back to attack him. Seeing this result, an idea popped into Greyson''s head about weeds. What is it that everyone always says? You need to pull the weeds out at the roots. Earlier, his actions did not ruin or effect the soil and ground too deeply, thus Greyson was starting to think that the leader may either be the roots or below the ground and supplying the plants with such unlimited nutrients to grow. Frowning, while thinking of a solution, Greyson realized this stage would actually be harder to pass without his earth element which he thought would not have been useful. None of his other elements were as easy to use to scan the ground and underground. Too impatient to slowly find means, Greyson looked to the virtual sky where grey clouds began to form. Torrential rain poured down soaking all the plants and the ground. After everything seemed sufficiently wet, Greyson feet began to pulse with strong lightning. Everything under him in the garden suffered from the electricity travelling through it. Before long, all the plants once again withered away while he felt something underground resist his attack. Pinpointing the location, Greyson hurried over in that direction. He decided to use a new dark spell he learned as he slowly sank into the ground. It was called Shadow Ghost and was technically an assassination aiding spell. It allowed the user to become ethereal like a shadow and go through solid objects. However, it did not allow him to avoid attacks. If something tried to attack him, he would still get injured, it would not just go through him. Surprisingly, it became extremely useful during this test. Once he was underground, Greyson came face to face with a disturbing pair of eyes staring back at him. The leader was actually a Feynir! This was how people referred to almost Fey plant-life. They developed wisdom and intelligence and it was only a matter of time before they developed into actual Fey. This particular Feynir was a man-eating flower as could be seen from the teeth in the center of the petals where a mouth opening was. Two red eyes glared at Greyson in anger as a loud screech sounded out and the stems around the flower leaped out to grab onto him. Dodging lithely, Greyson did not allow them to touch him. Flipping his hand, the sword tattoo on his forearm lit up and Genesis appeared in his hand. Pushing large amounts of his mana into the sword, one of the engraving lit up as Genesis expanded in size until it was ginormous. Unable to hold it steady in normal conditions, Greyson soon activated his dragon bloodline as white scales traced up his hands and arms. Swinging the sword upwards, the earth all exploded away and exposed the flower to the open air. Greyson knew that he was at a disadvantage if he continued to fight underground. His dark element still allowed him to move freely, but trying to keep one spell steady while fighting was difficult. If his concentration was broken then he would be stuck under tons of dirt which would leave him vulnerable. Even more anger exploded from the Feynir as it continued to attack Greyson. Saying nothing, Greyson once again gripped onto the large sword which then burst into flames. Not avoiding the vines that came, Greyson allowed them to bring him closer. Smirking, Greyson could tell that although this plant gained intelligence, it was still a small amount. Stabbing his flaming sword down into the mouth of the plant, it screeched out in pain as the fire began to destroy it from the inside out. The plant burst into flames as two unwilling eyes continue to glare at Greyson. Per usual, a black door opened next to Greyson after he defeated the leader. Not stepping through right away, Greyson sat down and began to meditate to recover some of his mana. The garden was actually full of other elemental spirits except the earth element. Some moments later, Greyson got up from his sitting position and stepped through the black portal. "FINALLY!" Before Greyson could orient himself, he heard a sudden scream sound out from behind. Jumping slightly in fright, he turned around only to realize that a raven-haired, red-eyed young boy was staring right back at him. Shocked by the nearness, Greyson quickly backtracked to get away from this new person. "I have been waiting for 1 month! That ridiculous voice told me I needed to defeat my opponent, but it never gave me one this entire time. I have been stuck here just waiting for someone to finally be sent here. FREEDOM IS UPON ME!" "1 month?" Greyson frowned as he felt that he had only been in this world for around a little more than a day. "Hmph! Don''t look so confused, you probably entered after me. It is all random, just because you enter together does not mean you will ever see each other in the altar." Waving his hand dismissively, the young man seemed to see right through Greyson''s doubts. Finally getting a chance to look at his opponent clearly, Greyson was a little surprised by what he saw. The young boy across from him looked even younger than he was, however, his stage was higher. At the magister level stage five, this young boy had short black hair and blood red eyes with a cute little snaggletooth sticking out of his mouth. Black wings stuck out from his back hinting towards a bird magic beast background. While Greyson was observing his opponent, the young boy was reciprocating with the same. His nonchalance soon turned to excitement and shock which threw Greyson off. In almost an instant, the boy appeared in front of Greyson and got on one knee while grabbing Greyson''s hand. "Brother-in-law! You must be related to Lady Rosalie, aren''t you?!" Before Greyson could even react to pull his hand back, he was shocked by this young boy''s words. "Uh... How did you know?" Deciding against lying, Greyson was curious how this boy could know right away. "Hmm... I guess I should say that you guys just have a very similar aura and could even pass for twins. Obviously, there could definitely be people out there who look similar, but this similar? Plus, I can see the obvious Snow Dragon traits on you. You look just like her AND you are from her father''s tribe. I know she has multiple brothers who are scattered everywhere. It doesn''t take a genius to put the two together." Although he spoke nonchalantly, Greyson could tell that this boy was obviously very proud to explain his logic. His red eyes shined in happiness before turning extremely ugly. "I have obviously been waiting so long for my chance to beat the living daylights out of my opponent, but what kind of fate is this? How could I beat up my future brother-in-law? What if he goes back and speaks badly about me to his sister..." Not even bothering to hide his thoughts, Greyson''s opponent spoke his concerns out loud. "Hey, excuse me, but I think you are getting the wrong idea about something. I would never do anything like insult you in front of my sister if you beat me. If anything, I might even say she should consider you since you are strong. My sister despises anyone weaker than herself, so you have to at least get past me. Plus, it is not set in stone that you will definitely beat me anyway! Also, who are you calling brother-in-law?! My sister has never mentioned you to me ever." Disgruntled by such an assumption about his character, Greyson felt insulted. He also did not like the fact that this opponent seemed to assume that if they fought, he would definitely beat Greyson. "Well, it is one-sided for now. But I believe that I will eventually move your sister. It is only a matter of time." Completely blowing off Greyson''s words, the boy was not offended nor disheartened at all. Such shamelessness was a real eye-opener for Greyson. "You sure you want to fight? I won''t go easy you know. It''s not that I don''t want to, but I don''t know how. All of my tribe''s attacks are rather explosive and uncontrollable." "Who are you anyways? You know that I am Rosalie''s brother, my name is Greyson." Properly introducing himself, Greyson was curious as to what magic beast this young boy''s original form is. "Greyson, is it? Nice to make your acquaintance. I am the Black Blood Hawk Prince, Michail." Bowing formally with great poise, Michail politely introduced himself. However, Greyson''s concentration was already no longer on his opponent himself but the name he spoke earlier. Black Blood Hawks! They were a strong aerial magic beast which focused almost only on attacking. Their element was actually space. They could travel extremely quickly and their space spell attacks were frightening as they ripped the space around their opponent. The blood in their name refers to a special suicide ability that the race could use at a time of emergency or maybe the desire to take down their opponent with them. They could burn their bloodline and create a small black hole that would suck anyone near into a different space and usually kill them. If the opponent was a space magician then he could probably escape relatively unscathed, however, this spell was still extremely destructive so most tribes do not try to push the Black Blood Hawks. There is also the reverse to it, though, and that is that if you don''t push them very hard, they would never risk something like that spell. No one really willingly wants to die normally. Thinking of the abilities of his opponent, Greyson did not bring himself down and instead got excited for a good sparring partner. The two boys moved to one end of the room each and just looked at each for a little as each of us were cautious as to who would make the first move. Patience in Greyson was unsurprisingly lower, as eventually he made the first move to attack. Despite his young looks, Greyson knew that his human form was young because in beast years he was considered young, however, he could actually be almost a 100-years-old or more. Just thinking back to Rosalie''s dragon friends that were actually all young and beautiful looking, but so old, Greyson knew that he could not assume just by the outside looks. The Beast Empire definitely had many different things to get used to. 104 Life is so Unfair... Michail smiled in a friendly manner but a serious glint flashed through his eyes. "Are you sure you don''t want me to just let you pass?" "I don''t need your mercy. My sister would be the first to not approve of me passing in this manner. I have to earn it for this to mean anything." Greyson just snorted impatiently and motioned for him to attack. "Well, alright then..." Swinging his hand, Michail caused a split in space to appear next to Greyson. Already prepared, Greyson quickly dodged out of the way but part of his robe got caught and ripped off. Seeing the cloth get torn to shreds almost immediately, Greyson could tell that getting caught in that attack would be deadly. No wonder Michail seemed so hesitant. Not wanting to make himself such an open target, Greyson sank into the ground using his dark element. Transported right to Michail''s shadow, Greyson jumped out and gave a strong kick towards his back. Lightning burst out and exploded along with the kick, however, Greyson could feel that his leg did not make any contact with anything. In the blink of an eye, Michail was already at the other end of the space. "Hm? Dark and lightning? That''s rare for someone who has Snow Dragon bloodline." He was obviously shocked by his opponent whom he expected the normal water and space element abilities from. Greyson did not respond and only became more serious. Since Black Blood Hawks were so fast, he knew that close combat would not work. How could he make any damage if he couldn''t get close to touching his opponent? Opening his palm, the bow tattoo on his hand lit up as his bow appeared. Gripping onto it, fire and lightning arrows appeared as he drew the bowstring back. Launching them in different directions, all the arrows closed in on Michail. He just chuckled thinking his young brother-in-law did not learn quickly before transporting himself elsewhere. Only, when he reappeared, Greyson did not frown but instead laughed as he surrounded himself in a multi-element shield. All the arrows missed Michail but slammed into each other causing a massive explosion right as the young hawk came back out. Not able to react fast enough, Michail was slammed into the wall by the shock wave. Spitting blood, he could not help but curse inwardly. Glaring over at Greyson, he made a gripping motion with his hands. Greyson could feel his body getting stuck and he lost movement. His body was continually getting crushed, but he tried to think about how to get out of this Space Lock. Suddenly, his eyes lit up with an idea. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the water elements around him absorbing them into his right arm. Soon, his entire arm turned to liquid and could slip out of the space grip. Not waiting another second, this water arm formed into ice spears that were sent flying towards Michail while Greyson''s arm formed once again on his side. As he was concentrating on another spell, Michail was not able to react as quickly. He was also slow because he was shocked that this young opponent of his was able to so adeptly use the elements that way. In order to block the incoming attack, his concentration on his spell was broken. Greyson could sense this and was able to break away. "Really, Rosalie''s younger brother is a real character." Muttering under his breath, Michail felt rather embarrassed thinking about bringing up letting his opponent beat him. His victory was nowhere near guaranteed. Retaliating, Michail sent his own slashes down towards Greyson and the space around became chaotic. Utilizing his wind element, Greyson did not stay and masterfully escaped from the attack. "How many elements can he use anyways?!" Starting to get seriously frustrated, Michail continued to aggressively attack. Greyson sank into the ground once again as he set up his plan in secret. The angered Michail stopped and started scanning his surroundings preparing himself to attack whenever. However, Greyson did not pop up in the open. He skulked around Michael silently making marking around. Finally, he appeared again in the center of the space. No longer holding his bow, his hand instead held Mesmer. Setting his palm down, all of the symbols activated forming a small array around himself. All of this happened so quickly, Michail did not have a chance to react. Pulling Mesmer to his lips, Greyson started playing dissonant chords that were grating on the ears. Amplified by the array, the sounds were extremely loud and Michail could only try to block his ears. The sounds started blurring his vision and his head began to severely ache. Collapsing down onto the ground, Michail''s face turned deathly pale as he tried and failed to stop the sound from penetrating his ears. Even when he blocked out the space, the sounds seemed to leak through. Greyson continued to play smoothly while approaching his debilitated opponent. Smoothly pulling out Genesis, he finally stopped playing the flute and placed his blade right against Michail''s throat. "Do you concede?" His cold voice echoed throughout the room. "Damn! Okay, yes, yes, I give up. Where did you learn such a nasty trick?!" Still recovering, Michail waved the white flag grudgingly. He knew that Greyson could have managed to kill him earlier, if he did not admit defeat, how shameless was he? Actually, this was not a coincidence. Greyson practiced fighting against his grandparents as well. They were definitely no weaker than the Black Blood Hawks when it came to using the space element. Many times, Greyson was easily defeated because he did not know any good methods on how to beat space magicians. Thankfully, the books and resources of the Snow Dragon tribe were open to him so he began to look for ways to defeat the space element. Just like the time element, the space element took time to show its prowess. Once a magician is strong, however, it is a really hard element to fight against. This array was one of the couple ways he learned to defeat space element users. It allowed sounds to pass through space barriers. Normally, it was used so people could still pass messages even when they are trapped because a lot of cells are usually enforced by some kind of space barrier. Greyson decided to use it differently so that his music attacks could affect even a space magician. "I guess you could say that your luck is bad. I just happened to specifically practice at how to defeat space element users." Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, Greyson was secretly jumping in joy that he had spent so much effort learning some of these methods. "You even used so many elements! How many was that... dark, lightning, fire, water, wind... five elements?! Life is so unfair, sometimes. Most magic beasts only get one element unless they are the rare variants. Obviously, all I have is the space element..." "Hmph, if other people heard you say this, they would for sure beat you up. The space element is already so strong especially at your level!" Greyson choked for a second before rolling his eyes in response. It was like the pot calling the kettle black. "Hey, I used to be really weak pretty much until I reached this level. The space element was only useful for quick teleportation, running away, and sneak attacks. It only qualitatively changed recently now that I can use that Space Cut attack. Space is too hard to control." Pouting indignantly, Michail did not agree with Greyson''s statement. "You are strong now, that''s all that matters, no?" "Well-" Before Michail could respond, his body disappeared. "Battle has finished and victor is decided. You may proceed to the next level." This time is was a female''s melodious voice that spoke. Another familiar black portal appeared next to Greyson. Plopping down onto the ground, Greyson decided to use this chance to recover once again. That attack actually had drained a lot of his mana. Instead of meditating, he decided to just sleep. Although, at his level, meditation was equal to sleep when it came to giving his body rest. However, there was definitely something more psychologically gratifying about sleeping. Since no one else could come into this space, he believed there was nothing for him to worry about and let himself rest peacefully without leaving his guard up. While he was deeply asleep, a shining red eye opened in the top of the space and stared down at the defenseless Greyson. It glittered with amusement as it observed Greyson from head to toe. "How interesting. I''m pretty sure this is a first." A voice giggled aloud. However, no action was taken as the eye just closed once again before dissipating silently and Greyson was left alone once again. It was not until a healthy number of hours later that Greyson once again opened his eyes and got up from the hard ground. Dusting himself off before looking down at himself, Greyson felt like crying. His clothes were already tattered after the second level test, however, after his battle just before, the outer robe was pretty much useless. All that was left is his loose white undershirt and brown pants with his boots. But even these clothes were starting to show rips. He started to seriously feel concerned over whether he would have anything left covering himself by the time he leaves this Earth Altar. Sighing, he knew he could do nothing about it now so he just pushed the issue to the back of his mind and walked through the black door. ... "AHHHHH! So frustrating! I''m finally free but it is under such disheartening circumstances. I can''t even feel happy now..." A certain youth was now outside of the Earth Altar shouting and stomping his foot angrily. All of the magic beasts in the surroundings backed away and avoided him thinking that this person had gone crazy. "Young Master! You''re out!" A black blur appeared next to Michail almost immediately. It turned out to be a large Black Blood Hawk. When everyone saw the beast, they backed away even further because they finally figured out the identity of the youth. The rumors about the young master of the Black Blood Hawk tribe were all terrible. "Scram! I''m in such a bad mood right now, I don''t want to hear your annoying nagging on top of that." Glancing over in disdain at the hawk that just arrived, Michail did not bother saying anything else before walking away. On his way, a bunch of trees were kicked down and innocent magic beasts sent flying for being "in the way." Releasing a sigh, the servant still followed and flew behind his immature young master. Apologizing and compensating the magic beasts who came to harm in Michail''s wake. Responding in such a smooth and rapid fashion, everyone could not help but pity this servant who obviously was responsible for such things often. Sadly, some unlucky beasts were attached to bad masters since their birth. "Young Master, what has upset you so much this time? How far did you get in the altar this time around? Did you finally reach the sixth level?" "...ird level..." Michail muttered incoherently. "What?" "Third level!" "What about the third level?" "I. ONLY. GOT. TO. THE. THIRD. LEVEL!" Through a tight jaw, Michail slow spit each word. "How is that possible? With Young Master''s prowess, you had a chance at getting to the sixth level let alone the third." "I got set up in a fight... and lost." "You lost? Who did you fight? The young master of the Yellow Rock Crows?" "Him?! Who do you think your young master is to lose to such a wimp?! No, I lost to Rosalie''s brother." "Rosalie? Lady Rosalie from the Snow Dragon Tribe? Since when did Her Lady have a brother?" "Since now!" "He was that strong?" "Hmph! Although, he used a slightly cheap trick, he did legitimately control five elements. Therefore, yes, he is powerful." "Five?! That many?" "Yes, it seems that the Snow Dragon has received another genius in their midst. That dragon Elbianth really has a way with children. They are both so talented and good-looking, especially Rosalie." Thinking back to when he first met that beautiful half-elf girl, he sighed in sweet nostalgia. "Well, that makes sense then. Thinking of it, I did see Lady Rosalie and her usual group of friends all head into the Earth Altar. I did not look closely so I did not see the new addition." "Rosalie is here, too?!" Eyes widening in joyful surprise, Michail turned tail and ran back to the altar. "I must go over and wait for her to come out then! It has been ages since I last saw her." "Wait, Young Master, the Old Master told me you need to go home right away! Young Master!" Following in distress, the servant tried to stop him. 105 Passing Levels Like Ascending Stairs The fourth level was not actually too complicated. Apparently, the fourth, fifth, and sixth level all are the same type of challenge. There are Earth Creatures made of magic and their strength is determined by the challenger''s strength. These creatures could not cast magic spells, their bodies were just incredibly hard and difficult to break through. On the fourth level, the challenge is to defeat 100 of these Earth Creatures that are at the same level and stage as you. The fifth level is defeating 50 Earth Creatures that are two stages above you. The sixth level is defeating 10 Earth Creatures that are a level above you. This challenge supposedly tests the challenger''s talent because to defeat the Earth Creatures at a higher stage or level requires genius quality and also tests determination and endurance. The high number of opponents creates a mental strain. The altar only allows rest between levels in the altar, however, during the actual challenge the Earth Creatures will attack without any rest. They are not actual living beings so they do not get tired or need rest. The only upside is that they are simple-minded and easier to defeat then real opponents who are the same level of power. All of Rosalie''s group and most labelled as "geniuses" could pass the fourth level without breaking too much of a sweat. The fifth level is where the distinguishing between levels of talent begin while almost everyone fails at the sixth level. Only a remote few pass the sixth level before completely failing the seventh. If others could watch him, they would be shocked by Greyson''s quick progression. The fourth level did not take much time at all as he just used powerful and largely encompassing spells which would lower the numbers quickly. Although he tired from this tactic quickly, it got rid of all his opponents the fastest. Dragging the fight out with smaller and more energy-saving attacks would actually be worse for him. Since he knew that he could defeat those at his level fairly easily, there was no reason to hold back. He was not going to needlessly test himself and try to tire himself out. On the fifth level, he took a more stable and slow approach as he knocked off his 50 opponents one by one. This fight was most definitely harder than before as they were all at the magister level stage five in power. Even without intelligence, they were still had more brute force than Greyson. Before if he only needed one attack to blast the Earth Creature to dust, on the fifth level, he needed an average of 5 strikes to get rid of them. Under such circumstances, with the group of them continually attacking him, Greyson was under a lot of stress. He could clearly see why people start to drop out dramatically around this level. No normal person would get through. Though this all was true, he still steadily made the numbers go down. The time he took was longer compared with the fourth level, but still fast and less desperate than most. He was climbing the levels like ascending flights of stairs, although he eventually started feeling fatigued, he was steadily rising. When Greyson finally struck down the last Earth Creature, a black portal opened up once more. Greyson fell onto the ground in slight distress as he let out a deep sigh of relief. Lying flat on the ground, he passed out from the exhaustion. He finally awoke a couple hours later and began to meditate to recover his mana and energy. His robe was completely in tatters, so he just tossed it onto the ground and went with his white undershirt, brown pants, and boots. All recuperated and brimming with excitement, Greyson stepped through the doorway to the sixth level. At that he just saw endless dead earth while 10 large figures floated in front of him. Recognizing these as his new opponents, Greyson slowly inhaled in preparation. Pulling out Genesis, he got into a ready stance with fire and lightning bursting off the blade while beautiful green wings sprouted from his back. A spell he learned in his free time, called the Wings of Alas. He also activated the Wind Suit on just his back in case he could not pay attention to directions. After reaching the magister level, he could create two more brands: one on his left shoulder and the other in the middle of his back. After the fifth level, he rediscovered the many uses of this spell especially in melee battle where he would have definite blind spots. It seems it was destiny that he had gone into that dungeon before he came to battle in this altar. Bursting into action, Greyson decisively made the first move by slashing down onto the Earth Creature to the far right. Although he expected such a result, seeing Genesis bounce off with only a crack showing on the Creature''s exterior, Greyson felt a slight headache coming on. But he did not give up, without giving the Creature a chance to recover, Greyson hacked down repeatedly. He only got about 10 strikes in before the other Earth Creatures finally closed in on him as well. Greyson flew up to avoid them and the punches aimed for him blew apart the damaged Creature from earlier. During his time in the fifth level, Greyson started to realize that these Creatures truly had no intelligence. All they did was come straight at him with full force. If he got hit, then he would take a lot of damage, but they also could not stop themselves from attacking each other if he maneuvered correctly. "One down." He muttered to himself already feeling slightly out-of-breath. Not feeling a thing after striking down a teammate, the Earth Creatures turned towards Greyson and started chasing after him. This time Greyson did not continue flying but instead dropped to the ground. Seeing them follow him, his shadow grew out and black shadowy hands grabbed onto each Earth Creature and held them down on the ground. Turning slightly pale after feeling the immense resistance, Greyson knew he had to act quickly or else they would break out too quickly. Randomly picking the closest one, he once again used Genesis and hacked down at the same point on the Earth Creature until it showed it was cracking apart. Feeling the weakness, Greyson gathered light, fire, and lightning element into his hand which turned into explosive energy and sent a hard punch into the weak spot. The Earth Creature finally burst apart, but, the others concurrently broke from their bonds. Although he was prepared to dodge out of the way, Greyson was not fast enough to move away from the one closest. A hard punch landed straight onto his back. The Wind Shield spell activated itself and blocked the attack, but Greyson was still sent flying away from the sheer force created by the shield and fist colliding. The air knocked from his lungs, Greyson landed hard and rolled multiple times of the ground before he could stop himself and gasp for air. Genesis was knocked from his hands and the wings on his back dispersed after his concentration was broken. Seeing the shadows approaching him, he knew he could not stay like that and quickly got himself up and dodged using the familiar Air Steps. Sometimes, the most basic spells were the most reliable when he was under pressure. Landing back onto the ground, he watched as the Earth Creatures approached him once again. This time, he used to water element as the ground turned to Ice and the Earth Creatures turned into frozen blocks of ice. Taking no break, Greyson flipped his hand as Genesis was summoned back to him. Using the same method as the last, he continued breaking apart the next Creature that was closest to him. The ice was surprisingly more effective than the dark element in binding, so Greyson managed to get rid of two more before they broke out of the ice. This time, he could not avoid taking two powerful hits and his Wind Suit only blocked one while the other hit with full force. Grunting under the impact, Greyson could feel a rib or two crack as he spat blood. Sent flying once more, Greyson breathed erratically as he slightly groaned in pain. Using his light element, he began to heal himself. "Six left..." Wiping the sweat forming on his brow, Greyson''s breathing grew labored. He had more than half to go but his mana stores were already 50% used up. Trying to contain them also took part of his concentration and mana since they were so strong. However, seeing that ice was effective, he decided to stick with this same routine. Freezing the Earth Creatures once again, Greyson managed to destroy another one, but this time they escaped faster than before. Taking a hit once more, his Wind Suit shattered under the punch and would not be able to recover for a while. Grimacing, Greyson knew he would have to take the next hits just by himself. He could not spare any more concentration to keep up a shield or armor spell. Looking at the five remaining, Greyson heaved a sigh before continuing to fight. He managed to get rid of two more using the same method, however, with three left he could feel his mana stores had only around 10% left. Knowing that he could not use a steady tactic with the last three, Greyson had to bet it all on one attack. He ran through his different spell and decided on one finally. It was actually only a dual element spell, but extreme heat and extreme cold did were good against earth element users. Only, to form the spell took a long time. Gritting his teeth, Greyson began forming two balls in each hand. Each Earth Creature would not give him the chance so easily so they all began pounding into him. Even breathing felt hard at this point and Greyson was sure that multiple bones were probably broken. However, in the end, he still managed to form them. One radiated lava-like heat waves while the other was as cold as a frozen tundra. He combined them into one chaotic and unsteady ball. When all three of the Earth Creatures came at him once more, Greyson let the ball go as it slammed onto the ground and exploded. Sent flying by the shock wave, Greyson still closely watched to make sure his attack destroyed all three of the Earth Creatures. Relieved, he watched as the earth melting and burned into ash on one half while it froze and broke apart on the other. Slamming hard into the ground, Greyson was knocked unconscious. It was not until much later, that Greyson awoke gasping in pain for his untreated injuries. His body had leaned down onto a broken arm and in that moment, he woke up with a start. Confused, it took him a moment to calm down and remember what happened. Collecting himself, he began meditating to take in light element and then immediately used that mana to begin healing himself. This process took much longer than usual as Greyson''s injuries were fairly severe and the light element, at least at the magister level, was not a cure-all. After around a week of this constant healing, Greyson was finally good as new. It was only at this moment that he could truly celebrate and feel proud that he beat the sixth level. He did it! Although it was far from a graceful and easy win, he still won nonetheless. The only downside, was that he looked like a wreck. His boots were covered in holes and his shirt was completely ripped apart. The only thing slightly intact was his pants. At this point, Greyson just resigned himself to the fact that he will probably get sent out of the altar half-naked. All that took up his attention was the doorway leading to the seventh level. Legends say that no one has ever beaten the seventh and final level yet at all the Beast Altars. Greyson was truly curious as to why this was, but he was not sure if he would just get immediately sent out like the rest when he got to that level. Apparently, those people who passed the sixth level failed the seventh so quickly that they could never tell anybody what actually happened and what lay in wait at the seventh level. ... "Hmmm... It''s been a day already. Usually nobody takes longer than this." Frowning, Rosalie was tapping her foot anxiously. "Don''t worry-" Ferno began. "Don''t tell me not to worry! Of course, I''m worried!" Glaring over, Rosalie quickly shut him up before he could continue. "Now, Rosie, don''t go biting everyone''s heads off because you are worried. It''s not like you are the only one." Aeos lectured softly. Rosalie''s expression softened slightly as she listened to his soothing voice. "Sorry, Ferno. I''m just taking out my feelings of frustration on you." Pouting, Rosalie sighed before looking over at the twin to apologize. "Nah, it''s fine. If it were Fervis who were missing I would be just as wound up and worried." Ferno waved her off quickly showing he was not upset. "We will continue waiting here with you. I''m sure he will come out soon. Who knows, maybe he is taking this long because he is in the seventh level." Sloan spoke up this time and encouraged Rosalie. However, the minute the last sentence left her mouth, a loud and disdainful snort sounded near the group. "Hmph, seventh level? More likely he bit off more than he could chew and is dead. You all should quickly clear out and leave room for others coming to challenge. Waiting here like this is pointless." The group all turned and glared daggers at the newcomer. She was dressed blue clothes and had familiar blue hair and blue eyes. Her soft feminine features no longer looked genteel but instead were twisted into resentment and anger. It was the same water dragon who approached Greyson from before, Lariah. The Young Lord had refused to see her after her failure. She had bragged that she would bring any normal beast to his knees but failed miserably. Heinios had informed her that the Young Lord said there was no second chances and that he did not associate with idiots. Heartbroken, her depression quickly turned to resentment as she decided to follow the group as they left. She knew there was nothing she could do with just her strength, but she thought she could maybe cause trouble along the way. Seeing the group so glum, she could not help but come out and rub this misfortune in their faces. In her mind, since a day already passed, that kid was most likely dead. "You b*tch! Say that one more time!" Rosalie sprung into quick action and punched her before Lariah could dodge. "I''ll say it as many times as I want. That stupid dog without eyes got his just karma for trying to go against the Young Lord!" Holding her cheek, Lariah hissed as she continued to glare. Another hard kick from Rosalie sent her flying back into the crowd. "I''ll kill you!" Rosalie''s temper quickly flared as the surrounding temperature began to drop below freezing. "Rosalie, enough! Now is not the time to waste your strength on insignificant people." Aeos grabbed onto Rosalie this time and stopped her. "Let go! She dared to curse my brother to death. I''ll make sure she dies too!" Completely losing her normal dignified stance, Rosalie was itching to beat Lariah. Not many could understand the feeling of finally finding family after being an orphan for so long. Yes, she had her grandparents, but they were still not the same. All her friends in the dragon clan were so much older than her it was hard to fit in at first. She and Greyson just clicked. She did not think it was just because they were siblings, but because they were truly similar. In just this short amount of time, she had grown largely attached and protective of her younger brother. "It''s not worth it. Acting like this, do you really think Greyson is dead already? If not, keep your cool!" Aeos did not mince words with her and he continued to hold her back. Hearing his words, Rosalie starting to breathe angrily but eventually her shoulders dropped back down and her mana stopped bursting out in waves. Just a dark murderous intent was left in her eyes as she took one last chilling glace at Lariah before turning around and watching the altar once more. 106 Did You Pass? They actually were not kept in suspense for very long. Around early morning on the next day, Greyson was thrown out of the seventh level. Most of the waiting figures were keeping their attention locked onto the altar waiting for their companions or masters to leave the altar and also be a witness to the individual''s achievements. Seeing a body being thrown out of the seventh level, many stood up in shock and tried to get a good look at the person. Rosalie reacted almost immediately and flew up with the wind element boosting her into the air. Greyson had only just balanced himself in the air after being so violently thrown out. His companions warned him earlier that the exit would be rough, but he was still caught by surprise. Deep contemplation spread across his face as he thought back to his last encounter in the seventh level. However, his concentration broke when a body slammed into his chest and hugged him. Tensing up at first at such intimate contact, Greyson knit his brows before recognizing the familiar scent and seeing a familiar head of platinum silver hair. His face softened as a smile graced his lips. The two of them slowly lowered onto the ground, but Rosalie refused to let go of Greyson and kept him locked in a tight hug. "Sister, you would think I have been gone for years after fighting in a war, hasn''t it only been around a day?" A slight teasing intent could be heard clearly in his voice before a groan sounded off. Greyson''s face twisted into a grimace as he was unprepared for the sneak attack of his sister. Ticked off by Greyson''s laid-back response, Rosalie gave him a hard kick to the shin. "Hahaha, you asked for that one Grey. Rosie, here, was about to crazy with worry and that''s the first thing you say to her?" Ferno broke out in hearty laughter as the rest of the group also smiled and chuckled along with him. Rosalie did not respond, but she did finally release Greyson from her grip. At this point, the 14-year-old Greyson was still slightly shorter than her, so she could easily reach over to ruffle his hair. "You! You really know how to make someone''s heart live in a state of anxiety. Couldn''t you just be like everyone else and come out in a couple hours?" "You are acting as if I wanted to suffer for so long..." Greyson wryly smiled. "But, hey! The seventh level! Don''t think we did not notice where you shot out from. So, you passed the sixth level?" "Yeah!" Smiling proudly, Greyson could not suppress the happy feeling of surpassing so many others. He even... "The seventh level, then? You did take longer than most people... Did you pass it, too?" Aeos asked this time and the last part of his question was barely a whisper to keep the crowd around from hearing his words. Greyson''s expression showed slight disappointment as he sighed slightly. "No, I was shot out from the seventh level right away just like everyone else. I think it just took me longer to beat the third level than most people. My opponent was not easy..." Not showing any cracks in his expression, the rest of the group easily believed him. After all, it had been thousands upon thousands of years since the altars had been set up and there has yet to be one person who passed the seventh level. Everyone except Rosalie, who had an inkling of suspicion, but she knew better than to interrogate her brother right now. "Let''s head out then. We should go to the nearest town and just rest at an inn for the night. We are all probably exhausted." Sloan spoke up this time. Now that Greyson was out and their worries gone, everyone did start to feel the weariness hit them. Nodding in agreement, they all headed out together while Rosalie gave one last look at the venomous glare that had been following them. Snorting, she could only admit that this girl, Lariah, did not know when to give up. Greyson noticed his sister''s attitude and looked over as well. Only at this moment did he notice Lariah. Other than some slight surprise, he did not really feel anything towards her. Tugging at his sister''s sleeve, he shook his head. Minor characters like her were honestly not worth the time. "Wait! WAIT! Rosie, my love, you aren''t going to greet me before going?" A young voice shouted out. Greyson frowned knowing instantly the owner of the voice. Rosalie also looked over, however, her expression only showed confusion. Her expression was no longer the warm one she used when facing Greyson, but instead the normal icy one she presented to outsiders. The young Michail popped out from the crowd and ran up to Rosalie with an expression of adoration. However, the minute Michail appeared, Rosalie''s confusion only seemed to grow. "I''m sorry, but do we know each other?" Just one line. However, the devastation at such an answer was clear as day on Michail''s face. As if his entire world just crumbled, the young boy was left gaping speechless. He wanted to cry out indignantly, "we have definitely met multiple times, how could you feign not knowing me? A genius such as yourself definitely doesn''t have such a bad memory, right?" The corner of his lips twitched as Greyson tried his best to hold in his laughter. The rest of the group also showed strange expressions while obviously giving their best efforts to hold in their laughter as well. They knew that, actually, Rosalie''s memory was really THAT bad. But this was obviously on purpose. Anyone that she did not deem relevant or important were forgotten almost instantly. Her personality was too cold and indifferent to bother with remembering ever little character she has met before. In her opinion, any person she meets at social events are all blurry-faced passing strangers and the prince in front of her was exactly one such person that she only met at big gatherings. What Greyson was not aware of, is that even this group of dragons had to keep interacting with Rosalie for a good 3 years before she remembered all their names and faces. They were amazed when Greyson was able to get so close to her in such a short period. This was their family bond. Greyson realized this trait of his sister''s while they were together on the Snow Dragon tribe''s mountain. Tons of other dragons and her suitors would come to her, but the amount she actually remembered were a mere handful. At this point, Greyson was pretty sure he knew more names than his sister did and he had only lived there a couple of months. Rosalie was clearly aware of her flaw as well and normally she would act much more subtle with others so they would not notice. However, after hearing the flirtatious tone of Michail, she did not feel one ounce of sympathy. Taking advantage of the time that he was frozen in shock, Rosalie walked right passed Michail. It took a moment for the group to recover their wits and follow her as well. Feeling some pity, the males all gave Michail a conciliatory pat on the shoulder. "Young Master?" Finally, the timid servant who was running after Michail spoke out. "Haha, well, even if she doesn''t know me now that doesn''t mean she won''t know me in the future. There is still tons of time!" Shaken from his stupor, Michail did not let the embarrassment weigh him down. All couples were strangers in the beginning but eventually grow closer. He believed that with time and effort, he would be able to move her. The servant just sighed and gave up trying to convince his Young Master otherwise. It was a hopeless endeavor. "Alright, Young Master, eventually you will woo Lady Rosalie. For right now, thought, you must go back to the tribe. Master is waiting." "Ugh, I don''t want to go back. Just seeing the old geezer''s face is enough to deter me from practice." Although Michail complained in disgust, he still grudgingly followed the servant as they both transformed into their original forms and flew back. ... "Daddy, why did you take so long~! Snow was so bored just waiting." The cute leopard complained. "Sorry, there were some things that held me up." Smiling while stroking her soft fur, Greyson did not feel that bad since he really only left her for a day. She was just young and impatient so it felt like ages to her. He had Al and Snow both hide away while he was inside. Snow hid inside Al''s shell, while Al shrunk down to a normal rock size and hid in plain sight among the other rocks in the mountains. Before the group left, he made sure to pick the both of them up and then leave. The closest town was not too far away and they would quickly arrive. The group quickly made it to the biggest inn and each person bought a room for the night to relax. Seeing the neat bed, Greyson gave a wide smile before jumping straight onto the mattress. It was surprisingly soft and bouncy. He was surprised since most places are too poor to worry about the condition of their beds. Without saying anything to the others, Greyson passed out the minute his held hit his pillow. The rest of the group was no different, as all of them decided to sleep in bed this night. There was silence throughout the building tonight, eerie silence. Maybe others would not notice it since everyone should be sleeping, this was normal. However, Greyson could feel that something was wrong. He knew what small town inns were like even until dawn of the next day normally. During his travels, he had stayed in tens of different inns and became used to sleeping with the white noise of men laughing and drinking merrily. It was complete silence that actually unsettled him and made him wake up from his sleep. It was at this moment, that he heard his door almost silently swing open. Alert by now, Greyson kept his eyes closed and feigned peaceful breathing to keep up a pretense of sleep. He waited and listened, and although he could not hear clear footsteps as the person was obviously professional, he could feel a sense of something moving closer to himself. When he felt the body appear next to his, Greyson suddenly sunk into his bed and disappeared. The person reacted almost immediately and fled through the window. Not expecting the person to flee at the first sign of his plan going awry, Greyson was not prepared to stop him. Narrowing his eyes, Greyson did not think anymore of the man and instead went to his friends'' rooms to make sure they were not in trouble either. He made sure to make loud movements to also try to warn the group ahead of time. They were all wise and experienced enough to stay at least semi-vigilant. Eventually, all of them came out of their rooms before Greyson even fully made it over. "Greyson, is there a reason you are stomping around like some crazy person at such an ungodly hour?" Cerul yawned. "Were there any intruders in your rooms?" "Intruders? No. Why? What happened?" Rosalie snapped awake after hearing his question. "Someone decided to sneak into my room tonight. I feel like they did something to the rest of the people in the tavern as well, otherwise it would not be this quiet." Greyson responded calmly. "Did you catch the person?" "No, they ran the minute they realized I was not asleep." "Hm... they were definitely cautious." "The guests and tavern owners are all asleep. It seems someone drugged them." At some point, Hayze had already gone to check on them and confirm the situation. "Well, this is not the right time to try to stress ourselves out thinking. Everyone, go back to your rooms and just meditate tonight instead of sleeping again just to keep our guard up." Aeos took the lead and made the decision for everyone. Greyson nodded in agreement. Even he was itching to get back into bed and rest his mind. There was a lot he had to think about after what happened on the seventh level. Thinking up to this point, Greyson was suddenly struck by the idea that this night visit could have been because of the seventh level. Although he gave a plausible excuse to his group of friends and allowed everyone around to hear him say it, that does not mean that everyone would believe it. Maybe there were people who believed he passed the seventh level and wanted to know more information. Tons of magic beasts all dreamed of passing the altars, the interest in the seventh level would be extremely high. He could feign getting kicked out, but he could not change the fact that he did indeed take longer than most. Starting to feel a headache, Greyson decided to stop thinking about it for now and discuss things with Rosalie tomorrow. He needed to tell her about what happened. 107 Sister-Brother Tag Team All of them went back into their separate rooms to rest again. With their guard fully up, it would not be an extremely restful night. Only a couple of hours passed by before Greyson''s ears twitched towards movement coming towards the inn. Snow was also easily awakened and hopped onto his shoulder. Knowing he was not the only one who heard, he quickly got up and went downstairs. The rest of the group was also either coming down the stairs or already downstairs on the main floor. Looking around, they saw the other customers and inn workers sprawled over the tables and chairs after being knocked out. They knew that they should lead the approaching group away from here. Nodding wordlessly to each other in agreement, Cerul left first and transformed into his dragon form as the rest quickly hopped onto his back. With a single flap of his wings, they were already outside of the town limits. For a second, Greyson thought they might be able to escape the group, but he soon realized this was a naive hope. Glancing over his shoulder, he could detect a bunch of shadows tracking them. Shockingly, they were keeping pace with Cerul who was well-known for his flight speed. Although they were not catching up, the group all knew that they were not going to get away at this rate. It was also not to the point where they believed running was the only option available. Cerul spotted the nearest vacant space and started to descend towards the grassy field. At this point, the group could finally turn around and take a clear look at their pursuers. At this point, the sky was slightly brightening signifying the sun would rise soon. There were four flying magic beasts with around two bodies on each so eight enemies in all if the magic beasts were not included. The magic beasts were actually Lightning Ravens which explained their speed, however, their actual power seemed relatively weak. When they landed on the ground as well, the group scanned over their opponents carefully. To their surprise, the scent given off by the enemies was human. "They are all human?" Fervis spoke in confusion. He could not be blamed, since humans were an extremely unwelcome sight in the Beast Empire. They were legitimately a rare sight because it was hard for them to travel throughout the Empire without getting randomly targeted as a common enemy. "Human?" Both Greyson and Rosalie looked over in surprise. They could not tell with their sense of smell the difference between the races like the dragons. "Yes... How odd." Aeos nodded in confirmation while trying to gleam any hints off the approaching 8 opponents. They were styled head to toe in black garments and had metal masks that covered their faces. No insignia or obvious tell-tale sign of their affiliations was apparent. Not trying to conceal their aura at all, Greyson and the rest could tell that they were all great magister level magicians. Their expression grew grim knowing they were outnumbered and overpowered. They were technically equal in number, however both Greyson and Rosalie had yet to break through to the great magister level. It was more like eight against six in this situation. "Rosie and Grey, you both take care of one. I can fight off two of them. They are all stage one great magisters, so this arrangement should be manageable. Don''t hold anything back; they don''t look like the talking sort so I doubt we will be able to gleam too much information from them even if we captured them alive. We''ll leave that to luck if one of them ends up alive in the end. The rest of you just choose one depending on the strengths that they show." Aeos, being the strongest, decisively took the lead and gave them all instructions. Everyone nodded in understanding. Rosalie and Grey actually moved first because their abilities were the most diverse so it would not matter as much who they chose. The rest moved subsequently sending an initial attack. Turns out that all of them were different elements. The seven elements of Greyson plus the space element were all represented through the eight of them. The opponent that Greyson and Rosalie chose was the earth element enemy. He had a sturdy build that gave off the distinct feeling of a defensive specialist. Greyson and Rosalie moved with tacit understanding as Greyson attacked first as Rosalie stayed back and began summoning her Fey. Starting off strong, he flipped his palm and brought out Genesis before slashing with his fire and water combined attack first. The man responded only with a hard earth armor and crossed his arms to block Greyson''s attack. The attack exploded upon contact, however, Greyson saw that the rocks were only slightly cracked. Frowning, he realized that his attacks would not be able to easily break apart this man''s defense just like those Earth Creatures. Plus, this man was not some unintelligent being waiting to be hit. A heavy fist came swinging towards Greyson, who quickly dodged away with his wind element. Hearing the sound of that fist almost ripping through the air, Greyson slightly paled in shock. It would most definitely almost incapacitate him with just one direct hit from this man. The only upside was that the man was obviously slower so he definitely be dodged as long as Greyson maintained his guard. At this point, Rosalie already finished summoning Ira as the surrounding temperature dropped to freezing. The earth armor around the man started to freeze up as the ice easily slipped through the defenses. His movements even slower than before, Greyson did not hesitate to send another aggressive attack. This time using lightning and fire and a direct fist attack. White scales grew over his hand and forearm to increase his brute strength and defense. His opponent grunted with effort as he brought up his arms to block once more while Greyson''s fist easily made contact. Another explosion of energy and this time the earth shattered apart like ice and the man was sent backwards. Feet digging into the ground, the man did not go far before he stopped himself. One of his arms dangled oddly looking broken while the other one was relatively fine. Greyson looked back at Rosalie and noticed her pale complexion as Ira slowly disappeared. Looking at the Fey, a random thought passed through his mind. He wondered if he would also be able to make a contract with a Fey... Shaking his head quickly, Greyson did not continue down this line of thinking. They were in the middle of a fight, and he could not be distracted. "Could you summon one of your Fey one more time?" "Yes, but only once. It can''t be Ira, either. After that, I will be pretty much completely drained and could only conjure up simple spells." Rosalie spoke evenly. Greyson frowned hearing that it could not be Ira. Her ice element seemed to be the most effective against this man''s earth element. "Hey, hey, don''t underestimate your sister. My other Fey are also powerful. I think Bronx would work better this time instead of Umir. Umir''s attacks are more about speed than power." "Alright. Let''s go with that, then." Actually, Greyson had seen all of her Fey in action in their several spars, but he was not sure that Bronx''s ability would work against this opponent. Their opponent actually moved first this time. While the siblings were speaking, he reset the bone that broke and formed his armor once again to keep it in place. No sounds of pain broke from him as if he could not feel what was occurring. Kicking off with power, he shot towards the siblings. His good arm punched out towards Rosalie as a sharp metal point formed at the end of his fist. Greyson instantly appeared in front of Rosalie to provide her enough time. Earth Walls instantly formed, however, they were all smashed apart as if they were not there in the first place. They did slow down the man''s momentum and gave Greyson and Rosalie enough time to dodge out of the way. The man''s punch ended up stabbing into the ground which split and cracked apart underneath the power. Pulling out from the ground, he rapidly turned towards the siblings and shot towards them once more. Greyson could tell that he was aiming for close combat and continually attacked Rosalie since he knew that he could easily overpower them and Rosalie was distracted. Gritting his teeth, Greyson knew that he had to directly resist the man in order to give his sister space to act. Releasing a deep roar, his entire body was covered in white scales. This time, he allowed the man to approach him and blocked the punch with both of his hands. A thunderous boom sounded off from their contact just from the sheer amount of strength behind the punch. Greyson could feel the scales crack underneath the pressure but he still held firm and sent a vicious kick towards the man''s stomach. Both of them were sent backwards from the kick. Unable to keep from rolling his eyes, Greyson was speechless at his opponent''s rock solid body. His leg was slightly shaking from the impact as if Greyson kicked a metal wall instead of a person''s body. However, he was able to buy his sister enough time and a large tree formed behind her. This willow tree was rather creepy looking, but it exuded an undeniable power. Its branches shot out and gripped onto the man and held down his body. Sharp metal thorns grew from the branches and stabbed into the man everywhere. The man could not move, but Greyson could tell that the branches were not going to be able to hold him for long. Taking advantage of the situation, Greyson actually flew up into the sky holding Genesis tightly into his hand. Utilizing his earth element, he reinforced and sharpened the metal blade and lightning crackled around his sword. Dismissing his wind element, his body began to free fall towards the ground. Cutting through the air, he allowed his momentum to grow as he shot down towards his opponent. Right before his sword could stab through the man''s torso, another of the enemies used the wind element to force the man slightly off center. Greyson''s sword ended up cutting the man''s arm clean off instead. Not capable of completely stopping himself, Greyson turned his body bracing for impact and his back slammed into the ground. Since he was prepared, he merely suffered minor damage, but his mana stores were running low. Getting up hastily, he ran towards Rosalie once more who was sitting on the ground with labored breathing. "Try to grasp this chance to restore some of your mana. Although I did not kill him, he probably will not be able to attack right away." Rosalie nodded as she quickly got into her meditative state to absorb mana. Greyson looked towards the opponent once again and saw the man was still bleeding quite profusely from his wound. However, the man quickly pulled out a cream from a storage pouch and spread it over the wound which quickly stopped the bleeding. Greyson wanted to take advantage of this moment to attack, however, he did not have much energy left himself. He did not want to recklessly attack when Rosalie could not back him up. The man actually sat down and brought out a needle and string that he used to stitch up his wound. Such endurance was on one hand impressive, while on the other fairly unsettling. From the beginning, Greyson could tell that this man did not feel pain like a normal human. Since this was an unspoken break, he took this chance to look over at the other battles. Most of the group was winning their fights while Aeos was slightly struggling against his two opponents. But this was to be expected in a two versus one situation. The uses of the time element became evident to Greyson, though, during this fight. Aeos was constantly slowing down or speeding up his opponents and himself which completely messed with his opponents'' sense of rhythm. Only, Aeos actual attack power was relatively low. He could only utilize his dragon body''s strength with some mana reinforcement, but the time element did not have many direct attack spells. Greyson could tell he was stalling for time so that the rest of the group could defeat their opponents then help him with the last two. The strategy was working, and Greyson could tell they would all defeat their opponents soon. There was just one thing bothering Greyson. He could not recognize what it was, but something about this battlefield looked wrong to him. Glancing around at everyone, he ran through a bunch of thoughts in his mind as he tried to figure out what this thought tugging at the back of his mind was. Suddenly, Greyson finally thought of something. He whipped his head around to look for his opponent again only to see the man had moved slightly from where he was trying to heal himself before. Looking at that man, Greyson glanced at the other seven opponents. "Oh no!" "Aeos, everyone, you need to-" Greyson tried to warn everyone but was cut short by the opponent''s voice. "FORMATION!" All the eight enemies created a circle as each of them brought out a symbol engraved onto a piece of paper. Eight colors rose into the sky and lines drew around the group connecting the eight men. The color drained from Greyson''s face as his friends also finally recognized their carelessness. 108 Unlikely Savior Greyson could tell those engravings were part of some group spell that they cast. Once they were connected, all of their power grew by almost double as they surrounded Greyson and the others. Perceiving the difference in power, Aeos'' expression grew dim as he tried running through as many ideas as possible. The rest of the group grew silent while waiting for his instructions, however, even they were troubled about what to do. "I know that this type of boosting spell has a time limit and once that limit is met, they will be completely defenseless. At this point, we cannot beat them with brute force so we might as well save energy by playing safe. Just focus on dodging and defending against their attacks. If I see an opening, I will tell you guys and we will try to escape. Who said we have to fight with them anyways?" In the end, Aeos finally spoke up, but his news was not very uplifting. This was the best plan, though. Everyone knew that he was right and that the obvious boost in power of their opponents left them rather helpless. The eight enemies were clearly aware of their time limit, and they only took a moment to familiarize themselves with their new power before attacking once again. There actually was no change in opponents as they attacked the same people from before. Greyson and Rosalie ended up having the easiest time since they both could use the wind element and their opponent was comparatively slow. Everyone continued flitting around trying to dodge. Of course, their success was not perfect, so everyone was taking some minor damage. Fervis, Ferno, and Sloan particularly were not dodging well since speed was not their forte. Seeing the wound count grow on his friends, Greyson was growing restless. He did not allow himself to be distracted, however, since just one hit from his opponent would leave him with major injuries. All of them were just counting down the minutes, trying to endure. The enemies could feel the time ticking down, and they continued attacking with even more passion and aggression. *BANG!* Hearing the collision, the group turned to see that Sloan took a direct hit from her fire element opponent. Slamming into the ground, Sloan coughed up some blood and did not recover quickly. Seizing this opportunity, the man sent another blazing fire spell towards the incapacitated Sloan. Hayze reacted swiftly and arrived at her side to Shadow Escape both of them away. Only minor relief appeared on everyone''s face as the most pressing concern was handled, however, they knew Hayze could not continue to take care of a second person against two opponents. Biting his lip, Aeos continued to seek an opening, but these men were obviously well-trained. They attacked at different rhythms so that the group was always dodging at different times. This made it hard for Aeos to call for a sudden retreat because there was inevitably at least one person who was mid-dodge while the rest were free. If he were to call for them to retreat at that point, that would mean sacrificing whoever was distracted as the rest escaped. He could not carry out such a cold-blooded action in good conscience. No panic could be seen as the time continued to run out as if they were unbothered by the fact they would soon be defenseless. Aeos hoped they would start to fall apart as their formation begins fading away, but their attacks stayed coordinated, precise, and patient. Ebbing endurance and reducing speed were evident with the group as their accumulating injuries started adversely affecting their abilities. Slight desperation grew on both sides in a tiring deadlock. Greyson and Rosalie slowed down the most. From the beginning, they had already almost run out of mana after their fight earlier and they had the smallest mana stores out of everyone. "Rosalie, watch out!" Greyson saw his sister was not able to dodge the next attack and pushed her out of the way. Turning his back towards the heavy punch, his Wind Suit spell automatically activated to defend him. The force nevertheless sent him flying out and he landed hard into the ground. Feeling a couple bones crack under the impact, Greyson could not hold in a soft groan in pain. However, he did not take the time to concentrate on the pain and instead sank into his shadow to escape to another location. His previous spot cracked apart with a boom as the opponent had followed up quickly. Although he anticipated a subsequent attack, Greyson was truly stuck. He had no more mana left. Large rock shards were flying towards himself, and he could only watch gritting his teeth in preparation for the impact. It was at this moment that intense flames blocked that attack. Flames came down on every one of the eight enemies. "I guess I''ll have to step out and save you guys. Otherwise, I''ll have to go on another search for suitable mates." A familiar prideful voice spoke up. "Afina!" The twins exclaimed in sync. Admittedly, this must be the happiest by far they have felt to hear her voice. Compared to the other days, that high-pitched entitled voice was like music to their ears. Although Afina''s personal strength was equal to the twins, this princess was the apple of the tribe leader''s eye. For her protection, her entourage included many formidable Great Magister servants. She was truly a dependable support. "Lorn! Garth! Finish up the trash." Waving her hand dismissively, Afina confidently ordered her subordinates. "Yes, right away, Princess!" "Wait! Leave one alive!" Aeos requested. Afina just glanced over at him before nodding. "You heard him." "Yes, Princess." Two of the Amians strode out. They radiated much more pressure than the opponents, so Greyson assumed they should be around the stage five great magister level. Fiery fire attacks flew towards the group of eight. Putting up a hard fight, they lasted for a pretty long time. However, their power was continually waning as time went on and soon they were unable to resist the heat. One by one, all but one were burned to ash. Earlier on, Greyson was told that each stage had a large difference starting at the great magister level. It seems the difference is rather stark. Although that group were stage one great magister level magicians; their power was doubled under that formation spell. Yet, these two have taken care of such enemies so easily. The last remaining opponent was the wind element magician who managed to dodge until the end. Noticing this person''s speed, the two Amians just randomly decided that he would be the one they left alive. Greyson''s group had taken the time during the fight to recuperate. After recovering some mana, Greyson used his light element to heal himself and Sloan whose injuries were the worst. They were not completely healed before he ran out of mana again, but the critical damage was no longer concerning. Before long, the two Amians tossed the last man''s body towards the group signifying they should do whatever they needed. Everyone angrily glared at him after thinking of this sudden attack that they suffered. ... Three days later "He''s still not revealing anything!" Ferno kicked the wall in frustration. "I told you guys earlier that none of them look like the type we could get information from." Aeos just sighed. "I''ve probably burned him in the most painful ways possible, but he does not even flinch. Rosalie leaves him at freezing temperatures almost all day. We''ve cut into him and broken bones, but nothing forces out a reaction. It''s like the man is dead or something!" Yes, for the full three days since the fight, the group had been trying to torture this last man into telling them more about his identity and the reason for attacking. "Wait..." Almost immediately after Ferno had had his little outburst, Aeos struck his forehead in disbelief. He could not believe that he did not think of it before! Greyson had also thought of something. Moving past all of them, he entered the room where the man was tied to a chair. Using his light element, he looked into the man''s body, and his face grew ugly. "He IS dead." Greyson remarked. "Death magic?" Rosalie asked, however she already sounded sure of her guess. "Yes." Greyson was still rather absentminded when he answered. Looking over the man in front of him, there was no trace of death on the outside. His eyes looked full of vigor and mission which was why the group just thought that he was resisting torture well the entire time. He was even breathing, or at least looked as though he was breathing. During his time at the Academy, he learned about forbidden or rare magic that was outside the elements like time and space. Death magic was one of them. There were only a rare few individuals who were born with the ability to use this magic and most of them inevitably grew up rather twisted. Many infamous criminals throughout the continent were death magic users. Since their practice required the dead, some of them took it upon themselves to produce the supply. The harmless ones live near battlefields and war since they do not actually have to kill anyone. "I have never met a death magic user. How about you guys? Anyone comes to mind?" Greyson asked. "No, I''ve only heard of such magic." "Me, too." Everyone felt confused because no one could think of an enemy who would use this tactic on them. "It looks like we will have to stay cautious. A hidden enemy is considerably worse than a known one. Plus, for him to have sent great magister level corpses, he must be a exceptionally powerful death magician. Otherwise, he would be unable to control these corpses to this level." Aeos did not look any happier even with the new information. The atmosphere grew gloomy as the group felt threatened by this unknown factor. "Well, let''s dispose of this guy then. He evidently will not be any help." Fervis approached the man and burned him to ash. Collectively sighing at this conclusion, the group walked out of the makeshift house the made. "Well, there is nothing else we can do other then continuing on with our journey. The next closest altar is the Fire Altar. We will have to cross over into the Inferno Territory." Hearing this name, Greyson remembered the geography of the Beast Empire. It was not split into many parts. Just four mostly that were split apart based on their conditions. Inferno was the area where most fire element magic beasts resided and it was covered with volcanoes and geysers. There were also the Ice Plains, Misty Jungle, and Beast Mountains. All of the names were rather self explanatory. The more extreme weather and conditions were only in a concentrated area, the rest of the large land in between was more moderate. Some tribes purposefully lived on the borders of the territories hoping for neutral conditions. Thinking about it, Halcrem''s tribe should be in that territory as well. "Would the Sun Lion Tribe be on the way?'' "Sun Lion?" Rosalie looked confused before remembering what Greyson had told her about Halcrem. "Hm... I do not think their tribe is on the way. We can make a stop if you want." "No, it''s no big deal. I just thought it would be nice, but Lucius is the more pressing issue." "Alright! Since it''s decided, let''s start heading out. Cerul, how is your condition? Are you fit for some long distance flying?" "I''m all healed and rested up! There won''t be any issues." He transformed into his dragon form almost instantly as everyone jumped up onto his back. "Let''s-" "WAIT! You guys aren''t just leaving, right?" Someone screeched. Ah. They had forgotten about someone. Like it was practiced, they all turned their heads to look at the twins. "Afina, we are immensely grateful for your help this time. Truly. But we have to leave now, we are on a mission of sorts." Fervis scratched his head while trying to convey the words as nicely as possible. He did feel guilty to just ditch her after the help she provided. "Hmph! Don''t think you can escape that easily. I heard you guys just now. You are heading directly towards the Amian tribe''s territory. You will fly right through it on the way to the Fire Altar. In return for saving you, come and hang out with me for a couple days. I am not going to pretend that I saved you out of the goodness of my heart. You guys owe me!" Crossing her arms, Afina did not back down one inch while proudly admitting to her ulterior motives. Speechless, they did not expect her to be so upfront about it. They looked at Greyson, since he was the one who was in a rush, but he just shrugged. "We can just drop off the twins and go to the Fire Altar first. They can meet us there when they are done their rendezvous with their fiance." Smirking by the end, Greyson clearly was poking fun. The rest of group laughed along and eagerly agreed to his suggestion. Both of the twins decided to just accept their fate this time and agreed to the condition. "Hahaha, awesome! In that case, I will be waiting for you guys there~" Leaving with that last remark, Afina excitedly flew away with her followers. 109 Did You Hear That? "Darling, look at these beautiful glittering stones. All seven of them are so pristine and happy. This means are children are doing great, right?" A deep and melodious voice questioned. "Naturally, they are great. What else would they be?" "Do you think those men will discover them? We did not have enough time to prepare..." "Stop jinxing us. Everything is fine." A harsh voice commanded. It was at this moment, that a slight cracking sound could be heard. Both the man and woman jerked their heads around in shock towards the seven glowing stones. The third one from the right was starting to dim and crack. "Eden?" "What''s happening?!" They continued observing day and night, however, the situation was not growing any better. Growing dimmer and dimmer, the stone was cracking apart at a breakneck pace. "Who is it?! Who would dare injure my daughter like so?!" Growling out angrily, Elbianth could not avoid punching apart the wall. "Kalerea, we have to go and help her. At this rate, we will lose our daughter!" "You know just as well as I do that we cannot escape here yet." Although her voice sounded indifferent, one could ascertain the weariness and worry that leaked in. "Damn it all!" Breaking more things, the walls all fell victim to the man''s temper. However, oddly enough, they all reappeared completely fine afterwards. The pieces of stone dissipated and the scene restored itself. Witnessing this occur, Elbianth''s expression turned sour. Even his anger could not be expressed the way he wanted! Thankfully, the dimming halted and the stone stopped cracking apart. However, the situation was not getting any better which mean Eden was still in a precarious state. Staring with red eyes, Elbianth felt an fury build up in himself that was uncontrollable. Useless, useless, useless! He was so useless. As a husband and father, he could not protect his wife or his precious children. Not too long ago, little seventh''s stone also dimmed to a dangerous point. All his children were running into near-death situations, but all he was capable of doing was sit around and watch the stones while stuck in this hell-like place. "When I leave this place, the first action I will carry out is rip off all their heads!" He clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palm causing blood to drip. *ROAR!* A deafening roar escaped his mouth as the anger in his heart finally settled. "Just sit down and work harder. We need to recuperate our full strength. The faster we do this, the faster we can assist the kids." Her lips hardening into a straight line, Kalerea also felt deeply frustrated in her heart. But if the strength was not there, what could the weak do other than complain? ... Greyson shivered slightly as if he could detect a desperate roar in the background. Glancing around, Greyson tried finding the source. "Did you hear that?" Both Greyson and Rosalie asked at the same time. "Hear what?" The rest of the group looked at them oddly. The skies on the way to the Fire Altar were completely serene and silent. Confused, the siblings glanced at each other not sure what is was they heard. "Nothing, must be our imagination." Sighing to himself, Greyson realized he was feeling slightly anxious. "Well, on a more interesting note, we are almost in the Amian territory~," Cerul teased. Obviously flinching, the twins felt like lambs up for slaughter. "Alright, Cerul, don''t keep rubbing salt in the wound. You both, we will wait around the Fire Altar if we get through the test before you can regroup with us." Aeos spoke seriously. "We get it. Honestly, she probably will not force us to do much. We will most likely have to just tolerate her dragging us around to eat and shop and look at things. She''s not as pushy and arrogant as her exterior implies. The sole reason we reject her so strongly is that we do not feel anything for her romantically so we do not want to give her any other ideas." Fervis explained. Greyson looked up kind of surprised to hear the twin not complain about Afina. It made sense, though. From the limited amount of interaction they have had with Afina, she did not seem malicious just stubborn. Speaking of the Amians, a group of red lights were quickly approaching Cerul. They slowed down just in front of the group with Afina in the lead looking rather excited. "You two! Come on!" Without waiting for an answer, Afina appeared next to the twins and grabbed both their arms to pull them away. "Wait-," Fervis began. However, he was swiftly pulled away along with his brother. "See you later~," Cerul joked. "Let''s go, Cerul. At the rate you are going, I wonder why we are travelling on you. Going this slow, aren''t you tarnishing the Wind Dragon''s reputation for speed?" Hayze surprisingly was the one who spoke out impatiently. "Oh? Is that a challenge?" "See it however you like." She shrugged. "Well okay, hold onto something everyone." "What?" Greyson was puzzled by the sudden warning. Cerul just snickered before shooting out with just a flap of his wings. Pushed back by the sheer force of the wind, Greyson rolled backwards before finally grabbing onto Cerul''s tail. Catching his balance, Greyson promptly used his wind element to block out the wind force and slowly climb his way back to the rest of the group still seated on Cerul''s back. All of them were using their mana to block the wind and stay seated. "Essentially, this is a great training exercise for all of us. We have to continue sustaining our mana under these harsher conditions." Rosalie squeezed out for the rest of the group. All of them were gritting their teeth trying to stay still. Nodding in understanding, Greyson closed his eyes to concentrate as well. It was infinitely more challenging to keep his wind element active to help him allow the air current to flow smoothly past him. Instead of using the wind like a shield or buffer, he willed the wind to flow right by him. He realized in excitement that this practice allowed him to tap into the wind element even more. Almost as if... "Greyson!" Rosalie gasped. Snapping out of his reverie, Greyson turned to look at her with slight annoyance. Everyone knows what extremely bad manners it is to disrupt someone else''s meditation. "Don''t look at me like that. Look at yourself!" Rolling her eyes, Rosalie paid no mind to his piercing glare. Taken aback, Greyson quickly looked down at himself only to realize, he could not see himself. Shocked, he looked around and lifted his hands in front of his face. He could feel he moved his arms but there were no hands in front of him. Giggling at Greyson''s behavior, Rosalie summoned an ice mirror to allow him to see himself. Everywhere except his head was flowing along with the wind. It was like when he turned his arm into water except way more advanced than that stage. There was only one more step necessary before he could turn his whole body to be one with the wind. Such progress was a pleasant surprise for him. Breaking out into a smile, Greyson allowed himself to relax with the wind. "Can you do that with your other elements?" His curiosity piqued by his sister, Greyson tried to do it with water. However, he realized he did not make the same progress with the other elements. Although it was a shame, Greyson was not too disappointed. Each element was unique, and progress in one did not normally mean progress in another. Cerul had actually slowed down with impeccable timing, so Greyson could try out the other elements. It was not because he was aware of Greyson''s situation, but that they had actually arrived at the Fire Altar. The rest of the group opened their eyes perceiving the change in the situation. "We''ve arrived!" Cerul let them know. Hearing the announcement, Greyson stopped exploring things and looked out in front of himself. Only at this point did he realize the sweltering heat around them. The terrain was covered in volcanoes and lava. At the center was the grandest mountain that clearly had a building carved into the rock. At the bottom of the mountain stood two imposing stone doors around the height of three men. Unlike the Earth Altar, there was no crowd surrounding the altar. It was comparatively uninhabited with only a couple magic beasts in the area waiting. "Not many magic beasts can withstand the heat here. Even some fire element magic beasts cannot stay near here. The volcanoes here are all active and there is a constant flow of lava that could explode at certain points. If they get hit by the lava, they will get bad burns or could possibly die. We have to enter the Fire Altar right away." Aeos turned to inform Greyson. "Wait, what are the levels of the Fire Altar like?" "The first level test is universal for all the altars. They test your talent. The second level should be between Hell''s Fire or the Lava Titan. Hell''s Fire, you will have to resist fierce flames for a certain amount of time. Apparently, the time depends on the result of your talent test. It will recognize your limit, so it will actually be testing your endurance. The Lava Titan will normally be the same level and stage as you and the challenge is that you have to take out the Lava Titan''s heart. The reason that it is strenuous is that the heart can move wherever within the Lava Titan''s body or into the lava that the Titan lives in. Its elusiveness makes this challenge take a longer time usually because you have to come up with some sort of plan or trick. The third level will either be a battle between the other participant or a scavenger hunt type challenge. In the volcano, you have to find three fire crystals. Each crystal will be guarded by a fierce fire element magic beast. Subsequently, levels four through six are virtually exactly the same as the Earth Altar, except you need to fight the Fire Devils. Their defense is weaker than the Earth Beasts, but their attack is much fiercer. Their speed is also faster. No one knows what is on the seventh level." The concluding sentence made Greyson pause. If he found the chance, he wanted to let Rosalie know first. After the earlier fight, however, he started to think about informing the entire group. They faced a real life-or-death situation, and none of them tried to leave or betray the others which inevitably increased his trust in his friends. Although he felt guilty, he did not tell anyone in the group yet what happened in the seventh level of the Fire Altar. When he initially entered, he expected to be kicked out right away. However, right before he was forced out, a key was given to him. While a deep voice echoed out, "collect all four and receive my greatest treasure." It all happened so quickly that Greyson could only conceal the key away beneath his shirt before his body shot out from the seventh level just like everyone else''s. To this day, he still did not quite fathom what the key signified or what made him different from the others. He also suspected he might not be the only one who received this key, but the people before him did not tell anyone about this occurrence. The Black Phoenix was a legendary existence. Its greatest treasure would most definitely be powerful and rare. Let alone the Beast Empire, powers from all over the continent would covet this chance. This was why Greyson was so hesitant to tell others. Trust could not be so easily given, otherwise, he could only regret it once he is betrayed. Unaware of Greyson''s thoughts, the rest of the group prepared to enter the Fire Altar. Cerul dove down quickly before transforming into his human form and dropping everyone off right at the two-door entrance. Sensing their arrival, the two doors slowly creaked open on their own. Waves of heat buffeted their faces making their eyes squint in pain. Sweat starting to drip from their faces, they all slowly walked into the altar. This was the first time Greyson had experienced this type of unbearable warmth. Even with his affinity to fire, his body was sweating and uncomfortable. Dropped into a familiar grey space, Greyson also heard a familiar voice speak to him. "Sit peacefully and meditate." That same deep, charming voice rang out. 110 Mental Endurance Overwhelmed by the familiar burst of comfortable mana, Greyson felt the muscles in his body all relax. Just like last time, his meditation was unfortunately cut short. "Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark, and Lightning absorption rate and affinity extraordinary. Also, some space element detected, however, absorption rate and affinity are low and average accordingly. Other elements meet the standard; the participant will now proceed to the second level." Almost like deja vu, Greyson went through the same process to hear the same result. Only this time, a tinge of disappointment showed on his face. Although he knew it was almost impossible to increase his talent with the space element, somewhere in him he wished that the result would be different by some miracle. Shaking his head, he knew that he was just being greedy. Someone who could manipulate seven elements getting disappointed by not having an eighth? Being unappreciative should have its limits. Calming himself down once more, Greyson jumped through the familiar black portal. The minute he arrived on the other side, he was struck by a fiery heat. Sweat instantly began beading down his face while his clothes uncomfortably clung to his body. Just seconds and the heat already felt intolerable. "Hell''s Fire, huh." Mumbling under his breath, Greyson realized the name was no exaggeration. In fact, it suddenly felt like an understatement. Knowing this was not the time to be having stray thoughts, he adjusted his state and began to meditate. Absorbing the fire element mana around would at least help him cope with the heat in the beginning. However, he was also aware that the whole point of this exam was to test his mental endurance, not his talent. This sweet respite would end at one point, and he would have to just push through with his determination. He was confident in his ability, but to say he was completely without fear and worry would be lies. It would definitely be challenging, because none of his teachers and enemies have ever really pushed him to his limit in this manner. Words are easy to say, but he could not be sure that his perseverance was really up to par... "No! The minute I remain like this I will fail no matter what. I can do this!" Whispering the latter words to himself like a chant, Greyson broke out of his contemplation. Knowing this was no time for doubts, he forced the doubts out of his mind and only continued sitting within the sweltering fire. In a way, he wondered if this beginning feeling of doubt was also part of the test and expected by the Dark Phoenix when they created the altars. Time ticked by slowly. Seconds felt like minutes, hours like days, Greyson started losing track of how much time he spent in this fire. He sweat so much that he felt dehydration start to set in. Typically, he never felt thirst after awakening his magic. The water element kept him hydrated without actually consuming water. In Hell''s Fire, however, the elements except the fire element were restricted. All that was sustaining him was the fire element, but even that was reaching a limit. His skin already changed from just red towards actual burns. Pain from the blistering skin set in and Greyson could only grit his teeth and bear it. Used to always healing himself right away, Greyson underwent a hard time at first. Grunts of agony and labored breathing proved the increasingly unbearable pain caused by the flames. Just when he assumes that he is reaching the end, the flames would increase in heat and amount. Afraid of having his hopes dashed once again, Greyson stopped trying to think about the time or the end. He could not conclude which was worse: laying in a constant wait with no end in sight or the pain from his body slowly roasting within the fire. "D*MN, IT''S SO F*CKING HOT!" Barring nothing, Greyson shouted profanities and realized that the release actually made him feel a little better. Granted, he was not a fan of cursing, but he did feel a certain catharsis. Maybe this was why all commoners cursed more than the upper class? They required the release much more than the wealthy and content. Laughing in spite of his situation, Greyson was surprised such a sudden and nonsensical thought would even cross his mind. "Maybe I''m already going crazy?" More time slipped by. At this point, Greyson''s vision was beginning to blur and his consciousness slipped in and out. He was almost sobbing because it hurt so much. At that moment, the pain just stopped. In his mind, Greyson thought it was because the burns were so severe that his nerves were already damaged thus he could not feel the pain anymore. When the pain ended, the black portal also opened up. Contrary to before, Greyson did not need to get up and go through himself. The portal opened underneath him and automatically sent Greyson away. Landing onto a hard metal floor, Greyson did not even try to heal himself. Knowing the challenge was over, he closed his eyes and slept. Rest lasted a long time until he woke up with a start while hissing in pain. His elements began nourishing and restoring his body by itself. Obviously, this healing process was much slower than if he cast his light element spells, but it still eventually healed him to the point where he could feel the pain again. Not willing to endure another second of the pain, Greyson cast his strongest healing spell, Breath''s Resurrection. While this spell used up all his mana at once, it worked like a charm. Repose set in throughout Greyson''s body and his skin began to peel off as a new layer grew in. By the end, he was like a newborn baby. Smooth and flawless white skin grew back on his body. Sighing in relief, Greyson could feel that his mana stores were completely empty once again. Turning to meditation, he peacefully absorbed the mana in his surroundings. ... Only after a couple of days of relaxation did Greyson ultimately open his eyes to look around at the third level. Seeing as he was able to peacefully rest and recuperate in an empty metal arena, Greyson knew this must be the battle challenge instead of the scavenger hunt. Otherwise, he would see more of the volcano''s natural environment. Throughout this entire period, no one was sent to this place to fight him thus he assumed he was in a similar situation to his earlier opponent, Michail. He would just have to wait until a suitable opponent arrived to challenge him. A week of waiting later, Greyson started to sincerely sympathize with Michail. When he arrived to the third level at the Earth Altar, he was thrown off by the other''s enthusiastic and loud response. Yet, sitting around in this room with nothing, he could feel himself shaking with impatience. Not even his meditation was going properly because his thoughts would not stop from straying due to his restlessness and agitation. There were still three more levels of intense fighting for him, yet he was stuck here waiting for an unknown period of time. The group would most likely finish before him once again, just for a different reason this time. Thankfully, his wait only lasted until the next day. A black portal opened on the other side of the arena and another body fell in. A red robust body with sharp black horns protruding from her forehead, an extremely buff female magic beast appeared in front of him. At least, he assumed she was a magic beast. Throughout his studies, he never came across a species that looked like this. The figure was human-like, but there were obvious differences such as her red skin, horns, muscles, and over 7 foot stature. Left gaping, Greyson felt that he was speechless. Looking closer, her condition was not too great, and she had plenty of heavy injuries and cuts with some burns all around her body. Noting that she was not burnt to a crisp like him, Greyson inferred that she was sent to the Lava Titan challenge. This unknown species look startled to see him and tried to get into a ready stance right away to fight. "Don''t bother. Take your time to recover fully. I was in a much worse condition than you and got more than enough time to recover. I would rather not take advantage of your injured condition." This was not Greyson speaking out of some half-baked chivalry, since she was sent here, the Black Phoenix''s tests must have deemed her a proper opponent. She was strong, and he did not need to protect her. This was him hoping to have a decent fight with a powerful opponent. These kinds of opportunities do not come along easily. Yes, he could just defeat her now in but a breath, but what would that prove to himself? That he could beat down opponents at less than half their strength? "Do not underestimate me." The enemy spoke through a heavy accent that Greyson could not identify, however, he still comprehended her. "If I really underestimated you, I would just attack you now. Because I would believe you now and the healed you would have the same result, therefore there would be no difference in the end. It is because I respect your strength that I wish to defeat you at your best. If I really lost, then that means I do not deserve to move on to the fourth level." The opponent merely grunted in response and sat down promptly. To Greyson''s shock, the red beast turned into an aqua-scaled creature with webbed fingers and feet. Using the water element, the injuries healed at a swifter pace. This change in an element he could understand. It was the complete change in her physique that he could not wrap his head around. There were magic beasts that had more human-like transformations, but he had never heard of a magic beast turning into a completely different one. Unlike the light element, the water element healed more indirectly and slowly, so the opponent took a couple of days to completely heal herself. Patiently waiting, Greyson felt at peace as he took this time to meditate. Now that the enemy and end of this level were in sight, he felt much lighter and less anxious. While he enjoyed some free time, Greyson decided to concentrate harder on his older memories and see if he could figure out what race his opponent. Other than the major races: humans, elves, dwarves, and magic beasts, there were multiple minorities that existed. But no matter how much he filed through those various groups, Greyson could not discover one that matched with the thing in front of him. Unable to dial back his curiosity, he tried directly asking. "What race are you? Are you just a rare magic beast tribe?" He probed. No answer came. The opponent did not even bother looking up at him. Shrugging his shoulders, Greyson assumed this was a sensitive topic. Similar to Lucius, maybe this creature possessed rare abilities and were hunted down to almost the point of extinction. 111 Ominous Feeling Wordlessly, the opponent got up and stopped their healing. Greyson kept his guard up the entire time, so he quickly reacted and got up as well. "Are you ready?" "Ready." Once again, the voice revealed a softer than expected female tone and a thick unfamiliar accent. Immediately, her body once again changed into a heavily armored red giant. With a loud bang, a heavy spear appeared in her hand and slammed into the ground. Blasting off from the ground, the force cracked the ground beneath her foot. Almost as if the spear was as light as a feather, she swung it straight down at Greyson''s feet. He jumped up to dodge, but she sent the spear in an arc upwards at him with just a flick of her. A little bit thrown off, Greyson dipped his head back. The blade of the spear cleanly cut straight through the material of his shirt and bared his chest. Grimacing, Greyson was not happy to see that his hand-to-hand combat abilities had dulled. However, it was to be expected since he hardly practiced after leaving Teacher Vivian. Sweetbow only practiced and understood archery, so Greyson did not have an opponent to practice his swordplay with. His opponent had yet to use any magic, yet already had the upper hand. Exhaling calmly, Greyson pulled out his bow and arrows. Normally, the sword and the spear had their own strengths and weakness, but they were fairly equal as long as the user had experience. His adversary took advantage of her enormous natural strength to make up for the spear''s usual lack in speed due to its weight and length. Since this was the case, Greyson decided he would try for a long-distance fight and keep her at a distance with his wind element speed. Physical power could allow for a temporary burst in speed, but it was unidirectional. It was hard to quickly change her direction when she was not touching the ground. Sinking into the ground, he reappeared on the wall. Half his body sticking out, he nocked his arrows onto which he blew cold air and ice appeared on top. Quickly releasing all of them at once, he aimed at his opponent from all directions. Surprisingly agile, she managed to avoid most of them and was only cut by the one of the arrows. Smirking slightly seeing the cut, Greyson waited and saw the ice quickly spread from the cut until it froze her entire left leg. Snorting, she tried stomping her foot to crack the ice apart. But would Greyson give her the time? Loading more arrows, he added the wind element this time. They all shot towards her so quickly their shape was just a slight blur. With a mighty swing of her spear, the opponent swatted down the arrows and snapped them in half. However, just as one group of arrows were smacked down, another group followed right after in the shadows. Not reacting swiftly enough, another arrow snuck through her defense and stabbed into the right side of her torso. The rotation from the wind element helped the arrow dig deep into her flesh and grip on. If she were to pull out the arrow, most likely a decently sized chunk of her would follow. With only a slight frown, she managed to yank out the arrow. Switching her arm to her other form, she used the water element to staunch the bleeding before turning back to the muscular red arm and gripping onto her spear once again. Shocked by the lack of change in expression, Greyson felt impressed by her pain tolerance and steely attitude. Instead of changing her tactics, she still catapulted herself towards Greyson after kicking into the ground. Feeling a little bored by her similar antics, he just escaped right back into the shadow and appeared on the other side of the arena. This time, using her fire element, a blast exploded from her feet that sent her flying into the opposite direction towards Greyson once again. Such swift direction change was unexpected, but Greyson still managed to hold up his bow to block the spear coming at him from the left. Although its body was thin, his bow was still a peak tier three magic tool and reinforced by mana. What he did not expect, though, was for her spear to click apart and split into two pieces. The second half of the spear slammed hard into him. Only able to throw up his arm in defense, the Wind Suit also activated to block the attack. Breaking apart due to her explosive strength, the defensive shield did not end up taking much of the edge off the hit. He could feel the bones in his arm and a couple of ribs on his right side crack. The force of the impact sent him flying into the wall. Stone walls crumbling apart behind him, Greyson spat out blood after the air got knocked out of him. Grunting in pain, he had to admit that taking a direct hit really hurt. His natural physical strength and defense were nowhere near hers. Activating his dragon bloodline, Greyson was already mentally kicking himself for not activating it earlier. White scales appeared throughout his body as his pupils became reptilian-like slits. His bloodline''s self-healing ability started to take effect, but because of his arm pain, Greyson used the light element to start mending the broken bone there. Sacrificing his mana, he sped up the healing process, so he would not be attacked by her. During this small break, she was able to break apart the ice on her leg. The cut from the arrow reopened, however, and she began to slowly bleed out. In the end, the water element was not as good at healing as the light element. It seems her quick healing was only a brief respite. Noticing that his method could work, Greyson continued to wear her down with his guerilla tactics. Sending barrages of arrows while escaping into the darkness when she tries to attack him. What was intriguing to him, was that she only used her water element form to heal instead of attack. The fire element form was the only one she used to attack. Water element could be much more flexible and that form seemed lighter than her fire element form. But he would not question her choices, maybe there was a reason that he was unaware of that was holding her back. Slowly but surely, each cut he made into her with his arrows began to stop her movements. The constant blood loss was making her dizzy and less coordinated. Her swings were making less contact. It was not as if Greyson was able to get off scot free, he had plenty of cracked scales and internal injuries from some of the other hits that she managed to get in. Her actual combat capabilities definitely went beyond his own. Magic-wise Greyson had the upper hand with mana since his opponent only used the fire element. Spitting some blood, he put away his bow and arrow and actually brought out Genesis instead. Steadying his stance, he faced her head on. Following his change, his opponent reconnected her spear. "Haasfir!" Shouting at this word and slamming her spear into the ground twice, she pointed the spear towards Greyson in a ready stance. Although he did not quite grasp the meaning of the word; he could assume it was some sort of battle chant. Nodding towards her, his eyes gleamed with joy. Sometimes merely pure fighting could cause such happiness for him. With a shout, he approached first with a rapid swing. Bringing himself close to her, he tried getting rid of her length advantage. Clangs of metal rang out while splatters of blood dripped slowly. Greyson''s hair clung to his face and neck as he was drenched in sweat. Gasping for air, he was starting to feel his grip on his sword weaken. Blocking her attacks was taking its toll on his hand and arm strength. His opponent was also reaching her breaking point as her spear movement was slow enough to provide him plenty of time to respond. Multiple moves later, Greyson finally found his opening. He sent a vicious kick sweeping her legs out and thrust forward with his sword. The gleaming blade delicately laid on her throat just millimeters away from slicing into the skin. "Battle has finished and the victor is decided. You may proceed to the next level." The same female''s melodious voice announced. Sending away Genesis, Greyson instead smiled at his opponent and offered his hand. Staring at his hand in a daze, she did not react at first. Shaking his hand and encouraging her with his eyes, she finally grabbed onto his hand and was supported up. The minute their hands touched, however, a reaction occurred. Something within Greyson burned painfully as he hissed and jerked his hand back. She also gasped as a red brand mark in the shape of a flower appeared on her forehead. The red giant in front of him shrank down to a ordinary size and transformed into an average-looking human female. Murmuring to herself in her language, she looked extremely confused and horrified. Screeching in pain, she held her forehead and curled up on the ground. "Melbir, melbir!" She pleaded. But seeing Greyson did not quite follow her, she tried to speak in his language once again. "Mercy, please. I did... not know!" Latching onto his leg, she struggled to squeeze the words out. Furrowing his brows further, Greyson did not apprehend what was going on. Spreading out from the flower was a black liquid that highlighted the veins in her body. Convulsing, she spat blood all over Greyson. Frightened by such a rapid change in events, Greyson pulled himself together and began to utilize his light element to try to heal her. However, it was useless. The black liquid completely defied the light element and spread throughout her body. She continued shaking until she jerked one last time then went completely still. Trembling slightly, Greyson checked her heart only to see it was no longer beating. Breathing deeply, he tried to soothe himself as he got up. "What didn''t she know? That looked something like a slave mark, but a red flower? I don''t think I have ever seen a mark like this before. I should ask Rosalie..." Just as he was searching his memory for such a brand or mark, he heard an uncomfortable cracking noise. Looking down, he watched as the woman''s body broke apart until it was complete dust. A cold shiver went down his spine as he witnessed such a horrific death. Just seconds ago, she was fighting heartily yet the next moment she was on the floor as a pile of dust. He knew he somehow triggered this event, but there was nothing different about the body. Trying to shake this unsettling feeling, Greyson walked towards the black portal. Taking one final look at what was left of his opponent, he dampened the apprehension that weighed heavily in his heart. 112 Costly Mistake "Oh no!" The moment he appeared in the new world, Greyson realized his mistake. His battle with that girl was really strenuous. In his distraction from her death, he walked straight through the portal without any preparation or recovery. Facing these 100 opponents with such limited levels of mana would be dangerous. "I''m such an idiot..." Looking at the Fire Devils in front of him, Greyson sighed to himself. This stage should have been completed quickly and easily as normally those at the same level and stage as him were not his opponents. Surveying his surroundings, Greyson felt suffocated by the heat from the volcanoes. The ground was made from hard black rock with cracks filled with magma flowing around. Knowing he would not be given a break to meditate, he readied himself and began to think through some strategy. Right now, he merely had around 25% of his mana left which meant he would have to rely on smaller attacks. Even his dragon bloodline was out of commission as he activated it for such a long time earlier. Able to estimate the heat of the magma, Greyson did not believe he could survive landing in the lava. Therefore, he would have to avoid the cracks while fighting. Earlier, Aeos briefed him that the defense of these creatures was lower than the Earth Beasts so the small attacks should still produce a significant effect. The sole problems were that these Devils were faster and their attacks were more powerful. These Devils were made purely from flames with a humanoid structure. All of them stood encircling Greyson, but did not make a move to attack first. As if finally deciding their tactic, one of the Fire Devils broke the circle and dove in to strike Greyson. Realizing this was a probe for his strength, Greyson also took advantage of this chance to observe the difference between the Fire Devils and Earth Beasts. Gripping onto Genesis, Greyson slashed down with a decent amount of mana aiding him. His first attack missed as the Devil fluidly dodged and sent a flaming punch towards Greyson in retaliation. Barely managing to shift his body away, Greyson flinched slightly after feeling the waves of heat and force behind that fist. It would definitely not be a pleasant sight to be hit by that fist. The flames gave each Devil more explosive power, unlike the Earth Beasts who only used brute force. Assisted with the wind element, Genesis flashed over to the Devil and cut it apart. The flames morphed back together again, however, Greyson could feel the Devil''s power was weaker than before. Grimacing, he perceived that although he could slash them apart with one hit unlike the Earth Beasts, he would nonetheless have to weaken them multiple times before they would actually be defeated. After two more hits, the Fire Devil finally did not reform and the flames dissipated. Exhaling with relief, Greyson thought that three hits per Devil was still doable for him. Sore body screaming in refusal, he still stood at the ready. Flipping his hand, Genesis disappeared while his bow assumed its place. At this point, trying to fight all the Fire Devils at close quarters would be tiring and inefficient. Taking his aim, Greyson allowed his wind element to flow quietly into the bow as three green arrows appeared. Earlier, after noting the speed of the Devils, he decided to predominantly use the wind element during this fight. This way he could swiftly dodge and strike. Usually, the wind element did not contain enough power behind the attacks, however, it was enough to get rid of the Fire Devils. Each time the twang of a bowstring being released rang out, one Devil disappeared with a cry. Around the first half were easy to get rid of, but fatigue was beginning to set in. Greyson could detect his movements grow sluggish and his body was not reacting as fast as before. Clenching his fists, his nails dug in hard enough to puncture the skin as he tried to keep himself focused through the pain. Noticing Greyson''s slowing body movements, the Fire Devils started fiercer attacks and ganged up on him. Losing track of how many attacks he dodged, Greyson felt dizzy watching the barrage of fireballs, punches, and kicks. Occasionally, a few would get in and scald his skin or fracture his bones. Grunting in pain, he tried his best to ignore the pain. Enduring for a little while longer, only a fourth of his opponents remained. Feeling how much mana he had left, Greyson decided he would give one full out attack with a powerful multi-element spell. Lightning crackled in the sky, harsh winds blew through, and fire mixed in with the other two. Pulling all three together into a vortex, he directed it spinning into all of the remaining Fire Devils spread out in the area. Letting out their final screeches, all of them dissipated under the attack. Overdrawing his mana for the spell, Greyson spit blood after suffering the backlash. Vision blurring, Greyson felt his body tipping over in weakness. Unable to catch himself, he landed on the ground with a dull thud and blacked out. An unknown number of days passed by before Greyson finally regained consciousness. Gradually opening his eyes, he did not feel refreshed at all. Burns and bruises wracked his body while his mana had only just incrementally recovered on its own. Pushing himself up with much effort, Greyson crossed his legs and began to first absorb the elements. His mana was dangerously low, and he could suffer negative effects if he stayed in this state any longer. A familiar warmth and comfort spread throughout his body as he felt the mana travel throughout his body and restore his strength. It was akin to drinking cold water when dehydrated or the first breath of fresh air after feeling suffocated. Sweet relief. Just basking in the refreshing feeling, Greyson relaxed his body. The higher his level, the more he realized the elements were becoming an integral part of his body and that he felt empty and incomplete without it. After finishing his meditation, he then noticed the actual physical damage that needed healing. Casting his light magic, Greyson soon watched as the cuts quickly closed up and the bruises faded to nothing. All healed up, he stood up and stretched. A couple of quick warm-ups later, he felt as good as new. Glancing over to the portal, this time he was thoroughly prepared for the subsequent challenge. Almost running over, he wanted to rapidly get to the sixth level as he ended up wasting a lot more time on the third and fourth level than he initially anticipated. He likely fell considerably behind his companions and some of them might already be outside waiting. ... The next two levels ended up around the same as the Earth Altar. He still struggled on the sixth level, but eventually wore himself out at the end and pulled through. Such consecutive instances of pushing past his limits actually helped him break through to the next stage making him a magister level fourth stage magician. Ecstatic by his relatively quick advancement, Greyson was grinning ear to ear as he stepped through the portal to the seventh level. Even if there was no reward this time to match the key, he felt that coming to the altar was completely worth it. However, it seemed that he was destined to experience double the joy. "Congratulations, you have collected the second key. You shall be accorded the mark of the Dark Phoenix. It will preserve your life once. Continue on..." The same deep voice spoke to him, except with more information. "Mark?" Greyson questioned. Needless to say, he received no answer. Instead, a light burst out and shot towards him. Grasping it, Greyson spread his palm to reveal a matching red key to his brown key that he received from the Earth Altar. The moment he brought out his other key to confirm, he experienced a scalding heat on his chest over his heart. An exquisite black tattoo in the shape of Phoenix wings slowly carved into his skin like a brand. Hissing in pain, Greyson cursed the ancestor in his mind. Well, a little more warning couldn''t hurt, right? Was there really a need to be so vague and mysterious? Once the mark was finished, he was once again shot out from the seventh level. Flipping through the air, Greyson took a couple of minutes to steady himself. Suddenly, he had a feeling that this kind of exit was a running joke with those ancient people who had nothing better to do. The dungeon''s exit was in mid-air hoping they would drop right out while the altars would literally catapult the challengers straight out. What ever happened to just letting people walk out peacefully... 113 New Ability "You''re finally finished!" Greyson heard his sister''s familiar voice call out to him. Turning towards the origin of the sound, he saw that the group all exited the Altar already. The twins also completed their business with the Amians and regrouped with the rest. Laughing joyfully, he was about to Rosalie the good news of his advancement. *SMACK* Before he could even get a word in, Rosalie''s smiling expression quickly turned to anger as she whacked him on the back of the head. "Ouch! What was that for?" "What was it for? I can''t believe you are actually asking. Is it impossible for you to just be like everyone else and come out after half a day? Do you know how long you were in there for?!" "...A day?" Greyson guessed warily. "A day? A day you say. No, if it were a day, at least I could still expect it. It has been almost 2 days!" "2?" To an ignorant listener, one more day would not seem like a significant difference. However, with the altered time inside the altar, one more day was a long time. Anything could have happened in that time. Even Greyson was surprised by this answer, but after thinking about it, he assumed it was when he passed out after passing the fourth level. He did not keep track of how long he was out. With no mana, heavy injuries and the spell backlash, he was probably unconscious for a good number of days. Without purposeful meditation, the natural absorption of elements is extremely slow. "Alright, alright. Rosie, calm down. He did not even do it on purpose. Once one is inside it is too challenging to try to keep track of the real time going by." Aeos cut in with a small chuckle. Rosalie bit her lip before finally reining in her anger. Greyson noted this short interaction, and, for the first time, perceived something unusual. There was something odd, yet he could not quite place his finger on what it was. The thought came as quickly as it went and he soon threw it to the back of his mind. "Hey, but isn''t there something different about you, Grey?" Hayze chimed in. From earlier on, Greyson saw her observing him as if something had changed. "Hehe, I advanced!" Broadly grinning, Greyson announced the happy news. "Already?!" Almost in sync, the group yelled back in surprise. Once one reaches the magister level, breaking through the stages gets considerably harder. Each stage requires a much more extensive time to break through. It had only been around a few months since he broke through and he already felt like he is on the cusp of the fifth stage. At this rate, it would merely take one more push before he could attain the next stage. All that desperate fighting really brought out some latent potential and sped up the process. There was still a little over half a year before he turned fifteen and he was hoping to become a great magister before he turned twenty. Honestly, it was an unrealistic goal, but if he did not push himself he would never know if it was indeed impossible or not. "That''s excellent! You''ll be catching up to me in no time." Rosalie wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug. Warmth filling his heart, Greyson hugged her tightly back. For all one knows, it could be these small things were the best part of having family. "Ah, heartwarming family scenes~" Cerul remarked. Then, glancing over at the twins, "how come you guys never congratulate each other this way?" Both Fervis and Ferno''s expressions became odd as they looked at each other. Seemingly picturing a scene like that with the two of them, they suddenly shuddered and looked away in disgust. No way. "Brothers congratulate each other a little differently, alright?" They retorted in unison. Hearing their little banter, everyone broke out with laughter. Camaraderie was difficult to find, but Greyson felt he had found his own little circle of friends. Cerul broke the chatter and transformed into his dragon form. "Where to next guys?" "Well, the Water Altar is on the other side of the empire. Let''s go to the Wind Altar first." Rosalie suggested while looking over at Greyson. He just shrugged leaving the decision-making up to the people who understood the geography better. ... It seems that they were never meant to fly peacefully. All eight of them soon sensed another group tracking them. Cerul had the best long-distance vision, so he concentrated to look at their appearances. Many miles away, there were many flying magic beasts with their riders following after them. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the familiar Lightning Ravens. There could be such a coincidence, but he did not think this was an instance of chance. "Guys, I think they are part of the same group as the previous ones who ambushed us. They are even riding Lightning Ravens. All covered in black." Detecting his solemn tone, everyone''s expression turned grim. These people would probably be stronger, too. No one was foolish enough to send a group at the same power level if the last group all died. Aeos eyes clouded over as he looked blankly into the sky seemingly calculating things. Everyone knew of his ability, so they just silently watched him. When his eyes cleared up once again, he looked towards all of them. "We need to split up. This seems to be the best course of action against them. Try to elude them. If we try to all fight against them together we will lose. They must include someone at least at the great magister level stage three with them." His tone grave, Aeos delivered the bad news to everyone. "Grey and Rosie should go with Cerul. He is still the fastest and you guys cannot fly." Both of them nodded in agreement. However, before they set off, Greyson was surprised to hear another voice calling out to him. Zephyr! He was begging to be let out to deliver Greyson to safety. Although Greyson knew he was fast, he was probably not fast enough. Rejecting him outright, Zephyr roared anxiously claiming he had a new ability that could help Greyson escape. Greyson: Really? Zephyr: Definitely, yes! Really! Greyson: Are you sure it will work against such formidable opponents? Zephyr: I''m certain. Finishing up his mental conversation, Greyson decided to trust Zephyr this time. "I will fly on my own guys." Greyson informed them. "What?!" They all spoke out to reject his idea. A mighty roar broke out to interject as Zephyr was released. His graceful silver scales and purple eyes stared curiously at the rest of the group. They watched as Greyson''s silver dragon tattoo faded away at this moment. "Partner beast?" Eyes brightening, everyone finally understood. They forgot about Greyson''s human bloodline which allowed for him to have a partner beast. "But, is he fast enough?" Aeos questioned. "I don''t know. He was telling me he awakened a new ability after I broke through to the magister level and that it will help me escape." Jumping onto Zephyr''s back, Greyson was signaling for him to start. All of a sudden, Zephyr''s scales shimmered with mist until both their bodies disappeared. The group looked on with shock and could no longer sense the location of their friend and his dragon. Apparently, it was a combination spell with water and space called Space Mist Escape. The mist would reflect the surroundings so that their bodies would be invisible while they are furthermore in a different space field which would prevent other from detecting them. "Wait, space?" Greyson was shocked to realize that Zephyr could actually use the space element. "But I can''t..." Shaking his head, he knew that now was not the time. Zephyr lowered the spell so his friends could once again see him. Seeing that Greyson was still right in front of them, the group were shocked but they quickly calmed down. "Alright, let''s split up now! We will meet back up where we planned!" Turning into their dragon forms, the rest of them all roared at each other before flying away as quickly as possible. Greyson turned to Rosalie who was mouthing something to him. Stay safe. Nodding, he said the same back before disappearing into the azure sky. To his surprise, the group of assassins did branch off slightly, but almost all of them stayed together and followed in his direction. Did this mean he was the primary target? Letting out a sigh of relief, he noticed the spell was working and they all passed right by him and could not discover him. This allowed him time to ponder carefully about why he was being targeted. What had changed recently? It started after he had gone into the Earth Altar... Could it be? Spreading his palm, it revealed two keys, brown and red. Although it was a long shot, he felt it could be these keys. However, there were another multitude of reasons. Maybe someone found out about his connection with Lucius, or maybe it was Snow and Gold''s enemies who had poisoned them. On top of that, there was the Young Master of the Dragon Kings. He loathed Greyson because he wanted Rosalie. Massaging his forehead, Greyson suddenly realized that he acquired a lot more mysterious enemies than he thought. Thinking of that cute Sun Moon Leopard, Greyson summoned her out of Al''s shell. "Daddy! It''s been forever, I thought I would die of boredom!" Snow happily perched onto his shoulder and rubbed her face into his lovingly. Already used to this type of address, Greyson did not pay any mind. "Sorry, I had many things going on. I will try not to stow you away so often." His heart stinging with guilt, he realized he had left her cooped up in Al''s shell for long amounts of time. Stroking her softly, he heard her purr with pleasure. Smiling, he was reminded of Lucius suddenly. That idle cat would always laze on his shoulder like this too. Worry cropped up again as he hoped he would be able to find that stupid cat this time near the Wind Altar. 114 Jade Mice Tribe Unsurprisingly, this new spell cost Greyson a lot of mana. Quickly detecting the exponential drain of mana from his storage, he checked their surroundings to check they escaped their pursuers. All he observed was clear sky for miles around, so he instructed Zephyr to land. Unwilling to go back, Zephyr reduced his size and winded himself around Greyson''s waist like a silver belt. Snow pranced around in the open fields beneath while happily chasing bugs. Looking around, Greyson knew he was heading in the correct direction. The Wind Altar was located in the Ventus Plateau. It was a boundless expanse of grassland filled with all sorts of different magic beasts. The plateau''s weather was relatively mild leaning towards hot, so most of the magic beasts here were either wind element or fire element magic beasts. Some of the random tribes controlled elements that the weather did not necessarily affect. "Noooo! Mercy, please! Someone help! Murder!" Sudden screams broke Greyson''s concentration as he looked over at the scene. Snow apparently detected a target for hunting and pounced on it. Faintly perceiving some movement beneath her paw, Greyson called out to her. "Hey Snow, just let it go. We can catch other things." Typically, some small prey like a mouse would not capture Greyson''s attention. However, seeing as this magic beast can talk, it must have a pretty high-level bloodline. Small rodent magic beast tribes with high-level bloodlines were the scariest. They were powerful AND had the high reproduction rates. A select few of the tribe are actually born with the powerful bloodline, however, all the rest gather strength in numbers. Stories were recounted of whole towns and cities completely wiped out by one tribe. Shuddering a little, Greyson decided to stop thinking about it and warned Snow to stop. Pouting, Snow reluctantly lifted her paw to allow the small creature to scurry out. Instead of running away, the mouse surprisingly ran over in front of Greyson. Lowering itself into a tiny bow, he actually thanked him. "Kind sir, thank you for rescuing me." Speaking extremely wholeheartedly, the mouse looked up at Greyson with such a pure gaze of admiration. Stabbed by his conscience, Greyson scratched his nose awkwardly. He definitely did not consider any heroic intentions, if this mouse was any other normal magic beast he probably would have roasted it on the fire to eat himself. Getting a proper look at the creature, Greyson instantly recognized its identity. It was actually a Jade Mouse. Confused, he went through all his knowledge of the race. Their fur was jade-colored, and they had beautiful gold eyes to match. Weak and cowardly. Known for entering into contracts with young ladies of affluent households due to their adorable nature and beauty. Low-level magic beast. Furrowing his brows, Greyson saw that this outer appearance description matched perfectly, however, their was a clear high intelligence level. This kind of trait only occurs with high-level bloodline magic beasts. Not seeing Greyson respond, but instead growing more and more puzzled, the mouse tilted its head cutely. Was it not speaking the language correctly? Thinking harder, his eyes lit up. A bunch of indecipherable nonsense spilled out of its mouth as it looked over to Greyson. Now genuinely shocked, Greyson did not expect to hear the ancient elven language to leave a small mouse''s mouth. Sweetbow taught him a little about the language just so he would appreciate the culture, but he was far from fluent. The bits and pieces that he caught were "thank you" and "benefactor." Deep in his own thoughts, Greyson could not tell a large misunderstanding was growing. All sorts of bizarre sounds left the mouse''s mouth. Some sounding like grunt and growls, some like roars, some like a cat''s meow. It took him a long moment to realize that the mouse was actually fluent in so many magic beast languages. A common misconception of humans is that magic beasts can all understand each other. However, they can only faintly interpret or feel what other tribe beasts are saying unless they can all speak with the human tongue. Low-level magic beasts with insufficient intelligence can normally only understand the leader of their tribe and others of their tribe. Other magic beasts remain a complete mystery to them. "Daddy, is this mouse okay? Is it going crazy?" Snow climbed up onto his shoulder once again and looked at the small creature with worry. Pulling himself together, Greyson realized the mouse was still going through the various languages. "Stop! Stop, I understood you the first time. I was just a little shocked. I have never seen a Jade Mouse that was able to speak so fluently." "Oh! Wonderful! I was worried we would not be able to communicate, and you would leave without giving me a chance to thank you." "That''s unnecessary. It really did not require any effort on my part to help you. Plus, my reasons were not as noble as you seem to think." Greyson promptly rejected any form of thanks since he did not deserve it. The Jade Mouse merely serenely smiled in response. "The fact that you so readily admit it and do not push for reward demonstrates to me that you are a good person." "Well..." What was he supposed to say to that? "No, I am a bad person"? Real convincing. "Anyways, just a verbal thanks is enough for me. There is no need for anything else." "Just come!" Rapidly making his way over, the Jade Mouse chomped down on Greyson''s pants and yanked him along. "Whoa!" Slamming down on his butt, Greyson was pulled along in through the dirt and grass like a rag doll. Snow just giggled at his state while following along with ease. "Wait! Wait! You can let go, I will just follow you!" No matter how much he pleads, the mouse just shook his head and continued to pull. In next to no time, the arrived a small burrow that led deep into the ground. The opening was only about the size of his foot. "Hey. Hey! I can''t fit through there. Hello? I am much larger than you!" Seeing the mouse just charging straight through Greyson rolled his eyes wearily. Not listening, the mouse pulled Greyson''s foot into the opening. Expecting this to be where he gets stuck, Greyson was unprepared for the large suction that whisked him inside. Opening his eyes, he looked around to see a spacious cavern that was clearly dug out. Thousands of tunnels leading in different direction surrounded him. Recognizing right away that this was the work of the space element, Greyson pondered who in the world set up such a vast array. Moving to stand up, he was knocked right back down into the dirt by Snow who followed after him. Her snowy fur was now covered in dirt from tumbling in. In response, he twisted his head around to glare a little while spitting out the dirt from his mouth. Snow blocked his eyes in embarrassment. "Sorry, Daddy..." "It''s fine, so can you get off me now." At this time, he was lying on the ground while she was sitting on top of his back. Standing up and dusting himself off, he realized the mouse was looking at him oddly. "Are you a Snow Leopard in human form? Strange, I don''t sense that kind of aura at all from you." "Huh? No, I am not." "Then, why does this small cub call you Daddy?" "That''s..." Greyson paused grasping for the right words. "Complicated." "Is this your home? I''m impressed by the space element change in here. Clearly the tunnels are your size, yet I am able to straighten my legs out and stay my normal size ratio to you." He also imagined if something larger than him came, the tunnels would stretch to accommodate that guest as well. Really quite an exquisite use of space. "Well, even we receive the occasional guest that wants to trade with us. Surely, we can''t only invite small magic beasts who would fit through the tunnels. All the lucrative business is enjoyed by the larger and more powerful tribes." "Who set it up?" "My mother!" "Is she also a Jade Mouse? I thought the Jade Mice were wind element beasts." "Well, I''m unsure. I think we are both supposed to be some sort of random mutation." "Oh, then can you also use the space element?" "No..." Ears drooping, the mouse looked dispirited. "I can use the lightning and wind elements. I was hoping to be more like mother." "Eh?" Two distinct kinds of mutations in one tribe? Somehow it sounded dubious, barely within the range of acceptable. Variation magic beasts from mixed beast mating were common, however, those that became stronger than their parents were extremely rare. Most of the time, the mixed offspring leaned one way or the other instead of inheriting the strong points from both races. Random mutations from the same magic beast parents almost never happened. They were akin to miracles. For two mutations to happen to a parent and child was unlikely, bordering on impossible. Plus, those mutations did not even lead to the same result. Going off the mouse''s expression, though, Greyson was certain he did not know anything about these kinds of statistics. "Lightning and wind are still great! They complement each other, so it would make you stronger in battle. You even possess remarkable talent with beast languages. Did your mother teach you that, too?" "Oh, that? No, I was born with those memories. Ever since I was young, that knowledge was part of my bloodline heritage." Now Greyson was certain things were not as simple as mutation with this mouse. He might not even be a Jade Mouse, but from a completely separate tribe that is just similar looking. Bloodline heritage came from ancestors of the tribe. The Jade Mice were such simple creatures, how could they possibly allow this mouse to inherit such extensive knowledge? It must be a rare tribe like the Sun Moon Leopards since Greyson did not have any understanding towards a similar magic beast with traits like this mouse. 115 Gossipmongers Assuming there was a legitimate reason for this mouse not knowing, Greyson decided to maintain his silence on this issue as well. "Where are we going right now?" "I''m taking you to mother! She will know what to arrange for you as a reward." Eyes sparkling, the mouse''s expression clearly lit up with admiration. "Well, she sounds like a remarkable mouse." Chuckling over the cute behavior of the little guy, Greyson started to anticipate meeting this mother. "What is your name by the way?" "Me? I am *squeak**squeak*." After letting out a bunch of mouse noises, he looked over at Greyson expectantly. "Uh, do you happen to have a name in the human tongue?" Feeling speechless, Greyson knew he would never be able to say that name. "Human name? Our business partners call me Theodre, Theo for short." "Theo, is it? Nice to meet you, Theo. My name is Greyson. This leopard over here is Snow." Crouching down to his feet, he pet Theo''s smooth fur. It was incredibly soft and comfortable. He could tell why those girls like Jade Mice as pets. "Haha, nice to meet you too, Greyson and Snow!" Leaning his head into Greyson''s hand, Theo enjoyed the feeling of Greyson''s warm skin. "Follow me! We are practically there." The three continued down a maze of tunnels. After countless twists and turns, they ultimately arrived at a grand hall. Hundreds of mice were scurrying around and communicating with each other while one special one sat at the top looking down. Following Theo''s eyes, Greyson recognized that the mouse overlooking the rest was most likely the mother. Glancing down to his new friend, he was surprised that this naive mouse was most likely the young heir to the Jade Mouse Tribe. "Mother!" Squeezing through the chaotic crowd, Theo forced his way to the lofty throne. Elegantly resting on top, this mouse was distinct. Shining silver fur with silver eyes, she exuded a regal charm different from the usual weak impression of mice. Greyson felt slightly ridiculous thinking this, but this small mouse came off like royalty. Though she barely reached his knee sitting on her rock throne, her size did not take away from the sense of threat she gave off. Frosty eyes scrutinized Greyson and Snow before they warmed a fraction after landing on Theo. "My child, who are they?" Matching her expression, her tone came off biting and unwelcoming. If Theo could be described as overly friendly and innocent, then his mother could be described as hard-hearted and cautious. "Mother~ this guy saved my life! We must offer him a reward!" "Oh? Something dared to attack you?" Wholly not impressed, Theo''s mother instead felt angrier. "No, no, no. That''s not the point! All that matters is that I was attacked but am completely unhurt because of this Beastman." "What attacked you?" "That''s not relevant..." "What attacked you?!" "Uh... well... that little Cloud Leopard over there did. It didn''t mean any harm, though. Snow just thought I was any other regular mouse." Suddenly, Greyson experienced the desire to just dig a hole to hide within. Of course, it was Snow''s fault in the first place for attacking so him preventing her was a matter of course. How could he claim to save someone from his own beast? It was like saying that Greyson was about to eat Theo, but since he changed his mind, Theo claimed Greyson saved him. There was no logic! Seemingly, Theo''s mother also agreed with Greyson''s mindset. Speechless at her own son''s ludicrous thought process, she had no words to say. "My son, just because they changed their minds about killing you does not mean they saved your life." "But, but..." "No buts." She decisively ended. Then, facing her head towards Greyson, she warned, "just because my son is foolish does not mean you are too. I will not pursue today''s matters, please just leave." Happy to oblige, Greyson quickly moved towards the way he came. "Wait, mother! I know he is a good person. He did not want the reward; it was me who forced him to come. Don''t you trust my judgment?" "No." Lip twitching, Greyson forced himself to hold in his laughter. Looking down the long and dark tunnel, Greyson realized he needed a guide again or else he would definitely be lost for days. "Uhm, do you think you could allow Theo direct me to the way out? I don''t recognize all the turns we took to enter here." Sheepishly grinning, Greyson turned around to ask. "I will call someone else to escort you out." "No! I''m going to do it! I brought him in, so I''ll take him out. Aren''t you always nagging me to take responsibility?" Theo pouted and huffed angrily. Sighing helplessly, Theo''s mother just waved her paw to dismiss them. Expression lighting up once more, Theo hurried over to Greyson to lead the way. On the journey to the exit, Theo kept glancing back at Greyson apologetically as if he had something to express but could not bring it up himself. "There''s no need to apologize. She''s right, you know." "How? How did you know I wanted to apologize?" Eyes widening in shock, the adorable mouse dropped his jaw. "Uh..." How could I not know? "I was just assuming after what happened earlier since you are so nice." "Hehehe. You are kind, too! I feel incompetent since I offered a reward but did not provide one. Is there anything you require? Any information? I don''t know much about other things, but when it comes to hearing any news and gossip in this area, my tribe are the experts! We hear about everything. A lot of other tribes come to us for insider news." "Information?" Right away, Lucius came to Greyson''s mind. Maybe he would not have to waste his time going to the Wind Altar if he could find out right now if Lucius was spotted around here or not. Although he wanted to get all the keys, time was of the essence for Lucius. "Actually, I do have one thing I want to ask about." "What it is?!" Happy to be of service, Theo quickly perked his ears. "Have you heard any rumors or news about a Destiny Cat in the area?" "Destiny Cat... No, I cannot say I have, but I''m also not really in the loop with this stuff. I will ask around for you and let you know!" Reaching the exit, Theo stopped at the edge. "Just go through her and you will be shot back above ground. I will let you know what information I can dig up after a day or so. Stay in the area so I can find you!" "Alright, thanks a lot!" Flashing a smile, Greyson patted Theo''s head before stepping through the exit. Violently spit out of the tunnel hole, Greyson was sent flying out. Managing to catch himself before he hit the ground, he stood up dusting himself off. Remembering from last time, he swiftly turned around and caught the flurry projectile coming at him. He did not feel like eating dirt for a second time. "Wow, Daddy! It''s so much fun!" Forcing a pained smile, Greyson just faintly nodded in agreement. "Snow, do you think Theo will be able to help me? Will I find Lucius this time?" "Lucius?" Snow tilted her head. "Hm... He''s your uncle! I think you''d get along great with him. He''s great with young ones like you." Lying without blinking an eye, Greyson put Lucius up on a pedestal hoping that she would bother him later instead. In reality, Lucius was still a baby himself in magic beast terms. 116 Exciting News Camping out near the exit, Greyson waited around with Snow. Inevitably, he got pulled into her games and dealt with her pestering him all day. Somehow, he started feeling like an old dad due to his inability to keep up with her energy and sheer fascination with everything. Maybe due to her losing her memory, the whole world was like a clean slate to her. She had so much to learn and witness. Around two days passed with no news from Theo, so Greyson started feeling slightly impatient. The longer he waited here, the more he was wasting time instead of saving time like he initially hoped for. But it did not feel right to leave without any word, thus he continued to wait around. His time limit stayed five days. If Theo still had not sent anybody or appeared himself by then, Greyson would just leave. There were still his plans to meet back up with the group at the Wind Altar that he could not forget about. Lazing about in the grass, Greyson gave up trying to run around with Snow. Off somewhere chasing small animals or bugs, Snow was nowhere to be seen. Not overly worried, he did not try to look around for her. After this couple of days of staying in the area, Greyson realized that it was really peaceful. Initially, he thought it was perchance a coincidence. Now a couple of days in, he realized it was always peaceful in this area and that no dangerous predators even remotely lurked around. Based on his assumptions, it was because this area was the territory of the Jade Mice Tribe. The Tribe Leader was no joke when he met her earlier and she did seem shocked that Theo would be attacked in this area. Greyson originally underestimated the strength of this mice tribe. He knew the leader would not be weak, however, he thought she would not pick a fight over deaths of her tribe members since they would make too many enemies. Sacrificing the few dead mice for the peace of the many. Instead, nobody seems to dare to pick a fight like there is an invisible barrier preserving this area from the outside. Not that he was complaining, it was nice to not have to look over his shoulder all the time with worry. Being able to peacefully sleep in the grass and allow Snow to wander elsewhere reminded him of his time in Willow Town. Safe and sleepy, the townsmen were all close-knit like family. This intimacy did not translate into a complete crime-free life, but all the crime was petty and normally everyone already knew who the perpetrator was. Possibly, it was the weakness and ignorance of the people that allowed them to live such content lives. Even he missed the church every now and then. Back when he was leaving, he thought he would be delighted to finally get out of the boring town. Only to notice now that the rose-tinted glasses he was wearing needed to be thrown off. "Greyson!" Pulled out of his reverie, Greyson looked over to the tunnel entrance with excitement. "Theo, it''s you!" "Sorry, I didn''t mean for this to take so long." "No, it''s okay. You were doing me a favor anyways. So, did you end up hearing anything?" "Well, you have to know that Destiny Cats are a very coveted species. Any news of them is covered up because tribes would not want their enemies to know they have found one. I could not even ask about your news in a straightforward manner because it would generate too much attention to you. Sneaking around, I have been listening to bits and pieces of talk all over the tribe. There was some chatter about a significant event recently. Two powerful clans launched a war with each other out of nowhere. One could even call their relations amicable before this fight. They pulled all their allies and subordinate tribes into the fight as well which signifies how major it is. There are no real specifics about what triggered the fight which is extremely suspicious. Normally, if they want to pull in the other tribes, they have to inform them about the reason. In doing so, the reason would naturally spread out to the surrounding non-associated tribes. By contrast, there is a tight lid on everything. When you mentioned Destiny Cat earlier, it made me think this identity could be the reason for such secrecy." Enthusiastic to spill the rumors, Theo quickly went straight to the topic and even his theories. Amused by Theo''s eagerness, Greyson could perceive why the tribe became recognized for their news. Evidently, gossiping was a type of joy for them. Finally realizing there was a lengthy pause, Greyson placed his attention back on Theo only to see the mouse looking up at him with clear desire to be praised. "That''s actually a really valid assumption. It''s impressive you picked up on that!" Not being stingy, Greyson praised Theo with ease. Reaching down, he stroked the silky fur. Overjoyed by Greyson''s reaction, Theo grinned and twirled around. "Hehe, I am pretty brilliant, aren''t I?" "Which two tribes are they? Where are they in regards to where we are now?" "Well, it''s the Hargraven Tribe and the Cidian Bear Tribe. They are actually located near the Wind Altar because they like sending their young there to test them." Going through his memories, both the names were familiar to Greyson. Hargravens were black butterfly-like creatures, except they were the size of humans and extremely fierce. They were actually fire element beasts whose flames were also black and poisonous. Most books he perused implored their readers to avoid these hostile beasts. Beauty and danger mixed into one beast. Cidian Bears were navy blue-furred with golden eyes and golden horns on their forehead. Wind-element beasts who were actually relatively peaceful and conflict-avoidant, so to hear their names in this way was surprising. Pacifism did not equate weakness, however, as they were equally a dominant race with superior talent. The names did not mean much to him, instead it was the location that excited him. Near the Wind Altar! Nothing was certain yet, but he was more than willing to go to check out this hunch. "Who attacked first?" "Hm? The Hargravens, why?" "If the Hargravens attacked first, most likely whatever they are fighting over is with the Cidian Bears. The bears are known for not liking fighting and sticking to themselves. Even if they did discover the Hargravens had a Destiny Cat, I don''t think they would attack like this. It would be different, though, if they found the cat first and the Hargravens are trying to steal from them. They are not pushovers to that extent." It did not sit properly with Greyson to talk about Lucius like an object, but he knew that was how others viewed him. "If they were to merely hand over the cat, no one would respect them and there could possibly be rebellions from the tribes which they hold power over. Ultimately, magic beasts remain a race of battle lovers. Respect is given to the powerful. They have to stand their ground at this point." "Ohhh, that''s true. Did you want me to send some scouts?" "No, I couldn''t keep bothering you like that. Plus, I don''t think your mother would agree, and she has the final say." "Hmph! She is always like that. Towards the tribesmen she is a kind second mother, but to everyone else she is extremely suspicious and aloof. I don''t understand her instant hostility!" Greyson did understand a little about why she was like that. How weak is the Jade Mouse Tribe? To be able to create this haven for a commonly hunted species could not have been easy work. There were probably many enemies she had to fight off and threaten just with her personal power since the tribe was mostly weak. This balance was not permanent and could end the minute she is not around. With their resources of information, tons of magic beasts were undoubtedly trying to infiltrate in any way possible. "Well, the safety of your tribesmen will matter more to her then assisting me in finding someone. Especially if this someone could possibly be what two strong local tribes are fighting over. If they are sighted in the area, your tribe could be pulled into the war as collateral damage." "How about I just go?" "Your mother would never allow you, Theo. It''s fine. I''ll figure something out." Ears folding down, Theo looked upset but he still nodded slowly. "Good luck..." He murmured over before turning around into the tunnel once again. Greyson missed the last clever glint in his eyes. 117 The Trickster After a couple of tiring hours of searching, Greyson finally found Snow before Zephyr transformed to his real size to fly them towards the Wind Altar. With Zephyr''s speed, they only took an hour before reaching the destination. Noticing he seemed rather conspicuous otherwise, Greyson activated his dragon bloodline slightly which turned his purple eyes to the familiar reptilian slits losing the originally human look. Observing the tribe for so long allowed for him to pick up on how to accurately disguise himself. His old disguise spell also helped him increase his height and muscle mass. No matter if it were the twins, Aeos, or Cerul, they were definitely bulkier than the average human. His lean and rather scrawny-looking body did not fit the typical build of a dragon or even Beastman. Thankfully, the tribe provided him with clothes during his stay, so his fashion at least matched the standard. Placing on a nondescript hooded cloak, Greyson tried his best to blend in with the surroundings. The priority was to gain information on the war and the tribes involved. Without any knowledge of his enemies, he would be running in blind and probably end up killed. If the tribe leader was great magister level or above then taking direct offensive action meant almost certain death. A plan was necessary. A well-thought out plan in which his personal involvement was minimal. All his efforts would be moot in the face of everyone knowing he was the one who rescued Lucius. At that , both would have no reason to a nor the , Greyson, who was him. He would have troves of humans, magic beasts, and elves coming at him. Every race contained power-hungry and ambitious individuals. All of them would be willing to kill for good fortune and accurate future readings. No matter his background or grandparents, they could not save him if he wished to protect Lucius. "Ugh, why is he nothing but a headache?" Massaging his temples roughly, Greyson did not see the light at the end of the tunnel at this point. Too many unknown factors and too many ways his potential plans could go wrong unless he was extremely careful. At one point his did think to go to the Wind Altar to ask Rosalie and his friends for help, but Lucius'' identity was sensitive. Other than Rosalie, the others could think that keeping Lucius was the best for the tribe. There were a lot of ways to rationalize decisions if you were not killing anyone. Even his family, they could think that Lucius should be locked up at the Dragon Tribe to protect Greyson from potentially dying due to their link. Mention of this was already brought up at his earlier brush with death. However, he knew that Lucius would never want that for his life, and Greyson could not, with good conscience, watch that occur. "How did they even recognize him?" This was another point that confounded Greyson. This entire time, no one would recognize Lucius. This was not because they were ignorant, but because Destiny Cats looked like many lower level magic beast felines. Two tails, silver fur, and two different colored eyes were surprisingly not as rare as some would think. Especially when one throws variation magic beasts into the mix. The third eye is their only identifiable marker. Pondering this would get him nowhere, so Greyson quickly through it to the back of his mind. All would be revealed when he found his friend again. "Hah... Nothing is ever easy." Sighing, Greyson plopped down next to a random tree growing within the grass field. Basking in the rare instance of shade, he leaned against the trunk trying to think of his next moves. "You know, this might be a lot easier than you think." Out of nowhere, a voice spoke to him coming from inside his hood. Untying his cloak immediately, Greyson hurled it to the ground. A tiny thud sounded out along with a squawk of pain. "Ah! Ouch! Now, was that really necessary?" Crawling out from underneath the cloth, a familiar golden body showed itself. Jade green clear eyes stared back looking resentful. "I told you not to come!" Greyson retorted exasperated. "Well, you are not the boss of me!" "Your mom is, though. She would never let you come." "I''m not going to listen to her anymore." "Don''t be immature." Rolling his eyes, Greyson could not handle this mouse. "You''re the immature one. Scared of my mother, are you? You know I am a reliable and useful ally, but you refuse to use me because you are afraid of my MOTHER. Clearly, you have the dragon bloodline. Somehow, you were born more of a scared mouse than me. How do you survive with such small guts?" Shocked speechless at the unexpectedly scathing tongue of Theo, Greyson had no answer. It was true that this mouse had many uses, but it was also true that he did not want to anger the tribe leader. Knowing there was no turning back, he just shook his head but decidedly kept his silence. The more he looked at the smug look on Theo''s face, the more he burned with vexation. Huffing indignantly, he stomped off in another direction. It was not long before he stopped himself and looked down at his crossed arms in chagrin. Was he regressing in age suddenly? Why did he storm off like this? Breathing slowly for a couple of seconds, he calmed himself down eventually and made his way back to the tree. Unsurprisingly, Theo was still there waiting. Earlier, Snow followed Greyson thinking they were leaving, but now she looked on with confusion as they returned. "Daddy, why did we come back here?" Weren''t they leaving? "Uh... I just wanted to take a brief walk. I was not actually leaving." A little sheepish, Greyson gave a little white lie. "Okay!" Not doubting him for a second, Snow easily accepted the explanation before hopping up into the tree to lie down once again. Turning away from her, Greyson looked back to the small mouse. "So?" He pushed, still feeling slightly irked. "What?" "You said it should be easy." "Ah, yes. It will be easy. You must know as well, these local tribes are not peaceful at all. Treachery is not as common in magic beast tribes because we easily accept the most powerful to lead. But this does not equate to calmly accept being subordinates. There is a wild and uncontrollable instinct in every tribe. The Hargravens are violent, sadistic, and greedy. Under them, they control three smaller tribes: Charfly, Devil Fox, and Blood Rabbit. Constantly oppressed, these tribes are unhappy due to the aggressive and unjust treatment they have to swallow. This war without explanation probably further incited feelings of unhappiness. Cidian Bears, on the other hand, are too peaceful. The power, talent, wisdom in leadership are all there. However, it''s been centuries since they have really had to prove their abilities. More and more, their potential threat is built upon past reputation and deeds. Which, in turn, weakens the respect of their three respective follower tribes: Silver Bat, Mur, Kaelvir. From what I know, the Silver Bats are still extremely loyal and respected close friends of the bears. However, the Murs and Kaelvirs harbour lurking ambition. They are merely waiting for the right chance. If one attacks, they are concerned the other would take advantage of losses on both sides and be the one to benefit the most. Caught in a delicate equilibrium, these local leaders are much more vulnerable than they lead you to believe." Enthusiastically shooting off all the news and gossip he knew, Theo enjoyed a sense of satisfaction. "You think I should manipulate this hidden unrest?" "Yeah! We could make this whole alliance blow apart!" "Would it really be so easy to fool these tribes? I don''t know about other tribes, but I know the Devil Foxes and the Cidian Bears are extremely wise. The Silver Bats and Kaelvirs also will not be easy to fool. This does not strike me as a straightforward and casual mission. Though vulnerable, this alliance would not be easy to break down and cause infighting. Otherwise, wouldn''t someone have already accomplished this very deed?" "Just leave it to me! I have a bunch of ideas." Laughing merrily, Theo ran off. A cold shiver running down his spine, Greyson felt that this friend of his was too prepared. Why did his mischievous side seem so natural? What he did not know was he actually enlisted the help of one of the major troublemakers of this area. Innumerable tribes wished to throttle this same mouse, but only hold back due to the Jade Mouse tribe leader. Naive as he may seem, there was a hidden intelligence that saw through a lot of things. "Was it a coincidence that he approached me so passionately?" Pausing a little, suspicion inevitably rose within him. Evidently, Theo was not senseless enough to genuinely believe that Greyson had saved him. There had to be another reason... 118 I Suddenly Pity Them... Hidden in the shadows of the night, three figures were travelling deep within the ground. "Will this really work? Won''t this kind of trap be too obvious?" "Even if it''s obvious, the damage will already be done by the time they realize something is not right." "Well, even if this fails, we can just come up with another plan." The young boy sighed. This mysterious trio was naturally Greyson, Snow, and Theo. Carefully held in Greyson''s arms was the young heir of the Devil Fox Tribe whom they secretly abducted earlier. Using his earth element, he was leading the group through the ground to the territory of the Blood Rabbits. After Theo''s scouting, Greyson''s tunnel led straight into the adored princess of the Blood Rabbit Tribe''s burrow. Not surfacing, Theo pulled out a carefully sealed flower and flung it into the room. Thin dust pollen released from the flower. Counting the time, they finally surfaced to see the rabbit was passed out. Knowing it was his turn, Greyson brought the fox over before opening its jaw and biting down into the rabbit. Soon, marks of red poison spreading throughout the rabbit''s veins appears. Each Devil Fox contained a Flame Poison within their bodies that was released through their teeth. Slowly dying in its sleep, the rabbit never felt what happened to her. Gently placing the fox down, Greyson turned to Theo who nodded his head. Using his wind element, Greyson carefully contained all the evidence of the powder from the flower and then jumped back into the tunnel. The earth element closed the tunnel and eliminated any traces of their secret arrival. Miles away, three bodies resurfaced and it was only then that Greyson released the powder back into the air high up in the sky. All traces of a tunnel and foul play disappeared. "I still feel like this won''t work..." "You just don''t understand how precious each child is to the tribe leaders. They usually are not prolific. These two are most likely their sole child after millennia of trying. One dying will drive them straight to insanity." "Really?" "Just wait and watch!" ... And just as prophesied, Theo returned with breaking news. The young prince of the Devil Fox tribe was caught running away in the Blood Rabbit territory after the discovery of the murder of the tribe leader''s daughter. In his anger, the Blood Rabbit tribe leader slayed the fox before asking for his identity. Infuriated, the Devil Fox tribe leader launched a revenge attack and slaughtered a group of female scavengers of the Blood Rabbit tribe. In this way, heated battles started to occur between the tribes without the Hargravens knowing how to stop them. Taking sides was not possible. Dumbfounded, Greyson could not believe such a simple plan worked. These kinds of plots occurred all the time in human countries to incite conflict. Primarily within the royal and aristocratic families, all sorts of ugly politics happened in secret. How could they not realize how suspicious it was for the Devil Fox heir to randomly kill the beloved Blood Rabbit tribe leader''s daughter? Maybe it was a difference in mentality like Theo mentioned. Humans could always give birth to another child, while these higher-level magic beasts struggled with offspring all the time. This was why the number of young dragons was so dismal. At this time, both sides might have already calmed down and realized the set-up, but it was too late since the deaths already occurred. Deciding not to dwell too long on the subject, Greyson just accepted the success and did not question it. Now that the Hargraven side was thrown into chaos, it was the Cidian Bear alliance''s turn. However, soon Theo returned claiming everything was already taken care of. "What?! What did you do?" "It was nothing too big. I''m actually surprised they bit the bait so easily. This time I did not even need to kill anyone." "Okay, no need to be mysterious. Just tell me what plan you implemented this time." "Well, let''s just say that their might be a new rumor floating around. Said rumor talks about how the Cidian Bears found a young Destiny Cat. Despite such extraordinary luck, they actually want to sell the cat to the Hargravens for a certain price because they want to avoid drawn-out conflict and unnecessary deaths. Needless to say, the Murs and Kaelvirs could not allow the Hargravens to shift the carefully maintained balance between the two leading tribes. Their leaders could not be so spineless! Out of the goodness of their hearts, they had to go to convince the Bears to choose otherwise. Angered by the challenge to their authority, the Cidian Bears responded a little too aggressively and the Mur and Kaelvir tribe leaders were both injured. Therefore, infighting started to occur despite the Silver Bat and Cidian Bear tribes trying to calm things down." "Why did the bears respond so violently? That''s not very like them..." "A certain number two of the tribe might have been drugged." "..." What more could Greyson say? He was starting to pity these poor tribes. So clearly used, yet at the point of no return. Now that the conflict erupted, a lot of the deep-rooted resentment is starting to pop out. The Hargravens started killing members of both the Devil Foxes and Blood Rabbits due to their annoyance and impatience with the situation which merely further drove both tribes against them. Even the Charflys joined in feeling that the Hargravens were too much. The Cidian Bears kept trying to convince the other two tribes that their member was drugged and that something was awry with this situation. But years of doubt cropped up and both tribes claimed that the bears had gone soft and were no longer capable of leading the alliance. Keeping such an vital secret like the Destiny Cat also disgruntled them. Lack of any ambition was as bad as too much ambition in the eyes of magic beasts. Sitting on their laurels, the Cidian Bears had long neglected the need to prove their prowess. Feeling their pride at stake, the bears tried taking a harder stance to take control of the situation with the ever loyal Silver Bats taking their side. Two against two, it was not easy for one to overcome the other since heavy losses would not help anyone. ... Watching the chaos play out, Greyson could not help but feel impressed with Theo. Just a little nudge and push here and there has started a large cascade of issues. "I''m surprised this method did not already cause these issues." "The timing was opportune. Without such a substantial incentive like the Destiny Cat the Mur and Kaelvir Tribes would not feel convicted enough to actually challenge the Bears. But they know how much of an advantage having the cat is, hence making them unable to give up this chance." "Were the Cidian Bears genuinely thinking of giving the cat away for a price?" "Partially." "Partially?" "Well, yes, they were thinking of selling. But not to the Hargravens of course! That would completely tip the power balance and could cause the takeover of their territory. They were planning on selling to another already more dominant tribe in the area, so that there would not be a difference that would affect them. They could even curry favor with a powerful ally." 119 Impatien Patiently waiting for the distraction to increase with both the tribes, Greyson did not immediately take action. Otherwise, everything would seem like too much of a coincidence and all the current anger could rapidly change direction and focus in on him instead. In the midst of all this, Theo continued to hop back and forth between the tribes'' territories and spread rumors about one side attacking the other. Both sides were having infighting issues and felt even more anxious when they heard the other side was planning to attack. Playing off the fact that the enemies did not bother to check with each other on whether the rumors were true, Theo fanned the flames of unrest. No longer bothering with such a scourge, Greyson started to think out a second plan. Sneaking into the heart of the Cidian Bear tribe was not like walking into an open field. Plus, Theo mentioned the tribe leader was equal to a great magister level stage three magician. Overpowered by almost a full level, Greyson did not want to try his luck. Otherwise, he could genuinely be looking at death before he even catches a glimpse of Lucius. For this, even Theo was not sure what to do. No more brilliant ideas or schemes in the face of just absolute power. Theo himself was at the great magister level stage one, but was still no match for the tribe leader. He could barely face off against the other prominent figures in the tribe. Throughout their time together, Greyson learned more about Theo. For example, his level and that he was in fact already 40 years old which meant he was older than Lucius as well. Still young in terms of magic beast age, but in Greyson''s mind that was already middle-aged. He was no longer able to look at this cute mouse the same as before. Picturing himself affectionately petting the head of a 40-year-old man made him shiver in disgust. Already slightly prepared since he knew the appearance of a magic beast was deceiving, he managed to get over the surprise fairly quickly. "Ultimately, we have to lure the Cidian Bear tribe leader away from the territory. This way, we don''t have to worry about detection." Greyson thinks aloud. "That will not be easy. Unless it is a major occurrence, the tribe leader virtually never leaves." "Should we kidnap the heir again?" "Don''t forget the Cidian Bears are wind element beasts! A great magister level stage three Cidian Bear could probably catch up to you in a heartbeat. There would not be enough time." "Well, do you have any ideas on how to trigger a critical battle between the Hargravens and the Cidian Bears?" "I''m not sure..." "Wait! You can speak all those other languages right?" "Yeah?" "Why don''t you give both tribes a false alarm? The Charflys are the scouts for the Hargravens, and the Murs are the scouts for the Cidian Bears. If you speak in their language and warn them that the enemy tribe is attacking, that could start a fight. Not many other magic beasts can mimic the sounds like you can, so it would be hard for them to realize it''s an impostor." "Actually... that is not a bad idea! I could achieve that." Theo''s eyes lit up with excitement. Already picturing all the tribes panicking after his tricks filled him with delight. Waiting until the dead of night, Theo finally rushed out towards the Hargraven territory first. Finding the Charflys, he shouted out a bunch of random clicking noises. In a panic, the Charflys all heard him and buzzed off to warn the Hargravens. Before long the fires of every tribe were ignited as they all prepared to charge out and meet the Cidian Bears and company. Snickering to himself in the dark, Theo flashed off like a bolt of lightning towards the other side. Skulking around, he soon found himself at the Murs territory. As a rodent species, their language was more familiar for him and thus easier to fake. Screeching out a bunch of frightened squeaks, Theo set off the alarm in the tribe. Subsequent screeching and squeaking exploded throughout the tribe and spread off towards all the surrounding tribes. Thrown into disarray, they gathered themselves and prepared to rush out and fight with the Hargravens. Soon Greyson could hear the echoes of rushing beats of running troops approaching each other. Knowing this was the moment, he quickly tunneled into the ground towards the Cidian Bear tribe. Theo said he would meet up with him somewhere near. He was scouting ahead to try to pinpoint the position that Lucius was in. He could feel himself getting closer and the bond getting stronger. Unable to suppress his excitement, Greyson rushed forward. However, he was held back by a warning squeak that came from above. Following the noise above ground, he saw Theo running towards him. "What is it, Theo?" "You need to hide! The tribe leader stayed back and decided to guard the tribe because he sensed something was amiss." Heavily breathing after running as fast as he could, Theo managed to still spit out the words. "What?!" Greyson exclaimed before quickly grabbing onto the mouse and burrowing underground once again. When he felt he was deep enough, Greyson finally stopped and just sat down exhausted. Reflecting on his actions, he felt he let Theo''s earlier success cloud his judgment. Just because those little tricks worked before did not mean the Cidian Bears were stupid and could not realize the situation was not right. There was no king that would join the war immediately; he would first send his best generals to lead the soldiers. Only now did he recognize his foolish thoughts arising from impatience to save Lucius. Now, there was no way to attempt the same strategy because all the tribes would be prepared. Soon they will realize the warning messenger did not exist and that they were tricked. It was just... he was so close! The more he did not see Lucius, the more he was concerned over his friend''s situation. Since the Cidian Bears already entertained thoughts about exploiting him to curry favor with another powerful tribe, whose to say it would not happen really soon. Just because the other tribes do not agree did not mean they could not execute the trade in secret. At that point, Greyson would be unable to do anything. Even more influential than the Cidian Bears means that this tribe presumably has a great magister level stage five existence or even higher. He would have to wait until he is stronger while leaving Lucius to suffer in captivity. The immediate threat on Lucius'' life is minimal, however, they will most likely force him to use his bloodline abilities. Using these spells too often would impact his lifespan and talent causing him to slowly wither away. As a magic beast, his lifespan was extremely long so the process would be gradual death so he could nevertheless be exhausted enough times by whoever manipulates him. The constant exhaustion would also prevent Lucius from advancing in power, so he would not obtain the chance to revolt. All these scenarios were described to him by Lucius during their times together. Although he tried to act unfazed by the possibilities, Lucius let out signs of a deep-seated fear of being confined. Squeezing his fist tightly, he pounded into the ground in frustration. ... In a dark, heavily guarded cave... "He''s finally here! This idiot! I definitely disclosed the bond''s abilities to him, but he clearly did not listen. Why did it take him so long to just get close enough?! So ridiculous... Why did I ever sign myself off to this imbecile?" A small silver cat bolted up with his eyes shining. Biting into its wrist, a glowing red rope appeared around it. Feeling his mana rapidly draining, the cat grunted in pain. "Ugh, the things I have to suffer. Next time, it''s definitely his turn to get us out of a situation. I won''t have any blood and mana left to give at this pace." Snorting indignantly, he still did not let his concentration waver as he could detect a threatening presence approaching. That tribe leader must have felt the mana fluctuations, only just that it was too late already. 120 Reunion *Hiss* Gripping his wrist in pain, Greyson felt the red contract tattoo burn as it glowed red. Kneeling on the ground, he could feel his mana being pulled into the connection at a rapid pace. "What''s going on?" Panicking slightly, Greyson tried taking back control of his mana to prevent it from draining. Wracking his brain for answers, he tried recalling what Lucius explained to him initially about their magic contract. A vague answer started coming to him as he recalled a certain accompanying spell that might have been mentioned at one point. Granting control back to the spell, Greyson could feel himself dripping cold sweat. The devouring nature of this spell was getting to be too much, he might not have enough. Near his breaking point, it finally stopped. An intense light flashed and soon a familiar furry animal dropped into his arms. Only at this moment did Greyson realize how much he missed his friend during this time. Almost 10 years of being attached at the hip caused a dependence within Greyson. When they were finally back together, it was like a missing link was clicked back into place. In a way, it could also be the effects of their bond which literally connects their lives. "Hey, stranger." Grinning broadly even through his exhaustion, Greyson stroked the silky silver fur he remembered. However, what he did not expect was a small paw to meet his cheek in a weak swipe. "This idiot! How many times did I tell you that we could transport to each other once the distance was close enough? I sent out that distress call two weeks ago! You never listen to me when I speak, constantly assuming it''s just useless chatter." Clearly unimpressed with Greyson''s rescuing efforts, Lucius'' initial words were those of criticism. Scoffing angrily, Greyson roughly dropped Lucius onto the ground. Suddenly eating dirt, Lucius hacked out the dust caught in his mouth. "Rude!" He spat. "Not as rude as lecturing someone who just rushed throughout this unfamiliar territory like crazy trying to help find and save you." Greyson shot back. The two just sat on the ground glaring daggers at each other. Before long, unknown who was first, a snort of laughter broke out. Which turned into a fit of giggles for both of them. Theo and Snow, the confused bystanders, watched the two of them like they suddenly went insane. After a good long couple of minutes of stomach-gripping laughter, they pulled themselves back together to put their serious expressions back on. Finally noticing the elephants in the room, Greyson turned to introduce everyone to each other. "Oh, Old Lu, this is a friend I made back in the Dragon Tribe, Snow. It''s sort of a long story, but her race''s plight is similar to yours. This is another friend from this area. His name is Theo." "Daddy! Is this the Uncle Lu you talked about?" Snow''s eyes sparkled happily as she looked over Lucius. "Are you both friends or enemies? At this moment, I can''t quite tell." Theo just looked at them questionably. "Enemies." They both responded sardonically. "Ah, so you ARE friends. Haha, well, it''s nice to meet you Old Lu, I am Theo." Completely ignoring the shenanigans of the comic duo, Theo greeted Lucius. "It''s Lucius." Scowling with clear dislike towards his nickname, Lucius was swift to correct Theo in order to prevent the growth of any bad habits. "So, Old Lu, how did you end up getting captured anyways? Aren''t almost all Destiny Cats like experts at eluding enemies at this point?" Evidently taking no consideration for Lucius'' entreaty, Theo started with his questions anyways. "Hey, hey, Uncle Lu. Are you better at playing than Daddy? He said you were really fun!" Snow pitched in herself. "How do you inevitably end up finding the strange ones? Are all my words just jokes?" Rolling his eyes, Lucius shot a displeased look at Greyson. His expression clearly reading: where did you pick up these weirdos? Greyson merely shrugged weakly. This could really not be blamed on him. Obviously, it was both of them who followed after him while somehow developing a strong obsession with him. "Alright, alright. Leave the questions for later, I have a group of friends I am supposed to meet at the Wind Altar. They are going to get worried if I take too long." Breaking up the two, Greyson tried getting the two to leave. Leaping up to his feet, he actually immediately collapsed back down onto the ground. "Whoa, whoa. Take it easy, this spell drains a lot." Lucius warned. "Yeah, you''re going to have to wait a second here, guys. I can''t dig out the tunnels anymore." "Lucky that none of us are uncomfortable in cramped and dark spaces." Theo mentioned offhandedly. "Well that''s not completely accurate..." Lucius whispered. "But these are human sized tunnels so I will last long enough." ... Shortly after some meditation, both Lucius and Greyson recovered their mana storage. Digging throughout the ground, many miles out they reemerged. Zephyr unwound himself from Greyson''s waist and grew to his original size. Jumping onto his back, Greyson, Lucius, and Snow were ready to head out. "Let''s-" Just as he was about to tell Zephyr to go, Greyson turned around to discover Theo also aboard. "Theo, it''s time for you to go back now. I''m not going back in that direction." "The least you could do is drop me off at home, right?" "Uh..." Hesitating a second, Greyson finally relented. "Okay, fine. I''ll drop you off on the way back." Letting out a brief roar, Zephyr took off into the sky. Crystalline azure skies all the way to the Wind Altar allowed for a relaxing flight. No longer feeling any rush, Greyson felt the weight on his shoulders disappear. For a while it felt as though something was snapping right at his feet and he could not stop running. From the top of the horizon, he could recognize a towering castle-like structure coming into view. "Old Lu, you and I should test ourselves in the Wind Altar while we are at it." He still had to collect the rest of the keys. Thinking of this point, Greyson turned towards Lucius and realized he finally had someone who he could undoubtedly confide in again. Something about sharing your life with another person truly allowed for bare honesty. Holding in his exciting news and secrets felt rather suffocating. Perhaps, Lucius also needed someone to share with, and that was why he initiated this contract in the first place. "No, actually, I already tested myself. I can just wait on the outside for you." Lucius yawned while taking his original spot on Greyson''s shoulder. "Ah, okay. You can probably wait with the rest of my friends. I know you will all get along." ... Speaking of, with the flap of his wings, Cerul rapidly approached Greyson from the side. The group all called out to Greyson catching his attention. Everyone was back together again! After a round of hearty hugs and quick introductions, Greyson soon realized that the group of dragons did not seem very calm. Waves of anxiety rolled off their bodies. "What''s going on?" "Grey, we need to head back to the tribe. Right now. We thought of just leaving without you, but you probably would never hear the news otherwise so we stayed to notify you." Rosalie directly started. "The tribe? Is it the whole tribe or our grandparents that are in trouble?" "Everyone is in trouble." Aeos interrupted. "There was an assassination attempt on Irumen. They nearly succeeded, too. He''s apparently hanging on by a thread. Some of the witness say it was another dragon who did it. All the dragon tribes are under suspicion of the Dragon King. The situation is not looking pleasant. We have to go back to our respective tribes or else we could also look suspicious since we are unaccounted for." Irumen. This name was heavy in meaning. Someone tried assassinating the Young Lord of the Dragon King Tribe? Greyson really had trouble imagining the guts on this person. This was not an ordinary act of violence, something this big could instigate the entire Dragon Tribe as an enemy. As one of the ruling forces in the Beast Empire, not many could confidently initiate a conflict. To think another dragon is a suspect was also shocking. Throughout the hundreds of millions of years of their existence, there have been almost no instances of this kind of inner conflict. Yes, there were battles and deaths. But these were all straightforward in the sense that it was above board and with their grievances clearly announced and thought over. Shaken by the news, none of the group seemed to be able to sit still. "Alright. Let''s go. We have to get back as quickly as possible." Greyson agreed. His Altar adventures would have to be placed on halt since more pressing matters appeared. 121 Catching Up Unable to relate to the rest of the group, Greyson did not feel as anxious. His time in the Dragon Tribe was brief, and he did not quite comprehend the scale of this occurrence or the consequences. Needless to say, his apathy could also be due to the fact that his impression of Irumen was extremely poor and he did not care if the guy lived or died. In the midst of the hurry, Greyson took this time to communicate with Lucius instead. "So, Lu, what happened in the end? I thought I asked you to take care of my body! Not throw it to the dragons whom I did not know at that point." "You can''t blame that on me. It was out of my control. It was an accident; I''m sure the Elder did not mean to." "Elder?" "..." "Come on, you can''t be expecting to hold out on me now. A little hard to betray someone whose life is connected to yours, don''t you think?" "I don''t doubt you. It''s just problematic because it is not only my safety at risk but also the rest of my tribesmen. Nonetheless, I was only hesitating a little. Just give me second, okay? I was summoned back to my tribe. It was that spell that sent you to the Dragon Tribe and Halcrem most likely back to the Sun Lion Tribe. I was worried about you, too, but the Elder assured me that nothing would happen to you. Plus, I was alive which was a clear indicator that you were as well. I''m sorry if it freaked you out when you woke up." "Okay, well, apology accepted. Ultimately, I''m not that angry about what happened since it allowed me to reunite with more of my family. More good came from the split than bad. But, since you were summoned back to that secret location, how did you end up getting caught by the Cidian Bears? Theo did not put it nicely, but it''s true you are usually diligent and skilled at avoiding notice." "Ugh, don''t even get me started with this." Lucius'' expression dropped looking exasperated. "What?" "The timing of my arrival was unlucky. Every now and then, the secret location becomes exposed. There are other talented space element magic beasts and magicians other than the Destiny Cats. The Elder can keep these other forces at bay for a while, but eventually he has to move the location. Part of the reason we are so hard to find is that fact that he keeps moving the tribe around. There is no set location. This time, the tribe suffered a surprise attack. The attackers kept their faces and bodies concealed, so I am not sure which enemy it was. Most of the tribe was quickly transported away by the Elder, while some of the more powerful members had to stay and help fight the enemy to buy enough time. I wanted to volunteer, but I''m still a child in the eyes of the tribe. During the mass teleportation, someone sent a large attack. One of the cats blocked the spell, and it only hit the outer edges of the teleportation array, yet it was exactly at the fringes that I was waiting. It was then I suffered a life-threatening wound and teleported to another location. Confused and bleeding out, I tried to use my bloodline to send me back. However, I was too severely injured. Reflecting on this now, it was just plain stupid and thoughtless. I should have looked around for help or maybe called for rescue. At least, I could have checked my surroundings before using my abilities. Sadly, a Cidian Bear tribe member was in the surrounding area and witnessed my third eye. Although the eye did not open in the end, that bear could recognize what it was. Contrary to what you might expect, he was kind and wanted to help me heal. At that time, he was not plotting to sell me or keep me locked in the tribe. This bear brought me back to his tribe where they worked tirelessly to keep me alive. What they were not aware of, is that there was a Hargrave in that area as well. He went back to inform the tribe who then approached the Cidian Bears. Feigning ignorance did not work, so the bears had no choice but to declare war. And so on and so forth..." "Did they do anything while you were held captive?" "No, I told you, they were not evil beasts. Though it may seem strange, I feel bad they were forced into such an awkward situation. Unable to back down, but not fully willing to jump into the fight. I could tell they wished I would just magically disappear from their hands." "Heh, wish granted I guess." Greyson chuckled. "What kind of awful luck is that, though? What happened to the good fortune you brag always follows you?" "I''m not sure, either." Frustrated, Lucius really was clueless. This experience was a first for him. "Maybe there is such thing as bad luck within the tribe and I just happen to be the one with relatively weaker fortune compared to the rest of the Destiny Cats." "Hahaha, maybe. Or it could be this was a form of good luck since I was able to find you faster. I doubt you would have been able to invite me to the Destiny Cat haven, otherwise." "Well, that is true. I was supposed to stay with the tribe until I reached adulthood to reduce the danger. There would have been no way I could contact you during that time. No one would trust you enough to not expose the position secretly. Now that I think about it, the Elder might end up summoning me back once more after the chaotic period of the move is over." "What? Like randomly?" "I''m not certain. Just be prepared if I disappear again, okay? Don''t freak out." "Don''t freak out? DON''T FREAK OUT?! After all this trouble I went through. I swear if you get summoned back, I am not going to go out and save you again. You can die for all I care, then. What if you leave tomorrow, wouldn''t all my struggles be a waste of time? I''m annoyed just thinking about it." "But if I die, don''t you die?" Lucius teased. "I want to void this ridiculous contract, what was I even thinking back then? You merely took advantage of a young, ingenuous boy to swindle me into signing my life away." Vexed to no end, Greyson stomped his foot down hard. "Hey, hey, Grey. Take it easy on my back okay? My scales may be hard, but I can nevertheless feel it if you kick that hard!" Cerul cried out indignantly. The shout snapped Greyson back to reality. The rest of the group shot him weird looks after his unwarranted outburst. Embarrassed, he remembered that his conversation with Lucius was all mental so he looked rather foolish. Glaring over at the cat, he noticed Lucius rolling around while laughing. Fuming, Greyson went over and kicked him off Cerul before plopping back down to meditate. "Hey!" Lucius floated back up using the wind element. Greyson just proceeded to ignore him and focused on his meditation. 122 Trouble Right From The Star Cerul flew as fast as he could from the start. Every so often, he would land to take a break and rest as another one of his friends took over for the flight. Although they could not fly as fast, it was more efficient than staying still. Almost none of the same loud laughs and constant chatter were present as the dragons were all on edge. Greyson felt awkward and wanted to initiate a conversation but it was like a drop in the ocean. Throwing out words only watching them sink into more silence. Eventually, he decided to just talk with Lucius and Theo. Snow stayed inside Al''s shell for most of the trip since there was not enough room for her to run around on the back of a dragon. Only a couple of days passed before the mountains started to appear in the horizon. It was amazing how quick the trip became when they were taking a straight no-rest path towards their destination. However, before they could even get remotely close to the entrance, a group of dragons roared out in warning and came down from the sky. Green dragons almost matching Cerul''s appearance surrounded the group. Indecipherable roars broke out between Cerul and the apparent guards. The rest of the friends also assumed their original appearances and exchanged between sentries. Greyson and Rosalie continued witnessing the exchanges back and forth trying to detect any hint on what this could possibly be about. They did not quite follow why they had not been let in yet. "You would think the dragon bloodline would help you automatically understand the language. Guess there is nothing that easy, right?" Greyson complained frustrated. "I can''t understand the elf language if that makes you feel any better." Rosalie tried comforting. "No, not really. I can''t really understand either language. My teacher, Sweetbow, taught me some of the elf language. Not enough to be fluent, maybe just enough to get by. I''ll teach you at some point." "Well, all I can get is there is some kind of security risk and that we cannot go into the mountains yet." "You understand the dragon language?" "I did live in the tribe almost my entire life. Most people spoke the human language in front of me because they would appear in front of me as their humanoid form. But, our grandparents taught me a little, and some I just picked up along the way." "I should ask them to impart some to me as well..." "It would be a practical skill to improve on. Many the magic beasts that descend from the dragons also use it to communicate. Those that do not have a pure dragon bloodline do not have high enough intelligence to speak in the human language, so they can only use the dragon language to speak to each other. You could learn to talk with them." Right after she finished speaking, it seemed the conversation with the guards also ended. Aeos groaned and turned to look at Greyson. "You cannot go in." "Just me?" "Yes." "Why?" "Your identity is not yet confirmed." "Wait, of course it is! He is my brother. His blood was able to injure my grandparents which proved his lineage." Rosalie cut in. "Yeah, well. You guys weren''t exactly forthcoming with that identity, were you? Everyone assumes Greyson is just someone you picked up and ended up falling for. You did not make it any better by continuing to pretend Greyson is your boyfriend to ward of suitors." That silenced them. It was a fact; no one except her friends and their grandparents were aware of Greyson''s real identity. "Isn''t that an easy fix, though? Just tell my grandparents to come out, and this could all be straightened out." "They can''t leave the mountain." "What?!" "Everyone right now is a suspect. It seems that the Snow Dragons especially are under of a lot of scrutiny because of the usual power dynamics between the Dragon King tribe and Snow Dragon tribe. The number one and number two tribes of the dragons have tons of bad blood between them that could warrant this kind of assassination. At the minimum, they have the most reason to try to assassinate Irumen relative to the other tribes. Therefore, your grandparents cannot leave presently as they are regarded as potential flight risks." "That''s absurd! How could my grandparents try killing Irumen? Plus, if they did, it would not merely be an assassination attempt. They would have succeeded with their power." Rosalie bristled with anger. "Look, Rose. Everyone knows that Irumen wanted you as his umpteenth lover and that your grandparents would never allow that to happen. They have been blocking him for ages for you, but lately Irumen''s father has also started to pressure them. Some of the dragons are gossiping that they wanted to get rid of the root of the problem. In the end, most do not believe this theory; however, it is the easiest to push the crime on someone else so that they can avoid suspicion." "So, you''re saying the dragons are accepting the easy answer by believing our grandparents are the suspects?" Greyson could not fathom why his grandparents were so hastily forced into the line of fire. "This kind of infighting is extremely rare. Some dragons wish nothing but to quickly move on, while some dragons wish to see your clan brought down a notch. Especially those in the Dragon King tribe who do not take well to the Snow Dragons acting as if they are more powerful if one were to ignore the bloodline suppression ability." "Someone is almost murdered, and it becomes a political power fight all of the sudden?" "The power fight was always there, it just has reared its ugly head right at this moment. Irumen''s almost assassination by a suspected dragon has exacerbated any and all conflict. At this moment, it would be best if you stayed out here Greyson. I will try getting you permission to enter again as soon as possible. Rosalie could probably make contact with Elder Brevre and Freizon so they can corroborate your bloodline legitimacy." Aeos reassured. Shrugging, Greyson knew there was no better option. He jumped off of Cerul''s back and watched as the rest of the group flew right into the mountains. Landing on the ground, Greyson did not go far. Sitting under a tree close by, he started to think about what he recalled about the Dragon Tribe inner workings and relationships. Most obvious was the ever existing enmity between the Light Dragons and the Snow Dragons since only one could claim the spot of most powerful. The Fire Dragons tended to side with the Light Dragons while the Water Dragons sided with the Snow Dragons. The Dark Dragons hate the Light Dragons, but they did not really enjoy fighting for power so they stayed to the side. Earth and Wind Dragons were fairly neutral, but their allegiance could be potentially bought for a price. The rest of the Dragon tribes were not significant enough to really have an impact like the Time Dragons or the Lightning Dragons. Massaging his temples, Greyson knew that resolving this conflict would not be easy especially if the Light Dragons were seizing this moment to weaken their competition. He wondered if he could get in to observe Irumen''s condition. It is possible he could assist in healing his wounds. This thought swiftly passed, though, since Greyson was completely aware that the Light Dragon tribe had any number of stronger light element users to heal Irumen. Trying to utilize his abilities was akin to adding useless decoration onto an already efficient machine; there was no point. Releasing a deep sigh, Greyson hoped things would become clearer after he can at least enter the mountains and see his grandparents. Hopefully, there was some way he could help. 123 Suspicious Activity Staying close, Greyson set up camp in front of the mountain range. Knowing his friends, he believed it would not be long before they could escort him in. Especially since he was not actually an outsider but the grandson of two influential elders. Without too much worry plaguing his thoughts, Greyson quickly fell asleep. The addition of two soft furballs made his rest that much more comfortable. Before it was always just Lucius, but now he had Snow and Theo accompanying him. He only started growing more anxious after the next day came an went with no news. Unexpected silence on all fronts as not a soul could be seen exiting the mountains to find him. Rosalie or his grandparents would have definitely tried to at least get a low-level Beastman to deliver news back to him. Nothing was definitely cause for more worry than something at this point. Trying to keep himself calm, he stayed in place and fought the impulse to rush into the mountains. After around two days, he was left pacing incessantly wondering his next course of action. Unable to sit around twiddling his thumbs, Greyson got up and started approaching the mountains from various angles. Each time, however, he could detect the approach of the guarding dragons and retreated swiftly. Frustration mounting, he was starting to get ready to just full-on frontal assault to get in. "Will you just sit down? Lucius finally could not handle the pacing. "I am having a hard time calming down when most of the family I know is inside the mountains and is not coming out." Greyson spat back. "Well, you moving like this is not achieving anything." "Clearly." Rolling his eyes, Greyson did not want to listen. "But it''s at least making me feel better." Snow hopped up onto Greyson''s shoulder and rubbed her face against his, seeming to sense his anxiety and unease. Grinning softly, he stroked her gratefully. "Alright, alright, thank you. I''ll stop." Grunting, he sat down on the floor and leaned against a tree. "Hey, Lu, what do you-" "Grey! Duck!" Without asking for the reason, Greyson merely acted on instinct and dropped to the floor. Right where his head used to be, an arrow lodged into the tree and broke it apart. Sinking into the shadows, he quickly escaped before another arrow lodged into the ground. This time, Lucius sent a counterattack in the direction of the arrows and the trees were cut apart by wind blades. Evidently, the attacker was not expecting such a quick blow back, and a low hum in pain rang out. Fluidly pulling out his bow and arrow, Greyson sent some light arrows flying towards the direction of the sound. The spells burst out and brightened the area allowing him to get a visual of the enemy. Golden hair, golden eyes, and golden scales lit up and reflected the light. "A Light Dragon?" Greyson murmured under his breath. Looking to send another spell, he nocked an arrow. However, his breath caught suddenly as a sudden pressure came over him. Sinking to his knees, Greyson did not grasp what was happening for a moment. "Greyson, it''s the bloodline suppression ability of the Light Dragons!" Surprisingly, it was Theo who shouted out to help. Catching up quickly, Greyson underwent a change in appearance. His snow-white hair changed to platinum silver and the purple in his eyes faded to light grey. When his dragon bloodline receded to the background, the feeling of suppression also faded. Breathing easier, Greyson rapidly got back up and looked around. Lucius had picked up the fight with the attacker stalling until Greyson could join back up. Releasing a new bunch of arrows, they sped towards the dragon in every direction. A light shield went up to block all the arrows as they ricocheted into the ground. Realizing the arrows were too weak, he put them away and Genesis appeared in its place. Increasing in speed, he slashed down hard at the dragon but his blade just bounced right off the scales. Creasing his brows, Greyson remembered the freakish durability of dragon scales. "Lu, you happen to have something good against dragons?" "What?! Is this really the time now?" Lu complained exasperated. "Oh yeah sure, let me just pull out my handy-dandy dragon slayer. You know, the usual." "Well, it was worth a shot." Greyson shrugged. "Hey, you, who sent you? Why are you attacking me? I was nowhere near here when the assassination attempt occurred!" "Oh, real smooth. He will definitely tell you." Lucius scoffed. "I was sent by Young Master Irumen. He desires for you to disappear from Lady Rosalie''s side." Shockingly, the dragon actually responded. Greyson and Lucius both stopped fighting back for a second not able to comprehend that the answer came so easily. However, Greyson was only shocked for a moment before suspicion appeared almost instantly after. A genuine assassin ordered by Irumen would not just admit it so readily, unless he was the most incompetent assassin ever. The more he felt that things were suspicious, the more he felt apprehensive of the situation in the tribe right now. His distraction allowed an opening which the attacker took advantage of and Greyson was struck by a vicious light element enforced punch. Slamming through a bunch of trees, Greyson was disoriented while Lucius also attacked to defend him. Sensing the approaching attack, he put up his arms to block. Flinching in anticipation, his eyes were closed, but he did not feel the blow. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see the dragon spitting blood as a long blade was drilled up his back. The red glint of the blade giving away its identity of a dragon slayer. Glancing behind the dragon, he caught a familiar glimpse of platinum silver hair. "Rosalie!" "It seems my timing was impeccable." A grim-sounding Rosalie tried joking. "Yeah, maybe a little earlier would have been better. Where did you get the blade?" "Grandpa. It''s nearly impossible to get the blade from somewhere else. The Dragon clan tries to control all dragon slayer blades created. You could likely recognize why." "How many are there?" "The ones that aren''t instantly destroyed once they are obtained? There are very few, around three more in storage. Grandpa was able to acquire one for me for safety in the clan. Dragons are relatively difficult to kill otherwise. So, Irumen ordered someone to assassinate you? Hard to do when rumors say he is still fighting for his life." "I don''t think it was Irumen. Just someone who wanted to make it look like it was him." "What makes you say so?" "First of all, he admitted to Irumen sending him. No assassin or even remotely loyal servant would do that. Second, he had no disguise. Obviously, he follows Irumen enough for most people to recognize him and who his master is like you precisely did. Whatever kind of frame job this is, the person who did it was quite sloppy. I mean, I would have to be pretty stupid to fall right into it, wouldn''t I? Plus, didn''t you say that Irumen has many formidable servants? Why would they dispatch one who is at a similar level of power as me? Especially when there was someone who could presumably eliminate me easily and more efficiently." "When you say it like that... This was a pretty bad frame job." Rosalie felt a little speechless. "What''s going on right now? What took you so long?" "Someone in the Snow Dragon Tribe admitted to attempting that assassination. Our grandparents feel that this situation is very dubious, and they are not backing him up. They want the punishment to go ahead. However, the dragon is declaring all the right things presently. Firing up the feelings of rebellion in the younger Snow Dragons and some of the other elders other than our grandparents. He is claiming that Irumen is disgusting, irresponsible, and not fit to lead. That the sole reason he is next-in-line is because of the bloodline ability he inherited and the oldest born son. He is also overcome by lust which is just a personal flaw not like the Wind Dragons. All absolutely legitimate things, just normally the other tribes just go with the flow because no one wants to make the Dragon tribe implode. There is too much inner working politics usually. Now that all this has come to light, a lot of the hidden conflicts and alliances are coming out in the open. The Light Dragons might not believe this Snow Dragon was the real assassin, but they want to believe. They have been waiting for years to put the ''number two'' in their place and weaken the tribe." Greyson could already feel his head starting to hurt. These kinds of politics always bored him, and he avoided them like the plague. 124 Undercurrents "Don''t make that expression. No one wants to deal with this stuff anymore than you do. Especially our grandparents, they are exhausted. We should try to help as best we can." Rosalie sympathized with her younger brother, but that did not mean he could just stay in the background. They both should try helping their grandparents control the situation. "No, I''ll help. I just don''t know how much assistance I can provide. These types of situations are not exactly my forte." Greyson just shrugged feeling he truthfully did not have much to offer. "You''re intelligent. You will be fit to help if you really apply yourself instead of avoiding uncomfortable circumstances." "Alright, let''s not fight about it. Did I say I was not going to help?" Raising his hands in surrender, Greyson did not go on with the debate. "Fight? It''s not a fight when you only stop because you know I''m right." Rosalie teased flashing him a smug grin. Rolling his eyes with a sigh, Greyson did not grace her with an answer. He merely indicating with his chin for her to lead the way back in. Knowing this was his way of yielding, Rosalie stopped poking fun and escorted him back through the mountains. The closer they were to the Snow Peak, the more Greyson could feel the situation had escalated more rapidly than he previously assumed. Stationed guards stood all around the borders of the familiar mountain. From what he could discern, they were keeping the Snow Dragons locked in. Not even the children were capable of taking a step out. Furrowing his brows, Greyson could see some of the guards were even acting out violently towards the Snow Dragons. Obviously victimizing them, the guards kicked around the weaker dragons and beat up the Beastmen who were still out working. Provoked, Greyson moved to defend them and beat off the oppressive guards. However, Rosalie jerked him back with a vise-like grip. Shaking her head almost imperceptibly, she warned him off. "You will only just make the situation worse. Know your actions now reflect on our grandparents. Whatever you do, the dragons will assume you are acting on the will of our grandfather and grandmother." "How can you merely watch? Don''t you want to help them?" "No one will die. Even the injuries are mostly superficial. Place away your mistaken sense of heroism. Exacerbating the conflict would be what really causes our tribesmen to die." Speaking with a much harsher tone than usual, Rosalie assumed a hard stance and lectured Greyson firmly. Undoubtedly, her heart ached with every punch; much more so than Greyson could ever know. But she was equally clear that her not doing anything was better than any form violent vengeance. Clenching his fists until their loudly cracked, Greyson managed to hold himself back. Scanning around, he noticed that most of the other Snow Dragons were also passively watching just trying to set about their business. Everyone knew that right now was not the time. "Our grandparents sent out the order to not fight back." "I''m guessing that did not go over well." "Not well at all. But they are influential and respected, the majority still listen." Greyson went silent afterward and continued to quietly follow his sister towards his grandparents'' cave. ... "Ambrose! You are insane. You will drag down the entire tribe with your actions. We cannot support your unmistakable greed for power. Plus, how do you suppose we will overcome the bloodline suppression? Get your heads out of the clouds and think logically!" Entering the cave, Greyson could overhear his grandfather''s voice bellowing at in anger. "Brevre, it is all because you are short-sighted. Did you think I would suggest this if I did not have a solution to the bloodline suppression issue?" Greyson could hear an unfamiliar voice answer. It was deep and melodic with an even-keeled feel to it that relaxed people. He sounded like a dragon with things under control. "Can''t you see I want to help our tribe? To make everyone give us the respect that we deserve! I am working for the greater good, I am just asking you stand by me." "Hmph! Don''t patronize us! It would be more favourable for you to portray your power-hungry nature and be honest with us and yourself, instead of giving us this rubbish about ''working for the greater good.'' At least then we could respect you for being upfront. Not everyone is a fool who will fall for your pretty words." This time it was Elder Freizon that retorted back. "If you were genuinely distressed about he well-being of our tribesmen, you would try preventing a fight. This is all due to your idiot son anyways! His actions are no doubt part of your plan, though. I only pity Almonis for getting stuck with such a snake for father, thinking he could believe your words." "You know nothing of the suffering of Lutea! Don''t speak as if you would not do the same for your child." Only then did Ambrose''s calm voice finally crack with emotion. It was at this point that Greyson finally arrived at the grand hall and could clearly see the figures that the voices belonged to. Both of his grandparents were in their humanoid forms along with a newcomer who Greyson could easily determine was Ambrose. Also an older dragon, this Ambrose aged quite elegantly. Only slight wrinkles around his eyes, he was adorned in the signature white robes. His white hair was close-cropped and his face still showed ruggedly handsome looks. Everything about his presence exuded charm and charisma. At first glance, somehow, Greyson did not like this man. Underneath the gentle demeanor were eyes that pierced into your being. Like if you were not vigilant, those eyes would grip onto your weaknesses. ''A snake, huh? Very apt description.'' Greyson thought to himself. "Oh? You must be Greyson." Openly observing Greyson, Ambrose put on a amiable smile and stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you, I am Ambrose. An elder of the Snow Dragons like your grandparents." Although slightly hesitant, Greyson felt it would be impolite to not reciprocate. He reached out to shake Ambrose''s hand and introduce himself, however, his grandmother speedily arrived at his side and slapped away Ambrose''s outstretched hand. "Greyson, baby, no need to associate with this man. Elder Ambrose, I think it''s about time you leave. We have things we need to discuss with our grandson." Not giving Ambrose any face, Freizon gestured towards the way out. Forcing himself to maintain the smile on his face, Ambrose awkwardly received his outstretched hand. "Naturally, you must have a lot to catch up on. We can continue our discussion later." After replying polite as ever, Ambrose quickly turned around and disappeared. "Are you sure it''s okay to talk to him like that?" Greyson felt a little worried. "Hahaha, are you troubled because he said he was an elder as well? You have to understand, Grey. There are levels to elders as well. Power and age have a lot to do with it. Your grandfather and I are much older and powerful than Ambrose; our influence is also greater. He merely has a silver tongue is all. He knows how to gather followers. The time has not yet come that he can act up in front of us." Snorting indignantly, Freizon did not appear to pay any mind towards Elder Ambrose. "What''s the story there anyways? Who are Almonis and Lutea?" 125 Luteas Pligh "Well, it''s a rather tragic story. Most likely this kind of event is commonplace in the human territories, but this does not really happen much in within the dragon tribe. Despite the current circumstances, the dragons are historically recognized as a close-knit group. This is because there undeniably are not many of us. Yes, if you count the Beastmen and the weaker dragon-like magic beasts, the numbers are still reasonably high. However, actual pure-blood dragons are extremely hard to reproduce. Each century, for every element, there might be one birth. Every so often, we go without one new birth for a millennium. We all have our classic personality flaws that I''m sure Rosalie has mentioned. These flaws tend to cause minor conflicts all the time and the occasional life-and-death battle. Regardless, those are rare because we cannot afford dragons dying on a regular basis. I don''t know what it was about Irumen, I guess some things are just born not right. If pride and arrogance were indeed his sole issues than that would be fine. That is merely par for the course with the Light Dragons. It''s his other obvious character issues that cause so many problems to revolve around this one dragon. He has been a part of a record-breaking five life-and-death battles. Not including all the small skirmishes that he has engaged in on the side." Elder Brevre spoke up at this time. "Well, what is wrong with him?" "What is NOT wrong with Irumen? He is greedy, arrogant, despotic, violent and lustful to the point he cannot control himself anytime he sees an attractive female. Pick any negative trait and for sure he displays it as a part of his personality." Sneering in disgust, Rosalie crossed her arms angrily as she spat insult after insult out. "The only problem is he is also intelligent and manages to get away with almost everything. There is this line that he follows and never goes across so the other dragons cannot say much about severe punishment." "A real ray of sunshine it seems." Greyson replied sarcastically. "Lutea was Elder Ambrose''s second daughter. Historically, dragons suffer just giving birth to one child, let alone two. Ambrose pampered her like no other, and she grew up to be a lovely and gentle soul. Sincerely innocent and happy unlike her father. If I were to credit Ambrose with anything, it would be that he raises his children right. Almonis and Lutea were such kind and courageous children. Many suitors wished to mate with Lutea, however, she had her mind made up rather early on her mate. She wanted to marry another Snow Dragon named Ermes. Such an outstanding woman, how could Irumen NOT have his eyes on her? Time and again, he would order his servants to pressure her into meeting up with him. Adamantly refusing him each time, Lutea was growing stressed with each denial. Threats growing more substantial each time, she did not know what to do. Ermes, of course, noticed Lutea''s distress. In his anger, he rushed up to Irumen and urged him to back off. Little did he think that Irumen would threaten him into a life-and-death battle using family. Reluctantly, Ermes ended up signing the agreement and the battle was thus approved. You can already start to see what happened, right?" Freizon paused to look over at Greyson. "He died, didn''t he?" Drooping his shoulders a little, Greyson could definitely guess the subsequent events. "Yes, he did. Irumen was older and more powerful, and he used his bloodline suppression ability. Ermes did not stand a chance." "Lutea tried stopping the battle and claimed she would marry Irumen if he would just let Ermes go. But this did not assuage Irumen, instead it made him more upset by forcing him to witness their deep love. Without hesitation, Irumen cut down Ermes. After watching the light leave his eyes in her arms, Lutea was never the same. Locking herself away in Ambrose''s cave, she has not come out to see anyone in centuries. Rumors say she has gone insane and barely feeds herself properly. The guilt and regret combined with crazed anger just broke her, especially because Ambrose would never allow her to take revenge. Almonis also changed after this event. Ermes was his best friend, and his dear sister lost her mind. Training everywhere, he grew in power exponentially. This increase in power came at the cost of his past kindness. All that remained was cold apathy." Brevre let out a long sigh feeling the situation was too depressing. "Yes, that unfortunate boy. They were such pleasant and happy children. If something like that ever happened to Elbianth, I don''t know what I would do. I guess Ambrose was correct in his words earlier. It is possible we have been too unsympathetic..." Reminiscent and wistful, Freizon''s face softened out. "No! You know that ever since he was young Ambrose harboured lofty ambitions. As much as I can maybe believe he truly cared for his children, they do not come before his goals. If he genuinely cared about his son, why did he not stop Almonis before all these changes occurred. There was nonetheless another child who could be saved. Plus, he only went through the motions seeking a cure for Lutea. Many things could have helped her mental condition, but have you seen him go out looking for them? Look at Ermes'' parents, they are not treated any better by Ambrose and actually do not agree with his actions. Their son died, yet they do not support Ambrose?" Elder Brevre did not agree with his wife at all. The children were to be pitied but not Ambrose. It was not only one to two things that did not add up with Ambrose. "Grandma, Grandpa, how powerful is Almonis?" Greyson suddenly cut in with a question. "Almonis? Why do you ask?" "I mean compared to Irumen." "Oh, well, this is another issue your grandfather and I worry about. He is powerful, undoubtedly. However, powerful enough to defeat Irumen and severely injure him? We are not completely convinced." "But he also confessed. Even a witness came forward who put Almonis at the scene of the assassination. Which makes our doubts moot and no use." "Witness?" "From the Light Dragon tribe." "A guard or servant of Irumen?" "No, Irumen was alone. It was the Second Young Master''s servant." "Second Young Master? Irumen''s younger brother? He has one?" Greyson was a little surprised by the sudden news. In all of his time in the tribe, not one person mentioned this younger brother. "Yes, a real stand-up young dragon compared to his older brother. He is very low-key and not much is known about him. According to the servants, he is gentle and calm." "What is his name?" "Elophis." 126 Traitor "I agree with grandpa. Elder Ambrose did not give me a good first impression." Greyson nodded along with his grandfather''s logic. His decision was not completely based on instinct. A crucial factor was the fact that Lucius was resting on his shoulder and warned him that Ambrose was a harbinger of bad luck for Greyson and his family. Such an ominous warning from a Destiny Cat was to be taken seriously, so he knew he must take a determined stance against Ambrose. Not only Ambrose, but also the entire Dragon Tribe was causing feelings of apprehension like something major was about to take place. Greyson was somehow getting pulled into the smack dab in the middle of the spark that will set off a war. Part of him wanted to entreat Greyson to flee and not look back. It is possible this would actually cause the entire conflict to be averted. However, he knew Greyson would never leave. Loyalty was part of the reason Lucius confided in him. It was only now that he wished he picked someone a bit more selfish. All he could accomplish was continually warning Greyson and keeping alert towards their surroundings to ward off any unwanted surprises. "Hahaha, well if my dear grandson also feels this way then this granny should listen." Chuckling happily, Freizon put on an indulgent tone as she tousled Greyson''s hair. "Grandmother! I''m not just saying this..." Feeling his warning was not taken seriously, Greyson pushed a little harder. "Alright, alright. I understand." Nodding solemnly, Freizon, nonetheless, gave herself away with the little grin peeking at the corners of her lips. Speechless, Greyson decided it was fine. His grandparents were already suspicious of Ambrose and the entire situation. Advising them was just something that set his mind at ease. Before he could put another word in, a loud shouting starting echoing through the tunnels. "Elders... Elders!... ELDERS!" Approaching rapidly, the voice grew in volume until it was crystal clear. Quickly flying in, a large Snow Dragons swooped in to deliver news. "Calm down, Jemir, what seems to be the issue?" Massaging his temples in exhaustion, Elder Brevre sighed. "Reporting to Elder Brevre, a brawl has broken out between those Light Dragon guards and our tribesmen." "What?! I explicitly commanded everyone to not fight back at this time. The Light Dragons also do not want a massive fight with us. Quickly flying in, a large Snow Dragons swooped in to deliver news." Veins popping out from his forehead in frustration, Brevre shouted furiously. "No, Elder! You are mistaken. Those wretched guards truly took it too far this time! They beat Rhea''s son within an inch of his life. Of course, Rhea would not just watch her son die, so she fought back this time. Just like a chain reaction, it only took Rhea to make everyone else jump in. Elders should jump in before things get even more out of hand." Jemir angrily growled clearly upset about the recent developments. "Rhea..." Freizon felt slightly shocked. "That child is usually so strict with herself; it''s not easy to make her lose herself to her emotions. How is Saemir?" "Rhea''s son will live." "Lead the way. Let us go stop the fight." Brevre and Freizon transformed into their original dragon form and one grabbed onto Rosalie while the other grabbed Greyson. In just a couple of moments, the group arrived near the border of the Snow Peak where the fighting broke out. Bursts of light and blue ice exploded out everywhere. Freizon moved forward and opened her hand towards the fighting. Clenching into a fist, all of the dragons disappeared. The next instant, they all reappeared apart from each other with the Snow Dragons behind the Elders and the Light Dragons back behind the borderline. "Stop." Her stern voice echoed. "Elder Freizon, you must retrieve justice for us! Look at Rhea''s son! Look at his injuries. You have known Saemir since his birth, surely you will not sit back and watch!" One of the Snow Dragons in the crowd cried out indignantly. "Elder Brevre, Elder Freizon, I respect you, but I will not sit back and listen to slander. Saemir attempted to cross the border even though he knows that all Snow Dragons were ordered to stay inside the confines of Snow Peak. Since he resisted, we had no choice but to injure him severely. This situation did not start with us; we are not the aggressors." Not backing down an inch, the Light Dragon guard leader also spoke up in his defense. "Stop with your rubbish!" "You definitely instigated the fight!" "Your bullying has gone too far!" Tons of dissident yells exploded from the Snow Dragons after hearing the leader''s reply. "ENOUGH! Where is Rhea?" Brevre did not listen to anyone''s nonsense. "Elder Brevre, I am here." Flying out from the crowd, one of the Snow Dragons replied. "You recount to me what has happened." "Replying to Elder, my foolish son tried to sneak out of the peak to rendezvous with his Water Dragon lover. I admit that he was wrong to disobey orders, and his impatience was childish. However, he did not resist violently once he was apprehended. I already rushed swiftly behind him because I noticed almost instantly that Saemir snuck out. I witnessed my son turn around when he perceived the guards, but that group of guards did not give up. They hounded him and beat him. Initially, I was going to follow the Elders'' orders and not defend him. After all, it was Saemir who made a mistake. But... they just wouldn''t stop." Rhea''s voice cracked a little with emotion. "I could not continue to sit back and watch. Those were not wounds that would heal in just a day or so time. It would take months and many herbs to help." "It''s alright, child. We do not blame you or Saemir. Accompany your son back to heal." Brevre waved to dismiss them after hearing Rhea speak. With a thorough understanding of Rhea''s personality, they were inclined to believe her side of the story. "Well, you heard her. I will admit it was Saemir''s fault first, therefore I will not pursue the beating. However, do not believe this old man to be blind and stupid. I know exactly what is going on lately with you guards. Scram back to Light Peak, we will no longer condone this farce to continue. If you still come back and try to wreak havoc, we will no longer order the others to quietly back down. All in moderation. I hope you go back and inform your leaders I have said this." Brevre flicked his hand and the group of the Light Dragons all disappeared from sight. This was the first time Greyson ever witnessed his grandparents make a move. He had to admit he was impressed. When they were serious, his silly grandfather and grandmother could be quite majestic. "Powerful, right?" He heard Rosalie''s voice question from beside him. "Yeah. We will reach a point like this, too!" "Definitely." "This is now over. Everyone return to their caves." Freizon spoke to send away the rest of the crowd. Everyone listened immediately and started to disperse. Greyson could overhear the dissatisfied whispers amidst them. Thinking back to the Light Dragon guards from earlier, he also felt troubled. Some of the lower-level guards seemed confused by the fight while the upper-level guards looked like they fully comprehended the situation and were confident. Yet, if they really did, why would they beat up Saemir like that? Everything about the assassination to the present conflict was starting to make Greyson suspicious. ... "How goes the Dragon operation?" A raspy voice spoke out. "Reporting to Master, everything is going smoothly. Too many of them are simple to use. A war for power seems imminent." "They require another push. Use our hidden piece. The time has come for them to reveal their use." "That person? Would it not be more beneficial to wait for a better moment?" "There is no better moment. Their actions will cause the exact spark we require for a fight to explode." "Understood, Master. I will start right away. Who will the targets be?" "The grandchildren of those Elders, Brevre and Freizon. Someone from the Wind Dragons as well. We need them to choose a side. Let''s make it a little easier for them to do so, alright?" "Kekeke. I''m certain they will appreciate the favor." The black-robed figure bowed to the mirror in front of him. "Alright, I will leave this to you. No mistakes." "Entrust it to me, Master. I will not disappoint you." 127 Shock A figure was lying down on his bed, eyes clear amidst the darkness. "You have been called upon by Master. It is time to repay your ancestor''s debt." The same black figure from before appeared to the person. "What is the mission?" A lifeless voice replied. "Kill the grandchildren of Elder Brevre and Freizon. Kill that Wind Dragon as well. You will use this." Pulling out two blood red daggers from his sleeve, the black-robed man delivered it to the subordinate. "There are remnants of light mana on that blade. Find a way to abandon the dagger at the scene to leave faint clues towards the Light Dragons." The other person audibly grit his teeth, "is slaying them really necessary? Can I not just grievously injure them? And why not the Earth Dragon? I''m guessing you require me to kill Cerul so that the Wind Dragons are no longer neutral. The same could be said for the Earth Dragons." "Don''t be naive. You must kill them. Only that kind of action will cause the effect that Master desires. You need not worry about the Earth Dragons; that side is already taken care of. Everything is under our control." "But, I..." "Do you not recognize what is at stake here? What was the deal between your ancestor and my Master?" "..." "I will take your silence as acceptance. I hope you do not commit any careless mistakes. There is too much at stake. If something happens, I will personally come over to eliminate you." "Alright. I understand." No longer looking towards the black-robed man, the other figure turned away in disgust. "Do well..." Those last whispered words echoed throughout the silent room. Before long, a discouraged sigh escaped the assassin''s lips. "I''m sorry, Rose... Grey... Cerul... I have no other choice. This will be for my tribe." ... The next morning, Rosalie pulled Greyson from dreamland with her incessant knocking. Yawning, Greyson rubbed his eyes still feeling drowsy. Back when he was waiting outside, he was unable to calm down enough to get any shut-eye. No longer waiting outside, Rosalie barged into the room and swung the door open with a loud slam. "Sister, what could possibly be so tremendously important. Don''t tell me the Light Dragons launched an attack at the crack of dawn?" "Huh, attack? Of course not, why would they do that? No, I''m waking you up to meet with the others. We are going to try to think of a plan to prevent any fighting from happening. If both the neutral Earth Dragon and Wind Dragon tribes decide to help out the Snow Dragons, then we might be able to get the Light Dragons to just execute Almonis. We could let this conflict die down with that. There would be too much at stake otherwise. Bloodline suppression is a useful ability but it is not god-like. The more powerful a dragon, the higher the resistance towards the suppression. Beastmen are also not as affected since only part of their bloodline is dragon." "Hence it would be up to Sloan and Cerul, then? Why do we need to meet, though? We don''t really need to help them plan. There is not much we can do to assist them. It is the inside story of their tribe, and I don''t know what the rest of the group could achieve by meeting with them." "I''m also not quite sure. Someone from the group called for the meeting saying there is something urgent. They have a plan at how we could help. I, for one, am sick of sitting around and waiting for results. If someone could advise me on what I can undertake to push the situation along then I am all for it. Let''s go already. We are going to be late because of you!" "Well, maybe if I received the invite as well. I mean they all know me now, why would they only transmit you the message?" "Because they know I''m the one who goes over and wakes you up anyways. Why be redundant?" "Whatever." Shrugging, Greyson quickly got up out of bed and put on his clothes. "Let''s go then. Lu, come on." The sleepy silver cat groaned a little, but still perched himself on Greyson''s shoulder. All the ill omens forced him to stay careful and stick with Greyson. ... Meanwhile, at the meeting spot, Cerul was the first to arrive as always. "Hm... as always, they remain such slowpokes. For all one knows, I could just pick everyone up and haul them to the meeting spot. That might end up being faster than everyone coming individually. Haha, I can suggest it today~" Humming to himself merrily, he paced around as he impatiently waited for the others to arrive. *Crack* Hearing a stick crack to the west, he turned to greet the newcomer but did not spot anyone. "Cerul." A familiar voice called out from behind. "Oh~ fancy you being here so early. You usually are last." Smiling broadly, Cerul turned around while teasing. However, his smile stopped dead on his face as his eyes widened. Choking a little, he looked down at his chest only to see the hilt of a dagger sticking out right above his heart. Spluttering blood, he could only look at his killer with disbelief. With one sharp motion, the dagger was yanked out. Blood spurted out from the wound followed by a sharp intake of breath from Cerul. "I know I... can be annoying... but this? Why?" Squeezing out the words, Cerul''s labored breathing continued to grow lighter. He tried to apply pressure, but the blood would not stop flowing profusely from the wound. "I''m sorry, Cerul. You will never truly understand or forgive me. But just know I am sorry. I never wished for it to come to this." Deep sadness was present in the replying voice. "No, the others... Don''t..." Unable to get the rest out, Cerul''s breathing soon stopped. Those green eyes still staring ahead with the devastation of betrayal. Uncomfortable from the gaze, the assassin cleansed the blood off before kneeling down at the side of an old friend. Hands shaking, the killer managed to close the eyes. "I can''t listen to your words. There are still others I must kill. Don''t ever forgive me, Cerul. I know I will not either." Leaving those words behind, the figure quickly escaped the scene and moved towards the other location that was written on the message. It was time. ... Rosalie and Greyson arrived late as expected, however, they were surprised to see no one arrived yet. Not suspecting a thing, Rosalie merely thought they must all be running late since it was so early. Ordinarily, their meetings were later in the day. Greyson, on the other hand, did not feel so at ease as his sister. He had not cultivated the same relationship with the group as Rosalie. What if that message was some kind of trap? "Rose, I think we should leave." "Leave? Why?" "That message. It is possible someone else sent it to you. I don''t feel this situation is right. You said your friends were always punctual." "No, you don''t understand. My friends and I talk in code. No one else could comprehend it. We burn the notes after they are delivered. Undeniably it sounds all grave and paranoid, but it was just for fun. Possibly also practice if something untoward were to happen and we need to secretly communicate. I doubt someone would be able to employ it to deceive me." "Well, what if..." "What if what?" "I don''t know. Can we just leave? If it ends up that we miss the meeting, I''m confident the rest of the group would understand." Greyson wanted to bring up that one of her friends could have betrayed her. Somehow, though, breaching that subject did not seem like it would bode well. "I cannot fathom why you are so nervous. Who would target us at this moment anyways?" "The Light Dragons!" "The Light Dragons do not desire a war. I''ve been trying to assure you, their hands are tied more than you realize. The full support of the Water Dragons and the semi-support of the Dark Dragons allow us to slightly outnumber the Light Dragons whose sole support are the Fire Dragons. By all means, the situation is not great right now, but I believe it will blow over eventually unless something outrageous happens." "I don''t know. There is something internal happening with the Light Dragons I think. Those guards earlier were not right. Some of them looked genuinely troubled by their fellow friends'' actions as if such aggression was not part of the plan. But those guard who attacked Saemir looked completely in control and calm. Could that Elophis fellow be fighting with his brother?" "Elophis? No, that doesn''t make sense..." Listening to her brother''s words, even Rosalie was starting to feel something was not right. "Maybe you are right... we should leave for now just in case. It''s odd that no one else has arrived yet. I don''t know, I feel like I''m still going to be lecturing later about how suspicious you are being. I''m telling you, that code is exceedingly hard for someone else to use!" Although slightly disbelieving, Rosalie felt she should give her younger brother the benefit of the doubt. They started walking away when a voice called out to them from behind. "Rose!" The familiar voice allowed Rosalie to relax. "See, Grey, I told you..." In that instant so much occurred. "Greyson, watch out!" Lucius mentally warned before kicking off Greyson and sending the boy flying out. A dagger slammed into the ground where Greyson stood formerly. He also turned to try to wrap his tail around Rosalie in time to jerk her away. The moment of priority allowed the dagger to be millimeters from arriving at its target on Rosalie''s chest. Pulling on her wrist with his tail allowed him to pull her to the left in time to put the dagger off target. But the blade still stabbed straight into the right side of her chest. Touching the hilt of the dagger digging into her chest, Rosalie showed the same disbelief as Cerul. How... how could it be him... Her shaking hands no longer held any strength at she began to bleed out. "S***!" Lucius swore. 128 New Power It was like time stopped at the moment Greyson looked over at Rosalie. There was nothing he could do to stop her body falling to the ground. An awful ringing sound screamed in his ears as everything went red. He could see the dagger hilt sticking out from her chest. From his angle, it looked like his sister had been stabbed straight through the heart. Turning his eyes towards the beast who caused it all, Greyson could feel his throat tightening. The words suddenly were stuck there. Why? WHY?! He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs, but his mouth would not move. Blood pounding through his body, his heart rate rising, his body feeling as though it were burning. Something was happening, it was coursing through him like never before. Anger, it was anger. Pure, unadulterated fury that he could not control. The scenes in front of him were like pictures that meant nothing to him. Lucius fighting back, Rosalie bleeding out, he could not move like he was sucked from this reality. Faint screams were blurred out behind all the noises, but they were slowly getting louder and louder. "Greyson! GREY! What are you doing?" Lucius yelled. Ringing in his ears grew worse as he crouched on the ground holding onto his head. All his mana was running rampantly in his body. Seven elements slowly fusing into a sole power, a power which he directed all towards the traitor. Snapping his head up again to glare daggers, one could see his eyes were an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors. Anyone who made eye contact would feel mesmerized by them. "Aeos. AEOS. How could you..." Merely a hoarse whisper, Greyson ultimately managed to mutter out the desired words. "Greyson, you wouldn''t understand. I never intended to hurt Rose. You know that." "Her name..." "What?" "You no longer have the right to say her name!" Greyson screamed out. At that moment, something just blasted forth. No elements were used, it was just pure mana that sent power running through his veins. Slamming Aeos far into the distance, Greyson could feel the last strand of sanity just snapping. Suddenly appearing in front of Aeos, Greyson kicked him again sending him flying back with a loud boom. Then, it was a punch and then another kick. Beating him slowly to death, Greyson did not flinch even at the sounds of bones cracking. Each hit echoed like thunder. Pinning Aeos to the ground, he began pummeling his face over and over again. Fueling his anger even more was the fact that Aeos was not fighting back. As invincible as Greyson felt at the moment, he knew that Aeos was a genuine great magister level stage two dragon and that he had spells that would slow Greyson down. Yet he did not try any of his spells, it was like he just gave up. Hitting harder and harder, Greyson questioned him once more. "Why won''t you fight back?! I don''t need your surrender." "Why would you do this to us? Why?! Don''t you know how Rosalie felt about you?" Still no answer. "Say something!" He did not stop until he felt a hard bite into his shoulder. Shifting his anger towards the source of the bite, he went to grab the creature only to realize it was Lucius. "What are you doing, Lucius? Get away! I have to kill him. I HAVE TO KILL HIM!" "You idiot! Couldn''t you hear me screaming at you? Rosalie is not dead! But she is about to be if you don''t go over and start healing her! Do you want her to bleed to death?" "What..." Now this definitely stopped him. That one sentence was all he needed for the storm in his heart to recede. Widening his eyes in surprise, Greyson quickly got off of the dying Aeos and flew over to his sister. Only now could he hear the faint sound of her labored breathing. Swiftly arriving at her side and grabbing onto her hand, he started his most powerful healing spell. Both of them bathed in the warm, golden light as he started with the internal injuries first. Eventually, he grabbed onto the dagger and slowly removed it from her chest. Blood splattered onto his face and his breath caught in his chest again. However, he continued to persevere because he knew he could save her. Without even realizing, his hands were shaking and tears flowed down his face. After all the mana he exploded forth with before, Greyson could feel himself growing weak. Face paling, his energy was draining too quickly during this healing spell. Most high-level light element healing spells required much more mana than he could provide at the moment. Accurately perceiving his situation, he knew that he should take his sister to his grandparents quickly using the last of his magic. Gently lifting his sister up, Greyson took one last look at the bleeding heap still struggling to breathe. Every bone in his body wanted to go up and drive the same dragon slayer dagger used on his sister through that man. But he knew his priorities. Rosalie was still alive and breathing, and he needed to keep it that way. "Lu, can you bring him with us? As much as I want to kill him, we should present him to the other dragons. I feel like it was more than just Aeos who wanted us dead. This was part of some sort of plot. Maybe we could flush out some more traitors using him." Nodding in assent, Lucius went over to bring the body back with them. Right before he could activate his spell, the shadows came to life and swallowed down Aeos. Not expecting the help, Lucius and Greyson were not able to react in time allowing the body to disappear. "Who was that?!... A Dark Dragon?" Frustrated and confused, Greyson knew now was not the time for guessing because he was feeling extra paranoid about everyone. Rosalie started losing more blood during his hesitation. Feeling the warm flow of blood, Greyson snapped out of it and quickly headed out. Whoever saved Aeos, it clearly indicated that he was not working alone. There were more things at work, and the assassination attempt was somehow a part of this. Rushing over back to Snow Peak, Greyson could tell that he miscalculated. In the state that he was in, his mana was leaking out uncontrollably. Estimating the distance, he realized his speed would not be enough. With but a thought, Zephyr appeared at his full size. Spitting blood, Greyson suffered another large chunk of his remaining mana disappearing. "Hurry." Holding his heart, he strained to get the words out. Zephyr responded with a quick whine and flew straight towards Snow Peak. With his speed, it only took a matter of seconds to arrive at the entrance to the Elders'' cave. However, once they arrived, Zephyr''s body began to dissipate. Luckily, they were close to the ground and landed safely. Overdrawing himself, Greyson spat some more blood. It was up to Lucius to bring them all into the cave. "Grandmother! Grandfather! Help!" Exhausted at the moment, his shouts came out more as hoarse croaks. Lucius saw the issue and used his wind magic to amplify the sound and help it carry. Obviously, the spell worked well as the sound of flapping wings swiftly approached. Almost instantly, two large dragon bodies appeared in front of them. "Grey! What happened?!" "No time, look at Rosalie. I''m fine." Weakly waving away their concern, he directed their attention over to his sister. "Someone stabbed her! You tried to heal her Grey?" "I already took care of the most immediate damage, but I don''t have enough mana. You need to get someone to heal her right away, or she could still end up dying." Although they were dying to question him, now was not the time for interrogation. Elder Freizon nodded at her husband and flew off into the distance to get help while Elder Brevre brought his grandchildren to lay down. Only then was Greyson able to calm down and look at his body''s condition. One word: terrible. Whatever happened earlier obviously did not agree with his body, like the power was not natural. The power of the seven elements combining damaged his mana channels, and that damage was what caused his mana to leak uncontrollably. Trusting that the situation was now under control, Greyson could feel his consciousness slowly slipping. His body was inducing rest in order to recover from his internal injuries. But before that... "Grandfather, it was Aeos! Look at the Time Dragons. Someone helped him afterwards using dark magic. I did not see who it was." Voice fading away with each word, Greyson was already asleep after finishing his sentence. 129 Unending Mystery Once Greyson was carried over to a bed by his grandfather, Elder Brevre took off to looks for signs of a struggle. Before long he came upon a spot, but there was no sign of Aeos or any other body. By this time, he could not sense any sign of the use of the dark element either. Severely frowning, he decided to investigate this later and headed off towards the Time Dragon territory. However, once he got there, he was completely shocked. "What happened here?" All around the area was completely empty. From the low-level Beastmen to the high-level Ancestor, every Time Dragon tribe member was gone. The houses and caves were still perfectly intact, so nothing to indicate they were attacked. It was as if everyone just packed up their things and left. Seeing such a suspicious situation, Brevre felt more inclined to believe his grandson''s story. Knowing this situation was much larger than he anticipated, he knew he could not keep this to himself. Tilting his head up towards the sky, he released a loud roar. Casting a spell, the Snow Dragon insignia appeared in the air. The other leaders would most likely respond right away, thus after releasing the message, Brevre flew towards the main cave in the Light Dragon territory. Upon arriving, he noticed he was the last to arrive. The rest of the high-level dragons were present for the meeting. "Alright, Brevre, spit it out. What was so critically important that you released your emergency signal?" An impatient Fire Dragon spoke first. "Stay calm, Tansae. You know I would not call for a meeting this serious if the situation were not such." "Don''t listen to him, Brevre. We all recognize your character. Just report what is going on." "Haven''t you all noticed one of the Dragon tribes is missing?" Brevre remarked sarcastically as if in disbelief they had not perceived anything wrong. "Hm?" At once, the elders all looked around. Finally, they all managed to catch on. "Where is Phanos? And the rest of the Time Dragon elders?" Typically, the Time Dragons were small in number and did not heavily participate in any of the discussions. Elder Brevre was not too surprised that they did not notice right away. "Don''t bother looking. They are no longer here. I already checked before I sent out the signal. The entire tribe down to the low-level members are all gone. Not a single one is left. I did not look around closely, I wanted to make sure to let you all know first. My grandson and granddaughter were both attacked by Aeos. I know Phanos'' son is not just friends with them, so I thought I should warn the rest of you guys. Are any of your children or grandchildren missing?" Specifically, he looked towards the Fire, Wind, Dark, and Earth sides. He knew the rest of the children in that group were from those tribes. Most of them looked calm since they had seen all their children just earlier, however, one of the Wind Dragon major elders looked concerned. This was Cerul''s father, Elder Felle. "Felle?" "I heard Cerul mentioning something about meeting up with the usual group before he left." He turned a ghastly pale as the color faded from his face. "Where did he say they were meeting?" "I don''t know. That damn boy never told me anything. It was only after endless badgering that I managed to convince him to even let me know he was leaving." Unable to keep calm, the anxious Elder Felle already began to transform and flew out to scour the mountains. "We all should help look. This could be serious." The Light Dragon King ultimately spoke up to command the rest. Everyone nodded and left one-by-one. No matter how large an area the Dragon Tribe territory spanned, with so many powerful elders flying over Cerul was found in next to no time. He did not travel too far in the first place. Aeos knew that meeting spots far away would have seemed suspicious as they invariably met within the tribe boundaries. One of the Dark Dragon elders roared to gather the attention of the others. Grasping the meaning, everyone flew over towards the elder. With his speed, Felle was the first to arrive on the scene. "No! Cerul!" All the elders within earshot could hear his desperate cries. Cerul was lying peacefully on the ground, still and cold. None of the elders could sense his heartbeat or warm blood flowing. Shaking their heads, they knew nothing could be done. However, their hearts only grew colder after seeing the death of a young dragon. The Time Dragons betrayed everyone? In all of their millions of years alive, nothing even close to betrayal occurred in their tribe. Elder Felle was in no state to be thinking of such things. His heart bled as he bitterly cried while hugging his son''s head. This son of his never knew when to be serious and always joked around, but this was his only son. After millions of years of trying only just a century or so ago was his wife able to conceive a child. Following his moment of depression was only a fury and desire for vengeance that ran just as deep. "I''ll kill them; I''ll kill them all. My son, my son... Cerul, how could this be?" Raving and mumbling to himself, Elder Felle could not control all the emotions running through his mind. Observing the situation, the Light Dragon King was still staring at Cerul with confusion. Something about this body did not sit right with him... "Lumes, what is it?" Brevre asked noticing the dragon''s hesitation. "He seems to be dead. But... I don''t know... Something merely seems off." Eyes clouded with confusion, Lumes continued to look closely. After a little while, however, his eyes lit up with comprehension. "Suspended State! That time element spell! He is in a suspended state." "Suspended State?" Elder Felle looked up from his son towards the Light Dragon. "Yes! Cerul is not yet dead. He is extremely close to death, but someone saved him right before the end. Could it have been Aeos? But that doesn''t make sense... Aeos was most likely the attacker, was he not?" "Lumes, what are you saying?! My son, he is not dead?!" Felle immediately sprung up to his feet and grabbed onto the Light Dragon King while shaking him. This made Lumes prick his brow in annoyance while looking highly disgruntled. Observing the change in expression, Felle promptly released him and slightly bowed. "My King, are you saying Cerul can be saved?" After being showed the correct deference, Lumes nodded expressing his satisfaction. "Exactly. Right now, Cerul is brushing with death. Time has stopped for him, thus he is frozen in the moment right before he breathed his last breath. My son, Irumen, was also on his last breath when I discovered him. Fortunately, the Ancestor could still heal him with a powerful light element healing spell." "The Ancestor! We must take Cerul to him right away!" "Alright, I will bring him over. However, I cannot promise anything. The Ancestor is most definitely powerful, but he is not some miracle worker. Even now, Irumen has not awoken and completely recovered. Cerul may take even longer." "It doesn''t matter. As long as there is hope, it does not matter to me." "Follow me, then. As for the rest of you, we will continue discussing this afterward. Cerul''s situation is a bit more urgent. A life is a life after all and saving our tribesman''s life is the most important." Lumes briefly issued his command to the rest of the waiting elders. Agreeing with the King''s logic, all of them quickly scattered back to their mountains. Elder Brevre rushed back to Snow Peak to see how Rosalie was faring. Freizon was already there watching over their grandchildren. The Light Dragon healer already came and left claiming that Greyson just overdrew his mana. Rosalie, however, remained an issue. Thankfully, the Light Dragon who came was able to heal the stab wound and completely restore the damage to the heart and other arteries. Physical injury was less of the problem. Instead, it was the fact that she would not wake up. Elder Brevre and Freizon both feared it was due to the shock of betrayal. In their mind, knowing someone for almost 18 years was barely anything; however, those 18 years were Rosalie''s entire life thus far. Nobody in the Dragon Tribe could help with this issue. Both elders looked towards their grandchildren with worry. "What is with Grey, too? His hair color changed again..." The original snow-white hair would turn to a platinum silver then to a duller chestnut brown color. Sometimes even the white scales would pop up all over his skin and other times they faded. His body would thin down to the lithe elf structure, bulk up towards more dragon-like features, or just a standard human structure. It was like his body could no longer make up its mind between the bloodlines. "Whatever he did in his fight with Aeos has tipped the fragile balance with his elf, dragon, and human bloodline." "We''ll figure out what to do once he wakes up. It should take him another day or two to wake up. I think I might have an idea." 130 Transformation A full three months. That was how long Elder Brevre and Freizon watched over their grandchildren who were confined to bed. Over this course of time, Greyson very uneventfully turned 15. A year older but he was unable to celebrate. After spending mountains of resources, his condition started to settle down. The only issue was it settled on his human bloodline which was the most stable compared to the other two. All of his transforming caused multiple changes to occur in his body. His hair would grow out rapidly, thus his grandparents gave him a closed-cropped haircut. These past months allowed his body to fill out more and grow a couple inches. Though far from a man, Greyson still shed some of his child-like features. Snow Peak was uncharacteristically tranquil. Snow fell silently, the only sound present was the gentle whistling of the wind. Not even the usual crunching of footsteps on snow could be heard. Rosalie was popular and loved by the tribe, therefore many fellow tribesmen were upset by her situation. Cerul''s condition, however, came as an extreme shock. Most of the dragons feared moving around because they no longer felt the same trust. Outsiders may not understand, but the dragons maintained an intrinsic trust of one another. They never felt concerned about allowing their young run about without supervision or leaving their backs completely open towards their tribesmen. Low fertility caused every dragon to produce a certain empathy towards the other. Every single one knew the importance of each offspring, and the older members were all important pillars of the tribe''s central power against enemies. Scandals like this kind of betrayal set off a massive chain of panic. Even the deep-seated faith in one another rapidly fell apart in the face of attempted murders between fellow dragons. Families suddenly held their children inside and glanced towards the other tribes with suspicion. They could no longer look at each other like dragons part of a larger whole, instead it became Snow Dragons versus Light Dragons, Water Dragons versus the Fire Dragons, etc. In the midst of all the apprehension, the slumbering Greyson finally managed to open his eyes. Emerald green eyes filled with initial confusion looked around. Before long, his eyes widened as he recalled the earlier events and he bolted out of his bed. "Whoa, slow down there, Grey! Rosalie is fine. Well, sort of fine." The napping Lucius yelped after getting thrown off the bed from Greyson''s sudden movement. He knew right away that his friend was seeking his sister. "Daddy! You''re awake!" Snow came from nowhere and jumped up onto Greyson to cuddle against his face nearly knocking him back down into bed. Still disoriented, Greyson took a moment to try to process everything for a second. "Lucius, what happened?" "You''ve been unconscious for three months now, Grey. Rosalie is still not awake and apparently Aeos also allegedly tried to murder Cerul. Nothing is certain because Cerul is still not out of the woods and in critical condition. The entire Time Dragon tribe just up and disappeared without a word or trace. Not even the low-level servants were left behind. In short, there are many questions and mysteries but no answers." "Cerul?" Eyes widening, Greyson definitely did not expect to hear his name come up. "Yes, that was the name." Lucius remarked. "How critical?" "Hm... I have not heard much, and I wasn''t that curious. I barely know the guy." Lucius only interacted with Cerul for the short flight back. He was not the type to warm up to others quickly. Greyson did not know, but Lucius merely laid around waiting for him to wake up. Avoiding talking with anyone, Lucius still has not spoken a decent sentence to Theo, Snow, or Greyson''s grandparents the entire time. Plus, he wanted to keep his presence low-key in case the rumors spread from the Hargrave or Cidian Bear tribes. Impatient to find answers, Greyson went to go find his grandparents. He barely managed a couple of steps before a severe pain pulsed throughout his body. Muffling a scream, Greyson fell to the ground. White scales pierced through his skin, but instead of sliding out naturally, they caused cuts that bled onto the floor. Holding his pounding head, he could not recognize what was happening. Managing to look up Lucius, he showed one normal green eye and one purple dragon''s eye. His hair was half white and half brown. Trying to retract the scales, Greyson realized that his bloodlines were no longer in his control. "What''s... happening..." Struggling to even breathe with the pain wracking his body, he squeezed the words out. "Oh no! Greyson!" Elder Freizon entered after hearing the noise. She hastily pulled out a mixture prepared by the healer ahead of time. Force-feeding Greyson, it caused the dragon bloodline to recede once again. Panting heavily, Greyson wiped off his cold sweat. "Grandma, what is going on?" "Grey, whatever happened in your battle with Aeos messed up the equilibrium between your bloodlines. We already worked hard to seal away your elf bloodline, but we kept your dragon bloodline active. It''s been kept at bay with mixtures made from herbs that calm bloodlines. That kind of fix is temporary." "Why did you not completely seal it along with my elf bloodline?" "Well, I already had a plan at how to calm the conflict down. You remember I am not a pure-blood Snow Dragon, right? But I can transform into a dragon and my power is not any weaker than a full dragon. This is not just because of natural talent; my deficiency was solved. Thousands more Beastmen are born each year compared to actual dragons, thus a lot of tests were done to try to make up for their mixed bloodline. The most talented were gifted a way to purify their bloodline. Do you know how magic beasts absorb mana?" "They all have a mana core. It can be located at different parts of the body." "Dragons'' mana cores are located within the heart. Actually, that is why Cerul and Irumen are still not fully healed and awake. Their cores were damaged as well which could complicate any further use of the elements. All magic beasts are born with one naturally that will usually grow to some predetermined size which would represent the level that they would reach at the limit of their inborn talent. Beastmen, however, are not born with one. The mixture of racial bloodlines makes it so one never forms. They can still practise magic, just that the abilities they inherit from their magic beast side are weaker and more shallow. Similar to how you can summon your scales which increase your strength and physical endurance, however you cannot use any of the signature abilities of Snow Dragons. High-level tribes use a specific method to allow a talented Beastman to form a mana core and become similar to a full-blood magic beast." "If such a method exists, why are there any Beastmen at all? They could all be transformed into legitimate members of the whichever tribe they originate from." "You only ask this because you do not understand the what the method entails. A pure-blood member must provide half of their blood to be absorbed by the Beastman. Half, Grey. Some magic beasts could die or be permanently weakened by such a sacrifice. Not many would make that kind of sacrifice for someone else even family. The idea of it being a reward to the most talented also stimulated a competition that inspired Beastmen to train harder. Your great-grandfather did it for me. And now, your grandfather wished to do it for you. It was supposed to be Elbianth, but he managed to discover another method to purify his dragon bloodline and form a mana core. Well, that''s a story for another time. We need to get started right away. Otherwise, your body will seriously break down from the inner fighting." "So, if I train in this method, what will happen?" "I can''t tell you exactly since your situation is a bit unique. I only had a quarter human bloodline in me, so it was not a complicated change. You, on the other hand, have multiple bloodlines that are non-dragon. This is a bet of sorts. Risk is definitely involved, but I think it could resolve your current issues." Elder Freizon pulled Greyson up and spoke with him as she brought him back into the main space of their cave. Waiting there was Elder Brevre. Already having bled himself, he looked feeble and exhausted. "Grandpa, will you be alright?" "Haha! How could something this small get me down? You don''t need to worry, Grey. Your grandmother prepared herbs and the like for me to eat for healing." Missing the usual vigor, Elder Brevre''s words did not garner Greyson''s vote of confidence. Unable to change anything now, Greyson felt it was not worth it to question this statement''s validity. Casting his eyes towards the blood inside a round tub, he could feel the power and life radiating from it. A being as powerful and old as his grandfather, just a drop of blood would be extremely precious. "Get in the center, Grey." Freizon instructed. Following her lead, Greyson sat down in the tub and hissed at the freezing of his skin on contact. "Now, try meditating. Detect the elements in the blood." The presence of the water element was distinct, but he could only faintly feel the second space element. This was most likely due to his virtually non-existent talent with the space element. "Once you perceive them, absorb both the elements through the usual mana channels and into your heart where the mana core will form." As he would during typical meditation, Greyson began absorbing the elements. What he did not realize was the blood was also absorbed into his body through his mana channels. With each passing hour, it was as if he could hear his heart beating louder and louder. Each subsequent thump was more resounding and mightier than the last. It was not his imagination. Truly, everyone in the cave could hear the beating of his heart. This was a sign of the mana core forming. Once the last drop of blood disappeared, his heart gave one last thump before the blood flowed out from the heart once again. Burning sensations spread throughout his body, his muscles spasming and his bones cracking. His stifled groans turned to growls as he could feel everything changing. "Don''t worry, Grey. The pain will subside." Freizon comforted from the side. Soon a roar broke out and a small white dragon appeared where Greyson used to sit. He was no larger than a recently born dragon which makes sense in accordance to age. 15 years represented next to nothing with a dragon''s lifespan. 131 Plans Backfired All the sights and sounds around Greyson were amplified and his senses felt overwhelmed. Disoriented by these changes, he felt dizzy and slightly nauseous. Dragons, as magic beasts, had much keener senses than humans and his brain was not used to processing the information. "Greyson... Grey, focus on my voice. I know it''s a lot right now, but it helps to direct all your attention to one thing. The background noise will start fading away eventually." Elder Freizon''s whispered to him from quite a distance. Empathizing with his situation, she knew what he required at the moment. Nodding his head, he tried listening only to his grandmother''s voice. Not speaking about anything specific, she was recounting a hilarious story about his grandfather. Eventually hearing the ending, Greyson chuckled happily. Most of the noises faded and his sight refocused. "Well, that was unpleasant." He tried saying, but he could only hear a combination of noises. Surprised, he realized his current form was incapable of human speech and he did not know how to speak in the dragon tongue fluently. A cold bucket of water poured over his excitement as the various downfalls became apparent to him. In this form, he could only sense the two elements. However, this was also a positive point as he could strongly feel the space element at this time. His mana core was still in its beginning state, so he was extremely weak in this form. Fairly defenseless if not for his ridiculously hard scales and physical body. "Hahaha, not as fun as you expected, right? Uh... actually. I completely forgot. I''m not sure how you go back and forth between your bloodlines. After forming my mana core, I never wanted to be a human. Though I have that humanoid form, it''s not because I activate my human bloodline but because magic beasts can all transform when they are powerful enough. You might be stuck in this form for a little while until you figure it out..." Blushing in embarrassment, Freizon realized a huge oversight on her part. Silence. Greyson felt speechless. What was he going to do? How long would he be like this? He already planned to train for a little while, but what if he was stuck like this for years. Most dragons would train for at least a century before they could transform into their humanoid form. "You trained to switch between your bloodlines before, right? I''m certain the process is still fairly similar. Just do it slowly and eventually you will get used to it. I recall you saying it required a lot of practice at first to smoothly activate your dragon and elf bloodline." Elder Brevre tried to encourage. "If anything, you can just stay in this form for a while and slowly build up your power. One day, you will be able to speak the dragon language and transform back into your human form." ... A couple of months after this transformation, Greyson still felt extremely depressed. The ancient dragon language was extremely difficult to learn and even at this point he merely learned a couple of simple phrases. Definitely not enough to engage in a decent conversation with anyone. Zephyr was locked away inside his body and Greyson could no longer connect with him in his current state. Lucius was the sole being with whom he could actually speak with due to their contract and resulting mental connection. Having this small solace made passing his days much easier to handle. If someone were to force him to endure months without being able to speak to anyone, he could very well go insane. Since leaving his grandparents, Greyson went back to his cave dwelling on Snow Peak and did nothing but meditate. His power was currently skewed between his two elements. Due to his original level with the water element, his absorption of the water element was not necessary. Instead, it was the space element which he had to absorb and catch up with the water element. In such a brief period of time, he was able to reach a strength level equivalent to an intermediate level stage five magician. Compared to his original power, this level was nothing to brag about. However, it had barely been 3 months now. The development of his mana core was steady and relatively rapid. At the pace he was advancing, he may reach the magister level once again faster than he previously anticipated. Both the Elders explained this was because his original state already reached the magister level so his dragon body was only slowly absorbing the water and space element to match his body''s previous power. With the rapid growth of his mana core, Greyson''s dragon body was also increasing in size. Still young, he was about the length of two adult males. Intermittently, he would take a break from his meditation to familiarize himself with the innate ice spells and space spells of the Snow Dragons. At his level, he could only use four spells which were all comparatively weak. But this learning experience was necessary for the later spells he could learn once his power increased. Primarily with the space element since this was his first contact with it. Surprisingly, his greatest aid was Lucius, not his grandparents. Since Lucius was the only one who Greyson could speak to and ask questions. Everything else was progressing smoothly, his only disappointment was his inability to access his human bloodline. Some breakthroughs occurred, and he was able to transform at most two of his limbs. Even then, it was just his arms or legs shrinking to human shape but they were still covered in white scales. Greyson had initially assumed he would already be able to activate his human bloodline by now. The switch, however, proved to be much more complex. 3 more months... "HAHA, I DID IT!" A booming shout echoed throughout the tranquil Snow Peak. Inside a certain cave, the three small animals all jumped in shock. They were all napping per usual, not expecting to be so rudely awoken. When they looked over at Greyson, they realized he had succeeded. He was once again in his human form! Albeit naked, Greyson did not take notice but instead jumped around his room with joy. 6 months! For half a year, without rest, he had kept working and now he finally achieved his goal. "Alright, Grey. Yes, this is all very amazing, but could you put on some clothes now?" Lucius calm voice finally broke through the immense happiness. Looking down at himself, Greyson realized he was still naked. Snow was actually not looking and had covered her eyes with her paws. Theo and Lucius decided to just watch and snicker with each other. Calming himself down, Greyson pulled out his familiar white robe and quickly got dressed. Holding up both hands, he clenched his fists and wiggled his fingers. He kicked out his legs and examined every part of him like his body was foreign to him. Every part was there this time, he had really fully transformed back. Grinning widely, Greyson flipped his palm, and a small silver dragon appeared. Zephyr let out a little roar of happiness and twined its body around Greyson''s face. These months without communication caused the little dragon to feel anxious and alone. Now that he was out, he begged to stay out which Greyson definitely allowed. "Haha, buddy, I''m sorry. You can stay out this time." With a little effort, Greyson finally managed to yank the dragon from his face. "Let''s go over and tell my grandparents!" Getting ready to make his way over, he paused after using his mana before joyful surprise filled his face. Just now, when he used his magic, he realized he had actually broken through! He was a magister level stage five magician and only one step away from being a great magister. A little shocked by his own progress, Greyson could not understand what caused this random upsurge. Was it the mana core? Shaking his head, he decided he would figure it out later. Rushing up the mountain, he ran into the Elders'' cave. "Grandma, Grandpa, I did it!" Bursting into the grand hall overflowing with energy, Greyson shouted out. However, he could only pause in his steps when he saw the worry and fatigue in both their eyes. "What is it? Is it my sister? Did she get worse?" His heart sinking, Greyson quickly asked about Rosalie. This half a year, he had visited her every single day, but there was no sign of her waking up. No matter what herbs and potions his grandparents found, they did not work. "Grey... we are running out of options." Sighing deeply, Elder Brevre felt disheartened looking over his granddaughter. "Well, there must be something left to try." "That''s exactly why we are going to leave." "Leave? To where?" "We are going to the main Church of Light. They are the best healers and should be able to solve Rosalie''s injuries. I happen to be friends with some of the higher-up members." Elder Freizon explained. "Will it be alright for you guys to leave the tribe right now?" "Actually, all the assassination mess was put on pause after the Time Dragons betrayed us and left. We have hit a moment of temporary peace. With the way dragons look at time, this peace will probably go on for at least a couple of decades. I''m not concerned about a fight breaking out while we are gone. I would not feel assured if we asked someone else to transport her there. Therefore to bar any accidents, your grandmother and I will go personally." "I will go too!" Greyson declared. However, as if right on cue, a tattoo on his palm burned bright until it dissipated. Furrowing his brows deeply, Greyson felt conflicted. That mark shining meant his teacher was summoning him back to the Idris Kingdom to the academy. But his sister... If it was not an emergency, Sweetbow would never use the signal. Knowing Rosalie would be safe with his grandparents, he grit his teeth and resisted the urge to go. "What was that, Grey?" "My teacher, this was a mark he put on to use as a signal to summon me back. I don''t think I will be able to go with you; I should check this out." "Oh? You will be going back to your human kingdom?" "Yes, it seems I am going back." 132 Peaceful Journey After making his decision, Greyson quickly started to prepare for his journey. Packing all sorts of supplies and food inside Al, he made sure he would not have to make too many stops along the way. Since his teacher decided to use the emergency signal, Greyson did not want to waste any time on the way back. When it came to bringing along others, Snow and Lucius were definitely coming along since they had nowhere else to go. However, he glanced over at Theo feeling conflicted. "Hey, Theo, don''t you think it''s time for you to go back to your mother and tribe? I''m sure she wouldn''t want me to take you into the human territory. No one there will pay attention nor know of your mother''s reputation. It''s much more dangerous." "You don''t have to worry! I actually told her that I wanted to go out to journey this time. She gave me permission because she agreed that I should experience the world." Shrugging, Greyson did not have anything more to say. One more companion would not really change things for him. Plus, Theo looked like any other Jade Mouse and no one would pay attention to him. Time passed quickly and it was soon time for him to head out. His grandparents were also leaving at the same time. Walking out of the cave, Greyson already released Zephyr and flew up into the air. Both Elder Brevre and Freizon transformed into their dragon forms and flew next to Greyson. They kept Rosalie stable inside space using a spell. Nodding towards Greyson, their eyes showed a reluctance to part. However, at least they knew where their grandson was and that he was alive. This situation now was already multitudes better than before. Greyson also felt unwilling to separate from his family, but he still resolutely nodded back while smiling. With a load roar, the space in front of the two dragons broke apart a little. With just a flap of their wings, both of them disappeared. As Greyson watched the two leave, he was fascinated by their power and control over the space element. "One day..." He muttered under his breath. Smiling ruefully, he knew that this one day was still far from him. Stroking the scales of Zephyr, the dragon pushed his head into Greyson''s face before licking him. "Hahaha, alright, alright, I''m okay. Let''s head out!" Discerning his partner''s concern for him, Greyson broke out into warm laughter. Zephyr also let out his own roar before he flew away. Sitting on Zephyr''s head cross-legged, Greyson continued meditating. At this point, he was already close to the great magister level. But, he could tell that it would still take a long time before he would succeed. ''Maybe three years?'' Greyson thought to himself. Although he wanted to resist overestimating himself, he still hoped that it would not take longer. Only, if he took three years or so, he could break through to the great magister level before he was 20. Much to his chagrin, he knew that would mean he would be stuck looking like a teenager for a long time. The great magister level saw a large jump in lifespan and would make a human''s aging slow down exponentially. Yes, he could still disguise himself as someone older, but his real appearance would be stuck at 17-years-old for decades. Magister level humans could live for maybe at most 250 years while great magister level humans could live up to 1,500 years. Although relative to the lifespans of powerful magic beasts, that is not very long; humans would catch up to the lifespan of elves at that level. Those kind of numbers felt amazing to Greyson. How crazy would it be to live that long? As of the present, he had only lived for around 15 years. "Well, I''ll just go with the flow. If I end up becoming a great magister so early, I''ll guess I will just have to live with that fact. It''s better to be more powerful earlier anyways." Sighing to himself, Greyson knew that he would still prefer becoming a great magister early. His stage right now was already extremely exaggerated compared to other humans. Normally, talented magicians will break through to the magister level before 25, but they would not break through to the great magister level until 50. After the great magister level, it could take people centuries to get to the magician king level if they ever get there. If one thought about it, the king of the Idris Kingdom, who was almost 500 years old, was a great magister level stage one magician. Yet, Greyson was already almost at the same level. The principal and his teacher were also supposedly both magister level stage five magicians, though a lot people thought they were at least great magister level magicians. In the end, the Idris Kingdom was a tier one kingdom in an outer region country like the Snow Country. The area was still weak with only a magician king ruling. Greyson also knew that the ruling magician kings would definitely not be any stronger than stage one or two. Thinking about the dragon clan in comparison, he could only shake his head. The Ancestor Dragons were all powerful magician emperor level magic beasts. Even his grandparents were magician emperors, albeit weaker than the ancestors by a fairly large margin. He could not even fathom the limit of their powers because they never seriously fought an enemy in front of him before. However, it was an unfair comparison. The powers of the center region were equal to that of the Dragon Tribe. In the Beast Empire, the dragons were a top-level bloodline and tribe that ruled along with several other powerful tribes. While the controllers of the six central regions were the main rulers of the Human Empire. It was rather comical to think about. In the Human Empire, he was just a lowly orphan from what some might consider the wilderness. However, in the Beast Empire, he was the grandson of powerhouse existences in the Dragon Tribe. His status was like that of aristocracy. ... Maybe due to the difference in his power, this journey did not see many disturbances. Most magic beasts would see Zephyr and steer in the other direction. Instinctively, all of them felt fear towards dragons. Occasionally, Greyson would accidentally barge into another tribe''s territory since he did not have a completely wholistic understanding of the Beast Empire. Luckily, Theo was there to diffuse the situation. Not all of these tribes spoke the human language, so Theo was vital for communication. The little wily mouse was also great at talking to others. By the time they were exiting the Beast Empire, Theo had already made numerous friends. Speechless, Greyson had to admire the mouse''s ability to create connections with others. "Hahaha, look at that kid..." "I know, right? I wonder why..." Hearing the whispers of the flying magic beasts that passed by, Greyson could feel his eye twitching with annoyance. Glancing towards his friends, he just sighed. Theo was on his left shoulder while Lucius was on his right. Snow took her place inside his lap. All of them were small, cute, and weak; the types that would attract young children as pets. Even he knew that he looked ridiculous carrying around three with him. Before, with just Lucius, it was still fine. But now... "Can''t any of you three make yourselves look a little more threatening?" "No can do, Boss. This size is already the biggest a Jade Mouse can grow." Theo quipped back quickly. "Destiny Cats never grow very large. Maybe when I can transform into a human shape I will be larger." "More threatening?" Confused, Snow looked up from her nap. Sensing a breakthrough, Greyson''s eyes lit up as he looked down at the leopard. "Yes! Like bigger and scarier." Simplifying his words, Greyson tried to convey his meaning. "Ohhh... Maybe! I think I can." Hopping out of Greyson''s lap, Snow stretched herself lazily while yawning. In just a second, the cute furball became an enormous adult leopard. Wide-eyed in amazement, Greyson did not know what to say. "Snow, if you could become like this, why did you stay in such a small form?" "If I was big, I couldn''t sleep on Daddy''s shoulder. You also wouldn''t carry me..." Acting cute, Snow''s voice suddenly did not match up with her size and build. "Haahh..." Holding his forehead, Greyson just felt the energy leave him. He could no longer deal with these three. They were literally draining the life right out of him. Mentally urging Zephyr, Greyson had the dragon pick up the speed. He desperately needed to get out of the air. Flying over all the cities and forests, Greyson made record time in getting back to the borders of the Idris Kingdom. Once he was close enough, he asked Zephyr to land still a little ways away. Exhausted, Zephyr actually willingly went back into Greyson to rest. Having his mana drained while keeping Zephyr out for such a prolonged amount of time, Greyson also sat down near a tree to recuperate. Once he was feeling refreshed, he decided to ride on Snow to get to the city gate. "Daddy, Snow doesn''t like running. Let Gold go." Lazing on the grass, Snow obviously did not comply. Remembering Rosalie''s warning, Greyson was disinclined to let Gold show himself. However, she did also say that the chances of someone in the Human Empire knowing of the Sun Moon Leopard was extremely low. Not even all the beast tribes knew of them, let alone the humans who are only aware of the more prominent tribes normally. Thus, he decided to take the chance. Gold must also feel rather suffocated, too. Giving the okay, Greyson saw how the white and black fur of Snow turned into a shimmering golden color. Unlike the lethargic Snow, Gold bounced around happily with bundles of energy to spare. "Let''s go, let''s go, let''s go!" Although not as fast as his sister, Gold made up for it with endurance. His light element magic was also constantly replenishing his energy which allowed him to continue running through the kingdom. Only a few hours later, the group arrived at the gate to the Idris Kingdom''s Academy City. "We''re back!" 133 New Challenge Basking in the front gate of Academy City, Greyson felt waves of nostalgia as he was reminded of the years that he spent here. Looking at the tall walls, he thought back to his teacher and felt even more impatient. Picking up his walking pace, he swiftly approached the guards. Unsurprisingly, these guards did not end up recognizing him. Lately, Greyson had been sporting short chestnut brown hair and green eyes. Those along with the two years of growth made him seem like a new person. In his excitement, Greyson did not think of his multiple changes and was speeding right passed the guards. "Halt! State your name and identity." One of the guards felt shocked by Greyson''s blatant disregard of the rules of the land. He was almost not able to respond in time because this kind of situation never happens. Everyone knows that you have to be approved by the guards first before being granted entry into the city. Running over, he quickly grasped onto Greyson''s arm to pull him back. Only, his tug did almost nothing and Greyson did not even budge from his pace. Although this was his human form, after transforming his dragon bloodline, his entire body was rippling with hidden strength and density. Such that a small guard like this one would never be able to use his strength against him. Completely not realizing the shout was directed towards him, Greyson continued walking until he felt someone grab onto him. Puzzled, he turned around. "Are you stopping me?" Anger and embarrassment almost boiling over, the guard was fuming. "Yes! I am obviously talking to you! Don''t you know that we have to approve your entry into the city?! How could you just ignorantly breeze passed us with no regard for the law?" Finally taking a good look at the guard, Greyson finally remarked, "Ligrand, don''t you recognize me?" Due to his extended time in the city, Greyson would always travel in and out of the city for small adventures and he got to know most of the daily gate guards. This Ligrand was one of the ones he knew by name. He felt a little sad that he was already forgotten in this little bit of time. "Huh?" Squinting his eyes in concentration, Ligrand scanned Greyson from head to toe. Unrecognition spelled out in his expression, Ligrand clearly did not know who the young teen in front of him was. "Who are you?" Speechless, Greyson touched his face wondering if he really changed that much. Recently, he did not find much of a chance to look at himself in a mirror and he was not the narcissistic type. So, he really did not know that his appearance did undergo some clear changes. "I''m Greyson." "Greyson? Greyson..." Finally, Ligrand''s eyes lit up in recognition. "You?! I mean now that you say it, I can see all the similarities. But, wow... Did you use a spell to change your appearance? Did you not have that elf hair?" "Ah, well, it''s a long story. But, yes, it''s me. I''m a little upset, Ligrand. It only took me a second to recognize you." "Hahaha, well, don''t be too harsh on me. With this job, I see thousands of faces walk by me month after month. You''ve been gone a few years now, it''s definitely harder to remember." Awkwardly scratching the back of his head, Ligrand did feel kind of bad now.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "It''s okay, I didn''t really take it to heart. But, Mister Guard, can I now go into the city?" With a slight teasing tone, Greyson asked permission. "Oh, yes, yes, of course! Go right in!" Who was he kidding? Ligrand was still an intermediate level mage while the child in front of him was already at the advanced level years ago. Even if he wanted to stop him, did he have the ability? Plus, he did not forget the feeling earlier. When he tried to pull Greyson back, it felt like he had futilely tugged against a bag of bricks. Obviously, the young boy in front of him had undergone some improvements to his strength. ... After that brief interlude, Greyson soundlessly made his way up to Sweetbow''s private residence in the Academy. Familiar with every path, he easily snuck in without detection. Wandering around, he glanced around the place looking for his teacher in hopes to surprise him. Eventually, his ears picked up the sound of repetitive thudding. Smiling, Greyson knew exactly where to go. Traveling to the back woods, he saw the archery targets that were covered with arrows all hitting or surrounding the bullseye accurately. Another set of arrows flew and slammed right into the trunks of the trees. Pinpointing their origin, Greyson hid in the shadows while slowly approaching. Spotting that well-known batch of platinum silver hair and bow and arrows, Greyson could feel his eyes slightly well with tears. In the end, he really did end up missing this eccentric and egotistical elf. However, his sentimental emotions only lasted a moment before fading into a mischievous smirk. Pulling out his own bow and arrows, he activated his dark element and nocked his arrows. The sharp point was aimed towards cutting his teacher''s prided locks of hair that he enjoyed flipping in a self-obsessed manner. Silently, he released the arrows letting them fly out. But just when he thought he caught his teacher unaware, Sweetbow quickly turned around and shot down Greyson''s arrows with his own. "Hmph, brat! You are still centuries too early to sneak up on me! You think that since you broke through to the magister level that this teacher wouldn''t be able to notice you? Bahahaha, obviously you do not realize my sheer awesomeness." Puffing his chest out in pride, Sweetbow barked out in laughter. In the midst of his laughter, however, he was distracted and did not notice the small cat also sneaking up behind him. His eyes rounded into crescent shapes; Lucius was already rolling on the ground internally thinking of what he was about to do. Two lightning fast wind blades shot out at the flick of his tail and shaved off half of Sweetbow''s hair cleanly. Sweetbow''s expression froze in horror as he felt the slight breeze as his hair fell to the ground. Unable to hold it in, Greyson laughed so hard he began to snort a little. Lucius also quickly escaped behind Greyson and mocked Sweetbow with his eyes. "This stupid cat! Today is the day I finally skin you alive and eat you! Come here, I promise I''ll kill you!" Stomping on the ground furiously, Sweetbow chased after Lucius. Watching the scene completely accustomed to it, Greyson felt like he was transported back before he left. "Alright, alright, teacher. You will probably grow it back in a day as long as you put effort into it. What was so important that you used the emergency signal? Obviously, there is not really some life-or-death situation going on right now seeing as you are leisurely practicing your archery here." His words definitely caught Sweetbow''s attention, as he immediately gave up on chasing Lucius and grabbed onto Greyson''s hands. "Dear disciple, have you broken through to the magister level?" "Didn''t you just say earlier that I had broken through?" "Well, that was just my confidence in you speaking. But I want to hear it directly from you!" "Yes, I have!" Smiling happily, Greyson was excited to announce his accomplishments. "Haha, good boy! I knew I did not see incorrectly. My student could only be someone so amazing! You are only fifteen, right? So, you broke the record? So awesome!" Ecstatic from the news, Sweetbow jumped around. "So, what? Did you ask me to come back just to ask this?" "Of course not, of course not. There is a very special reason. You remember what I taught you about the Human Empire, right? About all the Outer Region, Inner Region and the Center Region countries. This is about the 18 Outer Region Countries. Every ten years, there is a ranking competition. Snow Country is always at the bottom. The top outer region countries can have better connections to the inner countries that have better resources and stronger teachers. It helps the outer region younger generation grow stronger. Although, we don''t surpass the inner countries in strength, it would still help to gain material things. The participants are all magister level magicians under the age of 40. Right now, the Moon Empire is calling for an inner competition to decide who will be the 10 representatives from our Snow Country. I want you to participate. Even if you fail, I won''t blame you. By 40, a lot of participants are already close to the great magister level. It''s just a good chance to challenge your limits and meet new people and other great talents of the Human Empire. You should try to broaden your horizons!" Greyson''s eyes brightened the more he heard of this competition. This kind of challenge sounded very exciting to him. "Will I be the only one going from the Idris Kingdom?" "Hahaha, no, you will see a lot of familiar faces later when it is time to leave. I''ll keep it a secret for now~. Come, come, let''s go back. There is a lot of catching up we need to do. Plus, I need to check on your progress and make sure you haven''t been slacking and getting overconfident." 134 Disparity Not in any sort of rush to leave, Greyson decided to walk around the city and visit some familiar places. His first stop was actually the Blacksmith Association. He had long reached the level to qualify to move on to creating tier four magic tools, however, he had left without buying any tier four engravings to practice. Of course, he would want to refine Genesis again to allow it to level up. Each engraving cost a fortune normally since only the most common ones would be for sale while the special ones would be kept as inheritance. Just those common ones were rare and hard to get a hold of. Checking through the catalog of the first floor of the Association that contained a list of materials for sale, Greyson was disappointed to notice that there was only one tier four engraving symbol for sale. Unsurprisingly, it was of the water element. Due to the overabundance of water element magicians in the Snow Country, this kind of situation was typical. Although this meant he would not be able to upgrade Genesis, he could maybe create a new magic tool for himself as a temporary replacement until he could collect all seven engravings. Reading the description, Greyson was not too impressed. It was not a pure water element engraving and instead focused on ice. Any magic tool with this engraving would emanate a chill that could pervade into your enemy''s body and slow them down. He couldn''t help but think back to his sister''s Ice Lotus Fey, Ira, who had a similar ability. Except Ira''s seemed much more potent than this engraving. Though relatively common, this engraving still had it uses. "Well, no matter what, a tier four magic tool will be much handier for someone at my level of mana. Genesis will not be able to withstand my stronger attacks anymore due to the overload of energy. Still, I should look into getting more engravings once I get to the capital city of the Moon Empire. The Blacksmith Association there must be multitudes more prominent than this one and have that many more engravings available for sale. Actually, the symbols that he learned from Old Man Thraec back at the Dalia Academy were all the basic amplification engravings. Their abilities were limited to just that; amplifying the strength of whatever element or spell is used. A lot of other engravings included specific skills like this ice element engraving. So, Greyson was not too picky when it came to buying the symbols. Looking over the price, Greyson felt a stabbing pain. It actually cost 100 gold coins! He was not sure that he had enough savings anymore... Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Wait! His eyes lit up once more as he thought about the space storage necklace that his grandparents gave him as a present before they left. Apparently, it also had a protection mechanism that would activate once as a sort of life-saving charm. He forgot to look through it during the trip back, but they claimed they put in some money for him to use later. Pulling it out from under his clothes, the necklace did not look like much. It was a carved dragon made from wood that was connected to a thin string. However, when Greyson entered his mana, he realized that the space inside was humongous. Multiple buildings worth of space that were almost completely empty if not for the small amounts that his grandparents left for him. There were three things: a large chest, a dragon scale shield, and a teleportation charm. The shield gave him a feeling of intimacy, so he could tell that it must be either his grandfather''s or grandmother''s scale. At their level, each scale is extremely durable which makes them coveted for shields and armors. The charm was nothing more than a sheet of parchment with a design painted on it. As long as Greyson burned it, the charm would activate and send him far away from his previous location. The only issue was that the final destination of the charm was random. He could end up going anywhere. Finally, Greyson turned to the chest. Flipping the lid open, his eyes soon glittered with excitement. Thousands of gold coins were stored inside. "How could there be so much!" He exclaimed. When his grandparents gave him the necklace, they just offhandedly tossed it to him. He assumed everything inside would not be much and that the real gift was the storage space. Now that he thought about it, this amount of gold probably did not mean much to them. Years and years of creating teleportation charms and space storage tools, it would be impossible for the Snow Dragons to not have a high amount of accumulated wealth. As the two most powerful elders, his grandparents would surely have an inordinate amount of money. "So, this is what it feels like to have wealthy backers." Chuckling to himself, Greyson could not deny it was a nice feeling. Without further ado, he pulled out 200 gold coins and placed them in a plain sack. Walking up to the front desk, he bought the engraving and also the materials he would need to forge his new tier four magic tool. After quickly finishing up, Greyson decided to head over to Ronan''s place. Just moments later, he was already Ronan''s door. Thinking his friend would be painting around this time, Greyson quietly knocked on the door. Disturbing someone while they were painting was considered offensive and rude in the community. Just because they were friends did not mean that Greyson could just barge in. Soon, he heard a patter of footsteps walking towards the door. The door opened to reveal a messy head of black hair and tired grey eyes. Those same eyes looked towards Greyson and paused. Rubbing his eyes fiercely, Ronan did not believe this was reality for a moment. However, no matter how many times he rubbed, Greyson was still standing there. "You''re back!" Laughing happily, he gave Greyson a hug before inviting him in. Although he was the one doing the surprising, Greyson felt shocked once he actually saw his friend. Ronan was actually two years older than him, only, when they were younger, he was always smaller. However, the 17-year-old Ronan in front of him had obviously grown and matured a lot in these two years. Not so much change happened with his body other than being taller, but a lot changed with his mentality. His shyness was replaced with quiet confidence and steadiness. Greyson guessed that his painting occupation must be going well. Ronan exuded the happiness of success. The only thing that did not change was his magician level. "You''re still at the advanced level stage three?" Greyson blurted out amidst their conversation. Although he was not expecting his friend to break through to the magister level in these two years, he thought he would at least break through to the next stage in two years. Most advanced level magicians are stuck for long amounts of time at the fifth stage, but as long as they have some talent, they can get through the other four stages rather quickly. At this rate, when would Ronan ever become a magister level magician? "Ah, well... I guess I have not really been concentrating..." Scratching his head feeling slightly embarrassed, Ronan strung out his response. After these two years, Ronan was only at the advanced level stage three. He was not even close to breaking through to the next stage, either. "You know I don''t have that much talent other than in painting." "Yeah, I guess it''s better that your painting is going well and you concentrate on that." Forcing a smile, Greyson felt guilty for bringing the topic up. He was just kind of in disbelief. "Wait, since you came back, does that mean you broke through to the magister level?!" Actually, after Greyson brought up levels, Ronan realized he had forgotten about the reason Greyson left. Not intending to lie, Greyson nodded straightforwardly. "No way! That''s crazy! Do you know the youngest to break through in our city was Ezra? And she only broke through last year when she was 21! Ignis broke through not too long ago as well. They are both still at the magister level stage one from what I heard." Listening to his friend, Greyson now knew at least two people who were going with him for the competition. But... magister level stage one? Would they be able to accomplish anything at a competition where the strongest would definitely be magister level stage five magicians? All of sudden, he could not help but feel this gap. A gap that grew between those he knew here and himself. How could he tell them that he was already at the magister level stage five, as well? Such a stark disparity between himself and those he once saw as friendly rivals. Even Leopold who had once defeated him was completely thrown far off in the background as he had still not made it to the magister level. A mix of loneliness and unhappiness swirled in Greyson''s heart. He felt as if he were destined to always leave friends behind and had yet to meet one who could walk with him on his adventures. Although a little confused as to his friend''s sudden bad mood, Ronan allowed Greyson to continue sitting in silence. 135 News of Eden Eventually, Greyson realized that he had been spacing out looking grim. Realizing that Ronan was looking at him with concern, he snapped himself out of it. Forcing a smile onto his face, he decided to pull the topic to something else. "Anything exciting happen while I was gone?" "Well, nothing too big." Ronan scrunched his brows as he thought back through the passed two years. He spent most of his time painting in his secluded office space, thus not much of the daily news traveled to his ears. "Oh wait! There was one event that had people gossiping for a while. Even I heard about it, so it was pretty big news. It''s about the Argentum family." Hearing the familiar last name, Greyson perked up and all his distraction faded away. Noticing Greyson''s particular interest, Ronan remembered that he had left with an Argentum Caravan. But the caravan already returned a year ago? "Eh? This news came back with that same caravan that you supposedly left with. What happened?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "It''s a long story, just tell me the news first." Waving his hand, Greyson was not in the mood to explain everything at the moment. "Well, okay... From what I remember, the news had to do with that part dragon girl that the family adopted. What was her name?" Ronan paused try to rack his brains for the memory. "Eden." Greyson''s voice echoed in a heavy tone. Guilt. At the sudden recalling of this name, Greyson admitted that he had completely placed her situation to the back of his mind. After his grandparents said they sent out some subordinates of the tribe to pick up Eden, her situation stopped weighing on his heart. Other matters continued popping up until all his attention was placed elsewhere and this older sister of his had faded to the background. It was only now that he realized that it had been so long and she still did not return to the tribe by the time he had left. Although the caravan would have fallen behind him, they were not that far away. They should have arrived at the border maybe a couple days to a week behind him. What had happened in this time? Not sensing Greyson''s fluctuating emotions, Ronan eyes lit up once he heard the name. "Yes! Eden! That was it. This Eden was controlled by the family through poison, this is story that almost everyone had heard of. Although everyone thought the Argentum family was fairly despicable for doing so, no one had the courage to actually do anything about it. So, the rumors claim that Eden needed a Calming Fruit to help further the strength and integration of her dragon bloodline, therefore she went along with the caravan. They made it to the Beast Empire and easily acquired the fruit through some trading. Once Eden ate the fruit, her dragon bloodline further integrated with her human bloodline like it was supposed to; however, it actually also began to cleanse the poison from her body. You have to know that dragons are famous for their body''s sturdiness and healing capabilities. The Argentum family did not calculate correctly in this move. Without the poison controlling her, Eden went on a rampage. She even killed Claire Argentum! Only a couple of the servants managed to run away and make it back. After giving their recounts, I heard Claire''s parents killed the servants in their rage." After saying this much, Ronan had an ugly expression on his face. Those were still lives in the end and to hear they died so pointlessly was a little hard to agree with. Greyson could not bother to notice his friend''s unhappiness and only focused on asking about the situation. "So? What happened to Eden?" "Hm?" Pulled back to the gossip, Ronan quickly answered, "she ran away. It''s such a long distance away and a large area to search; the Argentum family are clearly incensed but they cannot really do anything about it. Sending out people would just be a waste of manpower, the best they could do is probably set a ransom. However, magic beasts are normally hostile to humans, so money will not do much. At least, money at the amount the Argentum''s can scrounge up without passing over their bottom line would not be enough. But Eden should also be struggling. Mixed bloods are not exactly welcomed. I guess the only good news is that she is part dragon. Regular beasts would not take the chance at offending her in case her dragon parent decides to claim her. Dragons are pretty much royalty in the Beast Empire. Only, I heard her bloodline was not as strong as half so her dragon parent might also be mixed..." Continuing to babbly on about his thoughts, Ronan voice started to become like background noise as many thoughts began running through Greyson''s mind. Part of him was glad to hear that his sister was out of her predicament, while the other part was worried for her safety in the Beast Empire. Unless Eden can find her way to the Snow Dragons, her life will be just as tough as in the Argentum family or even worse. Some tribes would pay no heed to her dragon bloodline and take her in as a slave. Unable to control his feelings of uneasiness, Greyson decided he must do something about it. Rapidly standing up, he turned to leave to go back. "Grey?" A little surprised, Ronan looked at him with confusion. "Sorry, I don''t mean to cut this reunion short, I will come back another time. There is an urgent matter I need to take care of." Without another word, Greyson disappeared into the distance using his wind element. His speed was so fast that it looked like teleportation to Ronan. "So fast... is it because he is a magister level magician now? I feel like I cannot even track his movements at all." Huffing a little at the impatience of his friend, he still let go of his irritation as quickly as it came. Knowing what type of person Greyson is, there would definitely be a good reason for his actions. ... Greyson soon rushed back to Sweetbow''s manor into his room. Startling the three animals napping away in the room, he burst in and started to rifle through his things. Finally, his gaze fell upon a simple communication spell paper. It was rather easy to work, one just had to write the intended message on the paper and it would be transmitted to the twin paper held by someone else. His grandparents made sure to give this to him in order to stay in communication with each other. The further the distance apart, the shorter the messages needed to be. Though he was not aware of the literal distance, Greyson vaguely understood the long space between the Idris Kingdom in Snow Country to the main Church of Light. Their base was located in one of the six center region countries and was actually a superpower in the Human Empire. From this outer region country in the extreme north to a center region country located towards the south, the distance was rather enormous. Estimating the word amount based on what his grandparents advised him, he made message succinct: Eden lost in Beast Empire. Start search. Aware of their intelligence, Greyson thought this would be enough to have them send out word to the Beast Empire. As long as the Snow Dragon tribe announced their desire to find and protect Eden, almost no magic beasts would dare to touch a hair on her head. In fact, most would help her to the best of their ability hoping to build connections and gain rewards from the Snow Dragons. With so many eyes on the look-out for her, Greyson had no doubts that she would eventually be found. Although this was not the most efficient or foolproof plan, Greyson could not afford to go running around aimlessly in the ginormous Beast Empire. Especially if Eden is constantly moving which would be the smart move for someone trying to hide, then he might just constantly miss her. Maybe he was being selfish and uncaring. In the end, the reality of his relationship with this "sister" was that he had only ever really spoken to her for maybe a day before they were split up again. If someone asked what kind of person she was, he would not really be able to answer. All he had were first impressions from their surface level interaction. To say he was not concerned would be a lie, but to also claim that he was as worried as a real family member would also be false. He could not wait for the next tournament to roll around as he would most likely already be a great magister after 10 more years. Patriotic was not exactly a word that could be used to describe Greyson. If anything, his early childhood formed a sort of resentment towards his home. People like Sister Lily were few and far between. Most times, he was treated like a beggar and beaten. Even the kids in the church were not always kind to him due to his proclivity towards silence. Living in the far outskirts of the country or in the Beast Empire for most of his life, there was not anything really prompting him to want to defend the pride of Snow Country. Yet, the thought of the pride he could bring his teachers, whether back at the Dalia Kingdom Academy or the current Aurora Academy, made him want to spread his name. Of course, there was also his own vain personal desire for fame and acknowledgement. He was not purposefully hiding, but the circumstances made it so no one was yet aware of how many records he was breaking currently. He''s at least a little entitled to flaunt a bit, right? Rosalie would surely scold him for being an attention-seeker like those other spoiled young masters and Sister Lily would talk about the virtues of modesty. But who didn''t want to become a genius who others looked up to? Being an orphan, as well as a mixed blood, Greyson has had his fair share of disdain and disgust thrown at him. He acted like it did not bother him, however, he was still someone with a beating heart in the end. A heart which desired praise, prestige, and validation. And would bleed and hurt just like everyone else. 136 New Weapon The next morning, Greyson woke up bright and early. Getting changed, he raced out of his room and headed to the Blacksmith Association branch once again. Renting out a room, he wanted to use their equipment since he did not carry around all the necessary tools. With a save of his hand, all the materials he bought yesterday appeared neatly on the floor. However, before glancing out those things, he spent all a few hours just analyzing the new engraving symbol. No matter if it was common or not, as his first tier four symbol, Greyson knew better than to overestimate himself. Just because he had money did not mean he wanted to waste it on buying more materials. Plus, everything he bought were the best of the best for the kind of sword that he was imagining for himself. After multiple practice runs on some spare pieces of scrap metal, Greyson was confident he would complete the symbol in one go. Resting his eyes, he sat down quietly and meditated. If his spirits were too high, he could end up rushing and messing up the process. Taking his time and calmly finishing everything would provide the highest chance of success. Evenly breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, Greyson could feel his mentality becoming serene. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked down at the materials in front of him. Most of them were inconsequential, but two were of highest importance. The first was the main metal Tundra Crystal aptly named after its origin, the Moon Tundra located deep within the Elf Empire. Completely clear and extremely durable, the crystal had high resistance towards anything cold. The second material was actually the fruit of a plant, called Frost Bite. The name was a running joke after learning how its deadliness was discovered. Once the fruit is bitten into, the juice would enter the eater''s body and freeze it. If the person was weak, then the end result was almost certainly death. Although slightly morbid and in bad taste, Greyson did not bother to think about the name since it did not matter to him. HIs sword used both of these materials as the base to create a sword suitable for a tier four ice engraving. One part of being a blacksmith was using judgment to choose the materials that would go along best with the symbol. For example, if he were to use materials with a fire element background, then the sword would most likely break apart the minute the engraving is completed. Greyson had put a lot of thought choosing the materials earlier and was extremely excited to the see the end result. The process went rather smoothly in the beginning and eventually the sword shape became evident. Admiring the blade, Greyson picked up the Frost Bite fruit and squeezed out the juice while protecting his hand with water magic. Temperature in the room dropped dramatically and his breath became evident with every breath. Luckily, his body was resistant to the cold due to his dragon bloodline and he did not have to worry about making a mistake due to shivering. Soaking in the juice, the blade went from a normal clear crystal color to an icy blue. Seizing this moment, Greyson furrowed his brow in concentration. Focusing his mana on his fingertip, he began the engraving process. Each line and curve was nervewracking and he was careful to keep his hand completely still. Drips of sweat beaded down and actually froze as they dropped off his face. Frost covered his hair and eyebrows. If someone were to watch this moment, they would worry that Greyson would freeze to death. Not bothered in the slightest, Greyson''s focus was on completing the symbol. More complex than any tier three symbol, it was taking longer to complete and his mental energy was draining quickly. Seconds felt like minutes and minutes started to feel like hours. Finally, the last line was connected and the engraving began to glow. Understanding this mean that he was finished, Greyson finally released the breath he had been holding. Gulping in air, he slumped onto the ground in exhaustion and just sat quietly recovering his energy. Marveling at the finished product, Greyson watched as the engraving came to life and white ice-like lines covered the blade. The blade was clear with a faint blue hue and a completely white hilt. It was thin to the point it looked like it would snap like glass while the edge was sharp to the point just lightly touching would cause a cut. Reaching out his hand, Greyson gripped onto the sword handle. Cold to the touch, grabbing the sword hilt felt akin to grabbing onto an icicle. Grinning stupidly, Greyson could not hide his happiness with the end product. As easy as breathing, he smoothly slashed the sword down and a cold wind blasted out causing snow to fall. Normal humans could potentially freeze to death under the circumstances of the room. Satisfied, Greyson softly ran his hand across the flat of the blade. There was an innate spiritual connection just like with his other tools. Though, he would still have to go through the proper procedure to bond with the new sword so he could summon it out with just a thought like Genesis. "Hmm... should I give you a name as well?" Speaking to himself, Greyson ran through multiple names in his head trying to pick out one that fit. "How about Arctos? I like it!" Nodding to himself clearly pleased, Greyson put the sword away. When he walked out of the association, he realized it was already dark. Surprised by how quickly the time went by, Greyson made his way back to Sweetbow''s manor. Once he was through the door, he was ambushed by his teacher. "Where have you been!?" He interrogated. "I was making a new magic tool that would match my level more." "Why did you not come back sooner? I was worried that I wouldn''t be able to tell you the news." "What news?" "The tournament with the other outer countries is still around half a year away. However, the Moon Empire is gathering people to choose who will represent the Snow Country. We are fairly far away from the imperial capital, so the group of representatives from the Idris Kingdom are leaving early tomorrow morning in order to get there on time." "Tomorrow morning?! I have to leave already? I only just got back..." Greyson was excited to go for new challenges, but he had hoped to spend more time back with his teacher and other friends back at the Academy. He had asked Ronan about Leo and Natalia, but he heard that they were either out adventuring or confined indoors to harsh training in order to break through to the magister level. If time permitted, he was also thinking about flying back to the church to visit Sister Lily and the other children. It had already been such a long time since he last saw them. "Why? You going to miss me too much?" Sweetbow teased after noticing his student looking a bit down from the news. "I will miss you." Greyson answered honestly. "Oh... Well... Don''t get so mushy on me, it''s making me uncomfortable." Flabbergasted by such a straighforward response, Sweetbow was not sure how to respond. "Anyways, you have no reason to. We will be leaving together. I am one of the chosen who will escort you young''uns. We can''t have you running off to the Moon Empire on your own. There will be a great magister who will come along as well." "Ah, so you are coming as well?" Suddenly, Greyson did not feel that sentimental anymore. "Why do you sound so disappointed?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Well, I wasn''t going to miss you that much..." Awkwardly looking in a different direction, Greyson muttered his response under his breath. "What did you say?!" "Anyways, a great magister you say? Doesn''t that mean the emperor would be coming with us? Is it okay for him to just conveniently leave the kingdom unattended?" Purposefully changing the topic, Greyson mentioned a different thing he was curious about. "The emperor? Why do you assume that it is him?" "Everyone says that he is the only great magister in the Idris Kingdom." "Haha! And you believe them? If every kingdom so easily allowed their limits in power to be exposed, they would be destroyed easily. It''s the hidden power that keeps the peace. No one really knows where the bottom line is. There is definitely more than one great magister." "Is the great magister higher than stage one?" "That I don''t know. There''s tons of secrets kept from me. I might be higher up in power, but in the end I am an elf who was forced to stay at the Academy through a bet. No one really trusts my loyalty. Actually, I wouldn''t trust myself, either. I''m not that attached to this human kingdom." Sweetbow showed a type of apathy that made Greyson a little bit sad. As a traditionally raised elf for most of his early life, Sweetbow was not an exception to the arrogance found in elves. Albeit toned down, there was still a part of him that did not get along with humans; Looked down on them, even. In Greyson''s mind, his teacher was someone who taught him many things, guided him through learning the elements, and sincerely cared for him. But he knew that this affection was rather limited to just him. Everyone else does not really mean anything to his teacher. Childhood tended to have lasting effects, and Greyson was raised as a human. Even now, it was hard to think of himself as this hybrid magic beast, elf, and human. Even now, he thought of himself within human boundaries and traits. "Alright enough of this, just be ready to leave early tomorrow." Sensing the awkward tension in the air, Sweetbow stopped the conversation and walked away. Greyson nodded his head obediently and went back to his room. Honestly, there was not much to prepare. It was not like he ever unpacked. He had barely been here two days and everything stayed inside the spacial storage necklace or in Al because transferring everything from one to the other would take too long. Thankfully, the little guy would sleep for years if he wanted so Greyson just kept Al in his pocket most of the time. In the room, he looked at Gold, Theo, and Lucius and decided against waking them up. He would let them know about it tomorrow by just waking them up. ... The minute the sunlight broke through the windows, Greyson opened his eyes. Part anxious and part excited, he quickly got dressed. In a clean white robe with blue thread designs, he decided to stick with his original white hair and blue eyes. His white hair was still short but his bangs already curled into his eyes and face. It looked silky and soft in the light and contrasted greatly from his sharp sapphire blue eyes. Looking at the three animals still sleeping deeply, Greyson snickered to himself and yanked the blanket out from underneath them. All of them tumbled onto the ground yelping in indignation. "What... What is it?!" Lucius looked around in surprise trying to get up quickly but his eyes were still half-closed. "Let''s go, we are leaving to the Moon Empire." "Already?" Lucius yawned. "Yeah, let''s head out." Lucius did not put in anymore effort into waking up and just jumped up onto Greyson''s shoulder to continue sleeping. Gold joined the cat and hopped onto the other shoulder to laze around. Theo scurried up through Greyson''s clothes and climbed onto his head. Helpless against them, Greyson just decided to not pay attention to how it would make him look. 137 Idris Kingdom Team Part 1 Greyson slowly made his way to the meeting place at the front gate of Academy City. Apparently, the people from the Aurora Academy will meet first and then they will fly over to the Idris Kingdom capital city to pick up the rest. From what he remembered, the only other people would be his teacher, Ezra, and Ignis. Speaking of his teacher, Greyson had wanted to go together since they were starting from the same place. Sweetbow had quickly rejected him, though, saying he needed to make a more impactful entrance to the rest of the group. While Greyson should be there first due to his young age, Sweetbow arriving early as the elder would be "embarrassing." Although the reasoning just made him roll his eyes, Greyson had always known his teacher was egotistical to the point that no words would work on him. Plus, he knew the real reason was that his teacher was bad at waking up early in the morning. Always claiming he needs his beauty sleep, while the truth was that he was lazy. Turning his head back towards his teacher''s place with these thoughts in mind, Greyson just let out a helpless sigh while visibly shaking his head. "I''m okay with leaving the group idiot back home. Just breathing air near him makes me think I''ll catch his ridiculous narcissism." Lucius quipped in a mental message as he knew exactly what was going through Greyson''s mind. Greyson turned his head over with a disdainful look. As if you are one to talk? "Hm? What?" Lucius asked. "Nothing. I just suddenly pity myself." Really. Getting stuck with people like this all the time, it was a wonder he did not go insane. Puzzled, Lucius no longer paid his friend any attention and continued napping. The walk was not far at all, so Greyson arrived in just a couple minutes with his speed. Seeing the empty space, he knew that he was the first to arrive. The only people in sight were the guards on shift. Since he did not recognize them, Greyson decided to walk to the side and laze in the snow waiting. His body was almost completely insensitive to the cold, actually he found the cold more comfortable than warmth. While he was comfortable, the same could not be said for Theo and Gold. From the moment he sat down in the snow, Gold woke up from his nap and frowned. Theo could not stop shivering as the Snow Country temperatures were far colder than the temperate grasslands that he was from. He tried to cuddle into Greyson only to see that the body heat he was hoping for was not present. "Why is your body so cold?" "Me? I never really noticed." "Ever since we started getting closer to your home, I have been shivering. Why must you live in such a frozen hell?" Theo complained.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Well, here." Greyson decided to meditate and focus on absorbing the fire element. Naturally, his body started to heat up like an oven. Happier, all the animals cuddled closer to him. Looking at their behavior, he did find them rather cute while stroking their silky fur. "Hahaha, aw, Grey Grey, big sister did not realize you had such an adorable habit of keeping small animals. But it''s okay, only real men can confidently be in touch with their feminine side. This sister here really looks up to you." With that same flirty tone, Ezra came up from behind and pet his head. Feeling the urge to cry from his grievances, Greyson did not correct her as he knew that he should just accept that everyone has good reason to misunderstand. It was not like he could correct everyone. "Lady Seirina, nice to see you again." Dusting off the snow, Greyson turned around and politely greeted. "Oh, now you are making me feel awkward. I talked to you like a friend, but you are clearly drawing a line." She pouted. "Do you hate me?" Exaggeratingly biting her lip with tears forming, she looked the picture of a girl holding back after being bullied. Badly wanting to scold her for being fake, Greyson still decided to hold back and force a smile. "No, I just do not know how to interact well with woman so much older than me." His voice came out sweet like honey, but his words cut like a knife. Erza finally choked on her words and her expression cracked. Old? OLD?! Did he just call me old? Unable to keep calm under such shocking words, she quickly turned her attention to the companion who walked over with her. Scanning the man, Greyson knew that this was Ignis Arcadian. He had the same blonde hair and hazel eyes from before. Objectively speaking, he was decent looking seemed to carry himself honest and upright air. Noticing Greyson eyeing him, Ignis nodded in greeting. Greyson responded in kind. "Ignis dear, am I old looking? I am still a flower just starting to bloom. A ripe fruit! If people did not know better, they could mistake me for being the same age as Greyson, right?" Blushing fiercely, Ignis could only dumbly nod. "Young-looking. Same age." He agreed quickly. Watching this scene from the side, Greyson suddenly thought back to the tournament before he left. Ignis was so afraid to fight Natalia because he had fought her once before and lost horribly. If Greyson remembered correctly, it was because Ignis had taken Ezra''s side in one of their many arguments. Before, he did not pay attention much to this because it was true that Natalia could be very unreasonable and her personality was not very likeable. But now he started to think that there was definitely more to the story. Ignis definitely seemed to have a crush on Ezra. With her emotional intelligence, Ezra was anything but dense. She definitely knew, but it seemed she had no desire to start anything. Greyson wondered if she was taking advantage of Ignis'' undisguised affection; there were a lot of bad rumors surrounding the Seirina women and their relations with men. Many said they were poisonous foxes that acted like prey when, in reality, they were merciless predators. But, well, Greyson was not the nosy type and he did not really care if Ignis was blind enough to be used. Her vanity seemingly satisfied, Ezra grinned widely. "Geez, Grey, you should learn to speak to a lady with compliments. Age is a very sensitive topic. Just look how great Ignis is." Greyson just grimaced and nodded obediently. Am I supposed to just lose all my brain cells because you''re pretty? Honestly, he never had a bad impression of Ignis, but it seems his intelligence was rather subpar. No longer wanting to pay attention to the two man show, Greyson waited patiently for his teacher to arrive. Once Sweetbow came, they could immediately head out. The sun continued to rise in the sky, but Sweetbow still had not arrived. Growing more and more impatient with each passing second, Greyson was about to explode. During this waiting time, he had to listen to Ezra chatter on about what happened during the time he was gone. Ignis also chipped in and seemed friendly enough, but Greyson was not really in the mood to socialize. From the beginning, he was not much of a conversationalist. Who was he kidding? The first years of his life were spent living like a mute. Forcing himeslf to pretend the pair were like air, he tuned out their voices and meditated instead. Around noon, Sweetbow finally made his entrance. Confidently walking forward while flipping his long hair, the elf did not look even the slightest bit apologetic for being almost 4 hours late. Greyson could hear the exchanging of words, however, he continued to ignore his teacher. The silent treatment seemed rather immature, but only Greyson knew that this was the best revenge. For someone who pretty much lived and breathed for attention, being ignored was the worst feeling for his teacher to experience. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey! HEY!" Poking Greyson''s face, Sweetbow continued to call to his student. Eyebrows twitching angrily, Greyson finally opened his eyes to glare at his irresponsible mentor while openly conveying his discontent. Ignoring the fierce look, Sweetbow pretended he saw nothing. With his thick skin, dirty looks would not affect him in anyway. "Let''s take your partner beast. Flying on him would probably be the fastest." Although he was still unhappy, Greyson did not want to spend another second waiting. Quickly allowing Zephyr out, Greyson led the group in jumping onto the dragon''s back. They were about to quickly take off in the direction of the Idris Kingdom capital when another voice shouted to hold them back. "Wait! Wait for me!" A rather scrawny individual with floppy brown hair and clear blue eyes showed up while waving his hands wildly. Greyson had Zephyr stay grounded and waited to see what this unfamiliar guy wanted. "Whew! I seemed to have just made it!" He grinned happily while wiping away his nonexistent sweat. Lips twitching, Greyson, Ezra, and Ignis were all tempted to smack him upside the head. Just made it?! If not for Sweetbow being so crazy late, they would have left hours ago. It was almost as if the two of them had planned it. "Quinn dear, it seems that your habit of being late to everything is still not cured. However, why are you here?" Ezra finally regained her usual easy-going smile and asked. Quinn? Greyson heard this name and thought really hard. Why was this name so familiar? Noticing that Greyson seemed to be struggling to remember, Ignis decided to lend him a hand. "The Ventus family." Then, the memory finally hit him. That''s right, the Ventus family was one of the 10 noble families of the Ignis Kingdom and their heir was named Quinn. Throughout his five years of staying in the Academy City, Greyson had not seen head nor tail of this fellow. A lot of people claimed that Quinn was very mysterious and lowkey. He did not even show up to the competition 2 years ago, and everyone said that he never participated. It was only today that Greyson could finally match a name to a face. Looking closely, he tried to match this sloppy looking young man to the mystical young man from the rumors. It seemed that it was true that one should not trust the rumors. Mysterious, his ass. This person was obviously just lazy and unconcerned. Even now, Greyson could tell from Quinn''s tired and hazy eyes that he only just woke up. The only thing that surprised Greyson more than Quinn''s unexpected appearance was the level of Quinn''s magic. Magister level stage one! As someone at the fifth stage, it was not a power that impressed Greyson. But it was different since Quinn should still be 19 and only turned this age recently. This status meant that he was actually much more talented than Ezra and Ignis. Yet, how did no one know of this? With the power of the Arcadian and Seirina families, it was hard for information to not even make their way to the pair''s ears. "Of course, I would come. I have broken through. If I did not come and participate, my father would surely beat me everyday." With a bored expression, Quinn yawned nonchalantly while dropping this bomb on the other two. Greyson could tell because his stage was higher, but Ezra and Ignis were not able to accurately sense Quinn''s power. "What?! You''re a magister?! You?!" Ezra shouted out in surprise. "If you act that surprised, you''re really going to hurt my feelings big sister Ezra." Faking a stab to the heart, Quinn teased. "No, well, I''m just surprised. Don''t take it personally, Quinn." Forgoing her normally flippant attitude, Ezra expression looked fairly serious. It was to be expected, though. No matter how playful she seemed, Ezra was still the next head of her family and would have to be wary to threats. A talent like Quinn''s coming from the Ventus family would change the status quo that they have held. Ignis'' expression was also slightly ugly. He was not so vainglorious that he could not stand others being more talented or powerful, but it was hard to accept it when Quinn''s family and background were almost identical to his. All ten heirs were each other''s lifelong rivals. Seeing a rival get ahead was not a pleasant sight. Ezra and Ignis were not overly proud about breaking through to the magister level first as they had the age advantage and they knew that the rest were right behind them. "Alright, Quill, hurry up and come over. We are running late now because of you." Sweetbow frowned deeply and interrupted the conversation. Speechless, Greyson wanted to just dig a hole and bury himself in it due to shame. His teacher clearly only just arrived as well, but now he was blaming someone else for holding them back? "Teacher, his name is Quinn." Greyson corrected. "Whatever, you know I''m terrible with names." Since when? Where was the teacher that always bragged of his amazing memory? Scoffing, Greyson knew that his teacher was only upset that someone grabbed the attention of the rest away. "Well, Finn, aren''t you coming up?" Sweetbow saw that the teenager had yet to move. Quinn just awkwardly smiled in response and sat down on Zephyr''s back. He decided against trying to correct the elf. Greyson sincerely wondered how his teacher could be so immature. Once they were on their way, the atmosphere did seem to grow more solemn. Ignis and even Ezra began to sit and seriously meditate. They wanted to use every free second to try to strengthen themselves. Born and raised in the Idris Kingdom, they highly desired to win some praise and attention for their kingdom. Though magister level stage one magicians were all the bottom rung in the competition, that did not mean that they could not fight. They could at least stand out within their same stage opponent group. These competitions were also a way of making powerful connections and gaining wealth. They had to try their best and put in real effort. Quinn, on the other hand, decided to just snore away. Zephyr made sure to block the wind for everyone, so the top of his back was very tranquil. Greyson also did not meditate because he knew that this little bit of absorbing mana would not really make a difference to him in time for the competition. Plus, breaking through would actually be worse since that would mean he could no longer participate. He wondered what the people from the capital would be like... 138 Idris Kingdom Team Part 2 Finally returning to a peaceful state, Greyson basked in the sunlight. The higher up he was, the colder the air. Although the source of light was still there, he could no longer feel any warmth. Looking towards the rest of the group resting or meditating, Greyson felt swept up into the atmosphere. Normally, he was not the type to just rest without staying cautious or meditating. At this moment, however, he felt the desire to rest. Closing his eyes slowly, all the accumulated exhaustion lulled him right to sleep. Lucius could sense the state of his friend and opened one eye in curiosity. Snorting his nose, he muttered to himself that this guy was such a child. Yet, in the midst of his criticism, he still climbed on top of Greyson and kept his senses sharp. After a little while, he actually felt a hard stare directed towards Greyson. Opening his eyes, he quickly glanced in the direction only to make eye contact with that newcomer. Who was he again? Lucius was still napping earlier so he only heard half the conversation. Hmmm... Quinn, was it? What was he staring at Greyson for? It was not exactly full of evil intention or malevolence, but the two of them had never met each other before this morning. Quinn actually did not flinch after meeting eyes with Lucius and just gave him a lopsided smile with a nod as a greeting. Not immediately trusting of this new character, Lucius did not respond and before turning his head and closing his eyes once more. He would have to make sure to pay attention to this suspicious fellow later. With Zephyr''s speed, they were already approaching the capital after a day. By the time Greyson woke up, the morning son had risen signaling the next day. It really had been a while since he slept for so long. Looking down at his chest, he saw Lucius just lazing there. Rolling his eyes, he picked up the cat by his neck fur and tossed him further away. Indignant, the silver cat bristled angrily and hissed. Sending a quick mental shout, he protested such rough treatment. "Hey! Of all the ungrateful humans I have ever met, you are most definitely the worst!" "Are you sure I''m not the only human you know? Anyways, says the cat who always uses my body as his personal walking bed." "While that is true most times, this time I was keeping the lookout for you. Aren''t you too old to just be sleeping without your defenses up?!" "Oh? A sleeping lookout? Well, aren''t I just so grateful that I could die? I am amazed by such prowess. Who knew one could even fake drooling while staying completely sharp?" Greyson sent back with heavy irony. Spluttering at a loss for words, Lucius did admit that he had fallen asleep for real at one point. But he really did keep thte lookout for a while, okay! He even caught that new guy staring. Thinking of this, he wanted to quickly defend himself by saying this, but he ended up stopping himself. Really, he had no place to complain of the injustice. Greyson had about all the sublety of the sun in a dark room. Lucius knew that the minute he told Greyson there was something suspicious about Quinn, he would have his guard up in a heartbeat. There was nothing wrong with being cautious; but if your are so obvious about it, then the target of your suspicions will be alerted and put more effort into hiding. Although it hurt to eat this helping of criticism, he decided to be the bigger cat and let it go. ''Haahh, it''s really hard being so unappreciated.'' Seeing Lucius go silent, Greyson turned his attention to his position. Surveying the environment, he tried to pinpoint where they were. Spotting a couple familiar landmarks, he knew that they were drawing close to the capital. Actually, the capital was not too far from Academy City since Aurora Academy was the top academy in the Snow Country. Those of the royal family did not attend only because the best teachers and resources were hoarded and kept within the palace to prevent the subjects from growing too strong. But some of the young heirs from the other Tier 1 Kingdoms attended the academy. They did not come with Greyson and the rest because they went back home to represent their own kingdoms. It just happens that most of the heirs to the 10 families were on the younger side so Greyson was only acquainted with them. There were some older heirs from the other kingdoms that are graduates of the Academy after reaching the magister level. It was because of his own antisocial ways and the fact that he was so young that Greyson was not really aware of the possible competition. Outside of the 10 families, he did not know about the other powerful and talented geniuses in the Snow Country. Speaking of this, he was even ignorant about the royal family of the Idris Kingdom. The identities of the rest of the group was still a complete mystery to him as he did not know the ages or talents of the princes and princesses of the kingdom. Peeking at his teacher, Greyson decided it was better to ask late than never. Deep down, he knew that Sweetbow was waiting for him to ask so that he could show off his extensive knowledge. "Teacher, do you know what the rest of the team will be like?" A smirk creeped up on the corners of Sweetbow''s mouth. "Oh?" he asked. "You don''t know?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. ''I knew it." Greyson scoffed inwardly. "Yes, teacher, can you tell me? I''m really curious about their identities and power levels." Acting the part of the obedient student, Greyson looked at Sweetbow expectantly. *Cough, cough!* "Well, if you really want to know. I''ll have you know, the royal family is rather secretive so it was hard for me to get this information ahead of time. There will be 3 people from the royal family joining us today!" As if a seal was lifted off him, Sweetbow spared no time to start telling Greyson everything he found out. "Which three?" Greyson egged him on. By now, the attention of the rest of the group had also been caught as they stopped their actions to pay attention to Sweetbow. Feeling even better watching the young ones turn to him for guidance, Sweetbow straightened his back to look a little more dignified. "All of you listen carefully. The three who will be joining us are: the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince, and the Princess Royal. They all are connected to the Moon Emperor''s family, so they all take on the imperial last name. The Third Prince is Sebastien Yce, the Fourth Prince is Nicholas Yce, and the Princess Royal is Palmira Yce. Sebastien is 33 years old and a wind element user. He is at the magister level stage three. Nicholas Yce is 25 years old and a water element user. He is at the magister level stage two. Palmira is the eldest princess and is 39 years old. She is actually a dual-element magician who uses the water and earth elements. She is at the magister level stage four. As the Snow Country does not discriminate against women rulers, Palmira is definitely in the running to be the next queen of the Idris Kingdom. Well, while this is true, the one to take the throne will be the one to break through to great magister the fastest." "Really? But wouldn''t that be biased towards the older children?" Greyson spoke his doubts. "Oh my, Grey Grey, it seems you are not very aware of the rules of the royal family. They have to wait until even the youngest heir is 50 years old before they name the next king. Any child born during the current king''s last 100 years of life have no rights to the throne since it would take too long for them to grow up. Plus, in most cases, the heir would be chosen far before then. The queen can only have so many children while she is still younger and fertile. Once she passes 500 years, she starts to slowly lose her ability to get pregnant. The children of mistresses are not considered. This might seem rather discriminatory, but the truth is that if the mothers are weak, then the king''s great magister status can only do so much. The illegitimate children will usually be born with lower talent. Most human kingdoms have similar rules because they started to realize that just taking the oldest son was not very intelligent. Younger children could be more talented than their older siblings and the daughters could best the sons. The biggest role for a ruler is to be the strongest. Every other lacking part could be made up by trusted advisors." Ezra stepped in and explained the situation. "Wait, the queen... over 500 years? But that means..." Greyson barely listened to the rest as he caught onto this point. "Yes, not many people are aware, but the partners of Tier 1 Kingdom rulers are almost always great magisters themselves. Human bloodlines are not much to brag about, however, the potential of it does grow as the person grows in power." Sweetbow cut back in while glowering slightly at Ezra for stealing his thunder. "In order to have children with higher talent, they try to make sure that both the King and Queen are great magisters. It takes a while for rulers to get married even after determining their status due to this. How many great magister level magicians could there be? Especially because they cannot be related to the royal family which is a criteria much harder to avoid than you would think. Sometimes they choose a decently talented person who could reach the magister level stage five and use rare and powerful magic herbs to get them to the great magister level. Those people would never get passed the first stage in the end, though." "Well, I get waiting for the most talented prince or princess, but won''t the older ones try to kill them while they are young if they show promise? Everyone wants to rule the kingdom, right?" Greyson saw some glaring weaknesses with this system still. "Do you think even if this system was not in place there would be no assassinations between the royal family heirs?" Sweetbow shot back. "..." Greyson truly could not say with confidence that there wouldn''t be. "At least this way, it''s not only the oldest son who automatically gets the throne but everyone has a fair chance. Even before this change was made, there were still bloody coup d''etats. Actually, it is better now that the older princes and princesses are not taught to expect that the throne will be theirs. Instead, they are told from the beginning that their talent would be the largest deciding factor." "Anyways, we have gone off topic. Those three are the ones coming along. When we arrive, you will get to meet them personally. I would suggest you are prepared. These types of heirs are always haughty and arrogant under normal circumstances, so they might not really pay attention to any of you. You don''t have to mind it, though. You are obviously extremely talented as well and they will soon realize and envy you." Sweetbow warmly encouraged. The group of kids could only secretly retort, ''more arrogant and haughty than you?'' "Elder Sweetbow, we will keep your advice in mind. Don''t worry, it''s not as if Ignis, Quinn, and I have never experienced the personality of the royals." Ezra continued smiling like a fox while politely answering. "Those words were not really for you. Your talent probably IS below theirs so looking down on you is a given. I was speaking to my disciple. It really is quite unfair for him to be looked down on." Sweetbow completely disregarded Ezra''s words and instead insulted her with a plain face. After he spoke only silence remained. Ezra and the rest had ugly expressions on their faces as they really did not know what to say at this point. They were really itching to beat this unreasonable and rude elf, but it was beyond their own abilities to fight with Sweetbow. His lips twitching Greyson was also speechless. Obviously, he was just praised. Yet, why did it have to be said in such a manner? His teacher never seemed to allow him to enjoy compliments. Thankfully, one could see the castle starting to appear in the distance. Noticing their imminent arrival, the group decided to take this chance to divert the topic. They continued their small talk until Zephyr was just a couple miles from the entrance of the capital. Greyson had him land so they could get off since flying directly was seen as rude and could also be misinterpreted. Dragons looked threatening no matter what, so he could only imagine the panicked response if he just flew right up to the gates. Travelling on foot, they still only took around an hour or so to make it to the front entrance. Although there was the usual line of people and merchants waiting for entry into the city, there were also four people resting on the side surrounded by a rather grand procession. Greyson could tell who they were right away. 139 Unfriendly and Overfriendly Looking at how the servants were fauning over them, Greyson already had a feeling of dislike growing for the group. Although they were without the usual overt arrogance spelled across their faces, if one looked closely, they could see the overflowing pride in their eyes. Worried about already starting a fight, Greyson tried to hold in his expression of dislike. As for the other three, as people used to this sort of scene, they all continued to leisurely smile as they approached. The only exception would have to be Sweetbow who did not even bother to hide the disdain he felt. Disgust might as well have been written in bold letters across his face. Inwardly shrugging, Greyson actually appreciated this geniune side of his teacher. Seeing such an example, he suddenly felt there was no need to force himself to smile. No matter what, they were still weaker than him and he had no reason to try to cozy up to them just because they were royalty in the Idris Kingdom. Greyson also had extraordinary origins if he were to think about it. Throughout the time he spent with Rosalie and his grandparents, they clearly explained the identities of his parents. His father was rather obvious and was the only son of the two top elders in the Snow Dragon tribe and one of the top geniuses in the entire Dragon tribe itself. His mother, however, was even more shocking. She was the younger sister of the current Queen of the elves and possibly the most talented elf to be born in the royal family. She was the one who set the record for breaking through to the magister level at 15. As the son of these two individuals, Greyson no longer felt the need to avoid conflict. If he didn''t like them, then he didn''t! The three royals also noticed them approaching as they rather stood out in the crowd of weak citizens. With the exception of Quinn, who was relatively average-looking, the group were all handsome and beautiful individuals. Unaware of this himself, Greyson was actually the one catching the most attention. With his silky-looking white hair and deep blue eyes, his good looks stood out. No longer as feminine as his earlier self, he had grown taller and filled out more. He started to easily attract the stares of the younger girls. Slightly overwhelmed by the attention turned towards their group, Greyson glanced towards his teacher. Nodding to himself, even he had to admit that his teacher was extremely handsome. If only his personality was not so strange and difficult to get along with. His eyes also travelled over to his companions and stopped on Ezra. Though not exactly his cup of tea, Ezra was most definitely a seductive beauty. Every step she took had men looking over and drooling. In order to egg them on, she would occasionally send out a wink. As if to counteract the effect, however, Ignis would turn his eyes over to glare daggers at them. Immediately cowering, those "lucky" men no longer dared to look towards the group. Sweetbow and Ezra so obviously enjoyed the interest of the crowd. Ignis, one the other hand, was just one step away from being a growling guard dog while Quinn was the only one who showed no change from the whispers and stares. Leading her two brothers, Palmira approached after getting out of their makeshift seats. Directly overlooking the rest of the group, she made a slight curtsy to Sweetbow. "Elder Brennan Sweetbow, it is our honor to make your acquaintance. We have heard much of your talent and strength." Her tone was cold but respectful. "Hm... yes, it really is your honor." Snorting in contempt, Sweetbow did not give her any face. Without getting flustered, Palmira just took it in stride and nodded politely. Only, the group realized that her greetings stopped there. The older prince, Sebastien, also did not indicate that he was interested in conversing with the group. Instead, the younger one, Nicholas burst out from behind them in a friendly manner. "Hello, I am Nicholas. What are your names?" With a sunny smile, he was the first to greet the group warmly. First impression-wise, Nicholas was the one who the group warmed up to the fastest. Reciprocating his smile, Ezra curtsied per noble standards. "It is my honor to greet the Fourth Highness, Nicholas. I am Ezra of the Seirina Family." Restraining her normally flirtatious and playful nature, she kept her expression grave and dignified. Ignis and even the whimsical Quinn also greeted seriously. "Ah, ah, I hate these kinds of formalities the most. You all can just refer to me by my name. Hehehe, since we are going to be fighting together, we might as well get comfortable with one another." A spirited and clever look appeared on Nicholas'' face as he straightened all of them up. One could see his innate playful nature and he really did not seem to take himself too seriously. Shoulders slowly relaxing, the rest of the group seemed to breath easier after hearing his words. "And who might you be? Wow, you are so young! However, to be here, you must be a magister level magician, right? Super impressive~." Nicholas grinned seeing the trio''s response, before he quickly flipped his attention to the one who had yet to introduce himself. "Fourth Prince is too kind. My name is Greyson." Not one to brag about himself, Greyson answered humbly. Returning the friendly attitude, he also smiled back politely. Seeing Greyson''s response, Nicholas actually had a pause in expression. "Well, you are really good-looking, aren''t you? I think you might be the best-looking man I have ever met." Laughing at himself, Nicholas scratched his head in embarrassment after realizing he had gawked at Greyson for a little too long. "Nicholas, stop throwing away the pride of royalty. No one would doubt your idiocy even if you do not speak." Finally, Sebastien could no longer bear to watch his younger brother make a fool of himself. Scowling, he yanked his younged brother back by his collar while giving a scanning look at Greyson. Scoffing with disdain, he no longer paid attention to Greyson. Palmira watched the scene like an outsider, as if they were all just children playing in front of her. Getting a sense of their personalities, Greyson really only felt that Nicholas was worth befriending. The other two had their noses pointed to the skies and did not seem to deem Greyson and his friends worthy of interaction. Yet, Nicholas also made him feel slightly awkward. Clearly he was 10 years older, but he acted more like a child than Greyson. "Well, enough small-talk for now. Let''s quickly head out." Sweetbow cut in. "Elder Sweetbow, I''m sorry for the inconvenience, however we must wait for our Royal Grandfather to arrive. He will also be escorting us to the Moon Empire''s imperial city." Swiftly stepping out, Palmira calmly explained the situation. "How could he still not be out yet? Isn''t he too arrogant to keep us waiting like this?" Frowning while obviously displeased, Sweetbow did not seem to hold any respect towards this character. "Hey, elf! We have obviously treated you with respect this time as someone with power and talent. However, you had better hold your tongue when it comes to our Royal Grandfather. His power is not something that you can look down on." Sebastien could no longer contain his anger and snapped back at Sweetbow. "Oh? Well, I would really like to meet such an almighty character." Sneering, Sweetbow''s voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Anyways, don''t think I do not know that this is the Old King Amand Yce. I''m not some ignoramus. He retired the crown long ago and is just a bored old man. What could he possibly be busy with that it took him this long to come?" "Hahahaha! While it is true that this old man is much more idle compared to before, I do still have at least some things to do. Plus, young friend, is it not your group that has come hours after the agreed upon time?" Everyone turned to the source of the voice. Greyson watched in fascination as the old man quickly approached them. Underneath his feet was an ice path that allowed the Old King to slide effortlessly over to them. Curious about this tactic, Greyson watched closely hoping that he would be able to copy this later on. Not so much because he was too lazy to walk, just because it really seemed like fun. His country was covered with snow all over so he could really use this kind of spell anywhere here. Sweetbow saw the interested expression on his disciple''s face and felt a little miffed, but realized that if he said something he would sound narrow-minded and immature. "Just parlor tricks..." He sniffed quietly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Greyson who was next to him could obviously hear him, however, he decided to just ignore his teacher. "Well, we had a straggler who ended up making us late." Responding to the older man''s earlier accusation, Sweetbow did not even bat an eye as he shamelessly lied through his teeth. He even topped it off with a conspicuous look over in Quinn''s direction. While he might be extraordinarily thick-skinned, the rest of the group was not. Ezra, Ignis, and Greyson all had odd expressions on their face when they heard the elf justify their tardiness. Although he knew Sweetbow came only moments before him, Quinn also knew that now was not the appropriate time to defend himself. Plus, it was true that he was late. Thus, he just shrugged and apologized. "Your Majesty, I truly did wake up late and ended up dragging the rest of the group down causing us to be late. I apologize." "It''s no matter. It''s not as if these children truly suffered while waiting." However, the Old King just waved it off and indicated towards the area where the princes and princess were waiting earlier. Truly, it was just as he said. A makeshift tent with comfortable cushioned chairs and tens of servants who served them food and fanned them. Their wait could not have been more comfortable. "This kind of situation is good for tempering their patience, as well. Though, it is true that we are now a day behind. So, we should head out as quickly as possible." Ending with this statement, he raised his head up and whistled loudly. In response, there was a loud caw from the sky. Landing down in front of them was actually a large Silverwing Bird. It was a wind element magic beast that was famous for its speed and endurance. They did not have very high-level bloodlines and would usually peak at the magister level. This Silverwing Bird looked pretty miserable with clear cuts and scars where some of its beautiful signature silver feathers used to be. Greyson could tell right away that this bird was in a master-servant contract with the Old King and was definitely used as a shield more than once. In the depths of his heart, seeing the depressed magic beast did bring about feelings of dislike in Greyson towards the Old King. Lucius, Theo, and Snow/Gold were his friends as were the dragons he met along his stay in the Beast Empire. Living among the magic beasts allowed him to experience firsthand that the intelligent ones were in no way inferior or different from humans. If anything, high-level bloodline magic beasts lived longer and possessed higher talent at birth than humans. The label of "beasts" did not really do them justice and caused incorrect assumptions. He was helpless, though. The idea that magic beasts were only good for being caught and used as servants was a long held belief in the human kingdoms. Just like how he could not convince someone to stop selling and buying slaves, even if he said something to the Old King, that senior would probably not heed Greyson''s words. 140 False Assumptions The journey would actually take quite a long time. The Idris Kingdom was not too far from the imperial capital, however, there were dangerous roadblocks in between the two locations. The worst one was the Red Snow Fields. This expanse was named thus after all the blood that was spilled there. Though the tales and rumors that the snow there was now permanently dyed red were nonsense, the danger of this area is very real. Sprawled all throughout are thousands of different ice element and water element magic beasts. Unlike the ones located in the Beast Empire, these are all low-level bloodline magic beasts with little to no intelligence. The only difference between them and normal animals is their ability to use the elements. Most of these magic beasts are either carnivores or just aggressive towards humans. Any group that wants to pass through the Snow Fields must be prepared to die or hopefully have a great magister level magician escorting them. Any magic beast that can have great magister-like power would have already migrated to the Beast Empire and thrived there because their power is an indicator of a higher-level bloodline. On the way, Elder Sweetbow and the Old King all warned the group that they would not step forward unless absolutely necessary. The weaker magic beasts were all their responsibility. As young men and women, they all had no qualms with this announcement since they were fired up to prove their power to their peers. Greyson noticed that while Palmira acted disinterested, her eyes lit up with similar excitement. Nicholas and Ignis showed the most obvious enthusiasm, while Sebastien and Ezra were only a little behind them. Quinn pasted that same lopsided smile on his face and his expression remained slightly unreadable. Fires of competitiveness lit, all of them wished to show off and kill the most magic beasts. While he did feel some happiness towards being able to stretch his limbs a bit, Greyson was probably the only one who was legitimately unmoved by their little contest. In reality, his strength overshot the rest by so much that he could only feel detached from the atmosphere. If he went all out, they would never have the chance to even touch the magic beasts. Thus, he decided he would only act out occasionally to keep the friendly competition fun and entertaining for everyone. He actually failed to realize that his decision would only make the rest of the group look down on him. ... "Hahaha! That''s the 50th one for me! I should have the most out of everyone now~" Nicholas grinned widely. His smile seemed rather off-putting with the magic beast''s blood staining his skin and clothes. "Hmph! You have just been killing the small fry that are not even at the magister level. We should only be counting the magic beasts above the magister level because those are the only ones that are real challenges." Sebastien, clearly dissatisfied with Nicholas'' bragging, made his own suggestion. "Yeah, I second that. Nicholas, you are taking advantage of the surroundings and using large covering spells. That way you are killing large groups of weaker magic beasts all at once." Ignis also felt indignant over the results. Especially since he, as a fire element magician, was suffering the largest handicap. The Red Snow Fields were so cold that it felt as if the air pierced into the bones of the people travelling through. Thankfully, as magister level magicians, they had a higher resistance. However, Ignis was still uncomfortable in this environment where the fire element had lower presence. "Hey now, you can''t complain about that. You guys are just unlucky, don''t be sore losers." Not going along with them, Nicholas just turned his head and joked. "Hehehe, don''t fight you guys. Well, Ignis and Second Highness are only just a little lower than Nicholas. Whereas, I only have around 10 kills throughout this trip." Ezra flirtatious giggles rang out and placated the rest of the group. "Ezra is right! Look at me, I only got a couple myself." Quinn chimed in with his own little self-deprecating smile. "Some is better than none. At least you are not like some other useless people..." Sebastien''s tone suddenly turned sarcastic and pointedly glared in Greyson''s direction. Actually, Greyson felt really helpless as well. These accusations were really so unfair to him. Obviously, it was the rest of the group that were just too eager. The minute even just a small hint of a magic beast appears, they immediately jump off the bird''s back and attack. Not that Greyson could not sense them as fast, he just felt that it was really not worth the effort. In the end, it would be silly for someone of his strength to so fervently search for weak magic beasts to slaughter. If they were just a little slower in attacking and left some for him, he would participate and attack a few himself. Seeing Sebastien picking a fight with him, Greyson did feel slightly displeased. From the very start, Nicholas was the only one who paid him any attention. Sebastien would just glare at Greyson with distaste. He really could not understand why this Second Prince disliked him so much even though they had yet to say a word to each other. Greyson took a quick glance at Palmira who had deemed these activities beneath her. She continued to watch the "competition" with a look like she was watching children play around. Smirking evilly inwardly, Greyson finally decided to reply. "Princess Palmira, it seems that we are being looked down upon, no?" Dragging the aloof eldest princess into the mix, Greyson decided to not take the insult lying down. He really did not see any reason to let the prince just walk all over him without fighting back. Palmira''s eyebrows knit with annoyance, but there was really nothing she could say. She also had not acted out to defeat the magic beasts. Although, it was obvious that this was because of her age, status, and power, to say it that plainly would be insulting to the ones who have been acting out. With no other choice, she looked over at her younger brother with disappointment. "Sebastien, just because you all want to so joyfully compete does not mean that others want to. Plus, with your strength, it is only an obvious result that you would kill more magic beasts than the other here. What is there to brag about?" Quickly shut up by Palmira, Sebastien hung his head in shame. His state did not last long before he turned to shoot a resentful look at Greyson. Sighing deeply, Greyson did not pay any attention to this prince. It was not like he could do anything to Greyson with his level of power anyways. It was only the Second Prince who was acting that way, too. The three from the Academy had all heard about or witnessed Greyson''s strength before. Since he is coming for this trip, he must already be a magister level magician. With his seven elements, Greyson should be fairly powerful amongst those at the same stage, so his power should not be weak. They all just assumed that Greyson was not really that interested in competing with them. Nicholas assumed the same, but more because he was a kinder person. He did not really care whether Greyson joined in or not, he just wanted to be first. *BOOM!* Interrupting the awkward silence, a sudden loud explosion shocked everyone. Turning their attention to the source, the young magicians noticed a group of ice figures moving towards them. These creatures had no eyes, ears, or mouths, they were made purely from icicles. Where their hands should be were instead sharp and gleaming ice blades. "Elementals..." Nicholas muttered under his breath. Greyson recognized this group right away. In the entire Omorfos continent, there were beings that were created in places of high element density. They are just called Elementals due to their origin. They are normally unintelligent beings due to elements accumulating and amalgamating together for an extended amount of time. All of the ones attacking were at varying levels of power, with most of them below the magister level. There was still a decent amount above the magister level. Three of them were actually equal in strength to magister level stage four magicians. Sensing this, Palmira finally went into action. The rest of the group also began attacking the elementals. The weaker ones quickly shattered after only a few attacks while the more powerful ones put up a decent fight. Greyson continued watching with folded arms. Since the fight time was extended this time, there was more than enough time for him to step in, but he did not really have the heart to help them. It was not like any of them were in danger either. Observing Greyson''s inactivity, even the Old King did not seem very pleased. "Elder Sweetbow, he should at least fight a little, right? Being unambitious is not really that large of an issue, but he should at least help out where he can. The rest of them are outnumbered, so every person counts. Although they can take on more than one, it would still take off some pressure if Greyson could assist." "If he wants to lend a hand, he will. I think he is just waiting for the right moment." Hahaha, my good disciple, you are more similar to me than you think. Sweetbow mused to himself. Clearly, he was assuming that Greyson just wanted to hog the spotlight and act at the best moment. His comments only made the Old King''s frown deepen. But he kept his thoughts to himself and did not say more. There was no rule saying that Greyson had to fight. He was just slightly disappointed since such a young talented magician seemed to be missing an important drive that the other young people had. Greyson continued watching in a bored manner until he sensed another presence. Eyes lighting up with glee, his body disappeared from its spot. Using his wind element, he arrived right in front of Palmira. Holding his palm out, he summoned a light shield in a manner of seconds. Before Palmira could react and complain about getting in her way, a hard ice spear slammed into the shield. Not creating a dent, the spear burst into dust upon impact. "What..." Palmira did not understand how this boy predicted the attack. Then, before her eyes, another Elemental appeared. Only, this one was giving off a much stronger vibe than the other ones before. "Isn''t this close to a great magister level aura? Oh no!" Palmira quickly retreated in a panic and did not bother to warn or bring Greyson along. Looking at her selfishly running away, Greyson just clicked his tongue with a mocking look in his eyes. This only lasted for a moment before he put his focus on his opponent. Flipping his palm, Genesis quickly appeared. Gripping the familiar sword, Greyson attacked first. Slashing down with the fire element, he cut off the Elemental''s arm. However, the limb quickly grew back. Glancing towards his sword, he noticed that the flame was rather weak. Shaking his head, he had to admit that Ignis really would be at a disadvantage here. Switching to the wind element, his sword and body movements grew swifter and his attacks were like a never-ending barrage. The Elemental matched him move for move with a constant icy air flowing about, as well. Greyson could feel his fingers turning blue and he started to lose feeling. Concentrating more, he sent his fire element to heat up his extremities. Although it was not strong enough to attack, the fire element could keep him warm. His eyes turning a deeper blue, Greyson thought of a new spell that he could try out. For the first time, he actually starting muttering a specific spell underneath his breath. If someone were close to him, they would not be able to understand the words because he was speaking in the draconic language. This was one of the Snow Dragon ancient spells that was shared with him during his stay along with their training method. A large dragon''s head formed in the snow with the Ice Elemental stuck in the middle of its mouth. Sharp ice teeth grew from the mouth before it quickly slammed its jaw shut. The impact completely destroyed the Ice Elemental inside. Once the snow slid away and broke the form, there was nothing left. Smiling happily over the power of the spell, Greyson was completely satisfied with the result. It really was not an ancient spell for nothing. Plus, this spell would only grow more powerful along with him. The rest of the group watched with jaws dropped at the result. First, they were shocked by Greyson''s actual strength level which was revealed to be at the magister level stage five! Second, they had never seen such a spell before and were curious about its origin.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. 141 Arrival at Lunar City "Greyson! How come you did not tell us you were this strong?!" Nicholas shouted in surprise. The rest of the group had already finished off their opponents and ended up watching the entire process of Greyson''s fight. "Ah, well, it''s not that I intentionally hid it. You guys did not ask, as well." Scratching his head, Greyson did not really know how to answer. Would it not be weird if he just announced to the group what his level was unprovoked? That would be more like wanting to boast about his talent than innocent informing. "Hahaha, well, I guess my royal brother has just been making a full of himself this entire time." Laughing in an unrestrained manner, Nicholas did not spare his older brother from his teasing. Sebastien''s face grew a shade darker as he sincerely did feel embarrassed about his earlier attitude. "I''m sorry, Greyson. It was my mistake for falsely assuming your level of strength and looking down on you. I hope we can put the past behind us." Surprisingly, Sebastien did not lash out at Greyson and instead approached with an apology. Overwhelmed by the sudden switch in attitude, Greyson did not know how to respond at first. Seeing the hand stretched out toward him, he felt that it would be rude to just leave the prince hanging. Plus, their arguments were only verbal and nothing bad actually ever happened. Reciprocating the handshake, Greyson smiled warmly. "It''s no big deal. I did not really take your actions to heart, anyways." "Really? That''s great! Wow, not only are you a genius but you are even such a broad-minded and magnanimous person. It''s really such a pleasure that I can get to know you!" Taking a complete 180 turn to his earlier stance, Sebastien proactively spoke to Greyson and even complimented him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Ah, you are too generous with your praise. I''m nobody great." Slightly uncomfortable with such a passionate reception, Greyson just politely smiled and responded modestly. "Sebastien is right, you seem like such a powerful magician. I guess it is our mistake to not realize your abilities before." Palmira echoed Sebastien''s earlier sentiments. "Ah, ah, ah, what is this now? Are older brother and sister suddenly going to steal my friend? You guys weren''t paying any attention to him earlier, though..." Nicholas chimed in. Greyson really did not know how he was supposed to respond to these royals. For most of the trip, the three of them did not give up and continued to try to communicate with Greyson. Buttering him up with compliments and praise, the three seemed adamant on becoming friends with him. They even began to bestow gifts to him. They varied from precious magic herbs, to some spells, and even magic tools. Although Greyson did not lack in these things, he had half a mind to accept them since they kept pushing him. However, before he accepted, Elder Sweetbow was actually the one to step in to stop them. "My disciple does not lack such things. If you are offering him gifts of this caliber, would that not be looking down on me as his teacher? He cannot reject them easily, but I will reject them for him. He already has enough of all those things you want to offer." Sweetbow waved them off easily. Not wanting to offend this Elder either, the three could only give up for the moment and dispersed towards different places on the back of the Silverwing Bird. "Thank you, teacher. I really could not take their insistent chattering for much longer. Earlier, they came off as such cold and arrogant people. I did not think that they could be so talkative when they wanted to. Their new attitude is really burdensome." Breathing a sigh of relief, Greyson quickly thanked Sweetbow for the assistance. "Why do you think they are acting that way?" Contrary to what Greyson expected, Sweetbow actually responded with this question. "Why? Well, I could not be completely sure... Probably due to my strength, right? They just have more respect for me now that I am stronger and more talented than them. I did not give it that much thought. It''s not like I really want to get close to them." "Idiot! How could you only think to that extent?! You have to understand, Grey. Royal family descendants have to mature early. You cannot measure them by the same standards of other peers around your age. Their minds are always working some kind of plot. The reason for this: they all want to sit on the throne. That is the end goal of almost everyone born into royalty. To be the ''final winner'' in the fight for the throne. They are not being this friendly and kind just because they appreciate and admire your talent. They want to pull you to their side and hold you there with gifts and support, so that you will work for them and help them ascend the throne. Yes, they might respect you. But, in the end, they do not want to sincerely get close to you. They merely want to use you. That''s why I sent them off like that. If you just ingenuously accept their gifts, who know what requests they might put to you later? And you would be the type of person to help them because they helped you before. Although these things are small and meaningless, the more they get to know you, the more important and heavier those presents would become. It''s not because I really think you would so easily let yourself be used, but I want this moment to serve as a lesson. This is why I hate humans so much. It is hard to trust them with anything. Greyson, you are young and have not experienced the world as much. Humans are vile creatures with much greed and deceit within them. You cannot let your guard down for a moment!" With a serious expression on his face, Sweetbow harshly lectured Greyson. Shock showed on the young teen''s face as he realized that his teacher was probably right. Looking over at the three royal princes and princess, he made eye contact with all of them as they smiled enthusiastically back. Shivers of disgust were sent down his spine at that moment. Even Nicholas suddenly seemed fake to him. Thinking about it, although Nicholas was friendly, it was just to that extent earlier. Now, Nicholas went out of his way to talk to him just like his other siblings. Although the transition in his actions was more subtle, the change was still there if one looked for it. His expression hardening, Greyson no longer wanted to deal with them at all. He had heard all about how inside the royal family was like a warzone, but this was the first time he experienced how much they hid daggers within their smiles. Earlier, he thought they were just two-faced at most. But if they were going to be nicer to him then he would reciprocate. He was even about to accept the gifts just because it was too bothersome to reject. Just like that, he would have been quietly hooked into their lives. For the rest of the journey, Greyson''s attitude towards them clearly cooled. He even began to meditate in order to easily rebuff them. Ezra and Ignis were a little upset and envious over the difference in treatment, so they were glad to see this break in the relationship. Their parents had ordered them to try making connections with the royal family. There was no need to make any promises yet, but to keep their eyes peeled for the most talented member so they could maybe place their bets behind them. Ever since the fight with the Elementals, though, all of the attention was placed on Greyson and they were completely ignored. In contrast, Quinn did not think too much about it. He mostly dozed off and observed the surrounding view peacefully. ... After around half a month of travelling, the group finally made it to the outer gates of the imperial capital, Lunar City. Contrary to Greyson''s expectations, the city was not very aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. Instead, the dark grey stones that most of the wall, buildings, and castle were made from made the city give off a dreary and cold atmosphere. Not much color illuminated the city other than the yellow of the light stones. The gate was crowded with different groups that seemed to have come from all over the country. Greyson could tell that they were all young people at differing stages of the magister level along with their escorts who were mostly great magister level magicians. Their arrival did not go unnoticed, however, most of the people just glanced over nonchalantly before no longer paying any attention. Some of the more arrogant young ones looked at them with disdain. Greyson''s group did not say much before obediently getting in line to wait. Not even the royal heirs from the Idris Kingdom had the ability to act up here. In front of the Moon Empire, they were but extremely distant relatives. When it came their turn to enter, the Old King stepped out to represent them. He carried with him their identifications and papers. Along with those things, he also slipped the guard a decent amount of gold coins secretly. Clearly expecting such actions, the guard accepted without a change in expression. I guess there are people like this everywhere. Greyson thought to himself. These kinds of bribery scenes were not uncommon at all. It was not so much that they wanted to get in faster through these means as it was that they wanted to make sure the guard would not give them trouble for no reason. It was not weird to see someone getting stopped at the gate for no reason other than the fact that they would not pay the guards any money. Although this was technically against the law, most City Lords would not pay it any attention and instead encourage their guards to do so. They would get a cut later afterwards. Since the amount seemed to be enough, the guard became more eager to serve and quickly got the group through the gate. They had to pass through a large magic barrier that was apparently set up by the first magician king of the Moon Empire. This barrier would protect from attacks and could even sense when different race enemies enter. If one is not human, they could not pass through the barrier unless they are given specific permission. Sweetbow and Greyson were given this permission, therefore they received a special-looking charm necklace that they had to wear at all times in order to not be attacked by the barrier. Feeling himself walk through an invisible resistance, Greyson was fascinated by the power of magician kings. He wondered when he could reach that step himself... 142 The Selection Part 1 The minute the city finally became clear to Greyson, he was shocked by the difference. Due to the barrier, the capital was not very clear from the outside. Once inside, he saw that the buildings were mostly made from dark gray stone blocks. Somehow, even with the splashes of color from people''s clothes and building decorations, there was a rather ominous and dreary feeling to the city. Frowning, he could not help but compare to other cities that he has seen before like Iris City, which was the capital of Rainbow Country. Although Iris City was the capital, it was not where the Rainbow Country''s Laetus Empire resided. The reason it was named the capital was due to its beauty that allowed the country to live up to its namesake. In comparison, Lunar City did not really impress with its structures and design as the capital of the Snow Country. Actually, he was not the only one who felt this way. Save for the Old King and the royal heirs, the rest of the group had never been to Lunar City before. To say their expectations were disappointed would be an understatement. "Hm? What''s with the aesthetic sense of the Moon Emperor? He should take some lesson from the elves. Even minor villages are more pleasing to the eyes than this so-called capital. What an embarrassment." Not one to filter his words, Sweetbow was quick to send out his opinion. Not lowering his voice, the residents of the city looked over at Sweetbow with a little hostility. Surprisingly, no one stood out to say anything, though. "Hahaha, Elder Sweetbow, you shouldn''t insult prematurely. There is more to the city than meets the eye. Look closely at the stone, don''t you recognize its origins?" The Old King broke out into a good-natured chuckle before clearly implying at something. Taking the hint, Sweetbow took the time to walk up to one of the stores lined up on the road. Stroking the stone, he carefully appraised it before his eyes lit up with understanding. "Could this be... Moonstone?" Surprise lining his eyes, Sweetbow questioned the Old King. Greyson also found himself growing in curiosity since this was the first time he saw his teacher so shocked by something. "Hohoho, you realized rather quickly. I am impressed by such skills in appraisal." The Old King generously praised. "Hmph! Don''t patronize me. Do not mistake me for some country bumpkin just because I reside in the Idris Kingdom right now. I am someone who has probably experienced more than you have." Clearly not flattered by the praise, Sweetbow just sneered. "You misunderstand. I am sincerely impressed." The Old King still kept that pleasant smile plastered on his face. "Yes, you are correct. The entire city is made from Moonstone and the array that creates the barrier also takes advantage of the Moonstone to absorb more water element spirits into this city. During the full moon, the stones inherently absorb more water element spirits, however, this function is intensified through the array. The number of children that end up as water magicians in this city is almost 90% because of this increase. You are also probably aware of the secondary feature of Moonstone. It turns white and shiny when it is touched by moonlight. Once night comes, Lunar City completely transforms and becomes a beautiful sight to behold." Looking towards Greyson and the rest of the children, the Old King explained these features.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. His interest piqued, Greyson tried sensing the water element. Just as the Old King explained, there was an overabundance of the water element in this city. Without even trying, his meditation time could be halved. In general, the city had a higher density of mana, but the water element stood out. Observing this state, he completely believed that most children were born water element magicians in this city. A well-known fact was that children absorb surrounding element spirits in the womb and their natural inclination towards certain elements develops in this phase. Places where each element is present equally, the resulting children ended up developing randomly or similar to whatever elements their parents used. However, areas specifically dense with a certain element would have most children awaken the ability to use that same element. There was a downside, though: those children would usually have a lower chance of becoming multi-element magicians. Dominating the rest, that one element would lower the chances of the baby developing an affinity for others. Normally, other countries would realize this consequence and would focus on just making their city have denser mana presence without emphasizing an element. Greyson thought this emphasis probably came from the fact that the original Yce imperial family bloodline was one rich with water and ice element magicians and that the Snow Country itself leaned towards the water and ice elements. Inside this imperial capital, the Yce family would gain the advantage against other element magicians and could also train faster. "Are you the Idris Kingdom party?" A new voice brought Greyson out of his thoughts. Turning towards the source, the group spotted a uniformed soldier standing in front of them. A similar grey as the Moonstone, his uniform fit nicely and exuded a sort of dignity. Stitched onto his breast was a half moon which signified belonging to the Moon Empire''s military and his rank. Grunt soldiers were marked by a crescent moon. The highest-ranking General has three full moons. Each moon went through five phases, thus there were 15 possible military ranks one could hold in the empire. As someone marked with the half moon, this soldier was not very high up which was probably why he was assigned such a mission being a guide for the different kingdom teams. Contrary to his low status, this soldier put on airs before them. He managed to keep a mostly cold, apathetic expression that befitted a soldier, but one could still see the slight disdain he felt towards them from his eyes and body language. "Yes, that is us. Are you going to be the one showing us to our accommodations?" Seemingly unaffected, the Old King retained his amicable attitude. "Follow me." He spat out before abruptly turning on his heel. Without even bothering to look if they were following, he already began walking away. "How dare he?!" No longer able to contain himself, Sebastien grumbled as his face darkened. Even the ever-polite Palmira showed an expression of being unable to endure the slight. "Quiet! Where has your upbringing gone? Collect yourselves. No matter what, we are smaller fish in this bigger pond. All the citizens here, whether they are truly powerful or not, are rather snobby towards us from the other lower kingdoms. It''s just a fact that you have to live with. Acting entitled and spoiled just because you are royalty of some low-level kingdom only proves your ignorance to the world." Surprisingly, the Old King was quick to chide and cut-down Sebastien and Palmira''s arrogance. Greyson was fairly impressed with his ability to stay humble. Although the two did not say anything more, their deep frowns still showed that they were not resigned to the situation. Shrugging, Greyson did not really care one way or the other. Without paying attention to the rest, he quickly followed after the soldier so that he would not lose sight of him. Realizing that their guide was already so far away, the rest of the group quickly followed after Greyson. Actually, Greyson was surprised that his teacher did not react similarly to Sebastien and Palmira given his big head. Noticing Greyson''s odd look in his direction, Sweetbow responded with an innocent expression that read: am I so unreasonable? Scoffing, Greyson no longer paid him any mind as it would just make him angry. They were soon led into the palace and directed into a separate building with many guest rooms and dining facilities. Some rooms were filled while others were still empty by the looks of the it. The filled rooms were the other teams who had already arrived. Not sparing many words, the soldier who led them just showed the rooms and informed them of the times that breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served. He also mentioned that the contest would start in two days after all the other teams arrive. Forgoing the goodbye, he promptly left after saying all that needed to be said. Giggling secretly, Greyson found the increasingly ugly expressions of the prince and princess quite hilarious to watch. Objectively speaking, the soldier did not really breach etiquette. They were just shocked to have someone like a low-level soldier not act in an obsequious manner towards them. ... The next two days passed quietly. Nothing of an interesting nature occurred. There were three Tier One Kingdom teams while the rest of the guests were from all over the Snow Country who also met the requirements. Some were still part of teams just from weaker kingdoms while others were loners. The Tier One Kingdom teams all looked at each other as the true competition while looking down on the rest. No fights broke out since it was against the rules, but the hidden aggression was definitely palpable. Due to his age, Greyson''s appearance caused a tiny stir at first. It only ended creating a small wave of commotion before it died down. Everyone just assumed that his talent was clearly amazing, but his power must still be low. Thus, Greyson became someone who impressed them but quickly crossed of the list of possible competition for one of the 10 candidate positions. The others in the Idris Kingdom group could also vaguely sense their thoughts, as well. Secretly snickering, they knew that everyone would soon learn how badly they are underestimating this young fellow. Sweetbow was even ecstatic over the situation. Not at all unhappy that the contestants looked down on his precious students. Bahahaha, once he goes up and beats the crap out of all the trash, would he not stand out more? Be more dazzling? Then, everyone''s focus will turn towards the amazing teacher behind such an outstanding talent! All these fools do not even know that they have become stepping stones for my dear prot¨¦g¨¦''s path to fame. Though Sweetbow did not voice his thoughts, Greyson could accurately guess his thought process. In some ways, his teacher was very predictable and simple-minded. After the two days, another half moon soldier brought all of them to a large stadium. Standing there waiting on the stage were 10 younger generation magicians that were the representatives of the empire. Even a large audience observed from the stands around. Important and powerful personages watched from closed off booths from the top. The one at the center at the highest point was for the Emperor himself along with the Empress. Greyson tried to peek at them only to be disappointed by a screen preventing him and others from seeing inside. Not just him, but a lot of the magicians brought in were trying to glance at the Emperor. After they all failed, they once again focused on the ten standing on stage who seemed to be the ones in charge at this point. One stood in the middle and clearly was the leader. His age was not the youngest nor the oldest, however, he radiated the most strength out of everyone on the stage. From the pressure, Greyson knew that he was definitely a magister level stage five magician. Sporting the blue-grey eyes and black hair of the Yce family, this leader was not exactly handsome. Instead, women could be attracted to his steady and mature atmosphere. The archetype of a dependable man. Just as expected, this man walked out to set himself apart and began to speak to the newly arrived magicians. "Welcome to Lunar City. I hope your stay has been most comfortable. Today marks the start of our inner selection for the 10 representatives who will be sent from the Snow Country to compete with the other outer countries. We will start with a basic examination. Those above 35 must be at least at stage four. Anyone older than 35 who has not reached that level of strength will be eliminated and cannot participate. Those 25 and older must be at least at stage two." Deep and stern, he did not allow for questioning of his words. "On the stage are three stones covered with barriers. The first stone has a barrier that will only allow those under 25 to pass through. The second stone will only allow those under 35 to pass through, while the last will only allow those below 40. Once you place your hand on the stone, insert some mana and it will read out your stage. I would suggest you honestly line up depending on your age. Do not foolishly hope to be able to use some method to sneak through the barrier. Even if you have found some method that would allow you to trick this barrier, I would still urge against these actions. In the end, we set standards for your sake. If you do not have enough talent, then you will end up shaming our country in the true competition. Nothing would be worse than having all of the outer countries and even some inner countries witness your embarrassment. Also, if you above 40 and think that you can trick us, maybe you will succeed. The Moon Empire does not dare to claim to be omniscient against all types of methods. However, the true competition is run by the inner countries and their methods are way beyond your comprehension. The chances of you pulling the wool over their eyes are very slim." If some people were thinking of causing mischief at this point, they slowly stored these thoughts away. It was not that they suddenly did not desire to get the glory of representing the Snow Country, but they awakened to the fact that they did not match with such a status. The best they could do is gain a little fame through this inner selection and bring some honor back to their kingdom or family. In fact, some of the magicians in the group started to silently slip away from the back. The man''s words had completely discouraged them from trying. What if their methods to hide their age did not work? Would they not be completely humiliating themselves? As everyone shuffled into their respective lines, Greyson instead felt distracted. He did not know if it was just his imagination or not, however, he perceived the eyes of the 10 people on stage were glancing over at him repeatedly. They clearly showed interest and curiosity in him. Used to stares, Greyson was not affected at first. It was not until he detected even the leader glancing at him with the desire to fight that Greyson felt fairly ill at ease. He was absolutely certain that they had never met him before, so he did not understand what warranted their interest in him. Had they seen some sort of sign of his true power? 143 Selection Part 2 Did he attract attention because of his age? Nodding to himself, Greyson thought this was plausible. After all, he did not look like he could not be more than 16 years old as he had not completely shed his youthful looks. With the slowing of his aging, Greyson could even pass for younger. In the entire Human Empire, it was difficult to find someone with his talent. As Greyson was lost in thought, the leader had met his eyes. Albeit looking slightly embarrassed for getting so blatantly caught, the man still gave a small smile and nodded his head in greeting. Others in the crowd were too distracted trying to observe the competition and get into their respective lines, so they did not notice this small interlude. Blinking in surprise, Greyson did not respond at first before also nodding his head back. Scratching the side of his face, he awkwardly turned his head away to avoid making eye contact with the rest of the group standing on the stage. No matter what they were thinking, it was not his business to know. He would just do what he came here to do and get through to the actual competition between the other outer region countries. Of course, he stood in the first line for those below 25 years of age. Not in any particular rush, he ended up being in the far back of the line. There were actually a lot more participants than he expected. Even in his line, there were at least 30 or so people lined up. Bar any rare circumstances, most of those people should all be at the beginning stages of the magister level. Each country could only send 10 representatives which meant these magicians would be the top tier of all the talents at the magister level. All of them would be at the magister level stage five and some could possibly put up a fight against great magister level stage one magicians. None of these participants stood a chance at making it to the final competition, so Greyson could not really fathom why they would show up. It seemed like a humongous waste of time. Little did he realize that there was a hidden meaning to this selection. After the original Yce family conquered the land of the Snow Country, they replaced all their subordinate Tier One kingdoms'' royalty with a member of the Yce family. At first, these people were the First Emperor''s trusted relatives like his remaining blood brothers and sisters or uncles and aunts. However, as time continued to pass and the royal succession caused bloody infighting and insurgences, these royal families became more and more distant relatives of the current emperor. If not for the identical hair and eye colors, some might even call them strangers. The remaining Tier One Kingdoms started using this selection as a chance to send the younger generation to show off their talents. The more talented the person, the more support the kingdom would receive from the empire. For the others, they wished to catch the attention of the Moon Empire''s higher-ups. If their talent was recognized, they could possibly receive the support and resources of the empire. Even if this meant selling their souls in service to the imperial family, lots of those from poorer backgrounds would do so in a heartbeat. This competition was a chance for them to become more powerful and gain the means to support their families. Usually, there were also a multitude of marriage alliances that come into being through this selection. The young ones who shine the most are very desirable engagement partners. Who would not want to grab onto potential powerhouses? Perhaps, these talents could strengthen their kingdom or even the empire itself. More than the royal participants, the females and males of poor backgrounds were popular. The thought behind this is if these poor geniuses are supported by their resources and backing then they will be that much more appreciative and wish to repay the favor by working hard for the kingdom. There would be less questions about loyalty. The imperial family was, of course, aware of the thoughts of these participants. They also wished to pick out able subordinates who could serve them. Plus, it was not like they were so generous as to provide unending support to all the kingdoms in their charge. This selection was also an important occasion for them to oversee the status of their empire''s talents. Everyone benefitted in the end, while the empire also reserved the representative spots for their own younger generation. It had been decades since the last time a dark horse appeared and stole one of the representative spots. Ironically, most of the people participating do so with every intention except getting a representative spot. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Crawling his way towards the front, Greyson took this chance to watch the results. As expected, there were still a bunch of people who tried their luck only to be repelled by the barrier. Met with the disdainful looks of the other participants and the audience, those people could only run away with their heads down in shame. Inwardly shaking his head, Greyson did not pity those people one bit as they put themselves in that situation. Other than these random occurrences, he watched the stages of each person who went up and put their hand on the stone. No one particularly stood out yet, as all the stage one and two magicians were in Greyson''s lines while there was a random assortment of stage three, four, and five magicians spread throughout the other two lines. A hint of disappointment became clear in Greyson''s expression, while he could tell that the 10 onstage were also not pleased by the turnout. On the stage, the group were actually quietly communicating with each other the entire time as they watched... "Brother, is our empire doomed to always be last place? How is their talent only this much? It feels like the overall level keeps dropping to become more mediocre over time." One of the girls pouted as she looked towards the leader. "Princess Aphina is right. These people ignorantly believe that every country is like ours and only sends out representatives from the ruling empire. We are the only ones! Every other country has at least a couple spots taken by talents from the subordinate kingdoms that are equal to the representatives from the empire. And it''s not like we hog all the resources, either. If anything, I have yet to see an empire as generous as us." A young man next to Aphina agreed wholeheartedly. "Yeah..." "Exactly!" "It''s like they don''t realize how trash they are!" "Our country is like a drying well while our talents are the water." A bunch of the others echoed these sentiments. They did not realize the eyebrows of their leader furrowing deeper and deeper in anger. "Enough! You speak as if we are not included in the lowering of talent. We are no better than the rest as we are provided with such amazing resources and the aiding environment of Lunar City to train. Yet, we still go out every ten years and embarrass the Moon Empire and the Snow Country." He finally snarled after having enough. Running his eyes through the others, his icy gaze silenced the rest as they blushed red in chagrin. Exactly. The leader''s words stabbed them right where it hurts. It was still the Moon Empire''s representatives that went every time and lost terribly. Lowering their heads, they no longer complained about the others. They really did not have the right to mock others'' weakness. "Anyways, we are not completely without hope. Do you not remember Uncle had claimed that there was a pleasant surprise this time? That young boy over there. He said to look forward to the results." "Hmm... That white-haired boy, right? I don''t know why Uncle would be so mysterious and vague about it, though. Can''t he just directly tell us how strong that boy is? Looking at his age, he should not be more than magister level stage three. But even that is still extremely impressive for someone of his age. I was not even a magister at 15." Princess Aphina''s face lit up at the reminder and once again looked over in Greyson''s direction. "He''s 15?! Wait, how are you so sure?" "Hmph! Of course, we had our sources look into him after Uncle specifically mentioned that he was special. His name is Greyson, he is 15 years old, and is originally an orphan from a lowly town in a Tier Three Kingdom. Not much more is known about him. His path was fairly straightforward. He went to an academy in the Tier Two Dalia Kingdom, before taking the entrance exam to the Aurora Academy and passing. He spent five years in the academy, then he went adventuring in the Beast Empire for the next two. A little before coming to this selection, he returned and seemed to have broken through to the magister level. Current stage unknown." Aphina slowly listed off the information she received recently about Greyson. "Just him getting to this position after starting as a poor orphan in a Tier Three Kingdom is the most impressive." The leader confirmed her information by nodding and also making his own comments. Greyson had truly impressed him. He was fairly certain something important must have occurred in the Beast Empire, but the Moon Empire had no power whatsoever in that area. Any information on Greyson''s activities during those two years would be extremely hard for them to acquire. Plus, the accuracy would also be questionable. Once the leader spoke, the rest of the people just obediently nodded without saying a word. It was clear that the rest of the group feared this man deeply. They did not dare to say a word against Greyson since their leader already approved of him. Instead, they all keenly observed Greyson hoping to glean a hint of his level of strength. Anticipation rose within them as they saw the small body inching closer and closer to the front of his line. Just how strong could he be? ... Actually, Greyson kind of dreaded taking this test. He did know of any way to suppress his strength, so the reading will definitely show that he is at the fifth stage. Well, even if he knew of a method, Greyson did not think he would hide his strength. In the end, everyone would find out. He would not do anything like purposefully lose against those weaker than him to avoid the attention. After all, his goal was to become a representative. Anyone weaker than the magister level fifth stage was not qualified to participate. It seemed they were all just going to find out sooner rather than later. Unlike his teacher, Greyson was not a super high-profile person. Being the center of attention did not bring him any particular thrill or happiness. He was happy just being himself and when others treated him like a normal person. After experiencing the change in attitude of Sebastien and Palmira, Greyson was also aware that the more strength he showcased, the more those fake people would approach him. At this point, there was only one person remaining in front of him. The test itself did not take more than a moment if the person did not try to lie about his/her age. That person finished his test and it was now Greyson''s turn to step up. Hand sweating, he frowned a little before walking forward quickly. Other than the 10 people on stage who were holding their breath in anticipation, the rest of the people did not pay any extra attention to Greyson. He was not met with any resistance from the barrier and made it to the stone in just a couple steps. Taking one last glance at the preoccupied crowd, he sighed deeply before placing his hand on the stone and inserting a string of his mana. At once, it lit up and a deep purple color lit up around him. The stone would shine different shades of purple depending on your stage. The darker the color, the higher the stage. Glimpsing at the dark purple glow from their peripheral vision, the rest of the crowd all turned to look at the origin. Rubbing their eyes a couple times, it took a long minute for everyone to accept that this color was arising from the 25 and under line. One could hear a pin drop in the silence before the arena exploded with noise from every direction. The purple light fading away, Greyson''s figure was soon visible to everyone. All the people looked at him with mixed expressions. From his vantage point, Greyson could clearly see that not every pair of eyes looked at him with pure shock. There was a hint of envy and even hatred in most of the male participants'' eyes. There was also the intent to battle that clearly burned in the eager eyes of others. Some female participants looked lovestruck while others'' eyes shone with calculations. Analyzing all those thoughts surrounding him, Greyson felt nothing but a wave of exhaustion. The amount of truly guileless people in this crowd could be counted on one hand. The two pairs of eyes that caught his attention the most were of the ten people onstage. One was the leader and another was a girl standing next to him. From their outer appearance, Greyson assumed they were siblings. The leader had gratification and relief written all over his face while his sister stared at Greyson with pure curiosity. Relief? Just what story was behind that expression... 144 Selection Part 3 What ensued after Greyson''s test was exactly as he expected. A lot of: Hello, I am so-and-so. I am from the "insert name" Kingdom. I am the royal prince/princess of the "insert name" royal family. or My family name is "blank." We are the most powerful in "blank" city and/or Kingdom. Amidst the sea of faces, Greyson felt like he was drowning. It was like these people had no redeeming features and all that remained in his memory were indistinct outlines. All he could do was politely nod and smile and introduce himself while trying his best to leave the arena. Actually, this portion of the selection did not take very long and one could leave right after they were done. However, most people wanted to check out the competition for rivals or people to avoid, so they stayed behind to watch the entire process. The next stage of the selection would take place the next day. Without looking back, Greyson forced himself out of the crowd and raced back to his room. After a moment''s thought, he decided that he would just skip the meals later. Anyways, he had stored some food inside of his storage necklace. The dining hall would end up being a free for all where he was the fresh meat. As everyone here was most definitely taught strict lessons in etiquette, there should be no one daring enough to just barge into his room uninvited. Opening his door, he was greeted with the sleeping faces of the "animals." Lucius, Snow, and Theo were all snuggling together on the bed. Gold switched places with his sister since Greyson was not too sure about how deep the knowledge of the Moon Empire''s citizens was. Speechless he looked at the group of them and felt envious of their easy lives. A childish grin flashed on his face as he quickly closed the door and dove straight onto the bed. Stuck underneath his body, the sleeping magic beasts were all shocked awake and struggled to crawl out.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "You''re on my tail! Get off!" Lucius hissed angrily. "You large lump! What''s wrong with just waking us up normally?" "Da..ddy... I can''t breathe... Too heavy..." Snow also whined as her voice was muffled underneath the blanket. "Greyson, you really almost caught me under there as well." Hearing a voice from above him, Greyson looked up in shock. Touching his head, he realized that Theo had woken up at some point and climbed up onto him. Picking off the mouse by his neck fur, Greyson tossed him to the end of the bed. Feeling that it was enough, he rolled to the side and let out the two from underneath him. Lying on his back, Greyson just wistfully sighed. "Hm? Did something happen at the selection thing earlier?" Catching the hidden nuances to that sigh, Lucius turned to look at Greyson. "Nothing..." "Oh, I must have been mistaken, then." Easily ignoring the subject, Lucius started licking to smooth out his fur. "Well, if you must know, I just miss my family. Humans are harder to be around." Although he was irked by the lack of concern, Greyson decided to just say it himself. "You''re only realizing that now? I hate humans the most. Elves are a close second, though." Lucius just rolled his eyes unsympathetically. "Ouch. Thanks for that." "You aren''t human." "...I guess you''re right. When have you even met elves before?" "I have met one. Your good-for-nothing teacher." "You''re basing it just off of him?" "Well he claims to be some kind of idol back home, which means that the elves endorse someone with his personality. How could they possibly be good?" "Hahahaha, I guess you''re right." Chuckling to himself, Greyson felt that his mood actually did get uplifted by the usual banter. His heart feeling lighter, he decided to take a short midday nap. The rest of the magic beasts all cozied up next to him and continued sleeping as before. ... As he quietly relaxed inside his room, he was completely unaware of the bomb he dropped on the rest of the people present during the exam. All the higher-ups yelled at their subordinates for not knowing about Greyson and ordered them to find out everything they could. By the end of the day, most of everyone in Lunar City knew of Greyson''s name and basic backstory. Hearing that he was an orphan from a poor background, almost all the magicians with powerful backgrounds wanted to lure Greyson over to their side with promises of resources and status. The Moon Empire was no exception to this, either. Princess Aphina and Tenth Prince Braiden Yce, who was the leader of the 10 onstage from earlier, ran to their uncle feeling indignant. "Uncle! How could you keep something like this a secret?! If you knew of his abilities beforehand, you should have tried to pull him into the imperial family. Now everyone knows and there will be fierce competition!" Shouting before she even got through the doors, Princess Aphina was obviously fuming. Walking inside the door, she spotted the familiar figure sitting at his desk. This man looked to be in around his 50s, with the signature black hair and blue-grey eyes of the Yce family. His unruly hair was haphazardly tied back with some string. His pitch-black hair was sprinkled with white and grey hair that marked his age. Wearing a rather grave expression, he gave off a stern and disciplinary aura. "What now?" His deep, almost melodic voice tiredly questioned. This niece of his never seemed to be capable of sitting still and keeping calm. "That boy! Greyson, the one with white hair that you mentioned has potential. What, ''has potential''? You make it sound like he''s just a little more talented than the rest. However, that''s a 15-year-old magister level stage five magician! Uncle, even some of the inner region countries do not have geniuses of this caliber!" Exasperated by her uncle''s nonchalance, Aphina could not help but try to emphasize the main point. Braiden also stood by her side and nodded along. Clearly, he was not the type to be as energetic and loud as his sister, but he agreed that his uncle was too careless this time. "Oh? Him? I guess he has gone through the first selection test for you all to be reacting like this. And? What''s the big deal?" "The big deal is that you obviously found out about him first but did not try to bring him under the imperial family and instead allowed this big fish to possibly end up in another person''s pond." "You act as if the other powers actually stand a chance if our empire were to truly compete for a person. Do they have more to offer than us?" He calmly replied. Stumped by her uncle''s words, Aphina could not retort back. It was true. Their empire was rather generous compared to others, but that did not translate into them not hoarding a least a majority of the better resources and riches. In the end, they were still the power in charge of the entire Snow Country. Who could win over them? "But still... we missed a golden chance to ask when people still did not know about him. Now it just looks like we are obviously insincerely approaching him just like everyone else." "Are we not insincerely approaching him? Do we not just want someone of his talent to work for us? So, what is the problem with openly acting with our true agenda upfront? If he was someone that we could bribe over with promises of riches and resources, then the way we approach is not important. However, if he is someone who does not like two-faced and dishonest people, then he might have a more straightforward and loyal personality. This would mean that he would most likely not join any other power and would just stay under the Idris Kingdom or the Aurora Academy. Plus, since he was able to make it to this point at his age, who''s to say that he would be tempted by any power in the Snow Country or even the entire outer region. Maybe he only sees himself as someone who will eventually go into the inner region or even further. Then, no matter what little tricks we try to play, it would all be for naught." "But..." Princess Aphina wanted to fight back, but she suddenly did not have the words to defend her argument anymore. "Alright, Aphina, it seems that we were too quick to make our judgments. Uncle obviously put a lot more thought into his actions than we assumed." Braiden pulled on his sister''s arm and stopped her from just quibbling. "Uncle, we will try our best to win him over. I think that with our means, it would not be too difficult to win him over." The older man did not reply to his nephew''s statement and just gave a small smile. ... The next day came rather quickly. His quick nap turned into a sleeping into the next morning. Shocked he could sleep so long; Greyson woke up feeling disoriented. Rapidly turning is head towards the window, he made sure to check the brightness outside. The sun had yet to fully rise. Holding his chest, he let out a breath of relief that he did not oversleep. Sliding lazily out of bed yawning, Greyson felt reluctant to leave due to the warmth of the blankets. Apparently, the second stage of the selection changes every time. Sometimes, it would be a straightforward tournament battle style. Other times, the competition would depend on more luck than actual power level. Greyson was looking forward to a switch up this time since just one-on-one battle was a little anti-climactic. During the first test, he did not particularly see anyone worth fighting. If this second stage of the selection just depended on personal power, then Greyson thought there would be no challenge in winning. Still feeling lethargic, Greyson used his water element to clean himself before pulling on brown pants and a loose white shirt. Tying on the leather string of his spatial necklace, he checked the inside to make sure he packed everything he could need. Worn-out leather boots were laced up and he was ready to go out. This time, a small mouse joined him on top of Greyson''s head. The other two wished to continue resting inside. Theo felt that he had rested enough and his curious nature had him wondering what the competition would look like. Greyson did not see any reason to deny him, so he agreed to bringing Theo along. Magic beasts are allowed as partners in fights. Taming one is due to skill, thus it is not seen as cheating. Having Zephyr fight with him was also an accepted form of assistance. Though, it would most likely not come down to Theo having to help him in a fight. His talents were geared more towards reconnaissance and spying with his small body and quickness. Traveling the familiar route towards the plaza once again, Greyson noticed a lot more eyes following his movements. Thankfully, they did not crowd towards him but just whispered amongst themselves while trying to subtly point towards him. By the time he arrived, the rest of the Idris Kingdom group already made their way over. Nicholas spotted him first and excitedly waved Greyson over, telling him to join them. Overhearing the tail end of their conversation, he realized that they were talking about him and the effects of yesterday''s events. Feeling awkward, Greyson decided to not make any comments and just quietly stand with them. Luckily, he arrived rather late, thus yesterday''s group of ten came out relatively quickly. The leader stepped out once again to make the announcement for the second stage. "This year''s second stage will be a little different from other years. As you all are aware, the Dead Woods border our Lunar City on the northwest side. Normally, it is populated with weaker magic beasts that do not go above the advanced level. However, our city''s great magisters went out and brought back hundreds of magister level beasts and even one great magister level stage one equivalent magic beast. Each of them is marked with a pendant. You all will go out into the woods and hunt down as many of the magic beasts as you can and collect their pendants. This competition allows for you guys to form teams to hunt down the magic beasts. However, you will have to figure out how to split them all between yourselves. As the pendants in the end will still be counted individually. As long as you do not kill the other participants, stealing and attacking is allowed. Do not think you can get away with secretly killing, though. Throughout the woods, the empire has stationed many secret lookouts whether human or magic beast. That is all. We will give you a couple minutes to organize yourselves before heading out as a group." All the participants started to split up and find their friends. A select few did not move and seemed to have decided to work alone during this second stage. Greyson was among those select few. The others from the Idris Kingdom invited him to join them, but he felt that he would only be held back by them and politely declined. 145 Dead Woods Following the lead of Braiden, the rest of the participants quickly made their way to the closest edge of the woods from Lunar City. Like the rumors, the forest was made up of completely leafless, white wood trees. Locals named these White Witches. While some of the trees were pitch black in color, named Black Night trees. In a way, the aesthetic of the forest was beautiful. Yet, at the same time, it was eerie and foreboding. The most dangerous part were these trees actually. The branches of the white trees grew sharp branches that could cut a person if they did not walk and dodge cautiously. While Black Night wood contains a naturally produced paralyzing poison which would leave people stranded in a forest in the freezing weather with no way to call for help or move. These victims would either die slowly or get eaten by the magic beasts who live in the woods. White Witch wood was also known for its sturdy yet lightweight characteristics which make it a prime material to make arrows. This commodity allowed the Snow Country to create some trade routes with the Elf Empire. Black Night wood is does not have a real aboveboard marketability, however, the black market is always teeming with this wood. It is the main ingredient in lots of poisons and even poisonous weapons making. Generally, only a small group of magic beasts lived in these woods as they were able to resist against the harsh conditions. However, this place was now teeming with captured magic beasts. If a participant was lucky, they could come across an already dead magic beast as there was no rule stating that the magic beasts could not fight and kill one another. Also, if their previous habitat was nothing like the Dead Woods, they might not be able to persist in such conditions. Looking at the environment, Greyson did think it was an ideal place to choose for an exam. Without the usual leaves and dense coverage of a thriving forest, the space felt more open and would be harder for any magic beast to hide itself. However, magic beasts would not just lie in wait to be killed. If someone tried fighting and chasing one down, they would also have to pay attention and be wary of the branches surrounding them. It''s a game of dodging while hunting. Actually, Greyson did not feel too much fear towards such circumstances. It was not blind confidence, either. When he activated his dragon bloodline, it was very hard even for the White Witch wood to cut him. His light element would also be able to help him ward off the effects of the Black Night poison. The only problem was that it was hard to maintain such states. Therefore, he decided he would hunt in spurts and would find a relatively open space to take a break. Compared to others, he already had enough advantages. Wasting them all by just charging in recklessly would just be ridiculous. "Alright! It is right about time to start the test. At this time in three days, the test will end. I expect you all to be punctual. Those who arrive late will not have their accomplishments counted and will be automatically forfeiting this competition. I would recommend getting all your hunting done the night before so you can comfortably arrive before the time limit. That is all." Braiden kept an expressionless, straight face as he spoke. Looking to the side, he nodded as a gesture to signal the person standing in front of the bell. Saluting, the man swung the rope and a long, loud clang resounded throughout silencing the group. Afterwards, it was like slight chaos broke out. Everyone pulled on their groups members and scrambled into the woods hoping to quickly find magic beasts. Greyson looked on calmly as he approached at his own pace. Not too long after, he heard some cries and shrieks of pain coming from the people rushing in unprepared. Tsking, Greyson did not understand why these people rushed in if they had no understanding of the Dead Woods. Circling around the White Witch tree in front of him, Greyson decided to test it. Lifting his finger, white scales popped up on the skin and his nail grew longer, sharper, and curved into a talon. Pressing his finger onto the tip of a branch, the scales remained undamaged, but Greyson could feel the sharpness. If he did not have the scales, the branch could just stab right through his finger if he was not careful. Finding it shocking, Greyson''s eyes actually lit up with happiness. Flipping his hand, Genesis appeared in his palm. With one clean slash powered by the wind element, his sword sliced right through the trunk. Touching his necklace onto the now-cut tree, Greyson collected the wood. Repeating these steps, not just with the White Witch trees but also the Black Night trees, he continued hoarding a decent amount of materials. Although he could not do it right this moment, having such great arrow-making materials would be useful for later. I mean, the Moon Empire is basically allowing us to stay here for three days with no restrictions. Leaving without these expensive and rare materials is like wasting their goodwill, no? "Hehe, Greyson, you are more wicked than you look. Obviously, all the other participants are probably too busy working to find magic beasts to try to cut down trees and collect materials. That''s why there are no rules against it." Theo chuckled happily from atop Greyson''s head while he watched his friend''s actions. "It''s an oversight on their part. It''s not my fault." Shrugging, Greyson did not put much thought into it. They could not really penalize him, at least not publicly. Just then, Theo''s ears twitched slightly and looked towards the right. "What is it?" Sensing the movement, Greyson also turned to look but there was nothing in sight. "A friend!" Smiling, Theo hopped off Greyson''s head onto the ground and bounded away in the snow. Greyson was only able to keep track of him due to his golden fur that contrasted against the white snow. Afterwards, Theo suddenly stopped and made some squeaking noises. From within the snow, a cute small white head of fur popped out. It was another mouse, a Snowfur. These Snowfur mice were rather low-level beasts that were weak and really only useful for their cute looks. However, there small size and white fur allowed them to peacefully exist within these Dead Woods and they thrive due to the small number of predators. A little conversation ensued between the two small magic beasts. Almost like old friends, they were happily squeaking away with each other. Feeling slightly impatient, Greyson cleared his throat as if to remind Theo of his presence. "Ah! Grey, my buddy here said he can lead us to the magic beasts that recently arrived!" "Really, why would he do that? Doesn''t he know I will kill them." "Hehe, we mice are normally closer to the bottom of the food chain unless our bloodline and talent level is fairly high. Coexisting so peacefully with the other native magic beasts was a very lucky situation for a weak race like the Snowfur Mice. The recent arrivals are mostly all strong predators and the mice are the ones suffering the most damage." Theo was not surprised at all that this mouse decided to help them out. "He said that?" "It''s a she. And not in so many words, but that''s pretty much the gist of the stuff she conveyed. After all, her intelligence is not that high. She just knows her friends and tribe members are dying and new predators are lurking in the forest." "Okay, well, tell her to lead the way!" With no other alternate plans, Greyson did not see the harm in trusting this little mouse. As it turned out, he made the correct decision. Though the power levels of the magic beasts were not consistent, this Snowfur Mouse led to Greyson to around a mix of 20 different magic beasts. Some of them were even dead and he caught the dead magic beast along with the scavengers eating the corpse. The highest was equivalent to a magister level stage four magician while the rest were a mix of stage three and below. Killing them and grabbing the pendant was one thing, but he was also glad that he could collect the bodies as well. Later on, he could sell the fur, magic cores, and other materials. Grinning contently about his future earnings, Greyson decided to find a relatively open space to recover his energy. The Snowfur Mouse, originally nicknamed by Greyson as Little White, was named Holly in the end by Theo who could not help but scorn Greyson''s naming sense. She stayed with them happily as she watched the number of threats continuing going down. As Greyson meditated, Holly and Theo kept guard. Before long, Greyson started again. The first day passed rather quickly and uneventfully. He dropped into a search, find, and kill routine. With Holly helping them, Theo and Greyson quickly collected almost 50 with even two magister level stage five magic beasts mixed in. Those two were a difficult kill on Greyson''s part. Working as a pair, the two were Nilhir Apes. Their thick fur would absorb the power of impacts and was also extremely durable against sharp weapons. They were actually earth element beasts and at a slight magical disadvantage in the Dead Woods, however, they mostly attacked in a close combat style while taking advantage of their natural physical strength and tremendous stamina. Completely ignoring the trees, the Apes eventually went berserk in that moment of do or die against Greyson. Exploding with unexpected power, Greyson was rather injured during their last-ditch retaliation. The situation would have been worse if Theo had not jumped in and quickly pulled Greyson to dodge using his lightning element movement magic. Holding his side, he groaned in pain. Moving his limbs slightly, he could tell that a couple ribs were fractures. The rest of his body was covered in bruises, but nothing more than skin deep. His scales could take the credit for him receiving the minimum amount of damage from a direct attack. Theo was also injured and his were much more serious. Gently holding the mouse to make sure to not aggravate the injuries, Greyson stopped using his dragon bloodline and began to use light magic to heal the both of them. In his dragon form, his magic was weaker and he could not access the normal seven elements, but his physical body was many times sturdier. During this moment of vulnerability, he was not paying close attention to his surroundings. Holly''s ears twitched as she could feel the vibrations of the ground that signaled the presence of another group. Squeaking loudly, she ran over to Greyson to warn him. Surprised by the noise, Greyson looked over at Holly only in time to watch as an attack rained down on both of them. "Holly! Watch out!" Before those words even came out of his mouth, he was already trying to set up an ice shield around himself and the mouse still a couple meters away. The shield went up in time, but the two balls made of wind and fire slammed into the shields and exploded. Not strong enough, the ice burst into pieces and Greyson and Holly were both catapulted backwards by the impact. Still tightly holding Theo, Greyson knew what kind of trees were behind him so he shifted his body to the left. Gasping out in pain, his right shoulder, torso, and thigh were stabbed right through by the branch of a White Witch tree. Breathing hitched, he tried to regain his bearings and look around for the enemy. Clenching his jaw and squeezing his eyes shut, Greyson pulled his body off the tree. Unable to contain a yelp of pain, he exhaled a shaky breath and held back the tears. Bleeding profusely, Greyson quickly activated his light element to start healing the wounds. Turning to his right, he managed to spot Holly on the ground. Limping over, he went to heal her as well. Thankfully, he could tell she managed to miss any of the sharp branches. However, the moment he picked her up, the color drained from his face. The still warm body was completely limp in his hands. Almost instantly, he knew that Holly''s weak body could not handle the explosion''s power and the bones in her body were broken. The tears he managed to hold back earlier fell one by one. Sadness turned to resentment as he jerked around to gaze closely at his surroundings. Tucking Theo away in his pockets, he prepared for battle. He could not understand why they were still hiding instead of attacking while he was injured, but he did not have the leisure to think through the possibilities. Frustrated with his inability to see, Greyson took one look at his wounds before deciding to activate his dragon bloodline. His healing barely started, the wounds started to bleed once again. Breathing deeply, his now purple eyes glared at four different spots. The scent was caught. Rapidly, he brought out his bow and nocked four arrows. Seemingly noticing the change in his behavior, more wind and fire balls flew at him while the snow grabbed at his ankles. Knowing they were trying to throw off his rhythm, Greyson jumped up to quickly dodge. Within the small pause between spells, the four arrows flew out like bolts of lightning. He really wanted to see what kind of people were sneak attacking him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. 146 Unexpected The four arrows shot out towards their targets in the blink of an eye. One of the attackers managed to dodge with what looked like wind element magic, however, the other three were all hit by the arrows. Nowhere critical, the wounds themselves would not cause much damage. Of course, Greyson also laced it with the lightning element spell, Paralyze. Unlike the initial power from when he was just starting out, this spell packed a much larger punch. When the arrowheads stabbed into their targets, a bright purple spark of lighting exploded and brought the three victims to the ground. Unable to hold in a shout of pain, the voices allowed Greyson to confirm they were all male. Convulsing uncontrollably, they were not able to escape from the approaching Greyson. Sure that those three were not going anywhere, Greyson tried to track the fourth person. Against his expectations, the last person did not bother staying a second longer. The moment Greyson counterattacked, that assailant dodged and ran away directly. Disliking loose ends, Greyson got ready to chase, but his wounds debilitated him before he could. Holding his side, he could feel the blood gushing once again and he himself spat some red blood staining the white snow beneath his feet. Unreconciled, he knew there was nothing he could do about it. Grunting in pain, he brought himself over to the three he did catch. Not bothering with their other restraints and the like, he just tore of their masks. However, instead of gaining insight, he was only further thrown into confusion. The only reason these faces were not completely unfamiliar to him was because Greyson had a great memory. He remembered what all the participants this time looked like, so he knew that these three were really participants. Other than this information, though, he did not have a clue as to why they would target him. Did they somehow know of his high number of tokens? But even then, it would be seriously risky for them to act against him. Although they had the element of surprise, when Greyson focused on feelings their levels, he realized they were all just magister level stage one and two magicians. Even if he was being slightly arrogant, there should not be any participant who does not know his name and level at this point. Maybe they were just that dumb? That they thought they could bridge the gap with just surprise. "Why did you target me?" Sitting down, Greyson began to heal himself with his light element. At the same time, he kept the three of them locked in a light cage. Those three had already started shaking off the effects of Paralyze, so Greyson knew they were capable of answering him. "Money." Surprisingly quick to answer, the men did not try to hide anything. "Just money? You do realize I could have accidently seriously injured you, right? As self-defense, I doubt I would be penalized that harshly if at all. Your levels are so low and you should be aware that I am at the fifth stage. If you aren''t idiots, then what are you? Just because you got the jump on me does not mean that I could not still beat weaklings like you all down." Complete disbelief written on his face; Greyson continued to interrogate while not forgetting to mock them a little. He knew it was slightly immature, but he was truly angry and frustrated. Although he only knew Holly for a short amount of time, the cute little mouse was harmless and truly helpful to him. If she really died for such stupid reasons by these weak, unimportant people, it would feel like such an injustice. "What do you know?!" Obviously triggered by the ridicule, one of the men quickly shouted out indignantly. "Well, I don''t know. I don''t know you at all. I don''t know your names or where you''re from and I have not spoken a single word to any of you this entire time. If you were so randomly attacked by such people, wouldn''t you feel like this situation is fairly ridiculous? None of this makes logical sense to me right now." "Hmph! Someone of your position might not understand what we feel like. That man hired us with a lot of money and promised us that his family would back us up later. You would not understand what it is like for us coming from no-name poor families. Yes, it was just money in your eyes, but to us it was a chance to buy ourselves the resources we need and create powerful connections. Plus, he had stealth talismans with him that would hide us while we attacked. This way, as long as we hid, we could continue attacking in the dark. Waiting for a moment when you let your guard down and having this advantage, we did truly believe that we could beat you! Who knows what strange method you used to actually find our positions." Truly feeling wronged, the man continued speaking out. Stealth talismans? Greyson knew that powerful dark element magicians could create those and would help ordinary people seemingly disappear into the shadows. Unless the difference in power is too large, most people cannot sense those with them. As he had used natural sense of smell and instinct from his dragon form, they could not hide themselves. The stealth was more for the majority of magicians who only use mana to check their surroudnings instead of their own senses and instincts. From what he understood, those were certainly not cheap items. As for their feelings, he realized they did not know he probably came from a poorer background then themselves. He definitely would not mention these things, though, because he does not pity himself and it''s not like he was one to go around complaining about his humble start. Obviously, he succeeded anyways. Which was why he did not feel any sympathy for this group of boys in front of him. "Who was it?" "I just know that he was a male. He did not say his identity and he wore a mask when he spoke with us."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "And you trusted him? You said that he promised his family would support you, but you do not even know the name of said family. After you succeeded in attacking me, if he just ran off what would you do? There is no name left behind to go settle accounts with. Plus, from the initial attack, you guys seemed out for my life. We have no way of knowing who is watching, yet you want to kill me? How do you know that your actions would not get discovered and then punished? What a happy life you must live with such trust in strangers." Sneering with derision, Greyson already realized that these three were useless. The one who escaped was the most important. Although he was not one to care about their lives, he felt it incumbent that someone give them a clean slap on the face. At the rate they were going, they would die without realizing how. All that he knew at this point was that the person was a male and that he could use at least the wind element. Greyson could not leave out the possibility of the attacker being a multi-element magician. Some of the people who he actually knew that fit the categories were Sebastien Yce and Quinn Ventus. However, both of those had never revealed any serious hostility to this point. Maybe they were just that well-hidden? Sebastien did show some dislike and maybe even jealousy, but it did not feel like their conflict was to the point of wanting to attack and kill each other. Lucius had mentioned that he spotted Quinn watching him before. Only, it was more of an observing type focus than a secret murderous glare. Since everything was just an assumption on his part, Greyson knew that all his guessing would get him nowhere. In the midst of Greyson''s deep thoughts, the three captives were also shocked awake by those words. That''s right. How were they going to get the money and the promised help if they had no idea who the person was? In truth, they did not even get the money yet because they were worried if they sounded too picky that the man would just find new people. But at this point, they were too embarrassed to say this out loud. They were so desperate that they ignored any shady signs from the man. Now, they were suffering the consequences while that man''s identity was still a mystery and Greyson would not be able to get any revenge. In the end, they were the only ones who suffered. Disgruntled after coming to this thought, they all cursed the man in their heads violently. But more than their hate for the man, they were worried about what Greyson would do to them now. After all, they had to survive this moment or all other thoughts would be pointless. "Well, looking at your expressions, it seems you understand. I''m not going to kill you. You should live your lives a little smarter next time." After saying this, the light element cages around them faded away. Greyson really did not have any intention of killing them. Not because he had such a broad mind and could let bygones be bygones, but more so because it would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble if he so blatantly broke the rules of this stage. He had no methods to hide away his actions from the watching eyes around, so they would definitely find out if he killed them right now. Not completely sure of the attitude of the Moon Empire towards him, he could still end up getting harshly punished or even lose his ability to participate. There might not be that much special treatment towards talented people of interest. More than this immediate satisfaction of getting rid of these guys, he had to keep his focus on his original goal for coming to participate in this selection. Surprised by the sudden turn of events, the three young men just sat on the ground in disbelief without moving. When the reality of the situation hit, they finally fumbled around as they stood up with slight pain. Looking up at Greyson with gratefulness and admiration, they were impressed by Greyson''s generosity. At just a glance, Greyson could tell what their thoughts were and inwardly felt slightly embarrassed by the misunderstanding. 147 End of the Second Stage Watching the three bodies running away, Greyson still felt upset in his heart. However, there was nothing more he could do without getting into more trouble. Mostly, it was knowing he was still being targeted in the dark by someone that left a sour taste in his mouth. Although the talk was not long, his healing spell worked through around most of the wound on his abdomen. His shoulder and leg stab wound were less serious so he still had not focused any mana to fix them specifically. After all, healing spells were extremely helpful but not miracle workers. If all deep wounds could be healed so quickly then light element magicians would be almost impossible to kill compared to other element magicians.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Finding his progress too slow, Greyson got up and drew a simple mana gathering array and sat in the middle. Pulling Theo out of his pocket, he started the array. Greyson focused wholeheartedly on healing the two of them while the array helped him gather mana. Thankfully, most of the magic beasts in the Dead Woods were weak except for the ones specially placed by the Moon Empire. So, while Greyson and Theo were focused on healing, no magic beasts came to bother them. One night passed before the spell finally halted. Completely healed, both man and mouse were ready to start on their journey once more. It was only the afternoon of the second day; thus, they still had a lot of time to continue hunting. They did not leave right away, and went over to Holly first. Learning of his friend''s death, Theo was devastated and blamed himself for involving her. When he reached the body, his eyes teared a little and he said a few words in her language before started to burrow into the ground. Once the hole was deep enough, Greyson gently placed Holly inside and Theo buried her. Taking a moment of silence in respect, both of them reluctantly left after looking back at the ground multiple times. Depressed by the turn of events, Theo was not as lively. He still helped Greyson communicate with the native magic beasts, but he would only ask for directions instead of allowing them to follow. They did not want a second tragedy. Without someone directly leading them, their progress was definitely slower. However, Greyson still believed that he was making great progress compared to the rest who were blindly searching. Lucky enough, he managed to find three more magister level stage five magic beasts. This time, they were all separated which allowed him to deal with them rather quickly. When the third day came to an end, Greyson collected 77 tokens. The largest percentage of them were either equivalent to stage one or stage two magister level magic beasts. A decent amount of them were higher. Since it was night time and he would have to return by around 9 in the morning the next day, Greyson decided to just rest and stop hunting. Satisfied with his results, he did not believe that more tokens were necessary. The first basic selection test eliminated around a quarter of those who came to participate. Those were mostly the people who did not meet the age limits. In the second selection, Greyson counted around 130 participants. With only the couple hundred magic beasts placed in this forest, 77 tokens were without a doubt a high number. Although he kept his guard up, there were no other attacks throughout the rest of the time limit. He did not assume that this meant it was over. Instead, he knew there were still many chances to come if the person was really stubborn. Greyson reminded himself to keep his eyes open for other wind element magicians who are participating. In the coming portion of the selection, there should be some more direct fighting this time, so he would be able to directly observe everyone using their magic. "Haah..." he sighed, "in the end, being the one in the open while the enemy is in the dark is such a disadvantaged position. I''m the one who feels stressed and on edge looking out for threats from unknown sources and, if I let my guard down, I could be attacked at that moment." Greyson truly did feel tired. It was more psychological exhaustion than anything. The faster he could return to his room, the faster he could get decent rest. He would be a lot less worried with Lucius around to keep watch for him. Thinking of his partner, he had to admit feeling envious. Lucius told him about going to the homeland for Destiny Cats. While he was there, the tribe leader helped him level up faster before leaving. Now, Lucius was a bonafide great magister level magic beast. Though he was still stage one, it was still large leap. Plus, he had a new method of meditation specific to Destiny Cats that tapped into their bloodline potential which would speed up his subsequent progress. From living in the Snow Dragon Tribe, Greyson knew that this was not a rare occurrence. Each higher bloodline magic beasts had their own special ways of meditation and practice that would speed up their progress. ... Inevitably, Greyson did not get too much truly restful sleep since he had to keep his guard up. Theo and he would switch places keeping watch. Theo was still slightly weak compared to Greyson, so Greyson could never truly place his heart down and sleep deeply. When the sun rose up in the sky, Greyson no longer wasted his time and began to head back to where he started. Taking a moderate pace, by the time he rolled around to the meeting place, around half of the participants had also come back. Judging from their smug looks, Greyson assumed that these must be all the ones confident enough in their results to return early. Everyone else was still desperately looking for that last couple of tokens before the time limit. Glancing around, he soon spotted the Yce siblings from the Idris Kingdom and Quinn waiting around. There were no signs of Ezra or Ignis, so he assumed they must still be hunting or on their way back. Although he included Sebastien and Quinn in his list of suspects, Greyson thought it would not be good of him to make it too obvious. Therefore, once he spotted them, he made his way over to wait with them. "Greyson! You''re back! How did your hunting go? Do you think you got enough?" Noticing Greyson heading towards them, Nicholas happily greeted him. He was not too loud, but the name Greyson still grabbed a lot of attention. The rest of the participants waiting turned their heads to look over at him. Scanning him up and down, they all stared as if hoping to somehow see how many tokens he had on his body. Feeling the hot gazes, Greyson felt awkward, but still stood confidently. No matter what, his results were impressive, so they could stare and guess all they wanted. "Not bad." He did not talk too big in fear of embarrassing himself later, but he did not lie either. "Oh, since it''s you saying that you must have really done decently." Shuffling a little closer, Nicholas looked extremely curious. "Are you sure you can''t give me a little hint?" "You''ll find out with everyone else. If I just announce it now, where is the fun in that?" Once those words left his mouth, Greyson started to wonder if his teacher''s propensity for flamboyance was rubbing off on him. The thought kind of frightened him inwardly, but it was true that he wanted to wait. More so because he was cautious about the results of the other participants in comparison to him. There was a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and Greyson wanted to make sure that he stayed on the side of self-confidence. "Hmm... fine." Pouting slightly, Nicholas did not take the rejection to heart. Greyson rejected for the same reason everyone else was not announcing their scores. No one here was stupid enough to think their results were the best before hearing comparisons. If someone acted cocky and announced their scores only to be slapped in the face later with higher results, they would just suffer even larger humiliation. "Hahaha, well I expected as much. No one would be dumb enough to say it now, right? I was just so curious..." "BAHAHAHA, this young master got 20 tokens. There is even one stage five in there! I will be taking the first-place title in this selection!" Swaggering in and interrupting Nicholas'' words, a participant loudly announced as he left the woods. From the obsequious looks of the group of followers, he looked the picture of some arrogant young heir. "Looks like you spoke to soon. There''s the idiot right there." Unable to contain himself, Greyson released a low chuckle. The timing of it all was just too perfect. "But still, 20 tokens? He has the right to be confident." Actually, Nicholas'' expression was not one of mocking but of surprise. Startled by this, Greyson took a look around and noticed that most of the expressions on people''s faces were darker. Only a select few were like Greyson and looked at the newcomer with disdain. It seems that 20 tokens are actually a great result? Thinking to himself, Greyson suddenly felt much more confident in his results. Grinning inwardly, he started looking forward to the coming ranking after everyone made it back. Most of the participants who have a competing chance were already back, the last stragglers afterwards came back looking disappointed and discouraged. It seems they were not able to get enough tokens. Ezra and Ignis were part of this bunch and did not look too happy with themselves. Noticing their moods, both Greyson and Nicholas did not say much to them and let them just brood in silence. Actually, before leaving, Braiden did not mention how the elimination would be determined. Who knew what the lower limit would be or if they would just cut everyone below a certain placing? However, just using intuition, everyone already had some guesses and feelings towards whether they would be eliminated or not. Soon, the ten from earlier arrived once again with Prince Braiden leading at the front. Braiden looked up at the sky and calculated in his head. After waiting a couple more minutes, he once again nodded his head towards the person standing in front of the bell. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Three loud dings of the bell echoed for a couple minutes before finally fading away. "Alright! The second test has come to an end! If there are some friends from your kingdom who are still not back, do not worry. Our soldiers will lead them out and back to the Lunar City and you will be able to meet up with them there. Now, it is time to count tokens. It is also at this time that I will announce that only the top 64 move on to the third selection. Everyone shall line up and hand their tokens in. The judges will count themselves and then the ranking shall be announced." Hearing his words, even more people''s expressions were downcast. 64? It was a little less than what Greyson expected, as well. Prince Braiden gestured for everyone to start lining up, however, unlike the first test, no one was too eager to be first. But it was inevitable that they would have to turn in their results, so everyone trudged forward slowly to get in line. Greyson was obviously not hesitant about his results so he ended up turning his tokens in very early. The results would not be announced one by one but instead they would count everyone''s tokens then announce the ranking. This would save some participant''s the embarrassment of their numbers being announced while they were there. Later, when the rankings are out, everyone would be too busy looking for their own standing to pay attention to other people''s results. Braiden was able to take an early look at the rankings and what he saw surprised him. Shock clear in his eyes, he could not help but glance over in Greyson''s direction. Sensing the gaze, Greyson also looked back at him and felt even more sure of himself. Everyone''s jittery tension was palpable as they impatiently waited for the results to be recorded. Soon, a magic tool was used and a board became apparent in the eyes of everyone. From the top left number one position to the bottom right last place, everyone quickly realized these were the rankings and wildly searched for their names. Greyson found his name almost instantly and a proud smile won a spot on his face. 148 An Old Friend In big bold letters, the top three names stood out from the rest. Right there at number one read: First Place: Greyson (Idris Kingdom) - 77 tokens Although he already suspected as such from all the telling signs, it was still gratifying to read his name in the number one spot. Just out of curiosity, he read down the list to try to find the other Idris Kingdom team participants. On the way down, he took note of the top nine below him since they would most likely be his fiercest competitors throughout the rest of the selection. After all, collecting tokens also required a certain amount of strength.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Second Place: Kane Zemunol (Kirin Kingdom) - 43 tokens Third Place: Eris Whitstone (Maewen Kingdom) - 36 tokens ... Eleventh Place: Wilfried Yce (Kirin Kingdom) - 20 tokens When he saw someone with 20 tokens, his first thought was that idiot from earlier who announced that he would win. Actually, there were also some people who tied with him at 20 tokens, but he was the highest as it was marked that he had one magister level stage five magic beast token. His name was Wilfried Yce, so it seems that he was part of the royal family in that Tier One Kingdom. Ignoring the rest of the names, Greyson continued looking down the list until he finally spotted a familiar person. Twentieth Place: Palmira Yce (Idris Kingdom) - 17 tokens She was the highest due to the quality of her tokens, as well. Some of the placements seemed slightly strange because people in lower placements could have fairly amounts of tokens. However, they could not rank higher since all their tokens were from weaker magic beasts which makes their results less impressive. Greyson thought this type of system was better, otherwise it would really be too unfair towards the stronger contestants who just ended up never finding a lot of magic beasts. Considering her strength, Greyson believed that she actually did very well. Maybe it was mostly due to luck, since there were definitely more than 20 people who were stronger than Palmira here. He kept going down further, but he did not see any other names from the Idris Kingdom in the top 64 places. This result did not come as a complete surprise since the top 64 should be all the stage four and stage five magister level magicians who were participating. The weeding out process had already started and it seems that this was the end of the road for the rest of the participants. In the end, they were truly too weak to be considered for the true selection. Surprisingly enough, when he was scanning the list, he saw a participant from the Dalia Kingdom who actually placed 30th. The name was one that he was extremely familiar with. Her name was Leilena Holland! It seemed to be too much of a coincidence to be a different person, so he was certain that this was the same Head Teacher of the Wind Department from the Dalia Academy. His first wind element teacher! Was she below the age limit? Actually, during his time learning from them, Greyson never managed to ask them what their actual ages and levels were. Once he saw her name, he started scanning the crowd hoping to spot her light pink curls in the group. Frowning deeply, he did not see her anywhere. He was also surprised that he had not seen her at all before this and she had not made any effort to come see him, either. Slightly disheartened, he wondered if she did not want to see him. It had been more than 7 years since he last saw her. But that did not mean they were not close enough to greet each other. Feeling nostalgic, Greyson felt a desire to go back to visit his teachers and the church, as well. From the moment he left the Dalia Kingdom, he had never gone back to see how all his friends and family were doing. Actually, there were slight feelings of guilt because it felt as if he had just completely forgotten about them for so long. Maybe that was why his teacher did not come to him? Did she think that he had forgotten about them? Meanwhile, the rest of the participants all had delayed reactions to the top placings. Once the rankings were revealed, everyone was too busy trying to find their own names that they completely ignored who was at the top or not. However, amidst the sighs of relief and the ugly expressions of grief, there were a couple unwilling glares that made their way to Greyson. Too fixed in his thoughts, Greyson did not sense them. And even he did, he would not care about their feelings of ill will. It was inevitable that people would feel disgruntled about him being first place. Before long, everyone finally noticed Greyson''s 77 tokens and a commotion broke out. Winning was not that big a deal since everyone was already aware of his level of power, however, the fact that he won by such a large margin came as a surprise. Putting strength aside, just how much luck would one need to be able to run into 77 magic beasts in only 3 days'' time. It was not as if the Dead Woods was a small concentrated area, that one could run into a magic beast every couple of steps. The hit was too strong as some people really felt that the world was so unjust. Good-looking, talented, and lucky. Some of the people who looked up his background could only comfort themselves with the fact that Greyson was just an orphan. At least, he was not given everything at birth. One especially resentful glare focused in on Greyson. This time, Greyson could not ignore the malicious intent and turned to look at the source. Not turning away his vision, the man did not seem at all fazed by the fact that he was caught. It was a young man with brown hair and hazel eyes. Someone who would not really stand out in a crowd. Not recognizing the man, Greyson just took note of him before quickly looking away. Treated so nonchalantly made the young man''s temper flare even more, but he did not say anything and continued simmering silently in anger. "Alright, I will now announce the prizes for the top three. First place will receive a Two-Star Healing Potion straight from our Lunar City''s top alchemists. Second place will receive his choice of a White Witch wood or a Black Night wood. Third place receives a Tier Two Wind Escape Talisman." Once the crowd began to quiet down on its own, Braiden started to speak. As it was still the second stage of the selection, the prizes did not cause too much excitement. Especially for Greyson since a Two-Star Healing Potion would have an even weaker effect that his own light element healing spells. The star rating refers to the efficacy of the potion and to what level magician the potion is most potent for. The same could be said about the tier rating for talismans, magic tools, and arrays. The mana-gathering array that Greyson used thus far was only a tier two mana-gathering array. Therefore, its efficacy was also becoming insufficient for Greyson level. "Thank you to those who have come all this way to participate. Even if you did not make it into the top 64 rankings, we still invite you to stay until the entire selection process is over. You are welcome to stay in your current accommodations until the end. As for those who are moving forward, I will now announce the arrangement for the third test. Not too long ago, our military managed to discover a two-star dungeon. Our magicians have already long cleared the dungeon and reaped the rewards; however, the challenges and tests are still in place. A great magister magician has already placed wooden tokens that have a number marked on it in the space before the exit. The first person to make it to the end will grab the wood token marked with a "1" and so on and so forth. We are not responsible for you making it out because we have no way to take control of a dungeon; thus, the threat of death is still very real and possible. If you choose to forfeit, there are no consequences. This time only the top 32 will make it to the last stage of the selection. We will be meeting in Lunar City''s imperial palace as all the participants will have to use a teleportation circle to get to the dungeon location. Since we are the planners of this test, the participants will be able to use it for free. If some of you want to come along for the excitement, you will have to pay the teleportation fee. After all, we are not running a charity and I assume most of you can afford it." Hearing the word dungeon, Greyson could not help but perk up a little to pay attention. It seems that the Moon Empire really did put some thought into these stages. Each dungeon had its own special type of challenges and tests to continue through. This dungeon would also assess more than just strength just like the other ones. Though, Greyson had a feeling the last stage afterwards will be the normal tournament-style battles. The real outer region tournament ended the same way, as well. Most felt that the best way to rank power and talent was still through straightforward battling. Not that Greyson disagreed, it was just slightly boring to always be competing in the same ways. Now that the announcements and results were done, everyone was free to head back to Lunar City. Some could follow Braiden, while other could go back faster if they had different means. Greyson was one of those who went ahead since he already remembered the route. When he felt that he was far enough away from the crowd, Greyson released Zephyr and rode on his back. With his partner''s speed, they made it back to the city in record time. When Greyson finally rushed back into his cozy room, he saw Lucius trying to beat off the clingy Snow. Already feeling his eyes drooping, Greyson barely got his boots off before hopping into the bed. "Hey, Old Lu, keep watch for me. Can you make sure no one bothers me for a couple hours? I am way too tired." Yawning, Greyson murmured those words over to Lucius knowing that the cat could still hear him. After reaching a zone that felt "safe" to him, it was like the concerns that were constantly weighing on his mind were released and he could just let himself relax. "Hey, I''m not a watchdog... And you''re sleeping..." At first, Lucius wanted to protest, but Greyson almost immediately passed out. Huffing in irritation, he still decided to be the bigger cat and help the kid out. "Snow, you keep watch. I am going to take a nap." "Okay!" Innocently nodding, Snow did not see any reason to reject. She had lots of energy to spare anyways. "Hmmm... it is nice that he picked up a couple more. Now, I can just relegate duties." Happily grinning, Lucius suddenly felt that it was not so bad having the extra company. 149 Teaming Up As any young cub would, Snow quickly forgot her duties and tried to entertain herself while fidgeting around. Luckily, no one decided to come bother Greyson during this time. This time, Greyson was able to sleep the entire day through until the next morning. Once the sun peaked in through the window, he was roused from sleep and slowly got out of bed. Yawning, he stretched out feeling his muscles loosen. Rubbing his eyes a little before opening them, Greyson felt super refreshed after a long night''s rest. He cracked the window open and looked outside. The room he was staying in was rather elevated and had a good view of the rest of the city. Today, his vision felt clearer as he breathed in deeply and smelled the distinctly fresh morning air. Mouth-watering scents of the restaurant nearby also wafted over. Stomach growling loudly in response, Greyson quickly made the decision to head out for breakfast. Pulling on his pants and throwing on a loose blue cotton shirt, he grabbed his brown cloak and quickly tied the laces on his boots. "Hey, you three, if you want food, you better get up now. Otherwise, you''ll just have to starve this morning." Shouting behind him as he left, Greyson did not bother waiting around. Like magic, all the ears of the animals lifted up. Food? No longer feeling sleepy, all of them jumped up in response to quickly chase after Greyson. Before long, Greyson could feel the familiar sensation of them crawling up his body. Theo took his spot on Greyson''s head while the other two hopped up onto Greyson''s shoulders. Eyebrow twitching slightly, Greyson did not make any comment and just let them be. After living with them for so long now, his skin had grown much thicker. With a slight skip in his step, he eagerly walked down the cobble road leading out of the imperial palace into the city. The restaurant was right outside the gate so it did not take long before Greyson arrived. Pushing the doors open, he sat down at one of the empty tables and ordered some food for all of them. Just hearing the chopping from the cutting board and pleasing sounds of stew boiling, Greyson and the animals grew in anticipation. This early in the morning, there were less patrons than usual since most people would eat breakfast at home, so Greyson''s wait was not long. A slew of dishes was placed in front of him. Without further ado, all of them dug in heartily. "Hmph, who is this country bumpkin? Ruining my appetite so early in the morning. Even sharing his table with animals, how vulgar." A loud sneer echoed across the room. Interrupted in the middle of his meal, Greyson glanced over just out of curiosity. He was greeted with the arrogant and disdainful expression of some middle-aged woman. Looking opulent and slightly overweight, she was the picture of a wealthy madam. Rolling his eyes and inwardly shrugging, he just ignored her. Anyways, her words were not really incorrect. So what? He was a country bumpkin who ate with magic beasts. It''s not like her insults really mean anything to him. Obviously surprised that the boy just looked over once without reacting, the woman felt slightly unfulfilled. If Greyson knew her feelings, he would definitely feel that she had a screw loose. She wanted to continue, but the insults were all swallowed back. If she continued speaking out, then it would be truly against etiquette. "Really~? Seeing them eating so happily just makes me want to join them and eat this restaurant''s food." A voice defended Greyson. Finding the speaker''s voice and tone so familiar, Greyson looked up from his food to check. To his surprise, it really was someone he recognized, Teacher Leilena! Almost bursting from his seat, Greyson''s face lit up with excitement. Although her hair was now a dark blue, her face was exactly the same as before. "And who are you?" Knowing those words were directed at her, the woman sniffed contemptuously. "Just a friendly bystander who felt your words were incorrect." "Well, if such crass behavior builds up an appetite for you, then I truly must question your upbringing." "Which upbringing of yours taught you to loudly complain and insult innocent people minding their own business?" Not giving an inch, Leilena did not get angry, but continued talking back. "You!" "Me, what?" "Hmph! If I knew this restaurant was so low-class, I would have never come in the first place." Almost spitting the words low class, the woman jumped up from her seat and walked out in a fit of anger. Watching this, Leilena just sneered at image of her disappearing back before turning around towards Greyson. Smiling awkwardly, she seemed to be at a loss for words for once. "Hey~ Grey Grey. You''ve grown so big now I could hardly recognize you!" "And you''ve changed your hair." He teased back. However, unexpectedly, Leilena''s expression grew ugly for a split second before she managed a forced smile. "Hm? This? Yeah..." Finding the atmosphere growing more uncomfortable, Greyson tried to change the topic. "You are participating in the selection, right? I saw your name before on the list! At first, I thought it was someone else. I did not realize that you were under the age limit. How is everyone back at the academy? Are all the Head Teachers doing well? Actually, after I saw your name, it made me really want to go back and see everyone." Even surprising himself, he proactively asked a bunch of questions. "Ohhhhh..." Narrowing her eyes dangerously, Leilena looked over at Greyson. "Grey Grey, are you trying to tell me I''m old-looking?" "Huh?" Taken aback, Greyson finally realized his blunder. "No, of course not! I just respected you as a teacher along with the rest so I just treated you as an elder in my heart. Just going off physical appearance, you could be my sister." "Hmmmmm... well I guess I''ll let that comment slide." Winking playfully, Leilena showed she was not truly upset. "Actually, I''m not quite sure how everyone is doing right now. You see, I left pretty soon after you." Visibly downcast, Leilena expression rapidly changed after she spoke. She seemed reluctant to bring up this topic. "What? Why did you leave?" "It has to do with this hair of mine, too. You did not know, but I was actually an orphan, too. But I was dropped off at the doorstep of the Holland family home. The Master and Madam there were kind people and decided to adopt me. Although not the richest or most powerful, my adoptive father was the Head Knight in charge of the city''s defenses. My parents provided me with everything possible and did not hold things back due to my status as an adopted child. They treated just like their biological children. And that was how I grew up: loved and happy. However, soon after you left, a group of people came to my home claiming that I was a child of their House, the House of Roland from this very Lunar City. The Roland family is a top tier aristocratic family and the current Master and my biological father is the Royal Advisor to the Emperor. It''s a common story, really. This man had an affair with a maid and the maid ran away while pregnant with an illegitimate child. I''m not sure why she ran, and I guess I will probably never find out. Somehow, the man finally discovered this and went searching for the child. Not for any grand reasons such as love or responsibility, but because he did not want their precious bloodline to be tainted. I was forced to start from the very beginning. Learning etiquette: how to talk, how to walk, how to dress, and how to eat. I started using the family methods of meditation which cause my hair to turn the same navy blue as everyone else in the Roland family." Uncharacteristically serious and grim, Leilena recounted the story as if it were not her own. "You don''t like them?" Although it seemed rather obvious, Greyson still asked. "Like them? It would be good if I didn''t hate them. Why do you think I participated in this stupid selection with my original surname and kingdom? I loathe to be bunched together with the Roland family. That man is not even half the father that my adoptive one is. Most of time, I am just locked up within the mansion. Too embarrassing to bring out, but also too important to just let wander." "You should come back with me! I have some connections in the Idris Kingdom and Beast Empire. If the Idris Kingdom is not far enough, the Beast Empire most definitely is!" "Ohhh, Grey Grey, you''ve become quite the man now, haven''t you? Hehehe, it''s okay. Your teacher is not so weak. Although the situation is rather troubling, there are still some positive sides. Like, what level do you think I am at now?" "Level? Magister level stage four?" "Stage four? Nope! I am a magister level stage five magician now! Hmph! They all look down your teacher. They''re just jealous of my beauty and talent~. I''m going to suck up all their resources and finances just you wait. They will regret bringing me back!" Almost returning to her previous self, Leilena jokingly bragged. "Stage five? Then, how did you get only thirtieth place?" "Of course, because I did not try hard. What benefits would I get other than the Roland family trying to claim all the credit and glory?" "Well then, this next round we should work together! Dungeons are usually explored in by groups, anyways. I bet everyone else will be teaming up to up their chances and speed." "Oh~ Teaming up with Mr. Genius? It would be my honor." In an exaggerated response, Leilena faked a look of awe. ... After they finished eating, both teacher and student headed towards the imperial palace''s open plaza. They knew everyone would meet there before heading towards the teleportation circle. After talking and catching up, Leilena was fascinated by Greyson''s experiences. Adventurous and playful by nature, she yearned to also go around travelling like Greyson. Greyson, on the other hand, felt even worse. He could tell that his former teacher was not being treated well in her new family. Unfortunately, none of them came along since Leilena was the only eligible younger generation. Otherwise, Greyson thought he could secretly take some revenge against them. No matter what he suggested, Leilena was adamant about not running away. She wanted to use the resources now provided to her, become stronger than her biological father, and walk away proudly. In a way, Greyson could understand her struggles. Plus, Leilena was actually very talented, as well. Her goal was not unrealistic. After he finally managed to ask, Greyson was able to find out her age. She was already a magister level stage five magician, but she was still only 28. This meant she had great potential! It was not as exaggerated as Greyson, but, compared to the average talent level in the Snow Country, she was at the top! They did not have to wait long before Prince Braiden and company arrived to lead everyone. Following the rest of the crowd, they soon arrived in front of a large mass teleportation array. Excluding the 64 participants, there were actually a decent amount of people with gold coins to spare it seemed. The participants were let through first, so Greyson and Leilena both stepped into the array rather swiftly. With just a small forewarning, the array was activated. Still slightly unused to the feeling, Greyson''s stomach did a couple somersaults before it calmed down. He also braced himself to land. When his feet once again felt solid ground, he opened his eyes to look at his surroundings. He was surrounded by unfamiliar snow and ice for what seemed to stretch for miles. Dungeon entrances were usually hard to find and almost invisible to the naked eye, so he did not bother to look for it. He just patiently waited for Braiden and the rest to arrive. Clearing out the circle for the next arrivals, all the participants anxiously waited at the side.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Hey, what kind of challenges do you think there will be?" Leilena whispered over. "Every dungeon is different, so I really have no way of guessing." Greyson answered seriously. "Boo~ obviously! Who doesn''t know this? I just wanted to have some fun guessing and anticipating." Pouting, Leilena scoffed at Greyson''s boring answer. Speechless, Greyson felt that he was much more familiar with this current Leilena. 150 Riddle Work While they were waiting for the others to arrive, a lot of the participants started splitting off into groups. Since he was only familiar with Leilena, Greyson continued standing with her and ignored the rest. There were a couple strangers who wished to team up with him due to his strength and record thus far, but Greyson did not like collaborating with people he was not confident in. If he was always suspicious of those watching his back that would just cause his efficiency and speed in the dungeon to decrease. In that case, teaming up would hurt him more than help him. Surprisingly, the girl who placed third in the second stage, Eris Whitstone, approached him to join hands. This was Greyson''s first time paying her any attention. She was a pretty girl with red eyes and black hair who stood almost as tall as Greyson. Similar to his sister, Eden, this girl exuded a more powerful charisma that would attract all genders. Despite her status, Eris was extremely polite and did not try to oppress or force Greyson''s cooperation. She took the rejection in stride and did not continue to bother Greyson afterwards. The only person Greyson felt awkward rejecting was Palmira. As the only other person from the Idris Kingdom to pass, it made sense for him to help her out and team up with her. However, his impression of her was not great to say the least. Plus, compared to the other participants, Palmira was on the weaker side and could possibly bring him down. He felt kind of guilty for not including her, but there was no real reason he should force himself to drag her along. After being rejected, Palmira ended up finding some other friends from the different kingdoms whom she was familiar with. Observing her actions, Greyson did not feel as bad anymore. If he saw that she was all alone, he might have given in and helped her out. Being alone just seemed a little pitiful. "Oh~, Grey Grey, look at you. So popular with the ladies~. You''re all grown up now. Teacher is so proud." Pretending to be all choked with emotion, Leilena wiped a nonexistent tear. "I feel so special all of sudden. All these beautiful and talented ladies were rejected while I was accepted. Does that mean I beat them in both areas? Hehe~" Chuckling to herself, Leilena elbowed at Greyson happily while winking. Rolling his eyes, Greyson did not pay any attention to her. If he responded, she would just fool around more. "I take silence as acceptance!" "Yes, yes, okay. In my eyes, my teacher is better than all of them. If not, what would that make me, the student?" "It seems my eye for students is definitely one of my strong points." Happy she finally got the desired response, Leilena ruffled Greyson''s hair. Pouting, Greyson moved away and straightened out his hair once more. Suddenly, he wished for the other groups to quickly arrive. With nothing to distract her, his teacher just could not keep herself calm. As if answering his wishes, the teleportation circle clearly activated once more and lit up. In what felt like the blink of an eye, another group of people appeared in front of them. Originally, around 100 or so people could be transported, so they only needed to be split into two groups for everyone to arrive. Seemingly accustomed to teleportation, Braiden was quick to recover and soon walked over to a nondescript spot. After tapping his foot three times, the snow melted away to reveal a staircase leading beneath the ground. Everyone immediately knew that this must be the entrance to the dungeon. Really, it was so hard to find. Greyson could not help but think about what type of person built this dungeon. It was as if they did not want it to be found. Most dungeons were not easy to spot; but this was too exaggerated, no? The spot Braiden stepped on looked completely identical to the rest of the ground in this icy tundra. Amazed that the Moon Empire even discovered it, Greyson felt that there must have been some sort of method behind the discovery. Especially since Braiden walked over so naturally when there was no visible marker. "As you all probably already guessed, this is the entrance to the dungeon. I will say this now: if you keep physical contact with someone, they will be transported to the same spot as you. Otherwise, you will all be split up into different locations. They all eventually lead to the same place, so you might run into each other. I will only warn you one more time. The Moon Empire has no control over this dungeon whatsoever, you could most definitely die. As someone who has experienced this dungeon, I will tell you this much: the creator was most definitely a disturbed individual." The minute he mentioned this, Braiden''s expression grew rather grim. It seemed he really suffered from some grievances. This succeeded in unsettling the crowd as some of the participants truly looked to be reconsidering. "I will also be upfront in saying that I know some shady things go down in the dungeon since we cannot ever know if you died from the dungeon or if you died from some enmity with another participant. I will not pretend that I don''t know it happens, but I also cannot ask for justice for any of you since there will be no evidence. Therefore, if you are truly concerned about personal grievances with another person, I would suggest you just not go in at all and put yourself in that position." His words sounded harsh, but they were truly from a good place. He knew that the competition was tough. Since the paths all led to the same ending area, there could be individuals or groups who meet each other along the way or at the end. If they want to place higher up, then they will most likely fight over the wooden tokens. Greyson knew that the advice was for their own good, so he did appreciate it. Although his determination did not waver, he still felt that being more cautious would not hurt. From what Sweetbow taught him about dungeons, they were not always straightforward strength. Some were oddly specific to a certain type of talent, ability, or even element while some tests were completely random and had nothing to do with the strength of an individual. It really did depend completely on the dungeon creator''s personality and mood while they made it. Thus, hearing Braiden''s choice of words, Greyson really did feel that there would be some weird tests. "Alright, that''s all from me. You will enter depending on your rank. If you are grouped with someone of a higher rank then you can enter along with that person. Greyson, you were ranked first. You and your group, if you have one, can go first." Braiden turned to speak to Greyson in the middle. Nodding in understanding, Greyson and Leilena went in first. He was just going to place his hand on her shoulder or something, but Leilena hooked arms with him happily while dragging him to faster. Truly, she was the only one this excited to go into this dungeon even at this point after all the ominous warnings from Braiden. Before he was even prepared, Leilena practically jumped down the steps and they were transported to a new position in the dungeon. "Hi, hi~ Welcome~ You have arrived at a fun little side project I made. This will be the first test! There are three riddles and only by solving them will you get through each door. Each wrong attempt will result in a small punishment. Hehehe... Nothing too bad. Hopefully you will figure out the answer quickly. Don''t die too quickly~ There''s so much fun to happen in the next tests! Hope that you last until the end and enjoy your stay~" A disturbingly happy child''s voice echoed throughout the room. Although he was used to hearing a voice speak out like this from the time he went into the Beast Altars, that voice was much less... flippant. "Well... I know I''m not completely normal, but the creator of this dungeon was obviously very abnormal..." Even Leilena had an odd expression on her face after hearing the voice. "Let''s just hurry up and try to pass this test." Ignoring a rising feeling of apprehension towards those punishments, Greyson walked over to the large stone door in the room. On the door was a riddle as mentioned before. Leilena looked it over and read aloud: "I am not alive, but I grow; I don''t have lungs, but I need air; I don''t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?" Deeply frowning in thought, the pair did not speak and silently tried to come up with the answer. Although he was not some riddle master, this one seemed to still be fairly straightforward. After thinking for a couple minutes, Greyson''s eyes lit up with understanding. "I think I know the answer... But I don''t know how this works. Do you just say it out loud?" "You know?!" "Yes..." "I''m not sure. There are no directions saying what to do." "Just shout it out, then. Maybe that will work." "Okay. Fire!" Shouting out the answer confidently, Greyson waited for something to happen. And something did occur, just not the result he was expecting. A bolt of lightning came down out of nowhere and struck him directly. Taken by surprise, he had no way of defending himself. Yelling out in pain, he thankfully only had to suffer for a quick second. "Ah, ah, ah~ That''s not how you answer. Now choose a different method." Feeling pain throughout his body, Greyson resisted the urge to curse. What kind of messed up game is this? "Greyson, are you alright?!" Clearly shocked just now, Leilena rushed over. "Yeah, I''ll be fine." Gritting his teeth, Greyson realized that the lightning just shocked him badly and did not cause serious damage. "So, you said F-... the answer you said earlier seems to be right. But if we aren''t supposed to shout it out, then what are we supposed to do?" "I don''t know... what other methods are there?" Slightly distressed, Greyson did not know what this crazy person wants from them. Leilena was also stumped. She kept staring at the door hoping to see something, but there was nothing to be seen. Glancing around the rest of the room, she did not spot anything at first. But after looking a little closer, she finally noticed something. Way hidden in the corner of the room, back towards the wall they came in from, was a box. Since the door was so large and obvious earlier, both she and Greyson did not observe the surroundings. Only now noticing this box, Leilena got up with excitement and ran over. The box was not big at all. There was no lock so it was easy to open and inside lay a piece of black charcoal shaped like a piece of chalk. Perplexed, Leilena was surprised by the unexpected object, but then realized that they had to write the answer using this. Picking up the charcoal, she walked over and wrote "FIRE" in big letters on the stone door underneath the riddle. And as expected, the doors suddenly made a sound and began to open themselves. Greyson was watching the entire time and once he saw this, he truly understood why Braiden would suspect that the creator was a disturbed individual. Shaking his head in disbelief, he did not say anything else and picked himself up off the ground with a slight groan. His body still ached a little from earlier. When they walked through to the next room, they were greeted once again by the same large stone door and another riddle. Once bitten twice shy, Greyson and Leilena both scanned the room carefully, but there was no box this time. Thus, they assumed that they were just supposed to use the charcoal again. This time, Greyson read the riddle aloud: "I am something people love or hate. I change peoples'' appearances and thoughts. If a person takes care of them self, I will go up even higher. To some people, I will fool them. To others, I am a mystery. Some people might want to try and hide me, but I will show. No matter how hard people try, I will never go down. What am I?" A harder riddle this time, Greyson and Leilena once again sat in silent contemplation. Minutes continued ticking by as Greyson continued whispering to himself trying to think of an answer that fit. Even Leilena did not joke around and considered the answer seriously. Finally, Greyson stood up as hit face lit up with comprehension. Without further ado, he took the piece of charcoal and wrote "AGE" in big letters on the door. Yet, this time, he was once again struck by lightning. "Tsk, tsk, tsk... It''s no fun to use the same method twice. Try again~" The voice clearly mocked. Hissing in pain, this time the sting was a little more than before. Frustrated, Greyson almost wished that it was just a normal strength test. At least then he would have somewhere to vent. "What now?!" He grumbled. "Uh... well... if I was going to pull a prank on someone at this moment. I would say that we should need to shout out the answer this time." Leilena responded while smiling awkwardly. In a way, she did feel guilty that the punishment was always given to Greyson. "I''ll give it try." "Age!" Her shout echoed throughout the room. And almost right away, the doors began to swing open. For the first time in a while, Greyson truly questioned his own intelligence. "Come on! Let''s keep going!" Resisting the urge to laugh out loud, Leilena tried and failed to keep a straight face. Sulking a little, Greyson did not say anything and got up once again to walk through the doors. Once they made it through, it was once again an identical room. "Oh~ seeing that you made it to the last room. I will tell you now. You have to write the answer, so I hope you kept that piece of charcoal~" Looking at the charcoal that he just happened to bring with him, Greyson sighed with relief. Honestly, he had just forgotten that he was holding it and that was why he brought it along. Otherwise, wouldn''t they be stuck here forever with no solution? Reaching this thought, Greyson felt himself break out into a cold sweat. Just how many people despaired after reaching this point and knowing they did not bring the charcoal along with them. Leilena also saw that Greyson brought it with him so she also felt relieved. Both of them then looked to solve the last riddle. "What can be swallowed, but can also swallow you?" This one was relatively short, but that did not make the answer apparent right away. This time it took longer for an answer to come about. Greyson thought of a couple things, but nothing quite felt right. In the end, it was Leilena who came up with an answer this time. Smiling happily, she walked over confidently after taking the charcoal and wrote "PRIDE" in big letters on the door. A little worried that this might have been a trick, she still braced herself for the punishment. But this time it really did not come. Instead, the door quickly swung open once more leading to the next location. "Hehe, Grey Grey, it seems my luck is pretty good." Grinning ear to ear, Leilena poked fun. Just smiling wryly, Greyson did not feel that bad anyways. It was not like he suffered any serious damage. He wouldn''t wish his teacher to be struck by lightning just so he was not the only one who suffered; he was not that petty. 151 Lucky? Once they walked through the door, the scene around them changed once again. Not much was different, there were still stone doors with questions written. Face turning dark, Greyson feared that there would be more riddles. Just the three before were enough for him, couldn''t it be a more physical test? "Hehe~, welcome to the second stage. So, you survived..." The voice sighed. Could you not sound so disappointed... Really speechless, Greyson could anticipate hearing this voice in his nightmares. What kind of crazy person built this dungeon? "Well, since you were clever enough to get through the riddles, this proves you''re at least not dumb. Probably. So now~... I will test your luck! If you are lucky, this second round will be a breeze. If you''re not, well... I guess you''re dead? Teehee." A shiver made its way down Greyson''s spine hearing the last giggle. Actually, ever since signing the contract with Lucius, Greyson''s instincts towards things pertaining to fate and luck grew more sensitive. Although fairly vague and intangible, he was feeling pretty confident towards this level, so he felt that his luck and Leilena''s luck would be enough to pass. Just what kind of luck is needed? Curiously approaching the door, the pair read the words on the door. It was actually a task: Complete the alchemy formula. Underneath a bunch of magic herbs plus their amounts were written with three blank spots spread out within the list. On the ground in front of the door, a brush and ink were available to write the answer. Glancing toward Leilena with anticipation, Greyson truly hoped his feelings were right. Obviously, he was completely clueless towards anything to do with alchemy. Therefore, their only hope was Leilena. And fulfilling his hope, Leilena grinned widely before happily laughing. "No wonder that voice mentioned luck. Hahaha, I guess you and I are pretty lucky!" "You''re an alchemist?" His face lighting up, Greyson quickly asked to confirm. "Honestly, I''m barely a one-star alchemist. It was my side occupation." Slightly embarrassed, Leilena felt that the label of alchemist was too heavy. "But you know the answer?" "I think that''s what the creator meant by luck. This is the most basic mana supplement potion that everyone learns. It''s one of the first ones everyone who wants to be an alchemist memorizes. So, as long as you have an alchemist, it''s super easy to pass. But, if you don''t, this easy problem suddenly becomes much more difficult and possible impossible to solve." Hearing this, understanding dawned on Greyson. It was true. Say, for example, he came here alone. At this step, he would have been stuck here possibly until he died. He did not know the first thing about alchemy even in passing. Blood running cold, Greyson started to realize that he had really underestimated dungeons. Based on the creator, these tests could be really random and nonsensical. Next time, he would have to prepare better. Maybe even start reading up on some of the other occupations. Not to become an expert but to at least not be ignorant. Actually, Leilena also realized that she had been too confident coming into the dungeon. Star rankings usually mean there is at least one strength-related test to pass, but they are not a comprehensive rating of what is necessary to get through the dungeon. Maybe later on there will be one test that one needs to be a magister level magician to pass, but all these other tests might not be possible for certain magisters to pass. Holding her chest, she felt relieved that she could solve at least this first one. Picking up the brush, she wrote the amounts and names of the remaining necessary herbs for this potion. The ink lit up on the stone door and a click could be heard before the doors started to open. A little bit apprehensive, the pair looked at each other before finally stepping through to the next task. Walking up to the door, after reading the words, it was Greyson''s turn to smile. It seems his feelings were correct. Their luck continued. The task read: Play the song below. Underneath, two pages of sheet music with a basic tune was written. As long as you could read sheet music and had an instrument, you could pass this test. "Looking at your expression, it seems it''s your turn to solve this. If I remember correctly, you played the flute?" "Yes! If I couldn''t play this piece, Teacher Carlyle would have my head." Flipping his palm, Mesmer appeared in his hand. Caressing it fondly, he felt that it had been quite a while since he last played. Double-checking each note, Greyson really did not want to get electrocuted once more if that was still the punishment. Once he felt the song had been branded into his memory, he brought the flute up to his mouth. Soon, a beautiful sound broke out into the room. Flute notes echoed throughout as Leilena closed her eyes to listen in silence. The song was very simple and short, so only around a minute passed before Greyson was finished. Though, his interpretation could be slightly different from the original, the notes were all correct. A little worried that the creator would be too strict, he tightened his body and grit his teeth in preparation for a punishment. After all, he did not actually recognize the song, so he did not know the right tempo and phrasing. However, this time, it did not come. He heard a familiar click and opened his eyes to see the doors slowly creaking open. Brightly smiling, Greyson let out a sigh of relief. "Hahaha, Grey Grey, there''s no reason to be so scared." Watching his whole reaction through, Leilena giggled while poking fun. "Hmph! When you suffer the same punishment, you can come judge me." Blushing a little, Greyson did feel like he might have overreacted slightly. Quickly getting up, he put Mesmer away and walked towards the next stage. Leilena continued chuckling behind him, but he decided to just ignore her. Unsurprisingly, the next door contained a new challenge. Greyson''s expression first lit up before his brows furrowed in seriousness. It was not that he was unable to complete it, but the level of difficulty suddenly went up from before. The door read: Use the materials and engraving symbol to create a tier four magic tool. Even a small blacksmith workshop-like station was prepared in the room. Seeing the magic herbs and special metals below, Greyson knew that this engraving symbol was for the fire element. On one hand, he was glad to get a free tier four engraving symbol. On the other hand, Greyson was a bit worried about whether he would succeed. Glancing over the amount of materials, there was not too much if he needed multiple tries. Not that he did not have confidence in his smithing ability, but he succeeded only once before with a more basic symbol than the one in front of him. "Since it does not specify what type of magic tool, I''ll make a dagger. That way, even if I mess up, I have enough materials to keep trying. The worse that would happen then is getting punished." There were smaller tools he could choose, however, too small and the engraving portion afterwards gets harder. "You should be prepared to wait for a little. This is not going to be as quick." Knowing that this would probably take him around half a day''s time at least, Greyson forewarned Leilena. "Of course, how could a tier four magic tool be easy? I''ll just meditate. Take your time. First place is not as important as surviving. I''m shocked you''re already a tier four blacksmith!" Leilena had no opinion. She was just glad that he was capable enough to solve this task. Being a tier four blacksmith at his age was an amazing accomplishment. If that Teacher Thraec from the Dalia Kingdom knew, he would probably be grinning ear-to-ear for weeks. Smiling gratefully, Greyson felt some pressure release from his shoulders. He was glad he did this with his teacher. Other people might have rushed him without thinking of the difficulty. Ambitious as he was, he did desire first place. However, she was also right that leaving this dungeon alive was the most important. Turning towards the door, Greyson sat in front of the engraving symbol. Analyzing each line, Greyson traced the symbol with his finger. After a couple of tries, he finally found the starting point. Afterwards, he practiced tracing the symbol in the air all the way through to in one shot. A couple hours passed and he moved to an open spot on the wall and used his mana to carve the symbol into the wall. Some failed, others succeeded. However, he did not stop practicing until his success rate gave him enough confidence to do the real thing. Although he would have enough materials for more than one try, succeeding on the first try was still preferable. Near the end, Greyson was completely out of mana, but he still reached a high level of certainty in engraving this symbol. Picking out the needed materials, he walked over to the smithing tools. Meditating for another couple of hours, he recovered his mana and reached a peak state of calm. Breathing deeply, he lit up a fire on his palm and began preparing the herbs and the metals. Balancing and smelting them together, the melted dagger metal was prepared correctly. Picking out the dagger mold of the ones available, Greyson poured the prepared molten metal inside. Quickly cooling it down with the ice element, the metal was ready to be tempered. Picking up the hammer, Greyson began to beat down the metal and occasionally reheating it. Since it was a dagger, the refining did not take as long as usual. A polished silver dagger slowly came into existence. Once he finished preparing the dagger, Greyson took a deep breath before moving to the next step. Channeling his mana, he began to engrave out the symbol. Almost painfully slow, he did not rush his movements and ensured the process was smooth with no mistakes. When the last line connected with the beginning point, the symbol burned bright and the dagger floated up. Turning a bright red color, the dagger radiated a fiery heat. Not letting his exhaustion bring down his mood, Greyson laughed brightly while looking at the symbol slowly turn into lines crawling across the dagger. The fire eventually dissipated leaving just the beautiful dagger that slowly fell back down onto the table. Approaching swiftly, Greyson gently stroked the beautiful red dagger feeling happy. Running his mana through, he was curious towards the ability that the engraving symbol gave to the tool. Soon, a red shade of fire radiated of the dagger like a barrier. Smiling wryly, Greyson realized he used the symbol on the wrong type of magic tool. A lot of engraving symbols leaned towards either offense or defense, not many were in between. This one created a fire barrier and, if attacked, a fire hot enough to burn metal would erupt. An unsuspecting magician could truly be burnt apart by such a barrier. This was definitely a top tier four defensive symbol in the fire element. This type of ability could technically be used offensively as well, just that the user would have to nearly physically touch the person with the blade for it to work. Something like a dagger would be harder to use, especially since magicians like to keep distances from each other. Knights or even magic knights have too many advantages in close quarter combat that using a dagger would not be ideal. If used as a shield, the attacker could get burned when blocked or even the weapon used could be burned apart. Not too upset about it, Greyson knew that he had memorized the symbol. Once he had free time, he could just make a shield and engrave the symbol once again. Leilena had also walked over with an excited expression. "You succeeded?" "Yes!" Greyson walked over to the door once more. Placing the dagger inside the hole, it disappeared. Some minutes later, the door clicked once again and started opening. "Oh~ not bad~ you passed the second round. Now, time for the third round. I would be prepared! You will have to use more than just your brain for this test. I hope you di-... don''t die~! Hehe..." Greyson just rolled his eyes. He was no longer surprised by this crazy creator''s words. Instead, he looked at the doors just praying in his mind: please be a fighting test, please be a fighting test, please be a fighting test... Honestly, he was just so sick of these mind games. Something straightforward would be a nice breath of fresh air. 152 Life or Death "Now it''s time for the third round. Making it this far could be lucky or unlucky. I guess, it''s a more of a morality challenge. I just love putting people in desperate situations... Hahaha, if only I could see your expressions later. Mmmm, that would have been nice. For now, you will have to wait just a tiny bit!" Not as flippant sounding as before, the voice spoke with both a creepy and serious tone. Just this change alone was enough to send ominous feelings of dread through Greyson. If this challenge was something the creator enjoyed then it must be terrible based off the previous stages. The creator was out of his mind! "Morality?" Greyson murmured to himself. Did this creator want someone with a sense of morality or prefer someone with none at all? From the earlier situations, it felt that he would lean towards the immoral and insane people. But it could also all be a front and the creator was actually looking for someone with a more straightforward and purer personality. "I guess we''ll just have to play by ear later..." Glancing over at his teacher, Greyson was not sure how to feel. Leilena looked back with similar apprehension in her eyes. The two of them felt scarred from all the games earlier, they really had to stay on their toes in this dungeon. Never knowing what to expect was really discomfiting. With nothing better to do, both of them sat down to quietly meditate to stay at their peak and calm their minds. Time ticked by quietly and the situation stayed at status quo. One would think this moment of peace would help soothe their nerves, but it only made the pair more on edge. This situation was analogous to being constantly tortured by someone, then that person just stops one day. Psychologically, the victim cannot help but feel that it is the calm before the storm. Greyson and Leilena felt exactly like this and were unable to sit still. Pacing around the open space, Leilena felt increasingly impatient. "When is this test going to start?! How long are we supposed to just sit here waiting?" Close to just yanking her hair out, Leilena yelled to no one in particular. Greyson just sighed wearily in response. Although he was also feeling impatient, his teacher had been pacing now for a good hour or so. Just watching her was making him feel dizzy. Even these same questions, she was probably asking for the umpteenth time in a row, so Greyson just gave up responding. Unexpectedly, as if finally answering Leilena''s questions, two door opening appeared across from them. After the doors creaked open, four figures walked through. Checking them over, Greyson realized they were all men. Two were at the magister level stage four while the other two were stage five. Greyson vaguely recognized their faces from the bunch of them earlier, however he was not aware of their specific identities. Before this test, Greyson only paid attention to those placing in the top 5, since only they qualified to be his opponents. Unlike their prior prideful appearances, these guys did not come off as confident geniuses of Snow Country. Instead, their conditions were very horrid. Clothes torn with multiple injuries and what seemed like burn scars. Even their hair seemed to be singed off. This group who walked in were also surprised when they noticed Greyson and Leilena and the pair''s mostly pristine appearances. It was as if they went through very different tests. Suddenly, the newcomers felt seriously aggrieved. Glancing between themselves they could not help but wonder: Was there a route that allowed some to bypass through the beginning stages? Actually, they could not be blamed for assuming this, since this kind of situation was not rare in dungeons. Sometimes someone would actually be THAT lucky and get the prize by doing nothing. Everyone envied these stories of success. "Well, now that every is here. The fun shall begin!" Hearing that high-pitched voice once again, the men visibly flinched and trembled. Looking at them, Greyson could only imagine what they had gone through before. Maybe the second exam was not easy for them and they had to suffer through punishments. Just from the burns, it seemed they were struck by the lightning at least a couple times. Especially since they had not changed their attire. It could be assumed this meant they ruined so many pairs that they ran out. Earlier, after the riddle tests, Greyson changed his tattered clothes with a new set. Most people with space storage items kept other sets of clothes with them. These two should be no different. "Hehehehe~ I''m so glad some people have made it to this step. This is definitely my favorite challenge. And don''t worry, it''s nothing too complex. If anything, it is very straightforward. You see those opponents in front of you? So, to pass, you have to kill them! Fun, right? Well, good luck. May the best win!" Hearing this, everyone present looked shocked. Troubled, they looked at each other then at their opponents. How could they just kill someone they had no prior contact with? Not that they were all that innocent, but they were not mindless killing machines. They all also felt the same confusion: if this test was always the same, then why did the Prince not mention this? Did he want them to kill each other? "Hmm... I''m guessing you are all hesitating right about now, right? You think I''m just kidding around and that this is some trick test. Nope, this is for real. I just love messing with people, you know? Humans are scary in that way. The desire to live creates some crazy situations. If you all decide not to fight, then you will just be stuck here till you croak and die. Kekeke..." Like the whispers of the devil, the voice urged them on to fight. In response, the four men all turned serious and no longer hesitated. Nodding towards each other, they looked over at Greyson and Leilena with pity in their eyes. In their minds, it was four against two. There was no way for them to lose. "I''m sorry to both of you. But I guess that is just how today''s luck pans out." One of them spoke out. "I wouldn''t be too confident too fast. I can tell that you all are not fully recovered from before while we are in peak condition to fight. Although we are outnumbered, sometimes it is quality that wins of quantity in our world of magic." Leilena just sneered at them before responding sarcastically. The group''s expression darkened at her taunting. "If you wish to invite death like so, then we will oblige you." Standing in formation, the four looked like a well-oiled machine. The strongest of the four was a fire-element user and stood at the forefront to attack with a spear magic tool. Two of the stage four magicians were earth-element users who used shields while the last stage five magician was a water-element user who had a staff. Leilena and Greyson felt pressure seeing their practiced coordination. Obviously, this team was not made randomly like theirs. "Greyson, I know that you are still a little soft in your heart, but now is not the time. They really want to kill us. Although teacher also feels slightly uncomfortable about killing them, we can''t afford to show mercy. Showing mercy to your enemies is to be cruel to yourself. Do you understand?" Shaking off any playfulness from earlier, Leilena looked over at Greyson with a grave expression. "I know." Trying his best to look determined, Greyson truly did feel hesitant. Not giving the pair time to think, the lead attacker first targeted Leilena spear pointing outwards. Using the fire element at his feet to burst out with tremendous speed, he arrived in what seemed like just a blink of an eye. Already prepared for such a sudden attack, Leilena gracefully dodged. Starting half a second late, Greyson also contributed by sending some lightning and fire balls towards the main attacker. The wing magician on the side quickly stepped in to block the spell holding up his shield and activating it with his earth element mana. However, no matter what, his magic tool enhancement only barely made up for the difference in power. Blown back, he spat some blood looking severely injured. The water magician at the back quickly followed up with a rejuvenation water spell. Although it was not as effective as light element healing spells, the defender was able to stand once again. On the other side, Leilena continued to dodge the spear thrusts and swings. Her talent did not lie in upfront attacks, so there was not much she could do. Every time she tried to get close to Greyson to switch positions, the attacker would get in her way and the other three would push Greyson further away. It was this balance play of attack, defend, attack, defend for a good while. Every now and then, the water element magician would also send long distance attacks to mess with Greyson and Leilena''s rhythm. However, this balance could not hold for long as Greyson was beating down the defenders, who were now double teaming against him. Those rejuvenation spells only slightly healed the skin-deep wounds and dulled pain, but they did not get rid of the underlying damage. Both defenders were too weak at this point to fight back. Because of this, the water magician could only turn his focus to supporting the two of them and attack Greyson with his strongest spell, Water Cannon. But Greyson was not one who only knew how to fight close quarters. Summoning his own earth wall, Greyson pulled out his bow and arrow. Blocking the oncoming attack, he pulled back the arrow with deep concentration. The tip was sharpened with his earth element and the speed supported by the wind element. He willed the wall to have a narrow opening right about eye-level and released the arrow based on the direction the hits came from. Hearing the yelp of pain and surprise, he knew he hit his mark. The wall crashed into the ground and his vision cleared once again. Unfortunately, the arrow was not fatal and stabbed through the water magician''s right shoulder. In that state, he could no longer use his staff to augment his magic. At this moment, the fire element magician made the fatal mistake of turning his attention away to check on his teammate. Leilena''s eyes glinted with a cruel streak as a black dagger appeared instantly in her hand. Almost like teleportation, there was a small gust of wind. The main attacker looked over in surprise only to realize that the woman he was fighting had disappeared. Holding onto his throat, a thin slit appeared as blood sprayed out. Already behind the man, Leilena shook her dagger once to clear off the blood. Taken aback by the first death, everyone paused for a second, especially Greyson. Seeing the teacher he once saw as kind, playful, and innocent, cut open a man''s throat with such precision and ease made his heart clench. The other three teammates'' eyes turned red in fury as they began attacking once more with a disregard for their life and injuries. Sensing their comradery, Greyson hesitated to act ferociously as he truly respected this group. Only a moment''s hesitation led to injury as he was stabbed by an ice spear. Pulling himself together, he quickly responded by healing himself. Hardening his expression, he flipped his hand and Arctos appeared in his hand. Using the shadows, he quickly appeared next to one of the earth element users. Surprise filled the man''s eyes but no fear. Before Greyson could reach him, the other defender came forward and was stabbed clean through. He whispered something shortly to the other man. With Greyson''s hearing, he could catch the words. "Even if both our deaths are inevitable, the older brother should die first, right?" Just those words escaped the man''s mouth before he turned to ice and shattered apart. Like a large rock pressing against his heart, those parting words gripped Greyson''s heart as he struggled to breathe. Tightening his grip around his sword while approaching the younger brother, Greyson truly felt a sort of despair and questioning. At this time, Leilena had already finished off the water magician who was no match once she was close enough. She watched Greyson with empathy and knew of his heartache. Her student was not aware, but all seven heads of the departments back at the Dalia Academy had served in the Dalia Kingdom''s army. They fought through 10 years of continuous warring before Greyson was even born. Back then, the Dalia Kingdom was struggling to keep its land with a neighboring kingdom, so every magician in the kingdom was forcefully enlisted to support the front lines. One could only grow numb to the death and bloodshed as normal humans stood no chance against the attacks of the magic warriors. Just one long distance spell could kill 10 foot soldiers. In war, who really is in the right? Both sides are just fighting for what they believe is right, or maybe just what their King believes is right. Subjects do not have control. Greyson looked over the last remaining group member in front of him. Complex emotions filled his brain. He lifted up the sword, but somehow could not find the will. Stuck in his own world, he did not notice that the man had already shown surrender in his expression. It seemed that his brother''s death was too large a hit. Looking at the pieces of ice that were his brother, the man grit his teeth and grabbed his broken shield. Struggling to stand up, he faced Greyson head on and ran at him like a raging bull. Caught off guard at this last-ditch struggle, Greyson responded on instinct and stabbed the man through. This time, Greyson''s spell was not activated so the man did not turn to ice. His warm blood splattered against Greyson and beaded down the blade. Taking a shaky breath, Greyson pulled out the sword only to realize his hand was trembling slightly. He could not understand why he was like this. In the Beast Empire, he had killed the Devil Fox heir and Blood Rabbit princess as well for his plot. Yet, somehow, the guilt did not hit him like this. Was it because he did not interact at all with them? "Hohoho and then there were two! Congratulations on surviving, a shame for the others. Don''t feel too bad, the weak die at some point anyways. I have some good news for you~ the next stage is the last one! Pass that and you will get the prize!" Holding his head, Greyson was in no mood to rejoice. 153 Last Stage Honestly, Greyson hated this feeling. Guilt. It stabbed straight into his heart. Murder was accepted in society as an inevitable occurrence. Obviously, it was still a crime that could be punished, but who would get caught? Magic made murder too easy to get away with unless the criminal purposefully leaves evidence. Maybe commoners without magic could still get put to death for murder, however, this was only because they were weak. The government in charge did not feel any hesitation punishing people with no background. A large percentage of magicians were born in an aristocratic family. Even if they got caught, no one would dare to make an arrest. Ordinary soldiers could do nothing in the face of powerful magicians. Killing and death were concepts that Greyson could accept in his head. Enacting them in real life? It still made him feel uncomfortable in his heart. Were those young men really deserving of death? Was it right? In the end, there was no clear right and wrong in this situation. His teacher and he were targets and in danger of dying. They had to fight back for survival. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself. Feeling the already drying blood and almost tasting the iron smell in the air, Greyson willed his body to stop shaking. Sitting down, he began to meditate to recover his mana to its peak state. Leilena watched the entire situation unfold and her heart truly ached for her student. However, every child must grow up. This was the reality of this world. As terrible and dark as it was, everyone must learn and adapt. When she looked at the bodies strewn on the ground in her wake, her conscience no longer felt pricked as it once did years ago. The unfeeling green eyes turned dull before clearing once again. There was no longer space to pity. She followed Greyson''s lead and also sat down to meditate. Both of them sat in complete silence. Greyson was the first to finish and he stood up rapidly before using his water element to clean his body. Changing into a set of new clothes, he looked at the bodies with a conflicted expression. Waving his hand, fire burst out and quickly burned the bodies to ash. The fire burned so hot that not even the smell lingered. Looking down at his hand, he formed a fist and tightened to the point that his skin turned pale and bloodless. When his head rose once again, he no longer thought about the past events. The last stage was right in front of him, he could not afford to be distracted and fail here. That would make everything they suffered and the death of those young men to be in vain. Turning his head towards his teacher, he realized that she was already standing and waiting for Greyson in front of the doorway to the next trial. Her green eyes encouraged him warmly. "Alright, slowpoke, it''s time to go! I''m going to grow wrinkles at this point. I haven''t been able to get a wink of my daily beauty sleep! Youthful looks such as mine do not come without any effort." Leilena jokingly grumbled while touching her face. Clearly, she was just lying through her teeth, but Greyson just chuckled at her act. Although the distraction effort was obvious, it did make him feel a little better. "Apologies, Your Highness. I didn''t mean to ruin the princess''s daily beauty routine." Exaggerating an expression of piety, Greyson plead guilty. "Hmph~ as long as you''re aware of my sacrifices." "Alright, alright. Let''s go, teacher! I''m sick of this dungeon already. I feel like the longer I stay here, the more likely I''ll go as crazy as the dungeon creator." "Hehehe! That''s more like it." Leilena did not wait another second and quickly hopped through the door. Greyson followed right behind her. Their vision tunneled as the world turned black. Before a bright light burst out and lit up their surroundings. Squinting to let his eyes adjust, Greyson waited to look at his surroundings clearly. Some hints of dread filled his heart as he tried guessing what this stage would bring. "Oh~ some people made it to this stage... How disappointing..." Gritting his teeth, Greyson truly wanted to beat this dungeon creator until his mother could not recognize him. "Hahaha, well, I already got bored at this point of creating this dungeon, so you''re in luck. It''s pretty easy and straightforward. *Yawn* I was too lazy to put more effort into it. It''s simple, all you have to do is beat your opponent. They''re all very nice and cute creatures. My absolute favorites. Good luck~" Not believing his words for a second, Greyson and Leilena both braced themselves for the coming opponents. One loud roar and one screeching caw broke out as two magical beasts appeared. Once they saw them, both student and teacher both cursed the creator to hell and back. In front of them appeared a Light Dragon King and a Blue Phoenix. Two high level magic beasts that were known for their tremendous battle prowess and intelligence. They were restrained by collars so their magic power was lowered to the magister level stage five. But how talented were these beasts? They were stronger than most any other human magicians at the same level because they had naturally strong physical capabilities. "I should''ve known it would be like this." At this point, Greyson just had nothing more to say. Leilena just let out a big sigh and shook her head wearily. "I''ll take the phoenix; you should try to take care of the dragon first. Or at least, hold on until I get done with the phoenix." Greyson made these arrangements because the Light Dragons were not known for their speed. Even if Leilena could not beat the dragon, she could draw the fight out with her wind element abilities. Plus, Greyson was more resistant to the ice magic of the Blue Phoenix than Leilena due to his own affinity with the water element and fire element. Leilena understood his intentions almost right away and quickly burst into action by drawing the dragon''s attention away. In tacit agreement, Greyson also began his fight with the Blue Phoenix. Light blue eyes glared angrily at Greyson. Her expression spelled out her disgruntled feelings. If she were not suppressed by the collar, a small weakling such as the child in front of her could never even think to fight herself. Screeching once again, freezing blue raindrops rained down with a flap of her wings. Unable to dodge, Greyson opened his palm in front and a flaming shield appeared. Each raindrop evaporated upon touching the shield. His surroundings did not remain as unaffected as the floor froze over layered with ice. Letting out a short whistle, Greyson had to admit that the Phoenix''s power was nothing to look down on. Deciding to focus on using the fire element, Greyson soon surrounded himself in a burning inferno. Raising the surrounding temperature, he could see the Blue Phoenix grow more and more uncomfortable. In retaliation, she also began radiating a frosty aura that clashed with his fire. Equal in strength, both sides were not giving in to the other. However, Greyson soon had the upper hand because the ice mana did not affect him negatively like it did for the Blue Phoenix. Wave after wave of attacks crashed into each other and explosions echoed as the ice shattered and the fire dissipated upon impact. Inching closer and closer to the phoenix, Greyson soon took a complete 180 to his approach when he reached his target distance. All the fire lost its momentum and the ice started dissipating it all. Instead a white scaled dragon burst out from the dying fire straight at the Blue Phoenix. Snow Dragons, true to their name, were immune to ice magic as long as the opponent''s level was not much higher than theirs. Knowing this, Greyson tricked the phoenix into thinking that he could only use his fire element to fight to get close enough then break straight through to the Blue Phoenix in one explosive movement. Closing his fist, Greyson began chanting in the dragon''s language. With an echoing roar, he punched the Blue Phoenix as the ice spell exploded. The spell was less focused on the ice magic since Blue Phoenixes were also immune to a certain extent, it was more about the explosive power. Their defenses were not as hard as the dragons. A pained screech echoed as the phoenix crashed into the ground with a loud crash. Actually, the attack did not seem to scar the Blue Phoenix. Disappointed, Greyson worried about the opponent now. That was a one of his strongest attacks, but it barely left a scratch! Completely enraged, the Blue Phoenix''s eyes turned red as it glared sharply at Greyson. It looked prepared to rampage, but, at this moment, a chain sprung out and hooked onto the collar. The phoenix fiercely struggled only to be helplessly dragged away and disappearing into the open space of the dungeon. "That attack would have completely incapacitated a normal Blue Phoenix at your similar level. Therefore, you have beaten one opponent." This time, the voice was robotic and nothing like the creator''s. Letting out a sigh of relief, Greyson was glad that the test was correctly set up for his corresponding strength level. It was still ranked as a two-star dungeon after all. It could not be that impossible, otherwise no magister level magician could pass. Leilena did not have too tough of a time dodging around the Light Dragon. She even managed to score some injuries in some sudden attacks that messed with the rhythm of the fight. Greyson was thoroughly impressed by his teacher''s fighting tactics that allowed her to fight to the best of her abilities. No wasted movements or fancy spells, just coordinated and well thought out maneuvers that allowed her to play so freely with her opponent. Wind element users did usually suffer from the same issue of weaker brute force attacks when fighting with similar level opponents. They made up for this with their amazing escaping and dodging capabilities which translated into great survival abilities. Wind element users were great scouts and assassins. Each element had positions that they were more or less inclined to excel in. Part of Greyson''s issue was choosing a route that suited him since there were too many. Not choosing would only hinder his process of becoming a skilled fighter as sometimes being the jack-of-all-trades meant being the master-of-none. Watching Leilena''s masterful movements reinforced this point to him. If he were to verse her with just his wind element, he would be beaten down in the blink of an eye. Maybe if he trained enough, he could become like that group of young men except all by himself. If he could learn to skillfully maneuver between defense, close combat, and long-distance attacks then there would be very few opponents that could verse him. Thinking he had watched enough, Greyson was prepared to jump in and help. Unexpectedly, Leilena held up her hand to signal for him to hold. It seemed that she wanted to fight the dragon herself first. Backing down easily, Greyson stood in place keeping his eyes peeled and body ready in case she needed sudden assistance. Being ready was better than just relaxing and watching the show. It would be too late to regret if the dragon makes an explosive counterattack and he was not prepared to help. Almost like a dance, Leilena and the dragon matched each other''s movements. However, a dragon''s temper could never be underestimated. The longer the match dragged on with Leilena continuously dodging, the angrier the dragon felt. Roaring angrily, he started going completely berserk and attacking wildly. A wide grin broke out on Leilena''s face as the situation took a turn. Taking advantage of the wide openings in the now insane Light Dragon, she disappeared like a ghost only to reappear once again at the heart of the dragon. Her dagger actually stabbed through the scales towards the heart, but was stopped prematurely. Confidence quickly turned to shock as Leilena started to retreat almost immediately. The Light Dragon was able to retaliate in time to manage a solid hit. Spitting blood, Leilena slammed into the ground and cracked the floor. It was then that the chain finally came out and hooked onto the Light Dragon King''s collar and pulled it away. Although he was upset that the reaction was late, Greyson did not pay attention to complaining and ran to his teacher. Switching to his light element, he began to cast Heal. He did not have enough mana for a higher-level healing spell. Thankfully, Leilena was already retreating so she only got hit by the tail end of the dragon''s attack. Her injuries were relatively light compared to what they could have been if she had taken the hit directly. 154 A Top Contestant Figh "Thank you!" Leilena quickly spoke up. "It''s just a small effort anyways." "Hmm... that''s true. Here I am, cracking bones and you are trying to patch me up with a bandage-esque healing spell." Nodding seriously, Leilena poked fun at his modesty. Hearing the joking tone, Greyson did not take her seriously and just shook his head. "Sorry, I''ll try to provide better healing service when I am more at my peak. Should we head out soon? The next location should be the one with all the wooden tokens. We should try to get the best placement that we can. That might get us some unknown perks." "No, we should wait it out. I still need time to fully recover. Who knows what''s on that side? We can''t just pop over. Remember what Prince Braiden said? They cannot keep watch over what happens on the inside, so there are a lot of people who have no qualms about murdering under these circumstances. Didn''t we just kill a group of four earlier? But no one will know it was us." "I don''t think there would be anyone that would be hard for us to handle even in this state..." "Tsk, tsk, tsk... Too naive, my student. Of course, individually, almost no one can hold a candle against you. But who said anything about them having to attack you one-on-one? They could just come out you with a group of magister level stage five magicians and there would not be much you could do to fight them all off at once. Plus, I can''t tell if it''s your young ambition that pushes you towards wanting to get the best placement you can, but it''s unnecessary. We can just get any one of the top 32 tokens and make it to the next round without any issues. The awards are not that big a deal in front of the main goal of coming, right?" Pausing, Greyson reflected that he had no put enough thought behind the situation. A little too eager to prove himself, he had unknowingly tried pushing to get the top places. Sitting down, he began to meditate next to his teacher to calm himself while she focused on recovering. Once he analyzed their situation, they should not be too far behind the leading groups if at all. Both his teacher and he had not run into a truly difficult fight and ended each challenge in a decent time. Even taking this small break to recuperate and heal would not largely impact their overall results in this part of the competition. From the past two stages of the selection to this current dungeon one, Greyson could see there is not much time in between for rest. Therefore, he needed to stay in good health, so he would not have to participate injured in the succeeding stages. A couple of silent hours passed before Leilena exhaled deeply and opened her eyes. Jumping up, she no longer looked deeply affected by her wounds. Sensing the movement earlier, Greyson was already walking towards the exit with excitement. Part excitement to get the token and see how well he did in this stage of the competition and part relief that this dungeon adventure was coming to an end. Chuckling at her little student''s endearing behavior, Leilena also picked up the pace and caught up with him. Both glancing at each other, they stepped into the doorway at the same time. Now completely used to the feeling, Greyson calmly waited for his sight to return and for his feet to hit solid ground. Starting as a small dot, the light slowly opened up and turned into a new scene. Curiously looking around, the teacher and student pair saw the wooden tokens hanging. To their shock, all of them were still there! Breaking out into a wide grin, Greyson had to admit that the feeling of winning was still great. Almost running over, he wanted to quickly grab onto the first wooden token. He and Leilena discussed earlier on who would get the first-place token. He wanted to give it up at first as a way of showing respect, however, she easily convinced him to just take it. This was because her goal was just to pass through the competition and prove her biological family wrong for underestimating her. She did not need first-place for this to happen. Also, although she was not some useless ornament, he did end up solving the hardest issues for them in the dungeon since he was stronger. Unable to say anything against her logic, Greyson understood that he should reap the rewards that he deserved. Everyone needed at least some selfishness to survive. His hand barely grazed the token before he sensed the incoming attack. Putting up an earth shield as quickly as possible, he was still sent flying backward by the colliding explosion. Protected by some sort of shield, the tokens were not at all affected by the action. Using the wind element, Greyson caught his balance and stopped his body''s momentum in mid-air. Turning towards the origin of the sneak attack, he saw a group of five figures walking out of the dust. Leilena silently joined him by his side to fight against the newcomers. Slowly becoming visible, Greyson finally got a decent look at the group. They were all women; four of them were extremely beautiful while the one in front could only be described as average. However, she seemed to be the leader. Her unique point was her big, blue-grey eyes that matched the symbol of the Yce family while her hair was not black but dark blue. Dressed in almost glowing silver armor, she had a valiant and confident air that was hard to ignore. Recognizing her almost right away, Greyson was surprised to have run into her at this point. The young woman leading the group was none other than Eris Whitstone from the Maewen Kingdom. Placing third in the second round, she was important enough for Greyson to look her up and do his research. She was the second princess from the Tier One Maewen Kingdom who was extremely favored by her father for her talents and intelligence; the most likely choice to be next-in-line for the throne. Currently a magister level stage five magician, she was born a dual-element - water and lightning - magician which set her apart from her other siblings. From a young age, she showed high intelligence and inborn traits for leadership. Secretly building up her own forces and economic resources with no help from her parents, she was a woman who stood out from the crowd. Her only fault was her lack of a betrothed partner. Such an issue was surprisingly important for future heirs to the throne. Greyson accredited her lack of pursuers to men''s ego. They did not wish to be lower in a relationship. This type of thought process was not as common in a place like the Snow Country which acknowledged Queen-run kingdoms but still existed in most of the aristocratic families. Meeting face-to-face with this famed princess, Greyson almost immediately readied himself for battle while glancing at the other four women. They were all gorgeous beauties in their own right, but held the modesty of a maidservant while trailing behind Eris. From the earlier heat after the attack, Greyson guessed that the attacker had come from these four and was a fire element magician. The power behind that attack was most definitely magister level stage five. Going off the other three''s equally confident stances, they were also probably at that level. The pair were not only outnumbered but also outmatched. Normally, equal level and stage opponents did not really matter much to Greyson, however Eris was not someone to be underestimated. On other side, Eris'' eyes also lit up when she spotted Greyson. Everyone part of the selection paid extreme attention to this young black horse and she was no exception. The young woman next to Greyson was unfamiliar to her, but Eris'' attention seemed to stick on Leilena slightly longer than usual. Stopping just in front of the pair, a charming smile broke out on her face. "And this beautiful young lady is?" Pulling Leilena''s hand, Eris kissed it lightly. Just a slight brush that stayed within the borders of proper etiquette. But it was just that this etiquette was laid out for a man to a woman normally... Ever-smiling Leilena''s expression suddenly paused in confusion as she stiffly nodded and spoke her name. "Leilena... Leilena Holland." Finding the Roland surname left a bad taste in her mouth, Leilena just used her adoptive parent''s surname to introduce herself. Anyways, she was registered under this name in the competition, so it was not as if she was lying. "Sister Leilena, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Putting her right hand over her left shoulder, Eris gave a polite and graceful bow. Her maids, on the other hand, seemed to want to glare a hole through Leilena''s previously outstretched hand. Observing all this as a bystander, Greyson suddenly felt that Eris not having a betrothed may not be for the obvious reason... Shaking his head, Greyson did not dive deeper as he had no interest in idle gossip. "You must be Greyson. I have read much about you." Holding out her hand, Eris gestured for a handshake. Obliging, Greyson nodded to confirm his identity. "And you must be the famous, Princess Eris Whitstone. I have also read much about you." "Haha, all great things I suppose. My biography is grossly exaggerated and pompous, all that''s missing is a halo. Your story, though, is based quite purely on fact. As it only includes what you have accomplished in this selection." Remaining the right amount of humble, Eris joked. "Legend usually has some parts based in fact. I doubt it''s that far off base. I''m not all that great." Playing along with it, Greyson returned in kind. "Well, that seems far enough with the pointless pleasantries. I have a suggestion for how we do this, would you care to listen?" Indicating for her to continue with his hands, Greyson was all ears. "I''m not someone completely unreasonable, nor am I so shameless as to just beat you with numbers. I have my own pride as a genius. So, this is what I will do. I will fight with you for the first-place token. If I win, my group and I will get the first five tokens while you and Lady Leilena will get the 6th and 7th. However, if you win, I will let you take the 1st place token. The remaining five after will still go to my group while the 7th token would still go to you. I believe that this is the fairest way to go about it. Otherwise, it would be a little too nice of me to completely give up the best spots even though I have the advantage." Hesitating, Greyson knew that Eris'' suggestion was fair and helped him out. But it seemed to be a shame that Leilena would have to get the 7th place token no matter what. Maybe he should just risk it and try fighting them all? As thoughts flew by in his head, he was interrupted by Leilena who spoke up in his stead. "We accept this wager." "But-" Greyson interjected but was stopped by just a glance from his teacher. Honestly, he also knew that this was the best way and he truly did want to try his hand at fighting Eris without worrying about her allies. Thus, since Leilena seemed sure of her decision, Greyson did not try to fight back. "Perfect." Brightly smiling, Eris waved her hand and the four maids backed away without a word. Turning her full attention to Greyson, she found herself more excited than she expected. Leilena also cleared the space for the two to start fighting. Putting out her hand, she gripped onto a matching silver spear that appeared before slamming into the ground with an intimidating *thump!* As a now Tier Four Blacksmith, Greyson could tell almost right away that this spear was a powerful top tier four magic tool. Matching his opponent, Greyson brought out Genesis this time. He wanted to use the full range of his elements and not just the water element, so he used his tier three magic tool instead. Silently looking at each other for a moment, Eris broke into action first. Her first action was not to come close to him but instead to cast a large encompassing Ice Meteor attack. Confused by such an attack, Greyson easily dodged the coming chunks of ice and watched as they broke apart the ground. After the dust settled, there lay a newly created crater in the ground that stretched almost the entire open field. Not losing her easygoing grin, Eris summoned a wave a water that filled the crater to the brim. Now like a small manmade lake, she balanced herself on top of the water as did Greyson. Slightly understanding her ideas now, Greyson had to say that it was a pity that she was trying this with him. As expected, her next move was to release lightning into the water from her feet. Lighting up purple, the entire water was arcing with electricity. Now making her move, she moved unhindered by the environment and instead thrived. In just a moment, her spear thrust was already upon Greyson. Although assuming that Greyson was paralyzed with pain, she did not get careless and made sure to keep herself ready. As she feared, Greyson looked up at her completely unfazed. At the same level, anyone versing someone of the same element would have difficulties ending fights quickly as they both have certain amounts of resistance towards their own element. Lighting up with a blinding purple flash, he parried her spear thrust with his sword. Like a crack of thunder, they both recoiled from each other. "It seems I have made a fool of myself early in the match." Although she spoke such words, Eris did not seem too fazed by this change of events. She knew that her little plan was temporary, anyways, because the dungeon healed itself. In line with her thoughts, the ground was already starting to recover and become flat as the water flowed outwards and seemed to be draining away. Almost immediately after speaking those words, Eris no longer held back. Spurred into action, her legs lit up with the purple of the lightning element. In a flash, she arrived in front of Greyson once again and began to show her superb spear skills. Slightly pressured by the outcoming attacks and ease with which Eris handled her spear, Greyson could feel that he was losing ground. No matter if it was closer or further away, Eris could smoothly wield her weapon despite its length. Knowing his practice with his weapon lost by far, Greyson did not think to end this with his sword. In an instant, Genesis disappeared while snow-white scaled appeared on his arm. Catching the spear with great strength, he caught Eris by surprise and twirled around slam her away with his newly appeared tail. Having to let go of her spear, Eris tried to lessen the tail''s impact by putting both her arms up and summoning a water wall. However, everything happened too fast and she was still sent flying away. "Part dragon? White scales... You must be the descendant of some Snow Dragon. How interesting!" Armor cracked a little, Eris spit some blood from internal injuries. Gesturing with her hand, the spear that was in Greyson''s hand disappeared and reappeared in her grasp. Expecting such a result, Greyson did not panic as such an ability was quite common. Not backing off at all, she once again pounced towards him. Surprised she was going for the frontal attack once again, Greyson wondered what her plan was. As he expected, her attack was not so simple. The step right before Greyson her foot and the ground contacting it turned to ice and she used that to quickly slide around him and stab from behind. Trying his best to keep up, Greyson dodged towards the left side but Eris still managed to cut through his right shoulder. Fading into his shadow, he reappeared some feet away to catch his breath and began to rapidly heal his shoulder with the light element. Once she spotted him once again, Eris obviously did not want to wait around and threw her spear sparkling with lightning. At the speed of light, the spear arrived so fast that Greyson could only set up a fragile shield to divert the pointed end to the opposite direction of where he was dodging. The spearpoint exploded into the wall next to him as Greyson rolled away safely. Half-healed, he no longer concentrated on his shoulder but his opponent. Since Eris did not focus on ice magic, he decided to forego using the fire element and instead used his earth element. A warm, brown glow radiated from him as long, metal-enforced branches shot from the ground towards Eris. Dodging around while attacking with both her spear and water element, she watched as they bounced off the branches uselessly. Realizing she was continually moving backwards and losing ground, Eris stopped suddenly and burst towards Greyson instead. She tried to use the branch to propel herself towards him, but was instead caught by the new thorny branch that sprouted out to grip onto her ankle. Hissing in pain, she felt the sharp edges dig deep into her ankle. Coming to a complete stop, she knew she had to break apart the grip as she would risk tearing her ankle apart if she tried pulling her foot out. Sending out violent sparks of lightning, she tried to explode the wood. Seemingly harmless thorn bush-like branches reflected the lightning right back at her as she let out a grunt of pain. Grinning widely, Greyson knew that the metal of the earth element worked well against both water and lightning and was the bane of someone like Eris. The rest of the branches swarmed over and put an iron grip around the rest of her limbs and body. Slamming her into the ground, the branches left her completely immobilized. "It seems that this round goes to me!" Greyson happily announced. "Hm. It would be nice if you released me now, though." Although she was slightly disappointed, Eris did not wallow in it. "Of course." Waving his hand, the branches receded back into the earth. Massaging her sore wrists and ankle, Eris walked briskly over and took the 2nd Place token for herself. Without turning around, she started towards the exit confidently. Her maids followed her lead but did not forget to send deadly glares towards Greyson on the way out. Chuckling to himself, Greyson paid no attention to them and joyfully bounded over to grab his 1st place token for himself. Leilena also quickly grabbed hers and went over to Greyson to start pulling him towards the exit. "What''s the hurry?" "There''s definitely going to be another group coming soon. We have to leave so we don''t have to fight them!" Right on cue, Greyson heard the commotion of people arriving. Without further ado, he put his effort into running to the exit. The last fight with Eris did exhaust him. Such a large range earth spell was not easy to control and required a lot of mana. When they stepped through the black doorway, Greyson felt that they landed somewhere dark. Feeling around and swallowing some dirt, he could not resist the urge to roll his eyes. The exit led them straight underground! While cursing these dungeon creators in his heart, Greyson began digging his way out. Thankfully, he was fairly close to the surface and made it to the top quickly. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, he opened eyes to look around and noticed Leilena also making her way up. Looking pretty miserable, they both laughed out loud seeing the other in such distress. "You know, if the target was not me, I would think that this dungeon master was pretty fun." Leilena giggled. "No, I''m quite glad knowing that I will most likely never have to meet this person in person. If I ever do, remind me to punch him if I can." Greyson replied gruffly. 155 Water Thicker Than Blood Brushing the dirt off his body, Greyson did not continue to pay any attention to the mysterious crazy dungeon creator and instead turned back towards where the crowd was waiting. Their entrance did gain decent attention as they were the first to exit after Eris'' group. His teacher did not opt to watch and wait during this portion of the exam since it would take too long, therefore Greyson only noticed the Old King and the two brothers in the crowd. He knew that they were most likely here for Palmira not for him. Since they were not too close, Greyson decided to just stay with Leilena on the edge. When they rejoined the crowd, people whispered while glancing at Greyson since they recognized him as the black horse from before. True to his reputation, he placed high up during this part of the competition as well. This noise lasted only a couple moments before everyone was silenced by a resounding *SLAP!* Shocked by the sharp sound, all heads including Greyson''s turned to the origin of the sound. Holding her already swelling cheek and spitting blood was the very Eris that Greyson just fought. Furrowing his eyebrows, Greyson had to admit that he felt a little guilty. He could already imagine the reason the man in front of Eris was so angry. "Useless wench! What is the point of your so-called fairness?! We have sent you to win glory for the kingdom! If first is in reach, why settle for some measly second? Truly, girls are such a useless bunch!" The incensed middle-aged man harshly scolded. Although Greyson was unsure of this man''s exact identity, it could not be low if he was allowed to so violently lay a hand on a favored princess. But this man was truly inviting hate onto himself. Almost all the women, and even some of the men, were all glaring at the man due to his last sentence. Snow Country was a place that accepted Queens and some kingdoms thought that their Queens were better rulers than their male counterparts. By shouting such clearly misogynistic words, he was causing lots of people to take offense. It was one thing to say such things in a private space and another to paint yourself into a such a person in public. "Yes, little sister, you have to know that you are representing the kingdom not just yourself. You clearly held the advantage to sweep the first five places and won glory for our Maewen Kingdom. To just selfishly give that up for your pride does not seem right!" The younger man beside the older gentleman chimed in on the side. His hair was dark blue while his eyes were more of a paler blue. One could tell that he bore some faint resemblance to Eris, but his looks were much more common and the concentration of the Yce bloodline was not as strong. He seemed to be scolding her gently like a true brother, but any discerning person could tell he was just fanning the flames. His eyes gave away the fact that he was truly enjoying this situation. "Hah, Grand Duke and my ''dear'' elder brother, are you encouraging me to shamelessly gang up on someone and take first place through power in numbers? This is truly an eye-opener. I''ll admit that fairness is not too important in real life-or-death situations, but this is just a competition. What honor would I truly be winning if I received things in such a fashion? I feel that I would instead look foolish taking every route to try to win some first-place title. I understand people of such mediocre talent as yourselves would not understand, but every genius has their own pride." Not backing down one step, Eris just scoffed and retorted back. The Grand Duke''s face turned red in what seemed to be a mixture of pure fury and also embarrassment. The older prince''s face also turned pale as if he had been physically struck by those words. Some of his hatred leaked to the surface and he no longer held the look of a loving older brother. The older man moved to strike Eris once again, but the servant behind him whispered something that made his arm stop. Glancing around at the crowd that was observing him with clear disdain in their eyes, he took a deep breath and no longer tried to hit Eris again. Although he looked extremely unreconciled with letting her go, the Grand Duke did not seem to want to continue causing a scene. Huffing angrily, he turned around and quickly departed from the group with the prince in tow. They did not care to wait for the results of the rest of the Maewen Kingdom participants as continuing to stand there would only invite more embarrassment. Watching the two speed away, Eris just sneered and no longer paid them any attention. A little concerned seeing that her face was only turning darker from bruising, Greyson walked over silently to offer his help. "Do you want me to heal that for you?" He softly inquired while gesturing towards her face. "Haha, it''s not necessary." Laughing in spite of the situation, Eris whipped out an unknown cream and gently covered her cheek with it. Almost immediately, her face began responding and the swelling and bruising of her cheek continually went down until it vanished. Looking good as new, Eris resumed her normal devil-may-care attitude. "Thanks for the offer. It''s not as if this is the first time nor will it be the last. That Uncle of mine just wants his son to be the one to take the throne while my older brother has always thought that I was an eyesore. We are not born of the same mother, so he does not really hold any type of sibling affection for me. If I was still not prepared for something like this then I would be a truly hopeless idiot." Shrugging the scene off nonchalantly, Eris did not seem to want to dwell on the issue. "Until the next stage, Greyson! I won''t hold back so easily next time or else the old geezers and hags back home will never let me hear the end of it." Playfully winking at him, she made a cool exit with those maids of hers still trailing behind. Each of them did not forget to send another death glare at Greyson as they seemed to blame him for their master''s injury. Watching the proud girl stalk off, Greyson just heaved a sigh in his heart. Truly, it would seem that the saying ''blood was thicker than water'' did not always hold true. These family members of Eris'' were no better than her mortal enemies that were just waiting with bated breath to stab her in the back. Plus, it was not just her. Even Leilena was in a similar situation where she had no one to trust or lean on in her family. They all treated her like an outsider. Maybe Greyson was not missing much? He liked to believe there was no worthy incentive for true siblings and family to turn against each other. But perhaps even familial relationships were cheap. ... "Do you want to head back?" "Don''t we need to wait to take the teleportation formation back?" "I mean, we could since that is faster, but we don''t know when the last person will finally finish up. There is usually only one teleportation charm that you use to reverse teleport back from where we landed. The prince will probably use it once all 32 participants come out or a time limit they have set passes. Some of the participants may never come out after all and they cannot continue to wait aimlessly. I''m not completely sure about this time limit, but it is surely not too short. I don''t want to continue wasting time here. Don''t you have your dragon partner? Let''s just start flying back now. We will probably still beat everyone." "Hmm... that''s also true." Greyson also did not see any point in continuing to wait around. However, before the two could set off, he caught someone approaching him from the side of his eye. Turning his body to look, he was surprised to see the Tenth Prince, Braiden Yce. This time the Prince was joined by another petite, pretty girl. She had the same black hair and blue-grey eyes that represented the Yce family bloodline. From their clear resemblance, Greyson assumed that they were siblings so this girl must be a princess. "Hello, Greyson. I''m pretty sure I don''t need to introduce myself, but just to be sure, I am Braiden Yce. This is my sister, the 14th princess, Beline Yce." Braiden warmly smiled and greeted. The young girl beside him also curtsied. "Hello, nice to meet you." Wondering why the Prince approached him, Greyson just responded politely. "I''ve really wanted to introduce myself to you since the first part of the selection. You really stood out as a genius of our Snow Country from the very beginning. Our Uncle even mentioned that we should pay attention to you. That picky Uncle of mine usually doesn''t have anything positive to say about anyone, so I was especially curious about you." "Your Uncle? I don''t believe I have ever met him, though?" "You did not directly meet him and speak with him; however, he was one of the people who watched the travelling teams. You were one of the teams that he saw." "Red Snow Fields?" Greyson guessed. "Yes!" Braiden readily admitted. "You, are you actually human?" Rudely interrupting the small talk, Beline could not help but abruptly enter the conversation. Truly, this question had been bothering a lot of people in this selection. Just going off of the white hair and blue eyes, Greyson looked a little different but it was not extreme enough to claim that he was not fully human. After all, there were an array of hair and eye colors in the human population. The reason they were so curious was because of Greyson''s amazingly high talent. If he were truly purely human, then they could assume that his parents could not be nobodies. Hence, any plans to win Greyson over were pointless since he most likely was already dedicated to whatever power his parents controlled. Within the human race, only those with ancestors that reached a significant level would be able to have talented offspring. Otherwise, humans were generally not talented in sensing and controlling mana compared to magic beasts, elves, dwarves, and even the minority races scattered across the continent. However, if Greyson were a mixed-race individual, then they could accept the fact that he might really be some unknown talent buried in the outskirts of the country. Nobody in any of the races truly treated mixed raced individuals equally. Most of them were outcasts, but this did not discount the possibility of truly genius children being born between the mixing of two races. If the child inherited all the good traits of each race, then they could be a head above the rest. Generally, it was hit or miss. The bloodlines either meshed well or they did not and one bloodline would dominate over the other. If this were the case, Greyson would be up for grabs by anyone. A recruiting frenzy would start at that time to win over this young, promising genius. Anyone within earshot tried to listen in to Greyson''s answer. Startled by the randomness of the question, Greyson did not answer right away and tried to catch up. Lying was virtually impossible since his Snow Dragon bloodline was a large part of his fighting power, thus Greyson knew that everyone would figure out eventually. The only reason he was not more straightforward was because he understood the normal attitude of people when they found out his mixed-race status. Trying to avoid the drama and unnecessary fights, Greyson normally abstained from bringing up the topic himself. Glancing around to the rest of the crowd who were pretending to not pay attention, he just shrugged. "I have part of a magic beast bloodline." He responded in the end. As his elf bloodline was currently sealed away, Greyson did not feel the need to say anything more. Hearing this answer, everyone had different reactions. Some were clearly excited and started calculating plans, while the other jealous young geniuses felt relieved inside and started looking at Greyson with some of the usual disdain. Rendered speechless by their quick ability to recover their original arrogance, Greyson truly wondered where they got their baseless feelings of superiority. It''s not like Greyson''s abilities and talents disappeared or could be considered expected just because he was a mixed-race individual. "Which beast?" Beline pushed curiously. "To be frank, it''s really none of your business." Not stupid enough to blurt out his strength and origins, Greyson still withheld that information. His sister''s unjust treatment was a good example of courting disaster by broadcasting his dragon bloodline. Among the humans, it was very difficult to interact or meet with dragons. This tribe of magic beasts was super talented and their bodies could be used to make a lot of powerful magic tools. Pureblood dragons were all also great at sensing treasures and some of those part-dragons also inherit this ability. Due to their poor reproductive ability, dragons did not stray too far out of the Beast Empire since each one was precious. Without enough strength, dragons were the first to be targeted by humans. "Well, no need to be defensive..." Beline backed off. "Sorry, my sister is still impulsive. She has seemingly forgot all her manners." Braiden pulled his sister behind him throwing a side glare at her before sincerely apologized. "It''s fine. I didn''t take it to heart." Greyson shrugged. "Well, then I will let you go. I just wanted to introduce myself. Don''t be a stranger later." Braiden smiled. "Also, you should prepare yourself for the next round. It''s not going to be very safe or fair, there will be serious threats to your life and well-being." Paying attention to the warning, Greyson nodded gratefully and assured him that he would surely pay attention later. Gesturing towards Leilena, they both ran a decent distance away from the group before Greyson released Zephyr to fly them back. On the way back, Greyson starting imagining what the next round would be. Prince Braiden seemed to be sincere in his advice, so this next round would definitely not be simple. It was the last round before they could fight against the predetermined top 10 to try to make their way onto the team that will eventually be sent to represent the Snow Country. ... "Brother, why were you being so humble to him? He''s just some mixed-race nobody, his talent does not necessarily mean you should lower yourself like this..." Beline grumbled unhappily. "Bel, maybe you are still young, or maybe it''s because mother spoils you too much. But you should realize that Greyson is not just "talented", don''t you see that your prejudice is blinding you? 15-year-old magister level stage five! He will most definitely become a great magister before 20 at his pace. From the information I have gathered, he also controls multiple elements! This is a genius our Snow Country has not been able to produce in centuries maybe even millennia. He could be our chance at raising our status among the Outer Countries. In the end, our imperial status and bloodline means nothing. We are just geniuses in a rural village. Once we are placed in a city, we could still be seen as above average. However, placed in the wider world, we are just trash, frogs in a well. Why else would not even one person in our multiple teams of geniuses place in the top 20 of the competition? We are just that weak. Our Snow Country is on the brink of hostile takeover by the other Outer Countries. The only reason they have yet to start is that our country is truly barren compared to them. Other than gaining more land, there is not much merit in taking over. As long as Greyson survives, I believe that he could bring our country with him in his rise to power." One could say that Prince Braiden was truly broad-hearted. With his rather dismal possibility of becoming the heir and his more straightforward personality, Braiden did not assume the normal arrogance of the imperial princes and princesses. He truly wished the best for his home and geniuses like Greyson were a type of hope. "I still think Big Brother and Sister Aphina do not necessarily lose out..." Beline pouted. Although he shook his head in exasperation, Braiden still felt warm from the support. This youngest sister of his still had a way to go. Luckily, Aphina was more aware and intelligent, so he did not worry about her. 156 *Secret* Real Title is in Author Notes It took around a day of straight flight to finally arrive at the gates of Lunar City once again. Exhausted from the drain on his mana through sustaining Zephyr''s flight and time outside, Greyson dragged his feet to his room before passing out. Lucius, Theo, and Snow were all curious about what happened, but they could only hold in their questions. They could see that Greyson was not faking his exhaustion. Late afternoon rolled around when Greyson finally opened his eyes once again. Feeling groggy, he took a moment to regain his bearings. Checking the sun outside, he was shocked to see that it was already closer to evening than noon. This was the first time he had slept so much in a long time. It was truly so refreshing. Energy filled to the brim, he jumped out of bed and felt his stomach grumbling in protest. Now that he fulfilled his sleep requirements, it was time to satisfy his stomach as well! Poking at the lazing animals, they all immediately popped up at the mention of food. Almost drooling, they ended up rushing Greyson out the door barely dressed. As he jumped down the steps, Greyson tried to tuck his shirt in and button it properly before tying the laces of his boots. The other customers let out good-natured chuckles at the sight of this young boy rushing to go out. "Hehe, little guy, don''t worry! I''m sure your lover will wait for you!" "True, young love is so passionate and blind to faults~" The older gentlemen all teased him while winking suggestively. Greyson was struck dumb by their assumptions before just ignoring them. He knew that defending himself would only egg these drunkards on. "Bahaha, that girl must have quite the fiery temper, look at how rushed the lad is!" Their calls were still audible as Greyson was leaving. Shaking his head, Greyson did not pay them any mind. Instead, his mind was filled with food options. ... This simple life of meditating, eating, and sleeping continued for one more week before everyone once again returned from the dungeon. It seemed that only 30 people ended up exiting. The rest could only be assumed to have died in the dungeon or were otherwise stuck. Even Greyson was slightly shocked by the ease with which their presumed deaths were accepted. He knew that Braiden warned them, but it was still unexpected to witness the callousness of the different groups. Even the people from the same Kingdom as those missing participants did not seem very broken up about losing them. Prince Braiden sent out an announcement for everyone to gather in the palace square to learn of the specifics of the next round. Thus, Greyson woke up bright and early this day and made his way to the square with more than enough time to spare. Seemingly not the only one excited for this competition to end, the square was already full of people waiting. Everyone chattered endlessly while giving their own guesses as to what this last round would entail. Not joining in the fun, Greyson sat down silently and began to meditate. He did not open his eyes until he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Glancing over, he saw the familiar face of Leilena. After getting back, the two of them actually did not meet up much. "Teacher." Greyson nodded in greeting. "You rascal, have you been avoiding me? How could I have not seen even a trace of you this entire week?!" Leilena joked. "Yes, I was avoiding you. I thought you would drag me around shopping and eating again. I did not want to waste my time with such things." Bluntly admitting it himself, Greyson was not afraid to be honest. "Oh? You''ve grown more and more cheeky these days~" Twisting on Greyson''s ear violently, Leilena kept a friendly smile on her face while her tone was anything but. Greyson just shrugged as if he could not feel her efforts to punish him. Are you kidding? With his physique, it would take a lot more force for him to actually feel that pain. "Gosh, you make this no fun..." Clearly not eliciting the response she was hoping for, Leilena no longer kicked up a fuss. Sitting down next to Greyson, she also calmly meditated. In the midst of the active scene, the two of them created an odd picture of serenity. It continued this way until Prince Braiden arrived with his small entourage. "Alright, I hope you all are well-rested and recovered. We will begin the last round right away today after I explain the rules. This challenge is a battle royale! Since there are 30 of you, we will split you into groups of 10. The last three standing will gain the right to challenge any of the 10 who are on the predesignated team of geniuses to be sent to the Outer Country Competition. They will also gain the corresponding rewards. Placements between first, second, and third will be determined by your fighting results after challenging one of the 10. There are no specific rules this time. You can team up against people, use your magic tools, magic beast partners, etc. There will be an enclosed stage that you have to stay on. If you are knocked off the stage, you are out. The only restriction is against any forbidden magic items and medicine that will boost your strength with a steep price. What would be the point of taking you along to the competition if you are gravely injured? Your only goal is to be the last standing!" Upon his words, the crowd broke out into loud discussion. Obviously, these young geniuses were not expecting this type of free-for-all competition in the end. "Your Highness, does this mean that other contestants are allowed to seriously injure us?" "Seriously injure? You are pretty naive, aren''t you? What I mean is that even if they kill you, we will not bat an eyelid. Therefore, if you do not want to fight you can always jump out of the ring right away and forfeit." Braiden looked over at the man with a sneer. Now this sent massive ripples through the audience. Who would want to take part of such a crazy group fight? Even Greyson was surprised at this outcome. When groups had yet to be announced, he hoped that he could be placed with Leilena in order to team up with her. However, things never seemed to work out that nicely. Split up randomly, Greyson ended up in Group 1 while Leilena was in Group 3. Neither of them encountered Eris in their groups. What Greyson did notice was that the second-place holder from the Dead Woods competition was actually in his group, Kane Zemunol from the Kirin Kingdom. And he was not alone! Three other participants from the Kirin Kingdom were also placed in this group. From the looks of them, they were completely loyal to Kane just like Eris'' maidservants from before in the dungeon. Powerful heirs were truly different then the rest when it came to advantages. Seeing the two of them, Greyson wondered why the Idris Kingdom turn-out was so poor compared to the other Tier One Kingdoms. Was there some sort of back reason behind this? Palmira made it to the last round, but according to her strength, she would most likely choose to forfeit at the onset of the match. Unlike Eris and Kane, she did not have any servants who also met the standards for this selection. Seeing their interaction, Greyson''s expression grew more dim. One-on-one with anyone in this group would not instill fear in him, but if they all came at him at once it would most definitely be difficult to beat them back. Currently, he was deeply regretting his decision to leave the three animals behind. Maybe not Theo, but Snow and Lucius both could have assisted him during this fight since magic beasts were allowed. But he was without enough time to try and get them now. He would just have to make do with his own strength and strategy. Not wasting any time, Braiden immediately led all the groups to their assigned stages. Actually, for a battle between 10 different individuals, this stage was not very spacious. It was definitely forcing them close together without a lot of space to maneuver and run away. They were really making this as vicious as possible. Naturally forming a circle, the participants all stared at their opponents on the stage. At least 2 of them clearly wanted to forfeit right away. They did not look at the rest and only kept peeking at the edge like they were calculating how quickly they could jump down. Greyson did not pay much attention to anyone except Kane and his goons. They would most likely start working together from the beginning to knock everyone off to allow Kane to be the final winner. "Ready?... START!" Braiden dropped his hand to signal the beginning of the fight. As expected, two of the participants immediately jumped off the edge of the stage to the bottom. The judge announced that they were out from the competition. Greyson stayed close to the edge of the circular stage in order to avoid allowing people behind him and to keep all the participants inside his vision. To his surprise, everyone was avoiding him and ganging up on Kane and his followers. Maybe everyone realized their disadvantage if this group teamed up, therefore they made a makeshift alliance with each other. Not that he was complaining, though, instead he was overjoyed with the change. Since they opted to ignore him, then Greyson would not go out of his way to try to fight with them either. He would just watch the action until someone decides to approach him. But this did not mean he would lower his vigilance. He knew that they could attack him at any time, so he had to be ready for anything thrown at him. Although these were his inner thoughts, his outer appearance looked very relaxed like he was just watching the show. Outside of Greyson''s notice, Kane''s eyes showed a sharp glint the minute he saw Greyson relax. Breaking out into a bloodthirsty grin, he signaled the rest of the group subtly. All of them imperceptibly nodded along. In what seemed like an instant, all seven of them stopped fighting each other and sent their attacks flying towards Greyson. Although he could not see their suspicious points, Greyson had not let down his guard the entire time. Reacting right away, he summoned a metal wall to block the faster attacks while taking down the slower ones with his own to cancel them out. Explosions echoed in the air as the surprise attack completely failed. This was definitely cause for celebration; however, Greyson was in no mood to celebrate. Although he already expected the four from the Kirin Kingdom to gang up together, he really did not expect the other random three participants to join in to defeat him. One against seven was truly less than ideal. The three others from the Kirin Kingdom were earth element users while the three other participants were a mix of wind, water, and fire. Kane was a multi-element magician of wind and fire. Unlike Eris, he was not part of the royal family of the Kirin Kingdom. The Zemunol family was only second to the royal family in the Kirin Kingdom and even this was debatable as they most definitely had hidden strength. Therefore, Kane''s elements were not related to water. The three earth users acted as shields as the two wind and fire users aided Kane''s attacks. The water user was probably the most useless, but he still tried his best to fight as well by sending some long distance water spell attacks. Although, his mana stores were much higher than normal people''s due to his multiple elements, Greyson was truly feeling pressured by the constant attacks. His retaliation attacks were also getting blocked by those earth magicians. By themselves, they could not block Greyson''s attacks, but together they had a chance of holding on. Gritting his teeth, Greyson knew that this could not continue. He had to think of a new plan to start taking them out in a rapid fashion. 157 Battle Royale Part 2 Receiving more and more damage from the flurry of attacks, Greyson had to admit that the anger in him was also growing. Who was he kidding, how could he not be frustrated by this blatant unfairness? The more the rage in him grew, the more he was not able to control the dragon bloodline raging in him. Magic beasts, by nature, were more predisposed towards violence than humans. Under normal circumstances, Greyson was a calm person who did not enjoy violence which kept some of the inclinations of his dragon bloodline under control. With his emotions running high, Greyson could not prevent an involuntary switch. White scales began popping up on his body starting at the hands and slowly going up his arms to the rest of his body. His irises turned purple as his pupil became slits. Sighing to himself, he knew that he could no longer hide his mixed blood identity. Oh well... He just wanted to save himself the extra trouble of people picking fights with him due to his status. Keeping his identity hidden was never of great importance. Allowing the blood to flow smoothly, he no longer prevented it. He saw the arrogant and sneering faces of the people across from him as they seemed even more disdainful. Looking at their annoying mugs, he suddenly grew an urge. He just really wanted to beat them. Only at this moment did Greyson realize that he had not really been tapping into his full potential at times. How powerful were seven elements? Although they made his advancement potentially slower, these various elements also provided him with so much strength. No matter what, Greyson grew up in a church with pacifistic intentions and his schools sheltered him from most of the ugliness of the world. In the back of his mind, Greyson did not truly want to hurt people. It was this small psychological block that actually limited him. For whom was he holding back for in this instance? Just these awful people who are obviously intent on causing severe injury or death to him? Hmph! If I hit you with everything I have, let''s just see if you can block! Without any other concerns, Greyson began muttering a spell in the dragon''s language under his breath. Waves of mana pulsed off of Greyson''s body and into the air as everyone held their breaths from the pressure. The temperature plummeted as the normal citizens watching and even the lower level magicians began to shiver with their teeth chattering. A blizzard blew around and concentrated on sweeping the enemies away. The group tried to resist and attack Greyson, but their vision blurred and they could no longer locate him. The audience watching could no longer see what was occurring on the stage either. Everyone was kept in the dark until yells echoed and two bodies shot out of the storm. Slamming into the reinforced stone walls, their injuries were definitely severe at this point. They also showed signs of being almost half frozen. And just like that, new bodies continued to fly out until there were only two people left: Greyson and Kane. The snow began to slowly dissipate and reveal the two bodies in the center of the stage. Holding Kane by the neck, Greyson tossed the unconscious opponent on the ground. That confident young master was now beaten black and blue with parts of his body frozen. Silence. No one spoke and the battles on the other stage also halted to as stop as everyone glanced over in shock. "I declare Greyson as the winner of the first stage. Those of you on the other stages, continue fighting if you still want a spot." It was Prince Braiden who broke the silence this time. Like a stone thrown out into water, his voice caused ripples in the audience. Everyone was no longer in a stupor and began to enthusiastically whisper or cheer. "...interesting. It seems he did not go all out against me?" Eris whispered under her breath before looking back towards the stage with new fervor. The other stages also began to resume their fights. "Hu..." Letting out a breath, Greyson felt more drained than usual. But it could not beat the amazing feeling of catharsis from the earlier beating he gave them. Punching and kicking all of them out, he attacked in a straighforward and rather foolhardy way. It just felt so good! Of course, this did not mean he would always be like this from now on. Just every now and then, it was nice to run roughshod a little. Most of his fights, Greyson worried too much about seriously injuring his opponent that he held back ever so slightly. If they were not serious enemies, he did not want to be overly aggressive against them. All the scales receded and he was back to his human form. Walking off to the side of the stage, he began to meditate to recover the chunk of mana that he lost. However, he was unable to calm down and go into the right state of mind due to a pair of eyes staring at him passionately. Furrowing his brows, Greyson suddenly opened his eyes and looked in the direction. What greeted him was an empty space of air. Feeling slightly apprehensive, Greyson decided to hold off leaving the arena. He decided to stay around because he would be less of a target with this many people around him. Although he did not see anyone, Greyson was not one to doubt his instincts as they had never failed him before. If he did not see them, it must mean that they were more powerful than him. Without dropping his guard, he tried to meditate once again. Successful in this attempt, he realized that the owner of those eyes must have left or at least stop trying to observe him so closely. Shoulders relaxing, Greyson began to sink into a peaceful state and the loud cheers sank away into nothing. He did not awaken again until he felt someone tapping his shoulder. Looking over, he expected to see Leilena, but was surprised to see Eris'' face instead. As they were not close at all, Greyson just looked at her for a second before nodding in greeting. "I won on the second stage!" She informed him. "Congratulations..." Confused as to how this had anything to do with him, Greyson perfunctorily responded. "I just wanted to let you know that you should watch your back. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but you are very unfortunate in terms of opponents. If you had beaten up any other participant, the other powers would not take it too seriously since they can just as easily be healed. However, Kane Zemunol is a narrow-minded, arrogant brat who will try to avenge every little grievance. Luckily, the Zemunol family and his parents are not that extreme and would not back him up in his endeavors. So, you are just up against the resources at his disposal. But he is rich and determined, and could hire different people to do his dirty work. He could also pressure some of the powerful escorts from the lower tier kingdoms under his own. I''m just cautioning you to be aware of your surroundings and such." Listening carefully to her words, Greyson made sure to take note of such threats. She was correct to warn him; he might not be scared of Kane himself but if Kane hired someone stronger then there would be issues. "Thank you for the heads up." Facial expression warming up significantly from before, Greyson thanked her sincerely. Since he was not aware of the different personalities of the participants, he would not have been able to come up with such a clear idea of possible threats so quickly. Maybe he would have figured this out later himself, but she gave him a specific target to watch out for that made his life simpler. "It''s no big deal. You and I might end up on the same team later if we can beat one of the original 10 members. I''m just hoping to make connections a little earlier. Plus, I''m not a huge fan of his anyways, so let''s just say I deeply enjoyed you beating him into that sorry state." Eris widely grinned. "Any time." Greyson smiled back. "Alright, well I have to go heal myself, too. Unlike someone else, I actually have to put some effort to win against my opponents." It was only at this moment that Greyson realized that she had multiple injuries on her body. Eris was already walking away to the healers before he could offer to help heal her himself as a way of showing his thanks. Shrugging, he decided not to chase her and would just have to find a different opportunity to pay her back. Afterwards, Leilena''s third stage grabbed his attention, so he turned to watch that last battle instead of going back to his meditation. The participants in group three were all lucky and unlucky that the abilities in this group were well-distributed. They were lucky that they were not knocked out of the competition right away. However, they were also unlucky that they did not have many advantages over each other. Stage three was a true battle royale and the fights were chaotic. Everyone was cautiously attacking without expending too much energy. It became more of an endurance and concentration battle then a measure of power. Due to this, their battle would stretch on for much longer. Some of the audience started feeling impatient and hurled insults at the participants. "Come on! Start fighting!" "Are all of you guys cowards?!" "Where is the action?!" These people did not make up the majority, but there were enough that some of the participants felt the need to respond. Two of the relatively rash ones started going all out, but the rest ganged up on them fairly quickly. One group of three and one group of four each took on an opponent. It was easier to make brief alliances when someone volunteered themselves as a common enemy. One person did not join in with any of the chaos: Leilena. Almost blending into the surroundings, she was obviously on an open stage yet one could overlook her if they were not paying attention. True to her assassin training from her time in the military, Leilena wanted to take advantage of her strongest points as a wind magician. Seeing the others distracted by the two people aggressively attacking, she lurked behind them waiting for the perfect moment. When one of the temporary teams went in for the kill, Leilena swooped in behind them. Flashes of light reflected the movements of her daggers. Mid-attack and mid-defense, those participants could not turn in time to fight her off. Blood spashed and all of them were four were down with severe injuries. Noticing the immediate danger from the weak states, they quickly rolled to the side and off the stage. Immense cheering broke out at the sight of blood. Although it felt rather barbaric, Greyson knew that audiences like this fed off of the violence and excitement. There were not many other free ways of entertainment for citizens. The other group of four and the person they were attacking all stopped their movements and turned towards Leilena with caution. Looking troubled, Greyson knew that Leilena probably also realized her tactics would only work once. The stage was too small. Once the participants took notice of her, she would no longer be able to hide. Lifting herself to enemy number one, the remaining five all glared at her. Noticing them inching closer to her, Leilena just scoffed and shrugged before she calmly jumped off the stage. Another wave of shock travelled through the audience before they all started responding with displeased booing. Walking towards Greyson, Leilena did not seem very beat-up about her loss or responsive towards the crowd. Recognizing this, Greyson did not put any pointless effort in comforting her. Actually, from the very beginning, Leilena informed him of her desires. She wanted to stand out during this competition and slap the faces of her biological family that looks down on her. Or at least, that was the surface-level reason. However, he could also tell that she just wanted to get out of the manor. From what he could gather, it seemed like that family trapped her inside like an old, unsightly skeleton in their closet. Such a situation would definitely slowly suffocate a free spirit like his teacher. "Don''t you think you gave up a little too easily? You''re supposed to be the teacher but you are doing worse than your student." Greyon teased after finally getting a chance to one-up her. "Hmm... Your teacher is not tied to worldly things like you, my student. Things like prizes, glory, and money are not important in my mind. It seems you still have a long ways to go to reach such a situation." Faking a disappointed expression, Leilena managed to turn winning into something that made him look greedy and worldly. She looked like an old teacher whose stupid student could not live up to expectations. Rolling his eyes, Greyson paid no attention to this one-woman show next to him. He continued watching the third stage waiting for the victor to appear. Looking at the levels of those remaining, though, he imagined that they would have almost no chance of making it into the final 10 representatives. Thinking of the spot that is getting closer along with the competition, Greyson could feel the excitement and anticipation growing. Such a big battle between the Outer Countries could help him experience more of what the continent has to offer in terms of talented opponents. 158 Weak Now that his teacher forfeited like this, Greyson no longer felt interested in the third stage results. Anyways, all of them were too weak to really make an impact on him. They would most likely not be able to beat one of the current 10 representatives. Not that he was underestimating their strength, but he also could not underestimate the strength of the Lunar City natives. Apparently, it had been decades since the last time a participant in the selection managed to grab a spot. As the people who live in the capital with the most resources and connections, Greyson did not believe that they could be that weak. Maybe Snow Country is not that amazing on the grand scale of the continent, but the leaders are still the local tyrants that manage to keep hold of a large piece of land. Strength was all relative depending on your identity. For someone like Greyson, the rulers of the Snow Country are still very powerful existences. Time ticked by slowly as the third stage became a fight of endurance more than power. The one who managed to at last everyone was not actually the strongest, however, he was someone who was the best at escaping. Using his wind element efficiently, he did not have to burst out with too much strength until the very end. Most of the crowd actually ended up leaving in the middle without waiting for the end. They tried booing once again, but no one left on stage paid the audience any attention. It was the same for almost all the participants, as well. Greyson did not stay because he wanted to, but more because he had to in order to understand what happens next. Eris also returned from the healing quarters looking good-as-new. She sat next to Greyson and the both of them just meditated silently. Even Prince Braiden was unhappy with the results of stage three and wished that he could speed them up. As the one in charge of all the proceedings of this selection, he needed to stay around and watch until the end and give instructions to the chosen three about the last stage. Really, it was a tedious and thankless job and everyone else avoided it. Therefore, whoever was the leader of the 10 participants always had to take it up. There really was no point in meditating for him as his accumulations had long been enough. He was just missing some inspirations to break into the next level of great magister. Yawning with boredom, he almost fell asleep while leaning on his hand. When that wind element magician finally arose victorious, Greyson, Eris and Prince Braiden jumped up with probably more joy than the winner. Due to his irritation with the third stage winner, Braiden forewent the congratulations and went straight into the details of tomorrow''s competition for a spot in the 10-participant group. "Alright, since everyone is done now, I will go straight into the directions. That way we can all go back a little earlier." Glancing over at the new winner while he spoke those words, Braiden cleared his throat before continuing. "Tomorrow, you will come here once again to fight with the one of the 10 already chosen representatives. You will be the ones choosing your opponents, so I would advise you to try to look up the abilities of each person on the team to make your best decision. If you are lucky, there might be someone who is particularly weak against a magician of your elements. Choosing someone like this could increase your chances of winning. You only have to fight and win against one of them before you will be included in the group. If you win in a questionable manner that does not prove enough strength, some of the other representatives reserve the right to challenge you once again. However, they will at most be at the level of the person who you defeated. I urge you guys not to get big heads from being the top of the selection, the representatives chosen are not weak by any standard. Keep a level-head and your wits about you instead of rushing straight in. Underestimating an opponent is the first way to lose with regrets." The three winners all nodded in understanding. Even without Prince Braiden''s reminder, none of them would have taken it easy. As long as one was aware of the history, they could understand just how rare it is for any of the selection winners to succeed in becoming a representative. The Snow Country''s selection process for years now was more a way for weaker kingdoms to grab resources and attention than an inner competition to pick representatives. All of them were aware that the geniuses in Lunar City were usually in direct contact with or even family with some of the most powerful magicians in the country. They had the resources and teachers needed to tap into their potential. "Alright, that''s all I have to say on the topic. Get good rest before tomorrow, I expect to see you all here before the bell at noon." With those last words, everyone said their goodbyes and Greyson quickly made it back to his place. The animals jumped up in greeting and asked how the competition went. Recounting the details with them, both Snow and Theo seemed rather down about missing a chance to participate and help out. After speaking with them for a little bit, Greyson began to get ready to go to sleep. However, before he could get into bed, a gentle knock sounded at his door. Confused as to who would show up at this hour, Greyson used to hole at the door to get a look. What he saw only confused him even more since it was a stranger. After thinking for a second, he seemed to vaguely remember this man standing among the 10 representatives who he saw before. Knowing that the person was waiting outside while he hesitated, Greyson decided it would be best to just open the door. "Hello?" "Hello, Greyson! I know you are probably not familiar with me. My name is Rouven Zeennak. I am one of the current 10 representatives." Rouven was an average-looking man whether in terms of height, weight, or facial features. But his red eyes did leave an impression on people. "What is it that you need from me, Rouven?" "Well... that is..." Suddenly unable to find the words to say, Rouven could only stutter while looking to find the right words to explain. He also glanced around seeming to want to make sure no one hears what he says. Sensing his hesitation, Greyson decided to invite the man inside. If he continued waiting for a response at the door like this, it would only make the situation more awkward. "Sorry, all I have is some hot water as I am not a fan of tea or alcohol." "Hot water would be great. I''m sorry I have inconvenienced you so late at night." Once they sat down and got settled, Greyson was the first to break the silence. "So, now do you think you can tell me about what brought you here?" "Yes! Sorry, it''s just a rather embarrassing and shameful request on my part, so it is hard to find the words to say. I am here to ask you to pick me tomorrow to challenge, so that you can take my spot in the group." "You want me to challenge you? Plus, are you so sure that I will defeat you?" "Even if you weren''t, I would let you win. From the strength you showed before, though, you should be strong enough to beat me." "Could you tell me why? It just seems strange that you would prefer to be chosen and beaten. Seems like that would make your reputation take a hit." "Well, first I would like to tell you a little about myself so that you can better understand my circumstances and choice. My Zeennak family is a Marquis family in the Moon Empire. One could say that we are a top power in the whole of the Snow Country and in Lunar City. Each time this competition comes around, our family is given one quota to automatically have a spot in the 10 representatives. I am the second son of the current Marquis Zeennak''s younger brother. Therefore, the Marquis is my uncle. I am neither the most talented nor the most favored in my family. Honestly, my strength is just average in comparison to the true inheritors of the family. However, they are all either too old or too young to compete this time so the position fell on my shoulders. I do not wish to go. You may not be well aware of how this competition usually goes for the Snow Country''s representatives, but we always lose. If it were just losing, that would be fine as well. But there are a lot of deaths and injuries that could handicap a person for life. Some of the other outer countries are known for their violent tendencies while sometimes just individual geniuses enjoy picking on the weaker participants. I feel that I would be doomed to a rather grim fate if I end up going, thus I am here to ask you to beat me and take my place." "Couldn''t you just tell your family to choose someone else? Or even give the quota to someone else?" "This quota and our participation in the competition is a great honor and a matter of reputation. I am not allowed to just give it up, otherwise I would be severely punished. However, if you beat me fairly, then they cannot say anything. After all, any strength that could better our team is needed and would be protected by the imperial family. They would not have the guts to target you or give you any trouble." Hearing this new information, Greyson grew silent. Not because he needed to think through accepting Rouven''s offer, but more because he was shocked that the Snow Country is so weak. Everyone knew that we were at the bottom of the ranks, but it did not seem like it was common knowledge as to how badly the Snow Country loses each time. From the sounds of it, these 10 representatives were glorified punching bags for the other outer countries. Why was the difference so sharp? Was it really an issue of talent? "Do you need something more? Or did someone already ask you for the same favor? I could give you a monetary reward for helping me." Misunderstanding Greyson''s silence for denial, Rouven quickly tried to give more incentive. "No, no, I was not thinking about that. If this is what you really want, then I don''t mind choosing you. I was worried before about choosing the right person, so this makes things more convenient." "Oh, great!" Taking a sigh of relief, Rouven let his body relax as the shadow of worry finally left him. "If you don''t mind me asking, why is the Snow Country so much weaker than the others? I feel like no matter what, there should have been at least some geniuses from our country that have been able to put up a fight." "It''s not that there hasn''t been. The first part of the competition is a team battle, which is where our representatives get injured or killed. There are also individual battles and rankings where some of our geniuses have managed to get good positions on. Snow Country is rather new and does not have the same deep history and resources as others. Our spells are weaker, too. With only one magician king around, we do not have as great of a chance to make connections to other countries. Isolation is also a form of weakness as we stay more ignorant of ways to apply magic and cannot buy the same magic equipment or herbs. We do not even have a great presence of blacksmiths or alchemists. The land here is mostly barren and does not have a lot of mana present in the air. This makes it so there is less of a chance for a genius to be born in our country. There are just too many disadvantages to name them all. People like you are a complete anomaly in my book." Bitterly smiling by the end, Rouven truly felt that their country was too weak. Saying it out loud just made it all the more real. Even Greyson was shocked by the long list. Was their situation this bad? At this point, he could not help but think about his family. Why did his parents choose such a place to set up a weak kingdom? He felt that there must have been a deeper reason behind it. They could have settled anywhere at their levels of power, but they chose this backwater country. "Thank you, I think I can understand the gap now." "Don''t worry too much. At least, there is no pressure on you to win or get any results. Whatever you manage to accomplish will be a pleasant surprise." Rouven weakly encouraged. "Yeah... I guess you are right." Greyson replied half-heartedly. Not sitting for much longer, Rouven knew that it was late so he quickly excused himself. Lots of different thoughts continued running through Greyson''s mind as he finally lied down on his bed. He continued spacing out until his eyelids grew heavy. Not forcing himself to stay awake, Greyson allowed himself to be swept off to sleep. 159 Was It Really A Surprise? Birds chirped cheerfully to signal the morning arriving. Ears twitching, both Snow and Lucius woke up first and lazily stretched and yawned. Theo also opened up his eyes, but he did not seem to want to believe that it was already morning. Feeling playful, Snow burrowed into Greyson''s shirt and her head popped out at the collar. Snuggling up against him, she found a comfortable position to sleep. However, Greyson woke up from the sudden heat sticking to his chest. Blinking for a moment to come back to reality, he warmly smiled before rubbing Snow''s head. \"Alright, you lazy lumps, time to get up.\" Getting up out of bed, Greyson still hugged Snow so that she would not fall out before gently pulling her out. Heading into the bathroom, he did a quick wash-up to wake himself up with a cold splash of water. Throwing on a loose white linen shirt and brown pants, he did not try to dress up like some of the other contestants. Fighting was all about comfort anyways. \"Any of you guys coming with?\" Without answering, Lucius surprisingly jumped up onto Greyson''s shoulder. \"Is the sun rising from the west today? You actually want to come along?\" \"I''ll grow moldy at this rate just staying in. I might as well join the excitement for once.\" \"Snow, too! Snow, too!\" The Moon Leopard bounced around eagerly. \"Theo?\" \"I''ll join in, too.\" The small mouse climbed up and dove into Greyson''s pants pocket. With a bit of a spring in his step, Greyson quickly made his way towards the closest bakery. Buying a couple pieces of bread, he and the rest of the animals munched on the loaves for breakfast. Already a good-looking young man by himself, Greyson turned even more heads with the three little friends joining him today. When he made his way to the arena, he leisurely sat by himself. Seeing that he was early, he passed the time by playing around with Snow and Theo. Just like a normal house cat, Snow enjoyed chasing moving light. Using his pointer finger and light magic, Greyson had Snow hopping around happily. Although Theo was not so inclined, he still joined in on the fun. Lucius just rolled his eyes at their dumb antics. Little did he know that his games would catch the attention of all the young women in the audience. Many envious expressions turned towards the cute magic beasts with affection practically dripping from their eyes. Standing out from the rest, an amused look in her eyes, Eris approached the oblivious party of four. \"Hey, you''re rather early today.\" She casually greeted. Looking up, Greyson just smiled and nodded at her. \"Are these all your contracted beasts?\" \"No, they are my friends.\" Slightly furrowing his brow, Greyson was always a little displeased when other people treated his companions like his enslaved minions. True, he had a contract with Lucius, but no one ever asked with an equal contract in mind. They only asked believing there would be a master-servant contract. \"None of them? And they still follow you?\" \"I guess it''s just my charm.\" Greyson responded by throwing out a rare joke. Heh... yeah, charm, alright. Careful now, Grey, your true narcissistic colors are coming out. Lucius'' sarcastic voice sounded in his head. Able to see the eyeroll without even looking over, Greyson just shrugged the comment off. \"Oh? If it''s charm they are looking for, maybe they will prefer me.\" Taking the joke in stride, Eris crouched down and began petting Lucius'' head. Pleased at the attention from a pretty girl, Lucius rubbed his head into her palm. Theo also wanted the attention so he hopped onto her lap. Chuckling, Eris did not deprive him. \"It seems only Snow is loyal to me.\" Greyson grumbled while shooting a dirty look at the two traitors. \"Snow is the best!\" She agreed nodding her head. \"Yes, Snow is the best.\" With clear indulgence in his eyes, Greyson stroked her soft fur while echoing her words. ... Time ticked by peacefully while the two were absorbed in their own world. Without Greyson realizing, the ten representatives already made their way onto the stage at some point. Except for Prince Braiden and the girl next to him, the other eight seemed anxious. All of them were trying and failing to subtly glance over at the three winners from yesterday. Feeling a particularly obvious gaze on him, Greyson peeked over and locked eyes with Rouven. As if it did not occur, both of them casually looked away towards other directions. For both their sakes, it would be better that no one knew of their talk from last night. As smooth as it felt to them, Eris was someone who trained her senses in the royal palace every day. She clearly caught onto something. \"Are you challenging the one from the Zeennak family?\" She whispered over softly. A moment of shock flashed on Greyson''s face before returning to its original placid expression. \"Did you catch it?\" \"Please, you are too green to try and pull the wool over my eyes.\" Cupping her chin in her palm, she gave him a cheeky smirk. \"Yes, I will be challenging him.\" \"Hm... Could you do me a favor and choose someone else?\" \"Huh?\" \"You see, that Rouven is exactly the person I wanted to challenge.\" A contemplative expression appeared on Greyson''s face before finally shaking his head. \"I don''t think I can. I already promised Rouven I would challenge him and beat him. He does not wish to be a part of the team of representatives, but he cannot lose badly either.\" \"Are you saying I can''t beat him.\" Eris shot back. \"N-no, that''s... uh... not what I meant.\" \"Hehehe, how cute~. I''m just joking around. But, really, I am confident that I have a real fighting chance against him.\" \"Why?\" \"Don''t you know his element?\" \"No. I didn''t ask.\" \"What if his element was something that countered you?\" \"You should know that such an element does not really exist in my case.\" He replied flatly. \"...\" \"Comparisons are truly odious. Yes, yes, well you are amazing, okay. Us, mortals, have to keep those kinds of facts in mind when choosing opponents. This Rouven and most of the Zeennak family are all fire element magicians and tend towards straightforward, vicious attacks. He is probably the most ideal opponent for me. Plus, if he really does want to give up the spot, that''s even better. Maybe I won''t have to go all out to defeat him.\" Rolling her eyes, Eris still explained herself. Greyson thought about it and really could not find any rational reason to reject her. Already aware of Eris'' strength, he did not think that it would be an issue. \"I guess it''s all the same. You can challenge him, then. Who should I challenge though...\" Eyes drifting back towards the ten on stage, Greyson decided he would just let Snow choose. \"Hey, Snow, of those people on stage, who should I challenge?\" \"Challenge?\" \"Who should I fight? Who do you want to see me fight?\" New enthusiasm filling her, Snow sat up and scanned the ten people. \"Daddy, fight that skinny looking one at the end. He looks weak. Daddy will be able to beat him without getting hurt.\" Gesturing her paw towards the last guy to the left, Snow gave her simple reasoning. Lip twitching, he was not sure how to respond. \"Snow, are you worried I''m not strong enough to beat the rest?\" \"Hm... Daddy is smaller than the rest of them...\" Taking a critical blow, Greyson truly felt her evaluation was unfair. He was only 15! He was still growing, okay! \"Pffttt...\" Unsuccessful in holding her laughter in, Eris covered her mouth to prevent herself from bursting out. Lips pulled back into a firm line, Greyson grit his teeth and just ignored her. \"Why? Was Snow''s suggestion no good?\" Ears folding down, Snow showed her disappointment. \"No, it''s fine. They''re all the same anyways. I''ll challenge that guy, then.\" It was then that the Prince stepped forward while clearing his throat. \"Ahem. Ahem.\" His cough echoed throughout the amphitheater. \"The last part of the selection can now start. Will the three winners from yesterday come up to the stage.\" Knowing it was time, Greyson sighed and got up to walk down. Eris also followed after him. The other man from yesterday was even more excited and jumped down to get there first. \"Alright, you three, it is time to pick your opponent. Do any of you prefer going first?\" Before Eris and Greyson could even say a word, the other man stepped forward immediately. It seemed he had already made up his mind beforehand. Although Greyson was not planning to go first, he could not help but roll his eyes at the useless enthusiasm. From his understanding, even if the man picked a good opponent, he would most likely still lose. Since he was a wind element magician, Greyson could easily guess that he would go for an earth element magician, preferably one who focused on defense. Completely in line with his guess, the man pointed to the largest man in the group on-stage. \"I choose Lord Vervan.\" From the little research he did, Greyson knew that the Vervan family was a Duke family whose descendants were normally earth element magicians. They specialized in defense and their family crest was even a blue and gold shield. Lord Vervan was the eldest son of Duke Vervan and was already 38 years old. Someone who is a wind element magician could potentially get the upper hand, but this advantage greatly depends upon the wind magician''s power. They could continually hit the slower earth magicians, however, if they are weak then they will tire out before the earth magician''s defense breaks. This young man was on the weaker side and only knew how to use the wind element to escape. \"Alright.\" Not at all surprised, Lord Vervan acquiesced. The bored expression on his face spoke volumes of his confidence. Everyone could tell including the young man, whose expression grew ugly. Greyson could tell his fellow winner did not have a realistic idea of his power and underestimated his opponent. Both men stepped onto the center of the stage while the rest of the people cleared out. The prince announced the start of the fight. Vervan murmured a quick spell as the rock from the stage created an armor around his body. A large magic shield and spear appeared in his hand. The young man also managed to get a spell out during this time but the wind blades barely made a dent in the rock armor. Noticing the toughness of his opponent''s armor, his face changed color. Lord Vervan took position with the large ovular shield in his left hand and the long spear in his right. There was a round semicircle where the spear rested. The fight ended surprising quickly with the wind magician taken out by the spear. He dodged around quickly, but his pattern of movement was predictable and Lord Vervan caught onto it. Plus, the man''s wind attacks barely made a scratch. Greyson could tell that Lord Vervan was a highly trained soldier on top of his magic. It seemed that most people expected such a result, so the cheering was minimal. Some people were not even paying attention to the match. The young man also felt everyone''s disdain as he blushed fiercely and ran away with his tail between his legs. It seemed he was not thick-faced enough to stay. ... \"Well, that was a surprise.\" Eris whispered over. \"It was?\" Greyson looked over dumbfounded. \"Hm... I guess... not? Hahaha, I just thought he would last a little longer. Pretty anticlimactic.\" Greyson just shrugged in response, \"I knew he wouldn''t win; I didn''t think as far as how long he could go. Do you want to go next, or me?\" \"Ladies first, don''t you know?\" Eris winked. Greyson just rolled his eyes and waved his hand for her to go ahead. \"I will go next!\" She announced as she gracefully climbed onto the stage. \"Who will you challenge?\" Prince Braiden inquired. \"Master Zeennak.\" Rouven looked up in shock after hearing his name. \"Me?\" He double checked while pointing to himself. Eris just nodded politely. Getting his confirmation, Rouven looked a little worried. But he quickly calmed down as he knew that Eris was also a strong opponent who could beat him. Rouven climbed up onto the stage. They bowed to each other and Prince Braiden shouted the start of the match. Both people pulled out their weapons. Eris wielded the same silver spear from her match with Greyson while Rouven equipped himself with two gauntlets and a pair of boots. Punching his fists together, all his equipment burst into flames. Murmuring under her breath, Eris held out her palm and a spherical water shield formed around her body. Looking at the water, Rouven grimaced a little before regaining his balance. After all, he was still a representative and could not shame his upbringing. Attacking first, he punched into the shield which put out the fire. However, once inside the shield, the gauntlet reignited as he whispered a spell. Of course, Eris would not sit there waiting as she dodged the fire ball and struck out with her spear with lightning bursting from the tip. Using his left foot, Rouven kicked the staff of the spear and stomped it into the ground. The stage burst apart upon impact. Eris smirked a little as she whispered another spell. The right hand of Rouven still caught inside the shield was electrocuted. Face contorting in pain, Rouven swiftly pulled his arm out and did a back handspring to create space. Shaking his right hand, he tried to dispel the numbness. Thankfully, his gauntlet neutralized a major portion of the shock. Once again taking their positions, they paced in a circle for a little bit. Rouven began chanting his spell. Longer than usual, the spell was gathering more fire element mana. He once again attacked first, but this time the impact of his fist blew apart the water shield and headed straight for Eris''s body. Rapidly dodging and crouching low the ground, Eris swung her spear horizontally slamming the shaft into Rouven''s gut. The left part of her body was still hit by the previous attack causing burns on her arm. Rouven''s body shot some ten feet away before landing onto the ground. Some spit and blood vomited onto the ground from the earlier impact. Gasping in air to catch his breath, Rouven struggled up while holding his stomach. Eris also grimaced in pain while holding her left arm. Some sparkling blue water left her fingertips and covered her arm. Though not fully healed, the spell had a soothing effect. This time, Eris did not stay on the defensive. She did not set up the water shield and instead did a front charge at Rouven. Only the loud clangs of metal could be heard in the arena. Fiercely kicking out his right leg towards her torso, Rouven chanted a fire spell that lit the foot on fire. Eris used the back end of her spear to block the attack while still taking some damage from the fire. Biting her lip, she did not pay attention to the pain. Instead, she shocked the rest when her right and left hands twisted the spear shaft in opposite direction. A small *click* sounded and the shaft split apart. In what seemed like a long second, Eris caught Rouven unprepared and stabbed the upper part of the spear through his right shoulder. She slammed his body into the ground before lightning burst out from the spear tip and Rouven shouted out in pain. Heaving out a great sigh, Eris struggled up while holding her left arm. Unable to keep her grip on the lower part of her spear, it dropped to the ground. Rouven was unconscious with his clothes and skin badly burnt. \"The winner is Princess Eris!\" After a short silence, Prince Braiden finally regained his bearings and announced the results. The audience broke out in applause after watching a satisfying match. Greyson joined in on the clapping feeling impressed by the fight. It seemed that he would have to find a teacher soon as his own weapon wielding skills were falling behind his peers. 160 Combo Attack Releasing a genuine smile on her face, Eris limped off the stage towards the healers. Mouthing \"good luck,\" she did not forget to send a wink over at Greyson. Responding with a rare smile, he also mouthed \"congratulations\" back to her. Knowing it was his turn, Greyson no longer paid attention to Eris and jumped on the stage. He needed to state his opponent, but he suddenly paused realizing that he did not know the man''s name... He seemed to have done research on the names and qualities of his opponents, but did not match the names to faces. Unable to do anything about it, he figured pointing would suffice. \"I choose him as my opponent.\" His voice echoed as he pointed his finger towards the scrawny man that Snow chose earlier. Not expecting the challenge, the thin man''s face looked unhappy. However, he was unable to reject the challenge, therefore he could only begrudgingly hop on stage. \"You will regret choosing me.\" Glaring coldly at Greyson, he licked his lips. Prince Braiden''s expression was also uncomfortable. Greyson did not know, but Snow really had a way of choosing opponents. Actually, this man was the second strongest on the team of 10, Keaton Mendenhall. But this man had a fatal flaw: he always went for the kill. No matter if it was a training spar or a contest, he treated it as a life-or-death match and made sure that his opponent would not see the next light of day. How could Greyson have chosen him? Did he not do any research? There are so many other more appropriate opponents who he could definitely defeat. Prince Braiden wanted to pull at his hair. Greyson was a definite plus to their team if he was added, he couldn''t lose here! Before announcing the start of the match, he tried eyeing Keaton to indicate that he should take one for the team then challenge someone else to get his position back. As expected, though, Keaton just scoffed and completely ignored him. Unable to do anything more, Braiden helplessly announced the start of the match. However, once could tell from his constantly tapping foot and clenched fists that he was not calm at all. Obviously, there was nothing wrong with Greyson''s sight, so he could see Prince Braiden''s signaling. Although he could tell that this probably meant his opponent was tough, he did not plan on backing down so easily. He strongly believed that he could at least fight evenly with all of the representatives. Analyzing the situation, Greyson could guess that his opponent was probably Lord Keaton Mendenhall. No one else would have warranted such a nervous response from the prince. Thinking back to what he read, Greyson knew that his opponent had a rare element characteristic. These traits were more like anomalies and such talents were more rare than dual-element magicians. The partner beast that Keaton awakened had an extra ability to do with poison. Therefore, Keaton''s water element contained acidic properties to it. He could not use healing spells due to this, but his offensive power was boosted instead. Without any extra spells, his water could dissolve metals and hard materials, even chew through people''s bodies if they make contact. His weapon was apparently a metal whip. There was a rumor that this added characteristic to his element affected his personality as well, however, there was no proof backing up such claims. Keaton disdained to make the first move and just stood there watching Greyson without taking out his weapon. Not attacking right away, Greyson also stood still contemplating for a moment. He tried to think of which element would be best against such an opponent. Unlike his opponent, Greyson would not underestimate his opponent and quickly gripped onto Genesis. The sword switched to a gold color as did his eyes. Normally, he would disguise himself, but even small magic like that took a sliver of concentration to keep up. He wanted to completely focus on the match, so he no longer kept up the disguise. No matter which scenarios he ran through, the light element was the best fit for this situation. This element was highly versatile in offense and defense and contained strong purifying capabilities that could fight against the poison. Clearly disgusted, Keaton grimaced while feeling the light radiating off of his opponent''s body. As if triggered by this hated element, he finally pulled out his whip. \"I hate light magicians the most.\" He snarled. \"That has nothing to do with me.\" Greyson just shrugged. \"Hehehe, it seems fresh blood has walked straight into my arms.\" The raspiness of his voice caused his laugh to be even more grating to one''s ears. Not responding to his taunt, Greyson equipped himself with a light element armor around his body. His whole body shown with a shiny gold color almost blinding everyone else. Keaton also chanted a spell as black water flowed out from his hand and surrounding the whip. Greyson attacked first as he thrust his sword forward. A large beam of light extended from the tip that extended the blade of the sword a couple feet. Light Sword was a basic spell, but its effects were great for catching opponents off balance. Keaton just smirked as his foot slid on the black water and quickly dodged away. Getting behind Greyson, he also attacked with his whip viciously. Twisting his body and using that torque to swing his sword behind him, Greyson caused the whip to repulse backwards. Not expecting such great physical strength from Greyson''s thin body, Keaton almost lost grip on the handle of his whip. Arm aching from the slight overextension backwards, he narrowed his eyes to slits as his expression turned a bit more serious. \"You''ve got brute strength, too. How repulsive. I hate muscle morons the most.\" He sneered. \"Might as well say you just hate everyone at this point. Clearly, you just have inferiority complex issues.\" Greyson just rolled his eyes. Both did not speak again and only continued to attack each other. Greyson did feel that the upper hand was slipping from his fingers as his shallow fighting experience was starting to show. Keaton seemed to be able to dodge his attacks in a fairly relaxed manner. The only reason that they were still tied was because the light element armor was neutralizing the poison. However, if one looked closely, they could see tiny black cuts in the light element aura covering Greyson''s body. The poison was not completely gone but just held back. Biting his lip, Greyson knew that this situation could not continue in this way or he would lose. Unfortunately, the light element was probably his weakest element as he only knew the more basic and widely known spells. This was because the Church of Light tended to monopolize the light element spells for their own believers. Unless one joined, it was extremely difficult to become a powerful light magician. Managing to come up with a short plan, Greyson continued closing in on Keaton''s body and allowed the whip to make contact more and more. Ignoring the rotting of the light armor, he calculated the distance before his lips curved up. The moment his foot hit the floor, he instead used the wind element and exploded with speed. In just a second, he was right in front of Keaton with his right arm slashing down with Genesis. Eyes widening in shock, Keaton tried to dodge. He actually managed to react in time because Greyson ended up exposing himself due to the half-smile from before. Not finished, Greyson followed up by holding up his left hand right in front of Keaton''s eyes. \"Flashlight!\" He quickly murmured. A bright light burst out from his palm and momentarily blinded Keaton. One had to say that Greyson got creative with his basic spells. Flashlight was usually known as the most useless light spell that could not be used for anything other than lighting up a dark room. Groaning in pain, Keaton could no longer prepare himself for the coming attack. Seizing the opening, Genesis deeply stabbed into Keaton''s right chest. \"Purify.\" This healing spell used on Keaton instead became a dreadful attack. Feeling like his body was on fire, Keaton grunted in pain as his eyes turned red in anger. \"You motherf*cker!\" He cursed uncontrollably. Behind him, the large shadow of a black snake appeared. Its red eyes glowed as Keaton chanted a spell under his breath. The combined spell of human and beast partner created a large tidal wave of the black water crashing down on Greyson. Panicking for the first time, Greyson tried to use the wind element to run back to the other end, but the wave was too tall and he was not escaping its reach. Maybe he felt challenged by the opponent''s beast, however, Zephyr came out on his own. Gripping onto Greyson, he quickly flapped his wings and shot up into the sky and escaped right as the wave started to crash down. The water slammed into the ground and caused the stage to disintegrate. Looking down at the damage, Greyson had to admit that he felt a short rush of death. \"Thanks, buddy.\" He thanked as he stroked Zephyr''s claws around him. \"Roar!\" Responding with an aggressive roar, Zephyr seemed to indicate that he wanted to attack back. \"Okay, let''s do this!\" Climbing onto Zephyr''s back, Greyson channeled his mana into his partner as he began chanting one of the ancient dragon spells he learned. With a loud roar, Zephyr shot out blue fire from his mouth that shot down towards Keaton. Instead of burning everything, the fire instead was freezing. Someone could hear the shriek of pain from the snake as it disappeared back into Keaton. When the blue fire finally dispersed, the audience could see Keaton collapsed on the ground. His skin an unhealthy blue and purple as if he had frostbite all over his body. \"Get the healers!\" A man in the audience quickly shouted out. His eyes gave a deadly glare towards the sky where Greyson was still hovering. Recovering after he heard the shout, Prince Braiden quickly ordered the best healers to help Keaton. No matter his feelings towards the man, Keaton held a high position in the empire and he could not just ignore him. Greyson, on the other hand, was breathing heavily and sweating. Actually, as long as he did not transform completely to a dragon, he could still communicate with Zephyr. He had tried an attack like this before and realized that the power was enormous. Maybe because his beast partner was also a dragon, but the ancient dragon spells combined well. Each time, though, both he and Zephyr would be completely drained so he never thought of using it in a battle yet. That would be the same as betting his life on one move. Zephyr was also exhausted as he slowly dropped to the ground before dissipating and returning to Greyson''s body. Feet touching the ground, Greyson tried to hold his balance, but he still swayed a little. Someone caught his body before it fell. Looking over, he was face-to-face with the now-healed Eris. \"That was a pretty epic ending. You just love to steal all the attention, don''t you? Can''t you leave a little spotlight for the rest of us?\" She teased. \"I wish it were that easy.\" Greyson huffed back. At this point, the rest of the audience finally reacted and began clapping and discussing wildly. The people closest to the man in the audience who shouted earlier kept glancing between Greyson and this older gentleman. The more informed ones knew that this man was the current Duke Mendenhall, father to the current empress. Keaton is actually the fifth son but is the one the Duke cherished the most as his talent is the highest after the empress. Some people whispered about whether there would be any consequences as the Mendenhall family was no joke. Like father like son as they say; Duke Mendenhall was a narrow-minded snake who did not take provocation well. Prince Braiden was also glancing between the two. From the looks of Keaton''s injuries, he probably would not be able to heal in time to try to fight for his place in the 10 representatives this time. Which mean he would miss out on the competition this time and he would not gain another chance. This was his only chance. No one in the empire had ever gotten more than one chance because normally it would only be the older and more experienced children who were chosen. Thus, they were all over 30 and would not get another opportunity. This type of enmity was not easy to forgive and forget. Rubbing his temples, Braiden knew he would have to talk to his uncle and Imperial Father later about this. Greyson was truly strong and could possibly get some decent results in the upcoming competition. Snow Country truly needed talent like him, so they needed to protect him even at the cost of offending the Mendenhalls. Technically, they were his maternal family. However, his mother, the empress, did not favor him as he was one of the youngest and did not have the highest talent. Therefore, his maternal family also treated him badly. His relationship with them was already bad, so he was not worried about offending them. Plus, his mother was more broad-hearted than her family and could see the larger picture. Braiden believed she would be able to take a step back and restrain the Duke. Not understanding the underpinnings of conflict arising, Greyson was taken over to the stands by Eris to sit. Originally, she was going to take him to the healers, but he told her that he was not hurt just drained. \"Alright, as of right now, the standings are with Greyson and Princess Eris Whitstone joining the 10 representatives and Master Rouven Zeennak and Lord Keaton Mendenhall having their statuses removed. There will be an opening tomorrow for the two of them to challenge the other 8 representatives to redeem themselves and join the team once again. Tomorrow, these challenges will continue until the final 10 is decided. I announce that today''s events close here.\" Prince Braiden stepped forward and calmed the chaos. Hearing his words, everyone began slowly clearing out from the stands. Only Greyson and the animals remained so that he could meditate without interruptions. Eris saw that he was fine and left with the crowd. Duke Mendenhall gave Greyson one last deep look, before following the healers that took his son. 161 Meeting the Emperor After the match "Your Majesty..." Braiden bowed politely as he bit his lower lip nervously. He knew that he could not go over his mother''s head and talk to his Royal Father or uncle first. So, after the match between Keaton and Greyson was over, he swiftly walked over to her separate housing, the Hellebore Palace. "Oh, Braiden, no need for such formalities. What brings you here to visit me?" Although her words were spoken nonchalantly, the coldness and alienation in her eyes and tone were evident. Flinching almost imperceptibly, Braiden coughed to clear his throat a little. "I have something of great import to report. I thought it would be best to let Imperial Mother know first since it is related to the His Grace, Duke of Mendenhall." "Father is it... Alright, tell me the situation." Sighing with a hint of impatience, the Empress spread the fan in her hand seemingly trying to hide her deep frown. Hearing her words, Braiden quickly went over the course of events from earlier as well as inputting his own thoughts on how the situation should be handled. When he got to the point where Duke Mendenhall openly showed hostility, the Empress just scoffed. Ignoring her mood, Braiden wrapped up his report. When he stopped speaking, the room descended into an uncomfortable silence. The Empress paused her fanning and abruptly snapped the fan shut. Squeezing the item in her hand, she finally regained her impassive expression. "Hohoho, my dear younger brother Keaton sure is quite the handful. My father tends to baby the sons in our family. He even lowered himself to glaring... I understand the situation, my son. I will come up with some measures to keep my father calm." Stressing the words in sarcasm, the Empress waved to dismiss Braiden from the room. Not staying a minute longer, Braiden bowed and turned heel to make his way out of the room. Only once the bedroom doors closed behind him did he finally release the breath that he did not realize he had been holding. Although he wished to know more about the specifics of her plan, Braiden was aware he was not close enough to his mother for her to disclose her plans to him. Massaging his head once again, he groaned in frustration. "If she said that she had the situation under control, I guess I will just have to believe her." Shrugging helplessly, he understood that there was nothing else he could do other than wait and see. "I should probably go inform uncle and father of the situation, as well." He murmured to himself. However, the people he wished to inform were already having discussions of their own. At the same time... Walking briskly down the hall of the imperial palace, a middle-aged man with the royal family''s signature black hair and blue-grey eyes marched directly towards the Emperor''s study room. Standing outside were the two guards and a servant who announces the arrival of any guests. Startled by the man''s sudden appearance with no prior appointment, the servant quickly began to introduce his name to the Emperor inside. "Announcing the arrival of His Grace, Duke of Winterbridge! Would Your Imperi-... wait, Your Grace!" Before he could finish his announcement and ask for the Emperor''s permission to open the doors, the Duke knocked the guards and servant to the side and pushed them open himself. "Your Imperial Majesty, I have an important report." Succinctly bowing with just the right amount of etiquette, the Duke looked towards the man in front of him. The Emperor and the Duke shared an uncanny resemblance towards one another which was to be expected as they are brothers from the same parents. Unexpectedly, the Emperor looked to be brighter and more easy-going than the Duke, who usually wore such a grim and serious expression. "Oh, younger brother, it must be something special for you to personally come to inform me and in such a rush as well. You are normally such a stickler for manners." While he spoke as such, the Emperor did not look up from his documents and continued signing and reading. The servant saw that the Emperor did not say anything more, so he just signaled for the guards to close the door. Duke Winterbridge did not seem to take any offense towards the clear inattention. Such was the life of a true ruler, neverending amounts of work, and reports to sign off and make decisions on. "For the selection this year, there has been a shocking dark horse." Winterbridge began. "Zaire, surely you have not come to bore me with such news. Every other selection has some form of a dark horse." "I would never bother Your Majesty with such trifles if it were not so different from the rest. It''s not as if every other selection has a 15-year-old magister level stage five magician." "Yes, that''s... wait, 15?!" Now, this got the Emperor''s attention as the quill stopped moving and his eyes looked up in shock towards his younger brother. "Yes, 15. There was also a situation with Duke Mendenhall." Duke Winterbridge continued to explain the situation afterward. "Hmph, the Mendenhall family is truly overstepping its bounds lately. To think I even have to worry that they might act against such a powerful asset for the Empire. It really leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Sneering with derision, the Emperor showed clear distaste for Duke Mendenhall. "Even if you say it like that, the imperial power that Your Majesty holds is not enough to suppress the Mendenhall family. You are clearly aware that they currently hold too much power. Your Majesty will probably have to bring out something valuable and negotiate with them." "My, my, Zaire, must you say it like that. You are going to hurt your older brother''s feelings." "It is the reality, nothing more." "Haahh... I understand. I will speak to my Empress about this. We will probably be able to come up with something." Burying his face in his hands for a moment, the Emperor replied begrudgingly. "If I remember correctly, we have a healing potion in the vault that could heal that Keaton''s wounds right away. As long as he can keep a place in the 10 representatives, they probably would not act out." Duke Winterbridge suggested. "Hmmm... I will consider this solution." The Emperor nodded before waving his hand to dismiss the Duke. Bowing once again, the Duke turned around to leave. "Zaire. You know that you can come just to speak to me sometimes, right?" "Did I not just speak with you now?" The Duke responded without turning around. "Haha... well, I guess you did, didn''t you? Nevermind, then. Go on." Chuckling wryly, the Emperor just shook his head and did not say anything more. He watched as that familiar back continued to walk out until the doors shut behind him. ... Greyson spent the next two days after the match to relax. He ate well, took hot baths, and slept a lot. He felt that his animal companions were starting to rub off on him. Only on the third day was a servant sent to call him. Apparently, the 10 representatives were to have an audience with the Emperor. Most likely because they were aware of his situation, the servant also provided appropriate attire for the occasion. It was a white suit with silver linings and a matching blue-grey cape that went over his right shoulder. The embroidered decorations were also in silver thread. He was to meet with the Emperor privately before attending a ball to celebrate. He still had a couple of hours left before he would be led into the palace, so Greyson just sat around feeling jittery. Actually, he had never been taught the proper etiquette for such a situation. He had no idea how to greet the Emperor or others properly. What if he committed a grave faux pas? Little did he think that the answer to his worries would come knocking on his door on her own. "Grey Grey, go out and play with me! I want some good food." Leilena barged in on her own. "Teacher!" As if a light went off in his mind, Greyson''s anxious expression dissolved as he smiled joyfully at this unexpected guest. "Hm? Wow, you are so glad to see me? Did my cute student miss me more than I realized?" "Teacher, you are part of a noble family here and you said that they taught you proper etiquette, right?" "Yes..." She quickly grimaced at the thought. "Can you teach me? I have an audience with the Emperor soon and have to attend a ball afterward. I do not need to know everything, just the most obvious things that could be offensive." "But that''s just the thing, dear student. When it comes to nobles, everything is offensive and distasteful..." Leilena frowned. "Well, all the more reason we should start reviewing now! Just try to cram as much knowledge as possible into me in the next four hours." "Ok, if you are sure. Listen carefully." ... When Leilena finally left, Greyson felt like his head was about to explode with all the new information he was supposed to memorize. Thankfully, he would not have to attend events like this often otherwise he felt like he would suffocate under all these "unspoken" rules. No wonder his teacher wished to run away. Nobility was not all it was made up to be it seemed. When he looked at the clock, he knew that he did not have much time left until the servant comes to pick him up. Quickly picking up the suit, he tried to figure out the buttons. Admiring himself in the mirror, he nodded to himself thinking that it suits him quite well. A gentle knock at his door brought him out of his narcissistic reverie. "Mr. Greyson? I''m here to escort you." It was the same voice as the messenger from earlier. "Alright, I''m coming out." When the door opened to reveal Greyson, the servant paused in surprise for a moment. "Hm? What is it?" Greyson looked at him with confusion. He was a bit worried that he might have put the suit incorrectly. Realizing he had been staring for too long, the servant panicked before shaking his head and claiming it was nothing. As a man himself, it was a bit embarrassing to be surprised by the good looks of Greyson. Greyson followed the servant down and saw two beautiful Niflelem. They were similar in shape to horses; however, they were magic beasts that specialized in the ice element. Their endurance, intelligence, and fighting capabilities all made them superior to regular horses. Plus, normal animals like horses found it difficult to survive in Snow Country''s environmental conditions. Stroking his hand over the hair on their body, Greyson admired these tall, sturdy beasts. The heads of both of the Niflelem turned to look over at the newcomer. Their blue eyes showed amusement as the rubbed their head in Greyson''s hands. Finding them cute despite their stature, Greyson chuckled to himself before hopping on one of them. The housing that Greyson was staying in was technically part of the palace grounds, however, it was still a bit far from the main palace where the Emperor resides and holds the parties and balls. The saddle was more comfortable than he expected. The bumpiness of the roads caused his body to bounce a little, but not enough to make him feel any real discomfort. He peeked around at the gardens and different buildings within the palace that he did not get around to looking at before. When he reached the front door, the servant spoke to the guards after dismounting to confirm his and Greyson''s identities. Greyson greeted them politely while getting escorted into the main palace. Unlike his imagination, the decorations were not very lavish and gaudy. Instead, the palace contained a similar gloomy interior like the rest of the capital. But Greyson also recognized that the silver decorations on the wall were all made from Elyrium, a rare and expensive magic metal. As a blacksmith, Greyson was fully aware of just how difficult it was to procure, however, this palace was filled to the brim with such metal decorations. It was a great conduit for mana and boosted the effects of magic barriers and protective spells. "The imperial family is the imperial family after all. Even their decorations are of such a standard..." He almost whispered to himself. "Oh, I am surprised you noticed! Most people are rather underwhelmed by the palace as they usually cannot tell." Although Greyson spoke softly, the servant still managed to pick up on the words. He looked at Greyson with more warm approval after hearing his words. Speechless, Greyson wondered if he was such a country bumpkin in the eyes of those here that even the servants look down on him. Soon, they reached the end of their journey at the doors to the throne room. Other than him, he saw nine other people waiting. It seemed he was the last one to arrive. As he was not familiar with the others, he gravitated towards Eris and smiled in greeting towards her. She greeted back with a smile and moved a little to invite him to stand next to her. "It seems I am late?" He asked a bit surprised. "Not so much late, as just uninformed. Nobles are peculiar when it comes to arrival time. You don''t want to be first as that looks overeager and could also be rude as you do not give the host enough time to prepare. But if you are last, you seem like you are not taking the host seriously. All very complicated. You do not have to worry too much about it." Eris just shrugged. "Honestly, I only arrived before you by a little." "Oh? But you are obviously aware of such practices." Greyson raised a brow at her. "Familiar does not mean agreement. It''s too tiring to try to play this game with the others. I will just come when I want as long as I come on time." "Oh, by the way, it seems as if the imperial family thinks very highly of you." "That''s random. What makes you say so?" "Well, take a look right over there. Do you not see a familiar face?" She pointed to their right. Following her finger, he spotted Keaton Mendenhall. "Him? So? He seems like he was powerful enough to keep his spot even if I beat him." Not too surprised to see him back in the ten representatives, Greyson was not seeing the point. "Really... are you normally not aware of how much damage you do onto your opponents? With the injuries you gave him and the normal resources of the Mendenhall family, it should have still taken Keaton at least a month to heal. Yet, here he is looking the picture of good health. Also, to have gotten his spot back, he would have had to recover by the next day. Do you now see the discrepancy?" "Were his injuries that serious?" Scratched the side of his face feeling awkward. "Yes. Now, where do you think he got such an amazing healing potion?" "Well, it must have been the imperial family since that is what you hinted at in the beginning." "See, now you are getting it. Yes, it was bestowed to them by the Empress. But she would probably not be able to take something so valuable from the imperial vault without the permission of the Emperor. Thus, explaining my claim that the imperial family thinks highly of you. They made this move in order to protect you." "Protect me from the Mendenhall family''s revenge?" "Seems you are not too dumb." Eris winked playfully. Greyson just rolled his eyes in response, but inside he thought a bit more about the situation that seemed to solve itself in such a subtle fashion. Maybe this was the way the balances of power worked in an empire. He wanted to continue the conversation, but his words were interrupted by the servant who came out of the throne room announcing that the Emperor would see them now. His back stiffening a little, Greyson began to recite the rules of etiquette that Leilena taught him in his head. The ten representatives lined up shoulder-to-shoulder as the doors slowly swung open. Keeping their heads slightly bowed down, they continued forward until they were around 5 feet from the last step. Reaching this point, the men got on one knee and held their sword tip down in the scabbard on their right sides. The females went into a deep curtsy. "Rise." A deep voice commanded. At this moment, everyone straightened up and finally looked up. At the top of the short flight of steps were two thrones. In one sat a man with a gentle atmosphere while the woman smiled gracefully. The man had the Yce family''s black hair and blue-grey eyes that sparkled playfully. This man was Emperor Claude Vespasian Yce. The woman was not much of a beauty, but her eyes contained the wisdom and imposing aura befitting the Mother of the Country. This woman was Empress Amadea Saskia Yce. Greyson could almost instinctually feel the great magic power of the two people in front of him. It was this oppressive air that made him feel like a helpless child at their mercy. Even though both of them smiled harmlessly, their majestic presence did not decrease. "So, these will be our 10 representatives, then?" The man remarked. "Yes, Your Majesty." A servant confirmed at the side. "Well, alright, Penley. It was a rhetorical question." The Emperor sent a withering look towards his aide. "No need to feel too nervous, young heroes. You are the ones who will bring glory to our great empire and the Snow Country! I have great expectations for this year''s participants." "Hohoho, I am also greatly anticipating the results this time." Empress Amadea added in while glancing towards her son, daughter, younger brother, and lastly at Greyson. "The news of one particularly talented lad has reached even my ears. Greyson was the name, was it not?" "Yes, Your Majesty." That servant Penley once again confirmed. Emperor Claude gave an exasperated sigh looking at his dull aide before looking directly at Greyson. "15-years-old, huh? It really puts this old man to shame." He chuckled. "You overpraise, Your Majesty." "Well, I think all of us here understand that this is truly praise you deserve. I expect great things from you, young man. You are exactly the kind of talent that our Snow Country requires." "I am honored by your words." Greyson bowed a little stiffly. "Braiden and Aphina, as my children I also have high expectations for your results." The Emperor quickly turned his attention to the Prince and Princess. "Your father is right, children. Do not grow complacent. You two will be the leaders of the group." "Understood." The two bowed in response. "Alright, one reason we called you was just to take a look at you all in person. Another reason was to announce that there will be a special team training this time around. I would not dare to have you promise results in the individual selections, however, I believe, with enough work with coordination, you all can bring back results in the team competition. You will be trained by my personal knight squad along with the Duke of Winterbridge. It will be tough training for around a month, but you must persevere. There will also be separate rewards and resources included in this training to help boost your strength." "We thank Your Majesty for your generosity." As if rehearsed, all of the representatives knelt down. "Hm... All of you look impressive. I will pray for your success. Good luck with the training. You may now head to the festivities. We will also join shortly." He waved his hand to dismiss them. Everyone once again got up and bowed or curtsied before being led out by a servant. Once the door closed, a bunch of them released a sigh of relief. It was too nerve-wracking in the presence of the Emperor. Even Greyson wiped some cold sweat. He wondered why he never felt this nervous in front of his grandparents when they were even more powerful than the Emperor. Maybe because they specifically held back their presence? 162 Eriss Advice Eris walked over to him and patted him on the back. "Pretty stressful, isn''t it?" "For you, too? Have you never met with the Emperor before?" "Just because I''m royalty in my kingdom does not mean I can meet with a magician king every day." Eris just shrugged while shaking her head. "Plus, I''m weaker than you so I feel even more intimidated in front of them. As the rulers of this Empire, they really do not hold back when it comes to their aura. They have an image to upkeep, after all. Us, weak subjects, will probably just have to endure the hardship." "Haah... I''m just glad that no one else can hear you. Is it not bad to speak about the imperial family so nonchalantly?" Greyson just looked at her speechlessly. "Well, if you don''t tell, then I won''t. S-E-C-R-E-T~, right? Hehe." She winked at him jokingly. Feeling tired just listening to her, Greyson only rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Anyways, aren''t you looking just fetching tonight? I guess it''s as they say, clothes make the man. I think your beauty may surpass mine." She smiled with a slight rascally feel. Choked by her odd compliment, Greyson just did not deign to answer her. Ignoring that, he finally took a glance at her wear today. In order to compliment her dark blue hair and blue-grey eyes, she wore a mostly white dress that was decorated with light blue frills. Although she could not be called the most beautiful, her soft features were brought out by her formal outfit. "I could say the same for you. I always see you in pants and dressed to fight with your hair just tossed up lazily. You look much more ladylike today." "Hm... that won''t do, though. All those beautiful maidens tonight will miss out on my charisma. Such clothes really do not bring out my charm." Frowning, Eris did not seem pleased by Greyson''s rare praise. Once again at a loss for words, Greyson just side glanced at her. Before they could continue their conversation, a servant came to lead them all to the ballroom for the banquet. Although he did not want to follow at all, Greyson knew he did not really have much of a choice in the matter. Not going would be opposing the Emperor''s will. He just had to stay for enough time to not be rude which his teacher told him was after the first couple of dances. Since he did not know how to dance, he would just have to enjoy the food and watch on the sidelines. Nodding to himself, he approved of this plan. Since this was a party held by the imperial family, the food would definitely be delicious! Thinking of this, a smile formed at the edge of his lips and his eyes sparkled a bit more excitement. "Oh? What''s got you feeling happy all of a sudden? You did not really strike me as the party type. Oh wait, don''t tell me... Greyson, you. I did not expect you to be such a romantic guy. Are you excited to meet all the beautiful noble ladies, as well?" Elbowing him while smirking suggestively, Eris interrupted his thoughts. "What are you talking about? I''m looking forward to the food! The FOOD!" Blushing suddenly, Greyson felt shocked by her words and accidentally shouted loudly. Feeling that he spoke too loudly, he glanced around and saw that everyone including the manservant were glancing at him in confusion. Keaton did not forget to add in his disdain. Gritting his teeth angrily, Greyson turned to glare at Eris who was barely able to hold herself up from the floor laughing. Refusing to pay any more attention to her, he picked up his pace to walk closer to the servant leading them. "Aw, Greyson, no need to be shy." Eris teased from behind. But Greyson just pursed his lips in annoyance and did not respond. Under the lead of the manservant, the group quickly arrived in front of large double doors. There was a man waiting outside with a thick staff. When he noticed our arrival, he asked for our names and family. Before we entered, he slammed the staff into the ground twice. Two loud thumps echoed as he began the introductions: "Presenting. His Highness, Prince Braiden." "Her Highness, Princess Aphina." "His Grace, Lord Keaton Mendenhall." "His Grace, Lord Trevion Vervan." "The Right Honourable, Earl of Hildebrand." "Lady Eris Whitstone." "Lady Tatyana Dawnbrow." "The Honourable Collin Meleldred." "The Honourable Cherell Ashtree." "and Mister Greyson." Upon finishing the announcements, the doors swung open and we were all led down a grand staircase leading to the ballroom floor. Greyson took a small gulp when he saw all the faces staring up at them. He did not know if his was his imagination or not, but it felt like the majority of the eyes were focused on him. Thankfully, his panicked expression was well hidden underneath an expressionless facade. Only if one looked closely into his eyes could they tell that his pupils were shaking slightly. He did not realize that Eris had already glanced over at him and hid her chuckles behind her fan. Legs slightly stiff, he slowly made his way down the staircase with the rest of the group. For the first time since meeting them, he starting feeling a little self-conscious of his status as the rest of them all looked so graceful and well-practiced. He was, at most, an educated commoner who understood manners and basic etiquette. Before he sunk too far into his own thoughts, he felt a warm hand wrap around the crook of his right elbow. Startled, he turned his head and saw Eris grinning at him. "Lighten up! It''s really not that big a deal. These people might look very fancy, but underneath their pretty smiles are people with primitive brains who can''t think much past lust, greed, and power. The girls are stare at you because you are too handsome while the men hope to rope you into their family. Lust and power, simple right?" She whispered to him under her breath. "Pfft. Ahem, ahem." Turning his head away and trying to containing his laughter, Greyson tried clearing his throat. However, this time he did not feel angry and instead looked at her gratefully. His shoulders relaxing and a polite smile on his lips, he started to walk with a bit more confidence without paying any attention to the stares. Soon, they reached the floor and Eris pulled him over to a relatively unseen corner of the room. Teacher Leilena told him earlier that finding such spots was the easiest way to pass the time peacefully. "Thanks for earlier." He started first. "No problem at all. I was frightened at my first ball, as well. I feel like there were definitely some people who were hoping for a show since they did not send anyone to teach you the basics. Typical of them." "I did learn some of the basics from my teacher Leilena. Speaking of, I thought only the daughters of Dukes and Marquesses were called ''Lady'', but you are a princess." "Ahh... it is a little confusing. Our Country''s system is rather confusing. The Moon Empire came into being after many separate kingdoms in the Snow Country were unified under our first Emperor. The First Empire sent his closest relatives and subordinates to take over the kingdoms. Even your Idris Kingdom used to be the Ancient Kingdom of Mesia, but that royal family had a coup d''¨¦tat occur so the previous Emperor sent his nephew to take over and change the name. This is why the royal family of Idris still holds onto the last name Yce. When these kingdoms were conquered, the Kings were granted secondary titles as Dukes. So, your King is also the Duke of Idris in the Moon Empire, as my father is the Duke of Maewen. The Tier 1 Kingdoms are duchies, Tier 2 Kingdoms are either marquisates or earldoms, and so on and so forth. In the Maewen Kingdom, I am referred to as a princess. In the imperial capital and its surrounding land, I am seen as Lady Whitstone, daughter of the Duke of Maewen." "I do remember hearing learning that the Moon Empire was first the Moon Kingdom and that it was the largest and most powerful ancient Kingdom." "Yes, they conquered the rest of the kingdoms in order to rule over the entirety of the Snow Country. However, they mostly stay within the bounds of the old Moon Kingdom and our kingdoms are just subordinates who pay taxes. Our kingdoms are still rather autonomous." "Ugh, I hated history lessons the most..." Greyson scratched his head while mumbling. "Hahaha, yes, it is all rather dull. However, these are the things you need to understand. History inevitably repeats and also become markers for the current under stirrings of the Empire. Just take a look at this ball, you would think that this is simply a gathering of nobles, but every interaction is well-planned. Their groupings are based on the highest backers. Some back the imperial family and are loyal to the Emperor and his chosen successor. Some back the prince whose family they are in close contact to. Some feel that the nobles deserve more power and wish to undermine the imperial family. The rest are the humdrum left over who are either too stubborn to join higher powers or too weak to even be considered. They end up grouped together in a peaceful and more neutral group." With her speech, Eris''s eyes indicated the different crowds of people laughing and conversing together. Unsurprisingly, Greyson noted that Keaton Mendenhall was not actually speaking with the group loyal to the Emperor, but instead the group of those wishing for my noble power. "Isn''t the current Empress from the Mendenhall family?" He couldn''t help but ask. "Oh, how innocent you are. Married daughters are like spilled water that cannot be retrieved. Who is to say that she always has her maiden family''s best interests at heart? Plus, the imperial family has the same practices as the rest of the empire. The most powerful and talented magician will take the position of crown prince or princess not just the children of the Empress. Any one of those royal offspring who have the talent to make it to the height of magician king could become emperor, even if it is the lowly son of some maidservant." "Would that not cause a lot of conflict?" "Hmmm... you would think so, but that is really only true for low-level kingdoms. The empire would fall without proper magician kings to back it up. Even the stupidest nobles understand this truth. Therefore, the emperor takes the lives of the talented children very seriously. The penalty for even being suspected of assassinating a possible magician king candidate for the throne is severe." Showing an expression of enlightenment, Greyson nodded seriously and ruminated over her words. "Hehe, my cute student, I''m glad you are taking this teacher''s words seriously." Eris giggled happily over Greyson''s actions which only worked to sour his expression immediately. "Alright, alright. No more making fun. On a serious note, you really should try to learn more about these things. I know that you don''t really have any good feelings towards the backwards notions of high society. Inevitably, since you have exposed yourself during this selection, there is no going back to your days of living in anonymity. Many forces will try to draw you in either by hook or by crook. You need to learn how to make educated decisions on your own that have your best interests in mind because those powers will surely not be thinking of your well-being but their own. I know you are not dumb enough to fall for the obvious tricks, but ignorance is a scary weapon when wielded by the wily ones. Take this as advice from a concerned senior in life." For the first time, Greyson was slightly taken aback by Eris''s grave face. All this time, she always greeted him with a flippant attitude as if she did not take anything in this world seriously. It was only now that he was starting to feel her true nature leaking out. "Now, I must go to my darlings. They are all waiting for me!" She waved goodbye after these parting words. Like a true social butterfly, Eris soon found her way into the sea of people flitting here and there. Greyson leaned against the wall quietly contrasting against the merrymaking of the nobles around him. Reflecting on Eris''s words, he knew that she was correct in her analysis. Just because he was intelligent did not mean he could see through a person''s heart. However, it was easier said than done. Most of these kids around him have had years of practice and training to understand. They made the mistakes and learned when they were still young and could be ignored. This experience was not something that he could gain just because he wished for it. Suddenly, he felt a strong desire to go back to the Beast Empire. At least, things were not so complicated in the Snow Dragon Tribe. Sighing, he knew that there was no use worrying too much about things out of his control. Instead, he turned his attention to the food tables. His strong sense of smell caught all the delectable scents wafting over to him. Picking up a plate, he started to stack some food. Most of the food here was foreign to him, so he wanted to try almost everything. Not caring for his image, he starting to eat things one by one. Most people were not really paying him much mind anymore, so he did not feel that he needed to watch his manners. Each bite was followed by an expression of delight. Imperial cooks are given such titles for a reason. He thought to himself. The magic beast meat was tender and juicy while also full of mana. The vegetables were mostly forms of magic herbs. The desserts were exquisite, as well. "It''s been such a long time since I actually encountered a person who enjoyed the food more than the people. I hope everything is to your taste?" He heard a deep voice come from behind him. A little surprised, he turned around to make sure that the person was speaking to him. Furrowing his brows, he did not seem to remember meeting this older gentleman. However, the man had black hair and blue-grey eyes so he had to be part of the royal family. At first, he almost mistook the man for the Emperor, but this man was more reserved. Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he remembered a name brought up during his lessons with Leilena. "Duke of Winterbridge?" He responded questioningly. "Ah, yes, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am the Duke of Winterbridge, Zaire Yce. It''s nice to meet you, Greyson. I see you have heard of me?" "Yes, I heard that the Emperor had a brother who was now the Duke of Winterbridge. I just had the honor of meeting His Imperial Majesty and could not help but notice the resemblance you bear to him. His Highness, Prince Braiden also mentioned that his uncle knew of me." Greyson responded as formally as he could. "I see." He did not continue the conversation, but continued to stand there. Greyson could only feel awkward and distressed inwardly. He was not the most socially adept, either. "Uhm, Your Grace, did you have something you wished to speak to me about?" "This is actually not the first time we have met. I watched you from afar before." "Yes?" "I''m going to be the one overseeing your training with the rest of the 9 representatives." "Yes, His Imperial Majesty informed us earlier." "The rest of them just need to mostly work on teamwork, as do you. However, your largest issue is your lack of training with a weapon. Although, magicians can also opt for non-weapon fighting and specialize in long-distance attacks. You seem to have great strength and athletic talent that would go to waste without properly understanding close quarters combat. Therefore, I wish to personally give you lessons for the sword and hand-to-hand combat. This will increase your fighting capabilities and solidify your position within the team. As you are right now, there is no place to really put you in a plan for a team. You''re not completely offensively or defensively inclined and you are a little too diverse in terms of what you can do. This comes in handy for when you need to spontaneously respond to a situation, but if we wish to plan good team tactics then your position must be a bit more solid." "I would be honored to learn!" Greyson accepted in excitement. "Then you will need to come see me in the early mornings and late evenings. The middle of the day would be reserved for training with the rest of the team. I expect to see you at dawn tomorrow. I will send a servant to lead you to me." A faint smile appearing on his face, the Duke nodded with approval. "Okay! I understand." "Well, I will get going now. Festivities such as this do not really suit my tastes." After getting confirmation, Zaire quickly turned around left straight away. Greyson could only watch with envy over his ability to leave so easily. After eating his fill, Greyson returned to his original spot. Yawning in boredom, he listened to the music begin to play. Each dance felt like it took forever to end. After the second dance, he was preparing himself to finally leave but felt a tap on his shoulder. Seeing it was Eris once again, he looked at her with confusion. "Is there something you need?" "Will you come dance with me?" She held out her hand to him. "No. I don''t even know how to." Frowning, Greyson rejected her outrightly. "Don''t worry! Just follow along with me. I won''t do anything to complicated." She promised. "Are you willing to embarrass me in front of all these people? Girls usually do not do the asking." Although he knew she was pretending, he did feel a little reluctant to shame her because more people were looking their way. On account of her earlier explanations which helped him, he decided it would not hurt him. "Just a little, then. I''m explaining beforehand that I will probably step all over your toes." Grinning widely, she grabbed onto his hand and pulled him to the dance floor. Arranging his hands correctly, she began to lead him in the steps. Focusing on his feet to try to follow along with her without stepping on her, Greyson did not pay attention to the many puzzled looks. Obviously, they were a good-looking pair; the girl was pretty while the boy was very handsome. However, the boy was the one taking the female part steps while the girl was leading with the male part steps. Greyson stayed wholly unaware until the next day... 163 Farewell The moment the music faded away, Greyson released Eris and wanted to quickly leave. That was already the third dance which meant that it was socially acceptable for people to start leaving now if they wanted. Actually, he was not the only one with this idea as he could see a small amount of people start to head towards the exit. Now that he was not distracted, Greyson could feel the odd and questioning glances focusing in on him. What was their deal? His curiosity only lasted for a moment before he decided to just ignore them. This was neither the first nor the last time he would be the center of attention. Nobles seemed to enjoy making a spectacle out of him since he was just a commoner in their eyes. Although Greyson had strong pride in his true identity, he was not so petty or bored to pick a fight with every single person who disrespected him. Once he was outside the palace, he let out a sigh of relief. Somehow, even though the ballroom was definitely spatious enough, Greyson felt that the atmosphere was stuffy. Letting his shoulder relax over a little, he almost ran home. His suit was stiff and hard to maneuver his arms in, plus these new shoes were not broken in so they started to give him blisters. He was dearly missing his old leather boots back in his room. Looking formal sure was uncomfortable! When he reached the room, Greyson pulled the suit off gingerly, afraid to damage it. After all, it was something provided by the Emperor, wouldn''t he be rude to rip it already? The suit was once again hung neatly in the closet, before Greyson used a quick water element spell to clean himself. As he stretched out some of the kinks due to his earlier stiffness, he threw on comfortable pajamas and fell onto the bed. Learning their lesson from all the previous times, all three of the animals gathered to sleep at the corner of the bed to avoid Greyson falling on top of them. Only waking up for a moment, they snuggled closer to him before continuing to close their eyes to sleep. Feeling the warm bodies, Greyson''s eyes began to droop. Barely lasting another second, he soon fell asleep. ... With the chirping of the birds and sunlight peeking in, Greyson began to stir at dawn. Bursting up out of bed, he checked the clock to see that he still had plenty of time to make it for the first day of training. Knowing that he would probably be worked hard, Greyson wore a light cotton shirt and pants with his old boots. These things were cheap and easily replaceable, so even if they get ruined his heart would not ache. Buckling his belt, Greyson also hooked on his sword sheath. Instead of keeping it in his space like usual, he decided to have Genesis out beforehand. Double checking everything once more, Greyson opened the door to head out. "Wait! I''m coming along this time." He heard a voice add in from behind. "Snow, too!" "Count me in!" Lucius bounded up onto his shoulder while Theo found his place on Greyson''s head. Snow tried to hop onto Greyson''s shoulder, but found it to be too small now. "Oh? Snow, have you grown a bit?" Feeling the weight more than usual, Greyson put the Moon Leopard down to take a good look at her. Just as he thought, it seemed like she was almost double the size she was before! Earlier, she always stayed in her small form that he believed she could control her size. But it seemed that the truth was that they could make themselves bigger, but their true form was still a cub. Now the cub was maturing, so she could only grow bigger? "There are a lot of magic beasts who are able to transform into their mature forms for a short while to fight better. The only reason Gold could keep it up for long before was because he was only running and not fighting. All his mana could go to sustaining himself. Their original forms were small. Eventually, though, they will permanently be that big." Surprisingly, it was Theo who cleared his doubts. "Oh, I do remember hearing of such abilities. But, it''s usually only the higher-tier bloodlines that are able, right?" "Yes, they normally have a longer maturity period. So, in order to increase their chances of survival, they can use this ability." "Heh, Theo, you are more knowledgeable than I expected." Lucius commented. "I am a popular mouse, what can I say? I made a lot of friends in the Plateau. Plus, my mother introduced me to most of the magical beasts, so that I would know when to escape and how to attack weaknesses." Puffing out his chest a little, Theo bragged happily. "Snow doesn''t want to be big, though." Tail drooping, the leopard began to pout. "Really? But I would be glad to see you big!" Greyson encouraged. "Daddy wants me to be big?" Snow looked up, eyes sparkling. "Of course! I would be proud of a bigger and more mature Snow." That way you would finally look threatening and cool! But he held the latter part of his sentence inside. "Okay! Snow will try her hardest to grow bigger!" Perking up happily, Snow threw away her earlier sadness and bounded down the steps. Greyson grinned widely as he cheered on the inside. Only Lucius watched everything knowingly and just snorted before closing his eyes. Waiting in front of his housing, Greyson was surprised to run into the rest of the Idris team. Scratching his nose, he realized his bad habit had resurfaced. He had completely forgot all about them! They all looked ready to journey home. Were all the contestants returning today? But he did not see his teacher among them. Even Quinn Ventus was nowhere to be found... The Old King noticed Greyson first and he greeted him very enthusiastically. "Greyson, you did splendid this time around! The Idris Kingdom will surely be rewarded well for your performance! When you come back from the competition, do not hesitate to put forth any request." "Yes, we were all able to hold our heads up high thanks to you." Nicholas joined in on the praise. "Very impressive, indeed." Palmira nodded politely. "Grey Grey, big sister here even fell for you." Seirina winked seductively. Ignis''s expression changed a little hearing those words, but still bit his tongue as he knew that he could not match up. Sebastien looked as though he wanted to add something, but felt awkward complimenting someone who he previously had bad relations with. "Uh, thank you for you kind praise." Greyson responded with a forced smile. "Are you all leaving now?" He tried to change the subject. "Yes, now that the selection is over, it is time for us to head back. Many things in the kingdom still need taking care of, plus we must bring back your good news as soon as possible. Actually, most of the higher-ups already know, just it was better for us to personally announce it to the public." The Old King replied. "I see. Where are my teacher and Quinn, then?" "Ah, they both claimed to have some personal matter to take care of. We do not need to force them to come with us, so we are getting a headstart and leaving now." "Oh, okay." Why didn''t teacher let him know... Greyson wondered inside, but he did not think much of it. Maybe it was not something hard, just that he had some material to buy or an old friend to meet. It was not like his teacher reported to him. "Are you going to start training now?" Nicholas asked curiously, he could tell from Greyson''s get-up that he seemed to be going out. "Yes, the Emperor assigned the Duke of Winterbridge along with his personal guard to teach the 10 representatives." "Duke of Winterbridge?!" They all exclaimed together. "Hm... Yes?" Greyson looked at them wondering what they were so excited about. "Are you not aware that he is the Emperor''s younger brother?" Nicholas began. "I am aware." "They are not half-siblings, you know. They were born from the same mother." Sebastian continued. "Yes..." "Grey Grey, don''t you understand the potential for connections in front of you?" Seirina added. "The Duke of Winterbridge is said to be extremely intelligent and talented, but has absolutely no desire for the throne. He and the Emperor get along very well! The Emperor treats his younger brother as his most treasured advisor. If you manage to make a good impression on such a man, there are so many advantages!" Palmira finished. Everyone else nodded along eagerly as if to nail down this point. However, Greyson''s expression only soured. What more was he expecting from these people? Even the "innocent" Nicholas could not hide the envy in his eyes. "I will work hard as expected of me. Whether the Duke approves of me or not is not my primary concern." He responded coldly. "No, Greyson. You have to understand what these connections could mean for the Kingdom! No, this is not right. I should go out and buy some gifts for you to present to the Duke!" The Old King started mumbling to himself. Disgusted by them, Greyson wanted to say something back, but he spotted an oncoming soldier before he could. Eyes lighting up, he quickly said his goodbyes to his so-called group. "That must be the soldier sent to guide me to the training grounds. I have to go now! Safe travels back to the kingdom." "Wait, Grey-" They tried to hold him back, but he just ignored them and quickly approached the soldier. "Hello, are you Mr. Grey-" "Are you here to escort me to the Duke?" Greyson quickly interrupted. "Yes." "Then, let''s quickly go. We can''t have the Duke waiting." He rushed. "Uh, yes, sir. Follow me, please." Turning heel, the confused soldier began speed walking towards the training grounds. The group left behind "That boy has no manners! What if he makes some mistake in front of the Duke." Palmira frowned. "Haah, there''s nothing we can do. It''s not as if we can be thick-skinned enough to follow. That could just prove to anger the Duke even more." The Old King sighed helplessly. "Hmph, there''s no reason for him to act so proud. We only complimented him a little and it goes to his head. He looked so obviously disdainful of our words. Why is he pretending to take the moral high ground? Only idiots don''t take advantage of opportunities placed in front of them!" Sebastien grumbled. "Yeah, really. I was so friendly with him before, but he keeps ignoring me like he''s better." Nicholas complained. "I''ve heard that the Duke does not take well to others trying to curry favor with him. Maybe Greyson''s approach will instead work better." Too experienced to get swept up into his emotions, the Old King did not feel that angered by the obvious disrespect. If anything, he felt he was too hasty earlier with his thoughts. "Anyways, the fact that this talented boy is from our Idris Kingdom is a blessing. It would do you well not to anger him. Who knows how powerful or successful he could become? At that point, it would be us currying favor with him. It''s best to keep an open mind about such things. Hubris is the cause of many rulers'' downfalls. You must place your vision on the long-term!" He looked towards his grandchildren and sighed with slight disappointment. Each and every one of them was like a frog in a well. Just what did being royalty in a Tier One Kingdom of the weakest Outer Country amount to? In a word: Nothing. As someone who travelled to other outer countries in his retirement, the Old King was all the more aware of the gap. He could only guess the extent of the disparity of their power with the Inner Countries and Central Region countries that he could not enter. He decided he should speak with his son about sending the more talented ones out of the Snow Country. They would never amount to much if they stayed confined inside their safe bubble. After travelling, his ambition was reignited but he was already far too old to change. These young ones still had a chance. Losing heirs was not something to be feared. Allowing incompetent leaders to take over was scarier. Sensing their grandfather''s unhappiness, the Yce siblings said no more. Even if they had complaints, there was nothing they could do if their abilities were worse than someone else. ... "Ah, you can slow down now." Feeling guilty when he saw the soldier still rushing along, Greyson spoke up. "Yes? Oh, yes, sir. I understand." Turning around, the soldier looked puzzled before nodding and slowing down his pace. Actually, he wasn''t that low in terms of rank, so Greyson was a little amused to see that he was so scatter-brained and obedient. On his left breast, there was one full moon and one half moon which meant he was already pretty high up. Greyson was not really well-educated on what the ranks were titled, he just knew there were 15 and this man was at the eighth highest which was impressive. "Right ahead is the training grounds. My mission ends here. I hope your training proves fruitful, Mister Greyson." He led Greyson to an open dirt field that had weapons organized on the side. Greyson could already spot the Duke waiting for him, so he nodded and thanked the soldier before running over. "I hope that young one will be okay... the Duke..." Shivering to himself without finishing his sentence, the soldier looked at the excited Greyson''s back with pity. 164 Disguised Devil Completely unaware of the soldier''s worries, Greyson felt like there were wings on his feet that helped him move faster than usual. It had been so long since the last time he trained with Teacher Vivian in swordsmandship and he had never learned hand-to-hand combat before. Everything was going to feel brand new. The thought of getting stronger gave him infinitely more energy to get through the training. "Your Grace, Duke of Winterbridge, I hope I have not kept you waiting long." Saluting politely, Greyson caught his breath and greeted. "No, you came even faster than I expected. I only just sent out a soldier to bring you a moment ago." A tranquil smile graced the Duke''s lips as he responded. "I was too eager to begin, so I asked him to walk a little faster." Technically, he was not completely lying when he said that. "Well, I like your spirit. I hope you are ready for hard work. I always have high expectations of any recruits that I train. My expectations for you will be no lower; actually, they may even be higher." His expression turning stern, Zaire did not sugarcoat. Although he was told this, Greyson still had confidence to endure most anything, so he easily nodded his head in affirmation. "Alright." A nasty gleam glowed in Zaire''s eyes under the surface. "I know this is slightly personal, but do you think you could explain your abilities to me a bit more clearly? Every magician understands keeping some power under wraps, however, for me to teach efficiently, I need to have a better grasp of your strength." "There''s no issue. Hm... I guess the most important thing you should know is that I am part dragon. Therefore, I may look more lean, but I am much sturdier physically than you would expect. I can also control 7 elements. Most of the spells I can use are mostly the popular basic spells that everyone in the country can learn at school." As long as he did not go too specific, Greyson did not see any issues with informing the Duke about most things. Especially since it was not like he would be able to hide things for long. Also, the Duke was in charge of setting up the team strategies for the representatives, so if he did not understand enough then he would not pick a suitable role for Greyson. There were a couple things Greyson left out because he did not think it was too important like his space element and elf bloodline. One can only be used in his dragon form, while the other is sealed away currently and cannot be accessed. "Part dragon and 7 elements, huh?" Zaire frowned for a moment before nodding to himself. He answered rather nonchalantly, but he was incomparably shocked on the inside. "Okay, I understand. Put these on." Turning around, he pointed towards a metal vest, a pair of arm guards, and a pair of leg guards. Greyson quickly followed orders and picked up the vest first but was shocked to see that there was a lot more resistance than he expected. Frowning, he exerted more strength to pick it up and slide it on over his head. Suddenly, he felt around significantly heavier than before. When he glanced over at the arm and leg guards, his stomach dropped as he had a sinking feeling they would be the same. As he expected, once he strapped them on, he felt like his weight doubled. "Cinogen?" He questioned. Cinogen was a rare extremely dense metal resource that occasionally can be found in underwater mines. Usually, humans buy this material from the Sea Beastmen. They were a hard-to-find bunch since aquatic magic beasts loath coming onto land, so they almost never mate with humans. But only the scarce Sea Beastmen will interact with the land races for things like trade. "Oh, I''m surprised you know. Yes, these pieces are made from Cinogen and are extremely dense despite their size. I was going to give you the child sized ones, but it seems these will fit your strength better. Now, I want you to go run up the mountain behind me with those weights on. You can use mana, I would actually encourage it. With your new weight, it would be good training at adjusting the finer control of mana flow. I will continue our training at the top. I will be waiting for you there!" Leaving these parting words, the wind picked up around the Duke before he disappeared from his original spot. This training ground was already near the outside of the city. Once one leaves from the nearest gate, it leads to the mountainous region. The Duke pointed to the closest mountain instead of the tallest, so Greyson was slightly relieved. Using his wind element, he took a large leap to start. However, his body did not get far and dropped down quickly. Embarrassed, he was glad that nobody was around at this time. He understood that he needed a larger output of wind magic to carry his body. The second step he overcompensated and ended up jumping high up into the air. Realizing this was the control that the Duke mentioned, Greyson focused in more on the mana. This time, he started travelling normally. The guards were warned beforehand, so they did not try to stop him as he passed through the gate quickly. "Looks like the Duke is torturing a new target..." "Ah, the Cinogen weights, right? I thought I recognized the gear." The guards chatted after Greyson blew by. ... At first, the only problem was that Greyson was heavier and that threw off his control. After a little while, he adapted the new weight and could smoothly use his wind element to speed up his process up the mountain. However, halfway through, he noticed the sweat already dripping from him and soaking through his clothes while his breathing grew heavier. His stamina and mana were draining at much faster paces than before. Each step was heavy and strained his physical endurance, while keeping this speed at the new weight required more mana. A low growl broke out from him as white scales grew out from under his skin. Activating his dragon bloodline renewed his vigor, and his body felt light again. Letting out a sigh of relief, his body increased in speed once again. With this boost, Greyson made it to the top of the mountain rather quickly. There he met up with the Duke once again. Unable to say a word in greeting, Greyson collapsed onto the ground catching his breath. Lying on the ground brought great relief since it felt like his legs were starting to shake. "Get up. We will start sword training right away." The Duke''s apathetic voice commanded. "Take this!" He tossed a beaten up sword towards Greyson. Not able to get up in time, Greyson was going to catch it on the ground. The sword landed in his hands, but dropped down and slammed into his chest. Coughing in pain, Greyson cursed under his breath. This sword was also Cinogen! It seemed even denser than the armor, too. "Did you not hear me say to get up?" Hearing the chill in his mentor''s tone, Greyson took a deep breath before pulling himself off the ground. "Show me the basics that you learned." He ordered. Greyson lifted up the sword with a bit of effort before getting into the basic ready stance taught across the Snow Country. Each country''s swordsmanship could vary depending on the shape and styling of their common weapon. Slowly, he went through slashing at the eight basic angles[1] along with the correct footwork. He also included a straightforward thrust. Each move made his arms shake and his body shake from imbalance due to the weight of the sword. Since the Duke did nothing but frown while watching him, Greyson grit his teeth and continued through the motions so that he could do them perfectly. Eventually, his muscles started adapting to the new dense sword and he no longer looked like he would fall over from swinging. "That''s good enough." Zaire finally spoke again after what felt like hours. As if he had been lifted from a spell, Greyson immediately let the tip of the sword drop mid-swing and stab into the ground. His arms hung limply as he kept his grasp on the hilt. Catching his breath at this moment, he looked up at the Duke to await further instruction. Although he wished this was the end of training, he knew that would be too naive. It seemed that the quiet and reserved Duke pushed his students and trainees much harder than Greyson''s previous teachers. "It seemed that whoever taught you the basic was a far-seeing individual. Too many of the kids I get will try to start fighting right away so each sword move is a complete mess. They can fight, but not in an efficient manner. Sometimes, it is the constant drilling of the basics that will save your life in battle. In the moment where your brain cannot follow, your body will respond for you based off instinct." Smiling, Greyson thought back to Teacher Vivian and felt that she would have felt proud to hear her methods praised. "Since your basic are strong, I wish to help your reaction time and defensive swordsmanship first. Offensive swordsmanship is usually a bit more difficult to teach. It''s a lot of the same, until you find an opening. A lot the time, experts will use that opening for a killing move that they have perfected and are confident in. I could always teach you one of mine, but I do not think that would help you in the long run. Plus, you have many more options than I do when it comes to elements, so what is best for me is not necessarily best for you." "I will have you stand in the spot I have marked with a red circle." Pointing towards the center of the mountaintop, there was a painted red circle that seemed to be prepared beforehand. Greyson followed direction and obediently stood within the circle. It was at this point that he heard rustling from the trees in his surroundings. Preparing himself for an attack, he noticed 10 individuals dressed in white and blue robes coming out from hiding. Giving their bodies a once over, Greyson noticed the rainbow snowflake crest on each of their robes and the matching wooden staves. Feeling awkward, he wondered if they had been waiting there and watching his training this entire time. "Imperial magicians..." He mumbled to himself. Just as there were ordinary soldiers or magic warriors in the military, there were also "pure" magicians. These people were normally the commoners born with magic or the noble children from weaker families who were not in-line to inherit their father''s property and title. They usually did not have enough funds to buy the required resources or magic items they needed to advance. This was where the imperial family comes in and provides them that much needed money and a well-paying, respectable, and relatively safe job. Most of them specialized in long-distance attacks, support magic, and healing. The best of both worlds meets in this position where they can benefit being in the military but avoid the frontlines. Obviously, this does not mean certainly avoiding death, but it reduces those chances by a lot compared to normal soldiers. By working in the military, they could build up merits in wars and receive spells, equipment, magic herbs, and other resources they require. Eventually, they could possibly receive a title of their own depending on their contributions. "Everyone here, including me, will attack you using the non-lethal spell Water Ball. It will not injured you too severely, but it will definitely hurt. I want you to use your sword to block the attacks." The Duke explained while giving the magicians a signal. Upon seeing that, they all chanted and a bunch of water balls formed in the air. Seeing that he was now surrounded with no other choice, Greyson could only take his ready stance. Without warning, the first round of attacks shot towards him. Grunting with effort, he managed to swing the heavy sword to block or cut apart the water balls. His arms screamed out in pain as if begging him to stop. Not able to keep up with the onslaught, Greyson could feel the hard slap impact of the water hitting him. After the first wave, he could already feel the bruises forming on his body. "Greyson." "Hah, ha, yes... hah, hah, sir." Clearing winded, Greyson could only struggle to answer through his panting. "Are you a magician?" Too tired to play any mind games, Greyson just nodded with confusion clearly written on his face. "Then, even if I say to use the sword to block, why do you not enforce it with spells? If you have mana, then use it. I''m not training you to be some sword master without your magic. Maybe if I could have started training you when you were younger, I would go that route because we have tons of time. However, right now, the fastest way to improve, is to improve your swordsmanship along with your control of magic. Last I saw, you use too much mana. You think about the spell and let your mana flow freely without considering how much is actually needed for the spell to activate. Your reserves are bigger due to the amount of elements your body can contain, but they are far from endless. You need to be smarter." "I understand." "Alright, then we will go again." On cue, the water balls attacked once more. This time, Greyson gripped the sword and sent fire mana coursing through. With every swing, swirls of fire followed that made the water evaporate on contact. However, he soon realized the weight of the sword and the constant mana output was draining him faster than he could recover. So, he began adjusting in the midst of the attacks. Although he got hit more often this way, he also learned much faster. ... By the last round of Water Balls, he felt that his swings used his whole body more than just his arms and the control of his fire mana was more efficient. Far from perfect, but the improvement was evident to him. "That''s enough." The Duke halted everyone. "What? Hah, hah, hah, I think I can still go!" Despite his obvious exhaustion, the feeling of improvement dulled his senses. Greyson just felt eager to continue. "Hm, well, I''m usually not one to turn down an eager student. However, you are clearly running on gas. We have tomorrow as well. After that, the team training will begin so I can''t go too rough with you. Otherwise, the teamwork practice will suffer and I''m sure you do not wish to drag the others down. Plus, I don''t think my subordinates can handle much more... Tsk, tsk, tsk, I have to say I am a bit disappointed. You obviously did all the work and took the damage, yet they are the ones ready to pass out. It looks like I will have to up their stamina training and mana control." He paused and looked around. Following the Duke''s lead, Greyson also took a glance and realized that they were huffing and puffing on the sides. Summoning that many Water Balls for so long was definitely draining in mana. When they heard the Duke''s words, however, their originally rosy cheeks lost their color in fear as they tried to stand up straight. "Yeah, I guess it is time to rest." Now that he had stopped moving for so long, Greyson could feel the fatigue hit him like a ton of bricks as the adrenaline faded. The sword dropped to the ground and his arms and legs began to tremble. Plopping down onto the ground, he began to meditate. He wished to heal himself, but his mana stores were pretty much empty. "Hm... not bad. It seems this will be worthwhile." The Duke smiled to himself before he gestured for the rest to leave Greyson in peace. If Greyson could feel his improvements, how could someone as experienced as the Duke not also notice his fast pace? Geniuses were nice, but also not as rare as everyone thought. But hardworking geniuses were not a common commodity. It seems my teaching will be a bit more worthwhile this time. I look forward to our training tomorrow. He took one last look back while thinking. [1] Pretty much slashing straight down, straight up, diagonally down to the right, diagonally down to the left, diagonally up to the right, diagonally up to the left, and horizontally right and left. 165 Rocky Star The next practice session came and went quickly. Today''s morning session was not nearly as difficult due to the first team practice that would start in the afternoon. Although he was strict, the Duke was not unreasonable. Everyone needed to be in good shape for the team to work together smoothly. If one person was too exhausted, it could end up dragging the entire team''s performance down. Plus, he was not stupid. Commoners like Greyson were always the targets of disdain by the nobles in the Empire. They already had preexisting bias, so if Greyson underperformed later then that would only exacerbate those conflicts. If anything, the Duke wished that they would learn a lesson looking at the power of Greyson who had to fight and work hard to get to this point. But knowing those young brats, the Duke did not hold much faith in most of them. Only Braiden and Aphina would probably still act appropriately... Eyeing Greyson who was sitting in front of him in meditation, the Duke just sighed as he rubbed his temples. Truthfully, the Duke rejected the Emperor''s request at first. Zaire was a man who disliked troublesome things and was especially scornful of spoiled noble children. His branch of the military specifically only accepted commoners or middle-class citizens. Spoiled and arrogant, those young masters and ladies did not understand that bloodline meant nothing on the battlefield. They all die the same way and bleed the same color. He has met his fair share of noble children who knew how to work and train hard but continued to look down on commoners. It''s was like everything about them was perfect except the overwhelming flaw of an inflated sense of self-importance. They could make beautiful strategies on paper and then easily turn to sacrificing the commoner soldiers in real situations. Disappointment, turned to frustration, which ended with loathing. Akin to talking to brick walls, his teachings fell on deaf ears. He banged his head against them till his skull cracked, nevertheless, they did not see the error of their ways. Why should he add on to his already busy schedule to babysit them? Most likely, they would be two types of people: ones who would either try to cozy up to him for connections or were polite to his face due to his position but disregarded his advice. In the end, his brother pestered him so much that Zaire gave in. Greyson also played a major role as the Duke was very impressed by this young and shockingly talented boy. As a man who took pride in his country, he was long dissatisfied with the status quo. The rest of the nobles all seemed to tacitly accept their inferiority and no longer pushed to better themselves. They just allowed themselves to stay satisfied and take pride in being so-called geniuses in this remote corner of the continent. This once a decade humiliation did not seem to affect them any longer. Their overwhelming losses are painful and discouraging one moment, but quickly forgotten in the next. But the Duke refused to be resigned to fate so easily. Unfortunately, he was not blessed with the ability to change their position himself. Disillusioned by his own ineptitude and his failed apprentices, Zaire could feel the long years whittle away at his original ardor. Someone like Greyson, who was truly an individual capable of turning their situation around, reignited his passion and enthusiasm to better the Snow Country. Other teachers might want to bury this diamond in the rough to "keep commoners in their place" or accept a bribe from Duke Mendenhall to cause trouble for Greyson. The Emperor, who was well-aware of his younger brother''s personality, made sure to purposefully bring up this worry. Was Zaire intelligent enough to see through this little scheme? Of course. But he decided to let himself be fooled. His elder brother''s worries were the cold reality. Many nobles no longer wished to keep their eyes on the bigger picture. Most of them would rather ignore Greyson''s talent and instead strangle this "threat" to their prestige. Helpless against them although he hated their complicity, the Duke knew he was the best choice. Maybe the Outer Region Competition will truly go differently this time as anything was better than dead last every single time. Sticking his hand in and aiding talents of his Snow Country did not hurt him anyways. He saw Greyson and the princess from the Maewen Kingdom, Eris, take two spots which was unprecedented. The situation was already different from the start which only fortified his resolve. He had hardened his heart and was determined to take an aggressive stance against the other eight if they decide to act up. Normally, he would act neutrally because he needed to play a balancing act between noble power and imperial power. However, no matter the consequences, he would whip this team into the best shape and coordination they could be. A new fire burned in this usually stony-faced man''s eyes. ... Greyson was wholly unaware of the Duke''s resolve and was actually worried about this very same issue. Back when he met the eight other representatives in front of the throne room, he could sense the dislike in most of them. Not always as outspoken as say Keaton''s hatred but more a type of subtle alienation. Training with them would be a difficult task based on his first impression. He wondered whether it was better to quietly fulfill his responsibilities and ignore the possible insults or not be afraid to butt heads with them. He was not fond of the idea of backing down because he did not want to be a pushover that allowed everyone to step all over him. Yet, at the same time, it felt rather stupid to continually pick a fight with people over every little thing. His inner pondering continued throughout his meditation until the Duke called out to him. "Greyson, it''s time to go meet with the rest. They should be arriving at the training field soon." "Okay." Nodding, he quickly got up to follow. "How are you? Will training again be alright?" "Thankfully, my light element is really perfect for these types of situations. Physically, I am back at my peak, and the meditation just now allowed me to recover most of my mana stores. Your Grace also went easy on me this morning, which I''m grateful for." "Yes, well, I would not want to be the reason that the others get a bad impression of you. Speaking of, I want you to know that I will have your back. I really have high expectations for you in the competition. I do not wish for your abilities to be dragged down by pointless conflicts with the rest of the team. Really, I find the teachings of nobles distasteful. They act as if they should be the only ones allowed to use magic in this world." Speaking from his heart, Zaire hoped to encourage Greyson and give him confidence to confront the others if they treat him badly. "Although I hope it won''t deteriorate into that kind of situation, I am grateful for Your Grace''s thoughts." The Duke just nodded in response as the two silently made their way back to the training ground. When they arrived, the only two already there were Prince Braiden and Princess Aphina. Both of them seemed rather surprised to see their uncle and Greyson arrive together but soon regained their bearings. "Uncle, you did not tell us that the two of you were so close!" Aphina spoke out quickly. "You should address me as ''Instructor''. I won''t give you any special treatment just because we are related." His words were rather cold, but one could see a hint of doting in his gaze. Braiden and Aphina were his favorite nephew and niece and he treated them much better than the rest. "Hmph, fine. Then, instructor, how did the two of you end up coming together?" Clearly enunciating the new title, Aphina asked once again. "I am giving Greyson individual training as some of his basics need work." "What? Special treatment?" Gasping in mock surprise, Aphina put on a look of envy but inwardly snickered in schadenfreude. She experienced first-hand just how great her uncle''s ''special treatment'' was. "Oh? Jealous? You can join him in the morning if you would like. Having an opponent makes training easier anyways. I should not treat anyone in the group differently." Now, Aphina''s expression finally changed. "Hahaha. No, how could I intrude?" "What intrusion? I don''t think Greyson would have any complaints. Right?" The Duke turned to Greyson. Although he had not known the Duke for very long, Greyson thought he had a good grasp of his character. Yet who would have known that the always stoic Duke would have such a mischievous side. But Greyson knew whose side to take in these situations... "Of course, I wouldn''t mind. I have heard great things about Her Highness''s great talent. I''m sure she would have plenty to teach and enlighten me on." Greyson smiled. "Yes, sister, I believe sparring and training with Greyson would be a great experience." Prince Braiden chimed in. Watching them all gang up on her, Aphina suddenly felt the urge to cry. "Alright, alright, mercy, uncle. I don''t think my body can handle anymore morning training sessions on top of this team training." Pleading for leniency almost immediately, Aphina regretted not keeping her big mouth shut. "Hehe, that''s why you should learn to restrain your playful side, sister. It will always come back to bite you." Little traitor. Aphina thought as she shot him a dirty look. "My offer extends to you as well, Braiden." The Duke threw out. "Huh? Oh... Well, I am rather busy in the mornings..." Panicked, Braiden quickly used the first lame excuse he could think of. "Hm? Busy, I see." "Yes... Very busy..." Aphina quickly sneered at him, "karma sure came quick." Greyson just watched their little play in amusement. Actually, the training wasn''t that bad, right? Okay, maybe he could not actually say that in good conscience, so he understood why the two of them avoided it like the plague. "Well, it seems that the honor will remain mine for the moment." "Now, you two should learn from Greyson. He accepts the hard training and still sees it as an honor." "Yes, instructor." The two obediently responded. However, they just inwardly rolled their eyes and cursed Greyson for being a suck-up. Although this was short interaction, the air seemed to lighten and everyone felt a bit closer. Greyson also felt that these two royal heirs were surprisingly easy to get along with just like their uncle. "Oh, where are my manners. Allow me to formally introduce myself: I am the 12th Imperial Princess of the Moon Empire, Aphina Yce. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Slightly curtsying, Aphina switched over to a more formal expression and introduced herself politely. "The pleasure is mine, Your Highness." "You should know me by now, Greyson, but I will introduce myself again. I am the 10th Imperial Prince of the Moon Empire, Braiden Yce." "Yes, nice to see you again, Your Highness." The group of them continued some small talk as they waited for the arrival of the rest of the representatives. The next to come was Eris, who gave him a playful wink before speaking with the rest. Seeing her act so differently in a formal situation made Greyson almost feel like doubting his eyes. Each member trickled in one by one until there were still three people missing. The meeting time came and went. Seconds turned to minutes as the Duke''s expression turned darker and darker. "Who are the ones who are still missing?" The calm in his voice did not hide the icy intent underneath. "Lord Keaton Mendenhall, son of Duke Mendenhall; The Honourable Cherell Ashtree, daughter of Viscount Ashtree; and the Honourable Collin Meleldred, son of Baron Meleldred." Braiden quickly answered. He also felt cold sweat running down his back for those three. One of the things his uncle hates most in this world is unpunctuality. "I will give them five more minutes. If they are not here, I will speak with His Imperial Majesty about switching them out." Zaire suddenly announced. "Your Grace, that does not seem appropriate. They may have some unspoken circumstance that is keeping them from arriving on time." The one who spoke up in their defense was Lord Trevion Vervan. "Lord Vervan seems to have a better understanding of those three. Then, are you aware of something that would coincidentally keep all three of them from arriving today?" "I am not close enough with any of them to be aware of their circumstances, Your Grace. I just wish to implore you to consider the repercussions of taking such a hard stance over a small matter." Frowning, Trevion still continued explaining himself as he seemingly took himself to be the leader of the noble representatives. Although Braiden was a prince, he was far down the line of inheritance and not favored by the Empress, thus his actual power was not much in the Empire. Compared to Trevion who was the first-in-line of his Ducal family and the eldest of the representatives. "I am well aware of the repercussions as is His Imperial Majesty. It would do Lord Vervan well to remember that His Imperial Majesty assigned me in charge of your training, thereby instilling me the power to make the decisions about this team." Almost hearing the swords being drawn from this conversation, Greyson already felt that the team training was starting off on the wrong foot... 166 Team Training Fiasco Just as Lord Vervan was to answer, three newcomers swaggered into the training grounds. By the looks of them, they were completely nonchalant and unbothered by their late arrival. Turning his eyes to them, the Duke squinted his eyes dangerously. "You three! You are now almost half an hour late! I hope you have a good excuse." "Your Grace, you must pardon us. The three of our families are close so we decided to ride together in a carriage to the training ground. However, on the way, our horses got scared by a snake on the road and were thrown into a disarray. It took a while to calm them and get back on track. We apologize for the inconvenience towards the others who had to wait for us." Taking a step forward, Keaton took the lead for the three of them. "Oh. A snake, was it?" The Duke sneered. He glanced towards the other two, who nodded in confirmation to the story yet could not hide the slight guilt and anxiousness in their eyes. Obviously, they were neither as well-practiced of liars nor as thick-skinned as Keaton. Everyone else could tell that Keaton''s words were nothing but nonsense made up on the spot. Maybe normal horses could fear a snake, but the heir to the Duke Mendenhall house would ride in a carriage pulled by normal horses? Clearly, that''s impossible. They would most likely be well-bred magic beasts which would never fear nor panic at a snake on the road. "It seems the next time I see Duke Mendenhall I should recommend my horse trainer. How dangerous to have a horse run rampant like that, I''m glad that none of you were injured in the process." "Yes, it would our honor to have Your Grace''s help. It seems our beastkeeper is quite inept." Inwardly, everyone was rather annoyed by Keaton''s acting up for no reason, but no one said anything. Most of their families would not dare to offend the Mendenhall family anyways. "Your Grace, it would be best if we start right away. We have already lost enough time waiting." Lord Vervan spoke to smooth the atmosphere. He glared a little at Keaton hoping he would stand down, but the arrogant young master acted as if he did not notice. The veins of his forehead began pulsing as Trevion held in his anger over the obvious disrespect. "Your Grace, I believe that we should leave Greyson out of the team competition combinations." Keaton suddenly announced. "Oh? And why would that be? You can''t be thinking that he is weak, right? Since he beat you so handily that would only be insulting yourself." Zaire''s eyebrow lifted with interest as he did not forget to rub salt into the wound. Slightly choked by the sudden reminder of his defeat, Keaton took a couple deep breaths to calm himself. "Of course not, Your Grace. Greyson''s strength was out there for all to see. Thus, he should definitely take part in the individual competition. Just, I feel that this commoner would break the balance and coordination that this group has built. All of us are around the same age and power level and we have known each other since birth mostly. We are well aware of each other''s powers and special moves which is why we can have great teamwork. Suddenly adding someone on would just be unnecessary." "Then, would Eris not be the same? Why leave her in?" "While Lady Whitstone comes from further away, she is also part of the noble circle and is someone we are also well-acquainted with." Keaton continued to drivel. "Isn''t building teamwork exactly why we are starting training right now?" "But would things not move faster if we leave out the unfamiliar element?" "I agree, Your Grace." Collin added. "Me, as well." Cherell supported. The rest of the representatives did not speak. But Trevion, Lady Tatyana Dawnbrow, and Earl of Hildebrand seemed to lean towards Keaton''s side. Although they thought he was just quibbling due to personal vengeance, the nobles normally kept a united front. "You are obviously just spewing bullsh*t. Why? Are you just bitter from losing so badly you could not get out of bed? I did not see before that you were so petty, Keaton. Can''t you at least take the loss gracefully?" Known for her fiery temper, Aphina was not one to mince words to keep her manners. "Your Highness, you should mind your identity and status. There is no need to speak so vulgarly." Keaton hissed. "I''ll speak however I want; as it seems you also just speak whatever words come to mind without thinking." Aphina shot back. "Lord Mendenhall does not need to speak up for me. If Greyson is too unfamiliar, then I also would not dare to say I am familiar with the nobles of the capital." Eris also politely rejected Keaton''s words and took Greyson''s side. "Truly, Lord Mendenhall, your argument seems like pure sophistry. Why don''t we move past the petty conflicts and start training? We don''t have the time to waste on this." Braiden did not fall behind and also showed his support. And like this, the clear divide of the imperial family and the nobles once again was brought to light. Watching the imperial family taking Greyson''s side instead of his own, Keaton''s fury towards his so-called in-laws only increased. "Since it has come to this, would you like to make a bet?" Calming down, Keaton suggested. Hearing his sudden change in tune, everyone could tell that this was his aim from the start. Aphina and Braiden both stopped and did not respond straight away. They were both not dumb or impulsive enough to step right into that trap. Since he was confident enough to bring up talks of betting so calmly, it must be that Keaton had some sort of plan already prepared. Hotheaded as he can be, Keaton was still someone with tons of experience scheming against others and also is doted on by his equally wily father. "I have already passed the selection and am one of the 10 representatives. Just because you''re unconvinced does not really mean anything nor does it warrant extra attention. His Imperial Majesty approves of my presence on the team; therefore, your approval is moot. For what reason must I go out of my way to play games with you? I can already tell now that the terms of your bet will probably be something ridiculous like betting my participation in the competition this year. Well, I will tell you right now that I will not be stupidly goaded into action. There is nothing that will prevent me from participating in the competition this year. If anything, someone who lost so badly from before is the real questionable existence. Just what can you add that I cannot?" Tired of this charade, Greyson nipped it in the bud. "You-!" At a loss for words, Keaton''s whole face turned bright red from a mixture of shame and fury. "Me, what? It''s true, is it not? You, the loser, claiming that I, the winner, am a detriment just seems rather ridiculous in my eyes." Purposefully placing emphasis on their disparity, Greyson just shrugged nonchalantly. Keaton could not even speak a word and instead his breathing got heavier. Looking about to explode into an actual fight, he started gathering mana around him. "High individual ability does not always translate to high teamwork ability. Seeing that you are so arrogant, would you even be up for cooperating with all of us?" This time it was Lord Vervan who took a step forward. "Oh? Are you joining in now? Can''t you tell that this is just a poorly planned farce? I have nothing against any of you and would be glad to work together. It seems to be Keaton who has one-sidedly targeted me this entire time." "Well, I for one, would like to see your great ability, then." Trevion calmly answered. "Do you want to fight?" Greyson did not really see this guy as someone that simple-minded. "How about a team battle? You four against four of us." He suggested. "Oh? And what would happen if we win?" This time Aphina stepped up seeming rather interested. "We will back down and follow the Duke''s orders. Greyson can also participate in the team training. If you lose, then Greyson will only participate in the individual part of the competition." "You seem to be mistaken, Trevion. My Uncle is already in charge and thus you should be listening to his order whether you win or lose. Greyson is also part of the 10 representatives and has no reason to fight with you to earn the right to fight. Therefore, there is no reason to participate in a fight where all we would win is exactly the power we already have." Aphina sharply pointed out. "Princess Aphina is correct." Trevion did not seem phased by her words. "Then, how about we add in one more thing. If we lose, we will accept Greyson as the leader of the representatives at the upcoming competition. Me, along with the rest of us, will listen to his order." "Hey! Trevion, you can''t just say things like this without prior discussion!" Keaton protested. "Yes, how could we listen to the orders of this plebeian!" Cherell added in. "Enough! Do you think you have not caused enough of a scene?" Lord Vervan held up his hand and looked back at them sharply. Truly, if his father had not told him to help the Mendenhall family this time, he would want no part of this. Why were the nobles always so unreasonable? Lady Tatyana and Earl Efren also nodded in agreement to Trevion''s words. As people entrenched in the noble side, they also had no choice but support Keaton and the rest. "You will listen to his orders, you say?" Aphina looked a little surprised. "Well, Greyson, what do you say? Eris? Brother? Do you guys want to try out this little battle?" Turning to the people on her side, she quickly asked for their opinions. "Hey, well, I''m always up for a little challenge." Eris smirked. "I''m not against it if this will calm things down." Greyson also agreed. "You guys... I guess I can''t be the only one to back down, right?" Braiden looked towards the rest of them before scratching his head in aggravation and agreeing. "Hehe, okay! Then, we will agree. When should we fight?" "Let''s meet her again tomorrow at the same time. We will fight then." Trevion decided. "Alright. We will meet again tomorrow afternoon, then." Aphina nodded. ... "Okay, maybe we were too hasty..." Aphina suddenly announced after the rest of the representatives walked away. Like her confidence deflated suddenly, her shoulders slumped and hints of anxiety appeared in her eyes. "Now you realize..." Braiden sighed. "I couldn''t just back down then, could I? They were obviously teaming up against imperial power this time. Why must they always drag in the noble power and imperial power struggles into everything? Ahhhh! So frustrating!" Aphina just crouched down feeling annoyed. "Will they be that difficult to beat?" Greyson caught onto the hint. "I can''t speak for anyone else, but those three... Tatyana, Trevion, and Efren are childhood friends and have been a team since birth. The last member could almost be ignored whoever it ends up being. We might be more powerful individually, but none of us have tried teaming up before." Braiden explained. "All the more reason you all should start training now." Duke Zaire spoke up suddenly. The four looked towards him together. "They never made any rules against me helping you guys. It''s not that I have a bias, but I wish for the team to work together in harmony. Your team would need to win for that to happen." He defended himself albeit feeling a little embarrassed. "Hahaha, who would have thought my strait-laced uncle would see the light today? Uncle, it''s fine, who says that family should not help one another? Oh no, have I dragged my innocent Uncle to the dark side? Hehe, it feels so good, though!" Aphina burst out joyfully. "Aphy... you..." Braiden just shook his head helplessly while Zaire also gave her a dirty look. "Well, Instructor, I am all ears. What is your training plan?" "I am fairly well informed on Greyson and my niece and nephew''s abilities. I just need to get a clear picture of Eris''s before I can come up with a plan for you all. I am confident that I can help you break apart their teamwork. As perfect as something seems, there is always a strategy against. Plus, it''s not as if their specialties are a secret. For the exact same reason that we know each other too well, we also know their weaknesses well. However, they do not know Eris''s and Greyson''s weaknesses. This will give us a leg up." Zaire clarified. 167 Introducing the Representatives "Eris, can you briefly introduce me to your elements, fighting style, and preferred weapon?" The Duke turned serious as he started gathering the right information. "Of course, it''s no problem. My elements are water and lightning. I would say that my fighting style leans towards offense and, while I don''t forsake all defense, I''m the type to continue attacking to pressure my opponent. My preferred weapon is the spear; I specifically use my tier four magic tool, Leia. It is conducive towards both of my elements and has two spells that activate when I pour my mana into it." Eris lost her usual flippant attitude and kept the introduction concise with all the important details. "Hm... Offensive specialist, then." Zaire seemed to ponder a bit as if ideas were already appearing. But he soon broke out of his train of thought and turned to ask Greyson some questions to confirm. "Greyson, from what I could tell, you can use seven elements?" "Yes, that is correct." "Are there any you particularly favor over the others?" "...No." At first, Greyson found himself rather surprised by the question. However, thinking it through, he realized that he focused on all his elements rather equally. "So, I guess your fighting style would be more suited as an all-rounder: not particularly offensive, but also not particularly defensive." He concluded. "Yes, that would be correct for the most part. I have a couple strong attacks, but they normally swallow up too much mana to be sustainable and used multiple times. It doesn''t really count if I''m incapacitated by my own attacks." "Well, we all witnessed this during the last round of the selection in your match against Keaton." Thinking further, the Duke could feel inklings of some team strategies surfacing. "Alright, well we have a better balanced team than I initially thought." He smiled with relief. Aphina and Braiden also shared that smile after hearing about Greyson and Eris''s abilities. After all, they knew their own abilities and fighting styles the best, so they could tell right away that the team was well-balanced. "Oh?" Greyson and Eris both looked curiously towards the three others. "Aphy is a water element magician who specializes in healing and long distance support spells. She uses a staff to help boost her magic and doesn''t fight with a weapon." Braiden explained. "My older brother, despite his sunny demeanor, is quite the character when he fights. His personality is rather disgusting." Aphina sniffed disdainfully. "Must you say it like that." Hearing her words, the prince just smiled wryly. "Uncle, not you too..." "Hehe... it''s the truth, is it not?" The Duke chuckled. Both of their introductions surprised Eris and Greyson who did not expect that kind of fighting style at all from the young heirs in front of them. They really could not be blamed. Aphina was embodied by a heroic and rather combative aura that was not afraid to pick a fight with others. Braiden was a good-looking young man whose lips constantly held a gentle smile. He was not cowardly, just down-to-earth. Plus, he was built rather sturdily like he trained with the sword his whole life. If someone said that he was a magic knight of the Moon Empire, it would not be surprising. Yet, this same man was apparently someone who specialized in what could only be described as assassination spells. Maybe they were a little too biased, but wasn''t this specialty and outer appearance a little too dissonant? Or rather, Princess Aphina, you were the most aggressive of us earlier but you do not even normally use offensive spells? Just where did you get the confidence? Greyson thought to himself feeling a little speechless hearing the princess''s specialties. During the little squabble before, Aphina whipped the rest with her poisonous tongue and acted so mighty. He honestly thought she was looking forward to fighting against the rest of the nobles in the duel, but she would be in the rear supporting them instead. It wasn''t a bad thing, just... unexpected. "The older, righteous, and sunny looking brother who uses stealth spells and ice attacks with his daggers; the younger, fiery, and aggressive sister uses healing and support spells. How interesting. It''s a rather odd combination, but I''ll get used to it." Eris grinned widely. "I can see what you all are saying about balance. We have a support specialist magician, an agility specialist magician, an offensive specialist magician, and an all-rounder magician who can fill in the gaps of our weak points. It would be perfect if we had a defensive specialist, but things can''t always work out THAT well, right?" She continued analyzing the makeshift team. Even she was a little pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. Siding with the imperial prince and princess and Greyson was more of a whim because she felt disgusted by the obvious arrogance of the nobles. But, if she were being truthful, it was not like she actually had high expectations. The other side had more people, could figure out better combinations because they will have more choices, and they all knew each other. Realistically, the rapidly formed team of four did not seem like they would win. Nevertheless, luck had yet to abandon them and it turned out their abilities meshed well together. She couldn''t imagine what would have happened if they were all attack specialists or something. Too extreme in one direction would only lead to glaring weaknesses that are hard to hide. "Hahaha, it seems that the two of you understand! If that much is clear, then I should use this chance to introduce the other six of your opponents. I can somewhat picture which team of four they will choose, but it''s best to be prepared for all situations. Therefore, I will introduce all of them." The Duke nodded in approval. Eris outlined his thoughts concisely. Both Greyson and Eris perked their ears with expectation and their eyes flowed with curiosity. For them, other than Keaton, the rest were still a bit of a mystery. They saw Trevion fight with the other guy from the selection, but that was barely a fight. Most of his specialities and spells did not see the light of day. "Although most of you saw him, I will still explain: Keaton is a water element magician with a special in-born characteristic of acid. His attacks will eat through armor, weapons, skin, and bones so try to avoid any direct hits and contact. Main weapon is a whip so it''s more accurate to say that he is a mid- to long-distance fighter rather than close combat. He enjoys keeping his distance from his opponents though for larger attacks because he is completely immune from the acid but his equipment might not be. His magic beast is a Ruby Nerodia which is a variation of the Black Nerodia that is commonly the magic beast of the Mendenhall main line. The only physical trait difference is the eyes color. However, Keaton''s Ruby Nerodia also has acidic properties and they increase each other''s attack force when working in tandem." "You also saw Trevion but barely saw his abilities from what I heard. Trevion is an earth element magician. He is not overwhelmingly talented, but he is hardworking. As one of the oldest participating, he is stable and intelligent. Although he was the one who brought up the fight, I doubt he really wished to start something with Greyson. Normally, he is even-keeled and not easily provoked to anger. From what I understand, his father most likely told him to support Keaton after their fathers negotiated with each other. Both the Mendenhall family and the Vervan family are deeply entrenched in the web of noble powers. They can''t extricate themselves easily, thus, even if they don''t agree with their actions, they have to create a united front with the other nobles. Most likely, he will be part of the four who will fight with you guys since he specializes in strategizing. He is a defense specialist with shield and gloves magic tools. It''s difficult to get attacks through to his teammates since he will try to cover them. It would be best to assign one of you to just focus on attacking and pressuring Trevion so that the both of you ignore the rest. This is easier said than done, though. If you can''t break or make cracks his defenses, he can divide his attention towards the rest while ignoring you. His earth element spells are very tough. The Vervans are called the "Shield of the Moon" for a reason. They are an ancient family with deep history. You also cannot underestimate his offense. He strengthens his body as a form of defense, so taking any direct hits in close combat will definitely break some bones and cause internal injuries. Granted, just like other earth element magicians, Trevion is not very fast. When fighting you should take advantage of this weakness." "The Vervan family commonly forms a group with the Dawnbrow family and the Crest family. The current members that you would be fighting are the heir to Duke Vervan, Trevion; the youngest daughter of Duke Dawnbrow, Tatyana; and the second son of Marquis Crest, Efren. Efren inherited his father''s other title Earl of Hildebrand and is seen as the heir. He has surpassed his elder brother as the Snow Empire does not prescribe to the practice of passing titles on to only the eldest son or just males. We also have hereditary titles for women. Efren is the most talented of the children in the Crest family. He is a straightforward offensive specialist. The Crest family direct line children are normally born with the same variation in their element. They are ice element magicians, meaning they can only use ice variation spells of the water element. Efren uses a sword magic tool. In general, as long as you are not weak against ice then you can handle fighting him. Tatyana is an agility specialist who is a wind element magician. The Dawnbrow family generally inherits the water element and specialize in healing or support magic. Therefore, the combination between these three is a variation of the normal teamwork strategies between these three families. Tatyana does not have as strong of spells since her family''s ancient spells are useless to her. However, you should not underestimate her as she is a top assassin. Individually, the three of them are not so talented that they would overshadow you four. The scariest part about them is their combination attacks and strategies. If you are not prepared, you will fall right into their traps." "Although I doubt they will be chosen, I will still tell you about the other two. Cherell Ashtree, Viscount Ashtree''s third daughter, is a fire element magician who specializes in long distance attacks. She doesn''t fight in close quarters and uses a staff magic tool to augment her spell-casting speed. Not much about her is exceptional, she just has a powerful family and beautiful face. It''s a shame that you both did not try to challenge her to kick her out. There are always 1-2 representatives who go just to fill the numbers. Colin Meleldred, Baron Meleldred''s sixth son, is actually a light element magician which is rare. The Meleldred family is new nobility and only recently gained their Baron status. Therefore, they have neither the spell heritage or element heritage of normal nobles. However, Colin is talented and a light magician. He ended up joining the church to help cement his position in the Empire and within the family. Although he is a light element magician, he does not specialize in healing or support spells. He is a wily fighter who uses a multitude of weapons. Mainly, he uses a spear and shield. The light element itself is a well-rounded element with strong defense and offense, but is not very powerful in either until higher levels. I would recommend not getting too close to him. He''s the type to suddenly abandon his spear and stab you with a hidden dagger. In a word, he''s unpredictable. Personality-wise I don''t hold him in high esteem, but that would not stop me from admiring his fighting tactics." "Okay, now that you are all familiar, do you have any ideas? I want to hear from you guys before voicing my own thoughts. Only this way will you mature and think for yourself. It would be meaningless if I held your hand through it." Taking a deep breath, the Duke finally finished his long introduction before looking at the four kids in front of him. "From your introduction, it seems you believe they will fight with Trevion, Tatyana, Efren, and Keaton. This combination has a defense specialist, close combat attack specialist, an agility specialist, and a long-distance attack specialist. It helps that none of them know any healing magic which means that any damage done to them will stay that way. Trevion will most likely be like Aphina and stay out of direct confrontation. So, we have a three-on-three situation mostly with the fourth member adding on help." Eris concisely summarized. The other three nodded along. "Although they do not have any healing magic, if Trevion protects them then we won''t be able to get much damage through." Braiden added. "Which starts to put us at a disadvantage. Aphina, do you know any attack or defense magic?" "Of course, I can''t be so one-sided. However, with everyone''s level where it is, I don''t think my attacks and defense will be much help..." "Hmm... then this turns it into two-on-three. One of us will have to focus on distracting Trevion, while Aphina can''t help us attack the other three. However, her augmenting spells will boost our strength, so we shouldn''t be at an immediate disadvantage." After analyzing a little, Greyson felt that the situation was fairly equal on both sides, but they were a bit on the weaker end. Although they did not have a clear strategist like Trevion, each of the four offered different ideas that slowly turned into a fighting strategy. 168 Team Battle Part 1 Working the rest of the afternoon and night discussing their strategies, they slowly worked out the little kinks in their teamwork. The Duke watched at the side feeling more and more gratified by their progress. Every now and then, he would give them some tips and hints. In the end, they were his favored nephew, niece, and pupils. He could not help but be a little biased in hoping they would win. Breaking his own rules, he still provided assistance helping their improvement speed increase. By the next day, although they were far from perfect, the group of four felt like they could envision each other''s fighting habits. They rehearsed through multiple situations and prepared as well as they could. Now, it was time to put their training to the test. However, they were aware that all the training in the world could not prepare them for every situation. In the event that nothing goes as planned, they would just try their best to fight one-on-one with the opponents they assigned to each other beforehand. After a good night''s rest, Greyson woke up still feeling a little tired from last night''s hard work. Stretching out his tight muscles, he looked out the window with enthusiasm. This would definitely be a good chance for him to fight and apply the things that he has learned with the other three and the Duke. Quickly putting on some light armor over his clothes that the Duke provided, he ran over to the field. He thought he was early, but there were already three other people present by the time he arrived. The initial surprise soon faded as he chuckled happily. "It seems I''m not the only one excited." He greeted walking towards them. "Aphy just wouldn''t let me sleep in no matter what..." Braiden smiled bitterly. "Whoa, why did I never realize brother was such an actor? I''m pretty sure someone was already awake and dressed by the time I barged in." Aphina did not let him use her as a shield as she sarcastically raised a brow. "Oh?" Greyson also joined in by raising a brow questioningly while glancing over. A suspicious red tinge appeared at the tips of Braiden''s ears as he cleared his throat. "You must have been mistaken." He tried his best to look dignified. "Hahaha, there''s no need to be embarrassed. It seems we all are a little over eager for the fight today." Eris patted Braiden on the shoulder encouragingly. "Yeah, exactly." Greyson agreed. "The opposing team, on the other hand, will probably stroll in right on time as if they have all the time in the world. They want to look as arrogant and nonchalant as possible to make it seem like they don''t take this fight seriously." Aphina snorted when she looked towards the empty path leading to the field. "Hm... how annoying! It would have been better if he was just arrogant like the rest. Why does he have to go out of his way to train when they have been training together all their lives..." Pouting, Aphina starting feeling a little nervous. "You can''t expect everyone to be dumb. Some nobles have to have a good head on their shoulders, otherwise, the imperial power would have long taken over." Braiden shook his head at his little sister''s antics. "Can''t you just let a person hope?" Aphina glared at him. "You need a realistic picture of the situation in order to prepare yourself properly for battle. If you were expecting to go into battle and win based on the opponent''s mistakes instead of confidence in your own strength, then you are lining yourself up for failure. You can''t expect them to stupidly underestimate you and allow you to win in that fashion." A new voice chimed in. All four heads turned to look at the origin and saw Duke Zaire walking over. He caught the tail end of the conversation and decided to give one last lesson before the start of the fight. Disapproving eyes focused on his niece. "Uncle..." Aphina''s shoulders hunched in as a blush appeared on her face. "Now you know to feel ashamed? You all need to be mentally prepared for a tough struggle. The other four are all magister level stage five magicians, as well. Although there can exist large gaps even within the same stage, I don''t think you four can confidently claim to tower over the others. Trevion, Tatyana, and Efren are not stupid. While Keaton is arrogant, he is also a snake that knows when to lie low and wait to strike. Try your best from the beginning and keep your contingency plans in mind. From what I saw last night, you guys have more than enough strength to pull through with a win." The Duke took on a serious stance and gave them one last stern lecture. "We understand." All four nodded and answered obediently. Afterwards, they waited in silence for their competition to arrive. With around 10 minutes to spare, the trio led by Trevion walked to the field. They did not say anything, but nodded politely in greeting towards Greyson and Eris. However, in accordance with the etiquette drilled into their bodies, they still had to speak in greeting towards the Duke and the siblings. "Greetings to Your Grace, Duke of Winterbridge. Greetings to His Highness and Her Highness." The two boys bowed slightly while the girl curtsied. "No need to be uptight with the formalities. I don''t care for them, anyway." Zaire just waved nonchalantly in response. The siblings also nodded seemingly in agreement. "No matter what, manners must still be upheld." Trevion shook his head in disagreement. The Duke raised his eyebrow a little but just shrugged in the end. All nobles knew that disrespect towards another noble of higher station could be a small issue or a big issue depending on the person and their desires. In order to not get caught in a trap, the most intelligent thing would be to always follow etiquette strictly even against your worst enemy. The most common situation in high society was hiding your daggers behind a smile. Trevion would never allow himself or his comrades to make such an amateur mistake. Time seemed to flow slowly as the eight individuals looked at each other as everyone once again fell into an awkward silence. Neither side had much to say to the other, nor were they willing to immaturely speak out aggressively. While they were still kids in the eyes of the older generation, Prince Braiden, Trevion, Efren, and Tatyana were all in their late 30s. If they still decided to pick a fight hurling insults, it would be too unbecoming of people of their age and stature. Greyson and Eris were both young, but neither were the type to say anything. Aphina, on the other hand, seemed to be itching to get a couple scathing remarks out. Biting her tongue a bit, she glanced down at her brother''s hand that was holding her back. Puffing out her cheeks, she looked fairly disgruntled. However, Braiden knew that while both of his sisters had a fiery tempers, Aphina was actually very obedient unlike Beline. Unless she knew that she had support, she would not speak out of turn. Just as Aphina predicted earlier, Keaton, Colin, and Cherell all strolled to the field a couple minutes late. They looked completely relaxed as if they were out to go sightseeing. Even if they were currently teammates, Trevion''s group had looks of barely disguised annoyance and disgust. If they acted this way in order to mock those who took the battle too seriously, then were they not also mocking Trevion''s group for arriving early? "Your Grace, please excuse my late greetings. We got a little caught up on the road." Barely meeting the standards with his bow and tone, Keaton answered with a trace of complacency. "No need for apologies. You are barely late. But I will get started right away in order to save everyone else''s time." "Of course." Walking forward, Zaire placed down an exquisite looking disk on the ground. Allowing his mana to flow into it, a large battle stage soon appeared on the wide training field. "For the sake of preventing too serious of injuries, I will have you guys fight on this stage. If any of the team members are thrown out or step out of the stage boundaries then they are out. Otherwise, I do not have any specific rules you need to follow. I will take responsibility if any of you are seriously injured. I have tons of treasures for healing and life-saving purposes. But, if you can avoid it, let''s try not to take out our entire team before the real competition even starts. We would be real laughing stocks at that point." Everyone nodded showing their understanding. "Alright, well I have nothing more to say. Both teams please step up." Greyson, Eris, Aphina, and Braiden all glanced at each other before jumping onto the stage. Trevion, Tatyana, Efren, and Keaton soon followed suit. The eight fighters all lined up in their decided formations. Aphina stood at the back, Greyson and Braiden stood to the sides in front of her, while Eris stood at the very forefront forming a diamond. Trevion, Efren, and Tatyana formed a triangle with Trevion as the point behind the other two. Keaton just snorted watching everyone and stayed to the side by himself. He had refused to participate in the practice yesterday, so he decided to just jump in where he saw an opening. The Duke made eye contact with both sides and saw them nod in confirmation that they were ready. He raised his hand before dropping it down quickly yelling, "Start!" ... Both teams jumped straight into action hoping to grab the initial momentum. Eris and Greyson took a straight charge looking as if they were going to meet Tatyana and Efren head on. One swung her spear while the other swung his sword. But, right before the two sides met, Eris and Greyson dodged to the side and kept their momentum going straight towards Trevion. A little surprised to be targeted first instead of the weaker links, Trevion reacted quickly and brought out his shield. The shield did not require chanting as the spell was engraved, so soon a solid metal and rock dome formed around him covering all sides. Greyson''s sword disappeared at one point and instead both his hands were gripping onto Eris''s spear. Using light element augmentation spells, he boosted her strength while he used the earth element to sharpen the spear point. Lastly, in combination with Eris''s lightning, his own fire element appeared at the point. Leaning his center of gravity back, his body was soon horizontal. Eris met his eyes and the bottom of her feet met with his. With great force, his legs pushed her out and projected her directly towards Trevion''s dome. He used the reacting force to send him back towards Aphina to help with that situation. All these actions only took up less than a minute. Tatyana and Efren did not react with panic and instead resolutely abandoned Trevion. They did not chase after Eris or Greyson and instead headed straight for Aphina. Braiden''s expression grew grim as he saw the two approaching him and Keaton who was still standing at the side eyeing the situation. Instead of facing them head on, he grabbed onto his sister and used Shadow Travel to dodge. It was at this moment that Greyson caught back up and Eris''s human-spear projectile struck Trevion''s shield. With such great momentum behind her, Eris was able to drive the spear through the shield and felt it stab into something solid. Her keen sense of smell was able to pick up on the blood. Knowing that the surprise attack succeeded, she was excited at first but felt uneasy when the shield crumbled away into an armor that surrounded Trevion. She could see now that she only managed to stab through his right shoulder and not any major organ. Going from instinct, she immediately tried to pull out and retrieve her spear. However, Trevion reacted just as fast as his left hand gripped onto the spear. The earth grew around his left hand and both feet keeping him planted at his spot. "Both of you, now!" He shouted. Tatyana burst into action as well as Efren. Efren summoned a shield of ice. Instead of using it for defense, he had the sunlight reflect off of it towards the spot Braiden and Aphina were located. Knowing they could not use the shadows at that split second, Tatyana drew needles between each of her fingers and attacked Braiden. However, instead of Braiden, a bunch of arrows shot out to stop her approach suddenly. Tatyana cursed under her breath and glared over at Greyson who managed to stop her in time. Only, everyone, including Braiden and Aphina, forgot about the other major player in the ring. Eris watched all this happening wondering if she should abandon the spear and help. But, without her main weapon, her fighting strength would take a major hit. So, she could only desperately attack and struggle trying to break apart the rock. Keaton appeared near the siblings swinging his whip. Braiden''s face blanched as he moved to block the whip. Aphina also cast a quick shield spell that she knew. They slowed the hit down, but Braiden still took damage from the acid water. With Greyson stopping Tatyana and Eris stuck with Trevion, there was no one to block Efren. Quickly picking up on the opening, Efren chanted a quick ice spell and sent large ice balls down towards the three fighting. Aphina scowled deeply as she tried to heal her brother while helping to block Keaton. Seeing the impending ice balls, Braiden grit his teeth and sent a sneak attack towards Keaton. He managed to stab through his leg and cast an ice spell before shoving his sister out of harm''s way. The ice balls exploded on the ground sending Braiden flying out of the ring. Keaton hissed with pain as he saw his leg slowly turning blue. He sent his mana to surround the wound and slow down the spell. At this moment, Eris broke free from Trevion, but the situation already turned around. Braiden was taken out! The only upside was that both Keaton and Trevion were injured and could not heal themselves. Aphina, Greyson and Eris all had grim looks as they quickly backed away from their opponents to regroup. Luckily, the other team also needed to recoup for a second and did not try to chase them down. "The situation has turned grim..." Eris murmured. Both Greyson and Aphina nodded while looking towards Braiden. The Duke had already picked him up and signaled that he would be fine with some healing, so they all no longer worried about it. "It''s not the worst case scenario yet. We still have some tricks and contingency plans for this." Greyson encouraged. The remaining three all met eyes and nodded before turning to their opponents. 169 Team Battle Part 2 Actually, Braiden was not too injured from the earlier attack. He was just caught off-guard and forced outside the stage boundaries. After his uncle helped heal him a little, he woke up right away. Wiping the blood away from his face, he looked towards the stage with a grave expression. Slamming his fist into the ground, Braiden''s normally smiling face turned ugly. As far as princes go, he was not the type to really pay attention to keeping face and acting above the rest, but getting eliminated first was truly too humiliating. He could not help but feel guilty towards his teammates still fighting. All he managed to do was injure Keaton. "Don''t think too much. You should believe that they will still be able to follow through. Who knows if that injury will become a major point later? You have to know that they do not have a healer, so he will have to keep participating with an open wound." The Duke''s cold voice sounded by Braiden''s ear. "I understand." Braiden clenched his fist, but knew there was nothing he could change now. All he could do was watch as the battled unfolded. The people on the stage could not spare thoughts to Braiden and only focused on their wounds and their opponents. Keaton grit his teeth and he held his leg gingerly. Tatyana wanted to ignore him, but she knew that they were teammates now and would sink or swim together. She walked over and ripped part of Keaton''s shirt sleeve. Using the strips, she tied the wound tightly to try to prevent the blood flow. It was only a stopgap measure, but it would have to suffice at the moment. Trevion also treated his own wounds, but it was obvious the both of them should avoid to vigorous movements or they will end up bleeding out. Although they did not want to give their opponents any time, Greyson, Eris, and Aphina could only watch as they came up with a new plan. "Greyson, you are the only one here who could handle facing two opponents, so we can only leave it to you to endure until I can defeat one. Aphina, you would have to defend against an opponent until I''m done. I will straight away attack Efren, because, if it''s just one-on-one, I''m fairly certain I can defeat him. Greyson, you try your best to block Trevion and Tatyana from giving support. Aphina, you will have to block Keaton. This time you will be prepared, so I believe you have enough skill to keep him busy while he is injured." Eris spoke up to take the lead in the strategy. "As long as you don''t expect me to beat him, I''m confident I can keep his attention." Aphina nodded with confidence. "I will try my best to keep them both busy. Thankfully, Trevion does not move too fast, so it''s just a matter of containing Tatyana." Greyson also voiced his assent. Eris started walking in front while asking, "okay, are you both ready?" "This is a support spell that increases your strength and stamina. Although, it won''t do anything in terms of assisting with your mana." She also released two more spells, but just for herself that would boost her agility and body''s defense. Still not finished, she placed her hand on her chest and a spell engraving appeared on her robe. Her thin robe also worked as an extremely tough defense magic tool. "Alright! Now, I''m ready." "Then, let''s get this show started." Eris remarked before jumping straight towards the other four across the stage. Greyson and Aphina followed right after her. Stabbing straight with her spear, Eris activated a lightning spell that appeared at the tip of the blade. With the extra strength, her legs pushed her directly in front of Efren with only a single jump. Caught a little off guard by the sudden approach, Efren was only able to block while the rest dodged to the side. He parried Eris''s spear into the ground which proceeded to explode and break apart the stage. Wincing, Efren could feel some residual damage on the bottom of his feet. Tatyana was the first from the other side to recover her wits and wanted to support. However, a fiery arrow blocked her path and caused another explosion in front of her. The impact sent her flying back. Trevion managed to react in time and caught her to slow down her body''s momentum. Feeling his feet sliding back, Trevion acted quickly to dig his feet down and connect with the earth. Both of them soon stopped themselves. Tatyana jumped down from Trevion''s arms and thanked him while glaring over at the origin of the arrow. Greyson only smiled back while nocking another arrow on his bow. Just the same as the last one, he enhanced it with the wind element and fire element to make it fast and explosive. He could only concentrate so much firepower in one arrow at a time. Accompanied by a hair-raising whistling noise, the arrow shot out from the bow towards the two targets. This time, Trevion was prepared and chanted a quick spell. A multiple solid rock walls infused with some metal appeared in front of them. The arrow broke through the first one and exploded while the second and third walls protected the two from the impact. Using the walls as a way to block vision, Trevion urged Tatyana to go over and help Efren. He knew that the other team was trying to divide and conquer, so obviously he could not allow them to reach their goal so easily. Nodding to him, Tatyana burst out with her highest speed towards where Eris and Efren were engaging in battle. However, Greyson already predicted that they would take advantage of the low visibility and positioned himself between his opponents and Eris and Efren''s battle. Putting away his bow and arrows and instead pulling out his sword, Greyson also activated his wind element to meet Tatyana head on. Long needles immediately appeared between Tatyana''s fingers that she sent flying towards Greyson. Dodging around, Greyson avoided the ones he could while blocking the rest with his sword. When he was right in front of Tatyana, she opened her mouth and spit out a smaller needle right at him. Unable to dodge completely in time, the needle stabbed into his right shoulder. He ignored the pain and tried to swing his sword at her. Tatyana dodged with a back hand spring, but the fast blade still managed to slice a thin cut across her chest. Greyson moved to continue, but suddenly realized his right arm was tingling and going numb. Recognizing the problem, he immediately pulled out the small needle and activated the light element. However, how could his second opponent allow him the time? Rock spikes began springing from the ground in Greyson direction. He ran to the side to avoid them, but they seemed to follow his movements. His eyes turned purple as his pupils thinned into slits and white scales appeared all over his body. The rock spikes hit his body but completely broke apart upon contacting the scales. Combining with Aphina''s support spell and his dragon bloodline, Greyson could feel immense power and strength throughout his body. He glanced over to see that Eris was still tied up with Efren and Aphina was only barely holding up against Keaton. She consistently blocked the acid water with her own healing water, but still lost out a little in the end. Each attack managed to hurt her, but she would immediately heal it. However, such fighting tactics will tire out the user too much. Biting his lip, he decided he needed to take action first instead of waiting for Eris to finish her battle. With a loud roar, Zephyr flew out from his body. The two hovered in the air as Greyson chanted an ancient Snow Dragon spell in a low voice. Blue clouds formed over Trevion''s head. Noticing the situation turning for the worst, Trevion had no choice but to summon his own magic beast. Behind his tall body appeared a large reptile with tough rock scales and spikes protruding from its spine. Throwing his shield into the air while the beast curled its body around Trevion, he activated his magic tool and a warm yellow light radiated causing the stage to immediately form a dome over Trevion. Enhanced by the shield, the normal rock of the stage glittered like metal. The temperature in the field dropped dramatically as icy blue drops that matched the clouds fell from the sky. They seeped into the rock slowly freezing the dome over. Even Trevion could feel his body trembling from the intense cold. From the inside out, he saw the rocks around him turn to ice. However, the rain could not reach him and was instead successfully blocked by the defenses. Greyson was not discouraged by this sight and instead smiled victoriously. He and Zephyr flew down at a breakneck speed straight towards the icy dome. Trevion tried to remove his shield to gain back his sight, however, his face fell when he realized he could no longer control the dome around him. His shield instead became the cage that trapped him in one spot. Frowning, he could only up his defenses with simple spells and receive support from his magic beast partner. Outside the dome, Greyson and Zephyr were quickly in range. Fire and lightning sparked at the end of Zephyr''s tail as he whipped his body sideways. The tail slammed straight into the dome which cracked apart immediately like thin ice. Trevion braced himself as he defenses broke one by one. With one final explosion, his beast let out a cry in pain. He also puked a mouthful of blood as his partner dissipated. The remaining force sent him flying out of the ring. Greyson had no time to feel happy at this moment, because the last two attacks severely drained his mana. Gasping for breath, his legs felt wobbly as Zephyr quickly returned to inside his body. He soon felt the back of his head tingling, and could only quickly roll his body from its original position at the last minute. Sure enough, a bunch of needles dug into the ground. He could not dodge them all as some hit his left side this time. Actually, he never had the time to heal his right side and now both sides of his body could feel the same numbness and tingling. Earlier, Tatyana noticed Greyson gathering mana for a large attack, so she decisively gave up on helping Efren to take out Greyson. She could then circle back and take advantage of their numbers to slowly eliminate the other two. Knowing his situation was dire, Greyson could only activate his light element now. A shield grew over his body as he worked on healing himself. Thankfully, Tatyana did not have high power behind her attacks or else this shield would be rather flimsy. Her biggest strength was speed and sneak attacks with needles laced in poison. His shield could still block those attacks. Just like a turtle hiding in its shell, Greyson lifted his eyebrow with a faint mocking expression as if saying "come and give it your best shot." However, Tatyana did not take heed towards Greyson''s provocation to try to get her to stay and instead ran over to Eris and Efren''s battle. Smile disappearing, Greyson sighed seeing his plan fail. He had hoped to anger her into repeatedly trying to break the shield. But it seemed his opponent was well aware of her strengths and role. Thankfully, Eris was always someone who had a good grasp of the all the moving pieces in battle. When she saw Greyson readying himself for a final move, she already calculated that he would not recover fast enough to take care of Tatyana. Therefore, she started attacking with more force and gained the upper hand against Efren. By the time Tatyana came for back-up, Eris used Efren''s confidence in seeing his companion to do a sneak attack. She dropped her spear, crouched down to dodge his sword, and instead gathered her strength to punch him straight in the gut. With the lightning element and her extra strength, Efren could not make a sound before fainting. They had gained the advantage! Greyson grew excited for a moment, before realizing that he was exhausted and Aphina was also not in good shape. Some of her skin was marred by acid burns that she could not heal. Although Keaton was stabbed, his injury was mostly under control and he did not have to move much to attack as he was originally someone who attacked from more of a distance. Able to read the current situation as well, Keaton decided to ignore Aphina as she was in no position to block him as easily anymore. He ran in Greyson''s direction to attack. Greyson watched him approaching with a grave expression. His light element had still not managed to clear out the poison and he was only suppressing it at this moment. His mana stores were also low. The light element could heal his body, but, instead of replenishing mana, it expended more. "Hehehe. HAHAHA! You would have never thought that you would end up at my mercy, did you?" Keaton could not help but laughing in glee. Menacing red eyes appeared behind him as his Ruby Nerodia once again made its entrance. He was never someone to take it easy on an opponent just because they were weak. Instead, he loved to see them writhe in the worst pain. It was never about avoiding underestimating his opponent, just that he was too sadistic to let up his attacks. The same combination attack appeared as a wave of black water crashed towards Greyson. In this moment, Greyson actually did not look towards the impending attack, but towards Aphina. Even in her injured state, she looked up at him and smiled with a wink. His lips parted into a wide smile in return. Using the last of his mana, Greyson did not try to fight back and instead immediately ran off the stage. Once he was outside the boundary, the attack was blocked by the shield surrounding the stage to prevent damage spilling into the field. The situation was back to two-on-two! 170 Team Battle Part 3 Looking up at the stage, Greyson let out a sigh of relief before sitting on the ground. Actually, the Tatyana''s poison was pretty vicious and most of his body was starting to numb. He was also glad that Keaton used his strongest move. No real damage was done to him and the rest of the aftermath was blocked by the shield. In the end, he managed to get Keaton to waste all that mana for his last move. Smirking to himself, Greyson could imagine how frustrated the young noble probably was for wasting a move like that. Although there were still some deviations, the major points of their plan were still working and moving along... Eris did not waste thoughts for Greyson''s state and instead jumped right back into the fight. With Efren knocked out, the main target would be Keaton. Combined with Aphina''s healing, she felt that she would be able to knock out Tatyana fairly easily later. Keaton''s face looked pale and dark. At first, he was still smiling maniacally over his win, but then he felt the drain on his mana and witness the protection from the stage activate. Once the acid water faded away, he could see Greyson sitting calmly outside the stage with no harm to speak of. His expression quickly distorted and slammed the whip into the ground showing his frustration. Now, even his legs felt weak, yet he did not manage to damage his opponent only removing him from the rest of the battle. In his distraction, he did not notice the approaching bloodlust coming his way. Tatyana watched in frustration as her one group member was also eliminated and the other was distracted like an idiot. Looking towards the remaining Keaton, she felt her will to fight dropping. However, this had to do with the nobles'' honor and she could not just stand and watch. Rushing over in the matter of seconds, Tatyana pulled out her rarely used dagger. Her lithe body moved with the wind and managed to redirect the powerful spear thrust to the side with her dagger. The tip of the spear only nicked Keaton''s side in the end. Letting out a sigh of relief, she glared behind her and quickly snapped at her pig of a teammate. "Will you pull yourself together? The battle is not over. Even if you do not care about losing face, I surely do not want to humiliate myself along with you." Although she does not speak much, Tatyana was not the type to mince words with others. "Oh? Well, I can always appreciate an intelligent and tough woman, however, I can only continue to offend." Eris winked a little flirtatiously before her expression immediately became serious. Tatyana''s face changed after she felt the power behind the spear she blocked. With a strong horizontal swing, Tatyana''s whole body was pushed flying by Eris''s spear. Not wasting a second look, Eris swiftly went in for the kill. However, it was already too late as Keaton regained his bearings after getting scolded by Tatyana. He dodged away and rapidly retreated to create space between the two. "...If I was to say that before I had nothing against you other than just general disdain, then now I am truly unable to look at that ugly face for much longer. It really stings the eyes. Maybe it would be more manageable if I beat you until I can no longer recognize your features?" Still keeping that same casual smile, Eris seemed to be casually joking. But if one looked closely, they could see her hand gripping the spear a little tighter. Aphina was busy recovering her energy, but even she looked up with a glare. Tatyana also looked at her own teammate with disgust. Of course, she caught the small glance he sent her way when he was speaking. In the Snow Country, misogyny was actually not that widely accepted. Before the Moon Empire came into power, there were still some old kingdoms who practiced more traditional inheritance. Although the law that women can also inherit had spread due to the First Emperor''s decree, some of the people who descended from the past powers still held inherent disdain towards women. In the beginning, they could still make up for half the population, but, as new citizens were continually born, respecting women became the norm for those growing up. Therefore, belittling women like Keaton just did does not occur much in public. It was an easy way to create enemies. Some of the noble families in the Moon Empire were matriarchies. Let alone the fact that the Moon Empire''s First Emperor deeply loved and respected his wife. His inheritor was also one of their daughters. "Duke Mendenhall''s parenting still requires a lot of work. It''s shocking someone like Her Majesty could descend from him, as well. Maybe she received most of her personality from her mother." Duke Zaire commented plainly while watching the scene with humor in his eyes like he was witnessing a joke. Trevion also shook his head and he could see Tatyana was extremely displeased. Why must I help this half-wit? Did he never learn that controlling your tongue is of the first and foremost importance to nobles? Even if you have those feelings, could it not wait until the match is over?! Why are you making your own teammate hate you, too? Feeling distressed, Trevion almost resented his father for getting him involved. He should have just ignored the situation. Although he did not particularly love fraternising with commoners, he did not look down on Greyson who was clearly talented and powerful. If anything, he was hoping that Greyson would gain face for the Snow Country and their team. Otherwise, he would have to resign himself to the fact that he was going to the competition to get humiliated. While he was stupid enough to say it, Keaton was not dull enough to not notice the change in atmosphere. Biting his lip almost imperceptibly, he already started to regret acting so impulsively. Normally, he had better control of himself... Before he could address his own doubts, Eris once again began attacking. In his weakened state, Eris''s powerful attacks kept Keaton on the defensive. At the same time, though, Eris also could not approach too carelessly due to his acid water that was constantly circulating. This time, Tatyana did not rush over right away to help. She took a step and paused feeling conflicted. "Tatyana!" A warning was shouted. Looking in the direction of the voice, Tatyana made eye contact with Trevion outside the stage. She could tell what he meant right away. Taking a deep breath, she held in her personal standpoints and ran over to give assistance. Keeping an appropriate distance, she pulled out her needles and waited for the right timing. Every time she saw an opening, she would throw in a needle to cut off Eris''s rhythm. As a veteran fighter, Eris was definitely able to divide her attention to dodge the needles while attacking, however it would make her weary mentally. Inwardly, she was going back and forth between continuing to attack Keaton or to try to take out Tatyana first. Just because she was slightly angered did not mean she did not know how to keep a calm head. Contrary to expectation, Keaton was actually dodging towards Tatyana instead of away to help keep a distance. Eris looked confused for a moment before a small grin appeared on the corner of her lips. ... "Trevion, what is that idiot doing? Does he not even understand the basics? Why is he moving towards, Taty? She is more useful in causing a disturbance from a distance than helping in close quarters." Efren was completely baffled about the current proceedings of the battle. "I''m not sure..." Trevion also felt that this amount of stupidity was out-of-character, even for Keaton. He was arrogant, but not foolish. When it came to fighting, he was not that useless. He thought for a moment before realizing that everyone forgot about a participant. "Princess Aphina..." He muttered while looking at the girl who was still recovering without participating. Although he could not prove it, he felt that there was something going on and the cause was her. After all, she was the one fighting with Keaton for a while earlier. Everyone else did not make contact until later. "Your Grace, has Aphina learned the Moon Empress''s - " Trevion began to ask. "Yes, it''s as you thought." Zaire interrupted and seemingly gave a warning glance. It was already against the rules for Trevion to try to influence the battle earlier after being defeated, but he let it slide as he only said one word. However, if he tried to ruin things again from the sidelines, then the Duke surely would not let it slide. "..." Not speaking any more, Trevion just looked down with no one able to see his thoughts. ... Back on stage, Tatyana''s expression grew ugly as she kept backing away to create space. "Keaton! What are you doing?!" She scolded angrily. However, Keaton just looked back seemingly without comprehending her. No matter what she said or how she ran away, he would keep closing the distance with her. Eris obviously had no plans to continue this game of cat-and-mouse, so she started attacking more aggressively as Tatyana''s needles stopped coming as frequently. Feeling the pressure, Keaton started to frown and moved even faster towards Tatyana. Without warning, he swung his whip and wrapped it around Tatyana''s foot. Since it was too sudden, she had no way of dodging. Keaton yanked her body right in front of his. Eris was not able to stop attacking in time and accidentally stabbed the shocked Tatyana. Both girls stared in disbelief for a moment. It was in the moment where time seemed to slow that Keaton went all out with another attack and sent both of the girls straight off the stage. There was overwhelming silence. The other nobles looked towards Keaton as if they could no longer understand what their eyes were seeing. Who are we? Where is this? What is reality? Greyson, Braiden, Aphina, Eris, Zaire, and Trevion were shocked for a moment before regaining their calm. Especially, Greyson''s group looked on with joy and schadenfreude. "HAHAHAHA! How is it? You ended up knocking yourself out and injuring your teammate! It seems the final winner is still me! Do you now know your place? I couldn''t believe how easily you let me approach Aphina. Are you sure you are a genius like the rumors say? I would lean towards thinking that you are barely passing for average intelligence." Keaton''s face looked incomparably joyful as he looked over to where Eris was standing. "And you, commoner, do you see the difference between us now?" Keaton looked towards Greyson. "You have lost!" It was only at this moment that the others'' souls returned and started to figure out what was happening. "Water Illusion Magic... the mist element..." Efren spoke to himself. "She has a similar talent as the Moon Empress?!" Cherell and Colin both spoke at the same time. They all grimaced while watching Aphina approach Keaton calmly from behind. Even with the tears in her clothes, she looked graceful with bearing that matched her status as a princess. Keaton seemed to be completely oblivious as he kept going on and on feeling happy with himself. Only when she was a couple feet away did Aphina raise the wooden staff in her hands. Winding up slowly, she made a brutal swing straight towards Keaton''s head. The others winced and looked away knowing exactly what was in store for the Mendenhall heir. A loud, dull thud echoed as Keaton screamed out. "Who''s there? Which motherf***er sneak attacked me? Don''t you know the common etiquette in battle?" He kept yelling while looking around in confusion. Aphina completely ignored him and stomped hard right between his legs. She kept kicking a few more times on his face to feel refreshed. "Alright, that''s enough. Release the spell, Aphina." At this time, the Duke had to speak up and stop this one-sided beating. However, he could not control the small smirk peeking out the corner of his lips. Greyson and Braiden were also holding their mouths and struggling to keep the laughter in. Unlike them, Eris did not show any reservations and started laughing so hard she started to tear up. Shrugging, Aphina made sure to kick Keaton off the stage before releasing the spell. If one looking closely, an almost clear fog seemed to clear within Keaton''s eyes. It was only now that he looked up with his bruised face in confusion. He saw himself on the ground and Aphina on the stage. "Was it you, then? You attacked me, you b*tch?!" He yelled before pausing and staring at Aphina''s torso. Was she not stabbed just a moment ago? How was she perfectly fine now? He glanced over at Eris, only to see Tatyana next to her receiving first aid from the healers standing by. "Stop embarrassing yourself, Keaton. Aphina used Her Majesty, the Moon Empress''s magic spells. You should know what she specialized in." "Illusions..." Keaton just stared out into space not completely processing everything. The Moon Empress that everyone kept mentioning was the First Emperor''s successor. She was the first ruling Empress, Hestia Yce. Hestia was born with a unique talent in using mist which, like ice, was a variation of water. She was extremely talented and intelligent from a young age. The First Emperor used a lot of money and connections to help her buy rare mist spells and as she grew more powerful she started to make some spells of her own. Making spells was extremely difficult and did not depend on power, but on intelligence and the ability to connect with the element spirits well. They were not powerful attack or defense spells, but instead intricate illusion spells that frightened the Empress''s opponents. Legend was that she only needed to meet a person''s eyes to throw them into endless illusions. During training, Aphina had told her team about recently learning the spells because she has a similar talent. However, she needed time, extended contact with the opponent, and even needed them to be psychologically susceptible. Therefore, her talent was still normally useless until she can train more. This time, they decided that they would use it against Keaton because he was the easiest to influence. Although it was not expected to be the cause for them to win, it was still a rather fun way to get back at Keaton for his arrogance. After all, he was beaten out of the ring by a healer magician! Aphina did not pay attention to Keaton''s feelings and quickly ran over to Greyson and her brother. Jumping up to hug them, she giggled happily. "We won!" She shouted. 171 Taking a Step Back Both the boys were a little surprised by her action and could only reluctantly catch their balance. Aphina felt the two almost fall backwards and quickly let go while blushing. Normally, even if she had a bit of a temper, she was good at keeping the correct image in front of others. This time, the feeling of beating Keaton made her too elated to control herself. However, before she could clear the air, Eris also came over and brought everyone into a group hug herself. "No need to be strangers! We should celebrate when good things happen. Go us!" Resuming her usual playful look, she gave a cheeky wink towards Aphina. "Oh, okay. Haha, Eris you''re right!" Aphina felt more confident after getting a sturdy backing and began to jump up and down again in delight. "Alright, Aphy, we shouldn''t make it look like we are rubbing it in. In the end, we aren''t really enemies with the other team. We are all going out of the country as representatives. We have to keep a united front against outsiders." Although he normally indulged his sister, this time he had pull the reins and reel her back in. "Hmph... it''s not like I was the one creating a bad atmosphere among teammates in the first place?" Slightly dissatisfied with being splashed with cold water, Aphina shot her brother a dirty look while mumbling under her breath. "You..." Sighing, Braiden just shook his head and did not lecture her more. Usually his sister was more serious, since when did she take a page from Beline''s book? ... "As the results are out, are you guys willing to hold up your end of the deal?" The Duke turned towards the other team and the last two representatives. Each of their expressions turned ugly as they remembered what they promised. Only Trevion seemed to look over at Greyson with a bit of conflict. He was someone who did not let his high starting point get in the way of working hard to earn his position. Part of him was disgruntled losing to a commoner. Not so much because he thought commoners were lowly, but his father engraved the idea of "noblesse oblige" into him from a young age. There was always a responsibility on his shoulders to protect the weak commoners in the Empire as the heir to the Duke title. Suddenly, one of those people he was supposed to protect, jumped out and was more powerful than he was. His distorted mentality conflicted with the picture in front of him. What am I doing? Opening up his hands and seeing the nail marks, he almost laughed in spite of himself. This was not who he was nor was it the person he wanted to be. Just look at Keaton, how silly it was to be someone who could only look good in victory. There is also a grace to be shown in defeat. His eyes cleared back to the usual tranquility as he walked up to the front and slightly bowed his head. "I am someone who can afford to lose a bet. If I made it hoping the other would acknowledge their loss, then I also have to be someone who can acknowledge when I have lost. Greyson, I hope you will lead the team well. Someone of your talent would stand out even on the larger stage and bring face to our country and the Moon Empire. I will also do my best to bring honor to my home country and family." His deep voice seemed to echo throughout the field as a short silence followed. Greyson, Aphina, and Braiden all could not help but look on in shock. Eris''s usual smile also faltered. Tatyana and Efren only paused for a moment before limping over to join with their comrade. Cherell and Colin could only look at each other and the three nobles in front of them with conflicted feelings. However, as descendants of lower nobles, their biggest strength was showing flexibility. They soon also nodded and joined the rest. Only Keaton still sat on the ground seemingly questioning reality. The Duke looked on with deep approval in his eyes, especially when he looked at Trevion. His emotional changes seemed well-hidden, but how could it have passed under the Duke''s eyes? The Empire needed more nobles such as Trevion. It seemed that the Duke raised a worthy heir. After nodding silently to himself, he transferred his vision to his new favorite pupil. There was, of course, a preferred scenario in his mind. But he was determined to not get involved this time. He also wanted to see how the story plays out. Frankly, when Greyson saw the rest of them accept him as the leader, he could not help the feelings of complacency filling his heart. Then, he also looked over at Keaton, and suddenly felt that his smug feelings were poisonous. Looking to both sides at the new friends that he made, his heart fell back to the ground. "As much as I know you wish to honor the bet, I know that feelings were running high when such words were exchanged. If we all take a step back, then we can form a better team. We must be logical about everything. I am not afraid of sounding narcissistic when I say that, at least one-on-one, none of you can beat me. However, I''m also not the type to feel myself invincible. Without the other three, I would not have been able to come up with a good strategy on my own. I have always worked by myself and beaten opponents with my power. When it comes to individual tricks in battle, I''m not stupid. But I also could never call myself some genius strategist. Being the strongest does not equal being the best for the position of leader. Lord Vervan, you have lived longer and experienced more. Plus, you have been brought up with a proper education to become a leader and battle strategist as the Vervan ducal family is a military family. I think that in terms of bringing out the strengths of our team, we should listen to your strategies. In terms of acceptance, I think everyone will also listen to your orders more willingly. My thoughts are that everyone has a good idea of what my strength is, too. I don''t really see the point of pushing the issue further with this leadership position. Anyways, my personality was not originally one who liked taking responsibility for everyone." While he could take up this position as everyone reluctantly accepts him, Greyson felt that was not the best move. He never particularly desired being the leader, he just wanted them to all treat him with due respect. Things like directing a team and coming up with formations, he was not adept in them. Skilled strategists most of the time had god-given talent, but also a lot of real life experience that would slowly mould them into real geniuses. Working with people was not a book-learned skill. Beautiful strategies do not come just from studying. Greyson felt he might have the talent, but he did not have the experience yet. If he would end up asking for Trevion''s advice or input anyway, then he might as well just watch the man lead the group and learn from there. Trevion held the respect of everyone and did not act in a disgusting way like Keaton. It was like hitting two birds with one stone. He would gain good feelings from the rest and have one less thing to worry about. Truly, the moment he said those words, the rest of the nobles'' faces grew warmer and clearly looked like they felt Greyson was not actually that bad. Even Trevion''s face lightened up as he showed a sincere smile. "Please, call me Trevion. Are you really sure about this?" "Yes, I''m definitely sure." "Well, then I won''t be modest. I truly did want to try my hand at leading the team this time. Do not worry, I''m well aware of your abilities and feel that we need to take advantage of them!" He made a straightforward promise. "Then, I look forward to fighting together at the competition. I''m really excited to take a look at the other countries!" Greyson held out his hand with a smile. "Hahaha, yes! I have heard some really interesting stories. Even I have not really gotten a chance to see the world. I just fear, we''re all going to go out looking like country bumpkins." Trevion smiled right back before shaking the outstretched hand. "I guess that''s where I come in to help. These next couple days we will spend the morning and afternoon training, but at night we will have lessons where I teach you more about the etiquette and traditions of the other countries. History and culture lessons only teach you what''s at the surface, but there are more subtle things you need to learn so you don''t end up embarrassing yourselves." Only now did the Duke cut in with a small smile on his usually cold face. "Since you all seem to have reached an agreement, we will stop here today. Meet back here tomorrow by sunrise. I hope that everyone will be on time," he continued while giving pointed stares towards Cherell and Colin. "Yes!" The rest answered before dispersing. Cherell and Colin could only look embarrassed before nodding their heads obediently. They stayed behind and took one look at Keaton then looked back at each other with bitter expressions. In the end, they just let out one prolonged sigh and approached Keaton from both sides to help the young lord get up. No matter what they said, it seemed as if the man lost his soul, so they could only use force to pull him into the carriage and drop him off. Who told their fathers to be nobles under the Duke Mendenhall house? They could only swallow grievances and continue to smile and treat Keaton politely. Once he was finally at his mansion''s gate, Keaton regained his senses. His expression was dark like a brewing storm. His chest heaving, he was about to start breathing fire in fury. Ignoring the looks of others, he stomped up to his room. The servants could recognize his crazed look, so all of them just bowed in greeting and said nothing more. The beautiful maidservants also cleared out of the room like they were avoiding the plague. After a couple seconds, they knew their decision was the right one. Behind the closed doors, one could hear the incessant noises of expensive glass breaking apart and other items crashing into the floor. Even Keaton''s cursing and shouting came along with the rest of the noises. "Who angered the young master this time?" "Shhh... don''t speak too loudly. When the young master gets in one of his moods, anyone can become a victim." "That''s right. Just leave him be. We will need to clean up the room quickly later, so that he does not see any traces when he returns." The servants just sighed and went about their work in the mansion. 172 Proelium Honoris Sunrise came quickly. Greyson rose early and dressed himself quickly. His injuries from the fight before were completely healed. Tatyana had sent the antidote to him, so the poison was also quickly solved. Yesterday night, he did not meditate and just slept. He stretched out his muscles feeling refreshed. This time, he could not leave the animals behind so he just let them follow him to the field. They were going stir crazy stuck in his room all day and he did feel bad about leaving them. He was just worried about what type of trouble they would get into without him around to watch. Therefore, they ended up joining him for today''s team practice. He had heard that battles at the competition allow for magic beasts to join as there were a lot of magicians who were also beast tamers. Since they were always around him, Greyson thought it would be a good idea to try to incorporate them into his fighting. Lucius might not be able to just in case of revealing his true identity, but the other two could definitely fight with him. Both of them did not stop practicing and were about as powerful as magister level stage four magicians. With truly powerful opponents, Greyson would probably not take the risk of them getting hurt. Otherwise, they could help him take out the weaker ones without expending much effort. Apparently, there was no limit on magic tools, either. The competition sees magic beasts, magic tools, and other extraneous items as part of strength and luck. However, if someone passed through the rounds using only treasures or things outside of them, they could rank highly but not get the same rewards. The whole point of the competition was to beat other outer countries for reputation and also to gain entrance into inner countries. The borders inwards were blocked off to outsiders and a certain level of strength or talent is required to go in. Many powers from every inner country come to the competition to recruit. Therefore, if a person stands out using items, they could be ranked first but still not get recruited by anyone. Greyson was also looking forward to checking out the inner countries. He felt that he would be able to catch the eye of at least one power with his talent. Obviously, he wouldn''t leave right away if he gets chosen. He had to go back and say bye to the important people. He had not seen Sister Lily in so long, so he should definitely say his goodbyes as it could be a long time before he comes back. However, in order to continue growing, he had to move forward. He saw how his grandparents were able to fly straight into the center region with no issues. Although they could take him in as well, it would be more interesting if he could fight his way in. If he went as he is now, he might just end up embarrassing himself in comparison to the young geniuses there. "It seems I am late today." He greeted the rest. The nobles nodded back looking slightly awkward. "Really, though! Did you sleep in today?" Aphina quickly responded. "Well, I did sleep a little deeper this time, so I didn''t wake up as early." Since he was not meditating but actually sleeping, Greyson did end up starting his day a little later. But, at least with Colin and Cherell, he was surprised that everyone else beat him. He did not count Keaton because he had a feeling that Keaton would not show up today at all. After all, that guy seemed to take his pride very seriously. Getting bludgeoned by a healer''s staff off the stage was a pretty disgraceful way to lose. Even Greyson would have felt bad for him if Keaton was not always such an arrogant prick. "Oh~ someone almost became leader and suddenly got lazy..." Eris teased while elbowing his arm. "You know that''s not it." Greyson just helplessly smiled at her antics. "You are not the latest today anyway, so I guess it''s still fine." Braiden also chimed in with a chuckle and a well-timed glance at Colin and Cherell. The pair just forced a smile as only they knew what kind of suffering they went through in the morning when they tried to pick up Keaton. "Whoever is not here we will just ignore for now. Instead of practicing your team coordination right away, I want to ask how many of you know all the structure of the competition." Most of the representatives raised their hands, but Eris, Greyson, Colin, and Cherell were completely ignorant. "Okay, that does not surprise me. The information does not really go past the higher nobility." Zaire replied plainly. Greyson and Eris did not care about not knowing, but Cherell and Colin looked bitter at their families'' statures in the empire. They were nobles, but they were more comparable to the two outsiders. "The competition has a formal name. It''s called Proelium Honoris from the Ancient language which means ''battle of honor''. There are many facets and side competitions that you guys can participate in. There are some competitions for specific occupations like physician, blacksmith, alchemist, etc. There is also a split between the individual competition and the team competition. The individual competition is mostly for your own sake and honor. It is the most direct way you can catch the attention of the inner countries'' powers. It''s a pretty straightforward tournament style battle. The team competition, on the other hand, is not where individuals stand out. It is a way for a specific outer country''s representatives to win honor and glory for their home. Especially because it takes strength and teamwork to win. It''s much less straightforward and has different types of stages just like our selection. Usually, you are sent into another temporary spacial dimension that is like a dungeon. It is not as advanced, but there are still rewards that you can win for yourselves. That part is more of a speed battle to see who can get through the fastest. The next stage is a mystery. Even I do not know what it will be. The competition organizers keep it a secret until the day comes. The final stage is always the same. It''s a tournament-style team battle. However, all 10 of you do not fight each battle. It''s a best of 5 situation. Where the first fight is two-on-two, then four-on-four, and so on and so forth. If you get to the last battle, then it''s the full ten-on-ten. This is where strategy comes into play. If the team is really individually strong, then it would be better to send out our weaker representatives first and wait until we can use teamwork to take them out. There are all sorts of team situations that we will have to take into account when figuring out combinations and order. I cannot help you, so it will be up to you guys to make decisions at that time. Most likely, Trevion will be the one making the final roster decisions for each battle." After his last cautioning statement, Zaire paused to look at them to see if they understood. At this moment, all Greyson could think was that he was glad he gave up the leader position. How much pressure would it be to have to make the final decisions about who to send out with what team and when they should go? It could be the end all be all of the competition. If they send out the wrong people at the wrong time, it could lead to an irreversible loss. Although everyone can insert their opinions in the order, he would have to make the final decisions in the end to prevent fighting and disorder. Trevion was already aware of the situation, so he knew what accepting the leader position truly meant. Yesterday, he was still confident, but now he could not help feeling nervous. Hearing about it is one thing, but it is another when he is soon to be dealing with the situation. Suddenly, the pressure felt more tangible. "Is there anything more specific about the first round or does it change all the time?" Eris asked. "All we know is the part about it being a new spatial dimension that was created for the purpose of this competition. Usually the inner countries send powerful spatial magicians for that stage. They usually make it very tricky on purpose and will test your trust in your teammates. I''m already worried about you guys passing the first round let along making it to the last round. Therefore, Trevion and the rest of you shouldn''t worry about the last round right now. It would be putting the cart before the horse. I know that you all have started accepted the situation, but the trust between you guys is poor and that''s putting it lightly. From this moment on, we will be doing some exercises to help with your team coordination as well as trust." All of the representatives looked at each other listening to Zaire''s words. They could not deny that they had neither trust nor tacit understanding with everyone here. Travion, Tatyana, and Efren were probably the only ones who could say otherwise. Even Aphina, Braiden, Eris, and Greyson could not be said to trust each other. They just get along on a surface level, but if it truly came to a point of life and death then who knows how the other would act. But could such things be trained in a short amount of time? They only had around a month of time in Snow Country before they had to start their journey to the competition site. Although they could train on the way, it still would only be around 2 months of training. How could that go against years of team training? "I know what you are thinking, but there are not many countries that train their team of representatives from young. They wait until they start to show their potential or even survive. Of course, you will run into some groups that will have that kind of amazing teamwork. It depends on luck really, because who knows what will happen in those ten years. Wouldn''t it be unfortunate if we created a team starting 10 years ago after the last one and ended up missing a talent like Greyson? The other teams will also definitely have their own struggles. This is what make the competition hard in the first place. A lot of teams get eliminated in the first round. Otherwise, with the set-up of the last round, it would take forever to get a winner." The others nodded in relief. If everyone was pretty much at the same starting point, then they would just have to try their best. Who is to say they would not come out on top if they worked hard. "My first challenge for you guys is a hunting trip. I will set you guys in pairs... well since Keaton is missing then there will be one group of three. Otherwise, one person will be blindfolded while the other is not. I want you both to hunt ten Jegers. The one who can see cannot use any magic other than for moving. Only the blindfolded one can use magic to kill the beasts. For the group of three, you will have one blindfolded and two without blindfolds. That can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on how well the two can work together. Otherwise it could just be more confusing with one more voice and opinion in the mix. My guards and I will be monitoring so don''t even think of cheating. We will catch you." Greyson already knew that this would not go well. Jegers were extremely fast furry beasts that jumped between trees. They had great sight, hearing, and even sense of smell. To catch them off-guard is already hard. If they would have to take the time to speak commands and hope to get their blindfolded teammate to attack the right spot, then the chances of missing were too high! However, he and rest knew that they could not fight against the Duke''s orders. So they could only helplessly listen and wait for the pairings. "I will now announce the pairings and one group. The person whose name is spoken first is the blindfolded one. Listen carefully: First pair: Trevion and Aphina Second pair: Eris and Efren Third pair: Greyson and Cherell Last group: Tatyana, Colin, and Braiden Alright, we will head to the forest now. I hope you guys are prepared. I will not let you out unless I see ten Jegers." 173 No More Gloomy night turned to another morning at the Mendenhall manor. The Lord of this manor, Waleran Mendenhall, always rose with the first sign of sunlight. No matter how old he grew, he kept a disciplined schedule. He looked at the window with a calm look as he dressed himself casually. However, today would prove to be different. With the sun rising came the Empress''s last-minute request for the Duke''s presence in the later morning. Hearing the news, the Duke was a little surprised at the suddenness, but he still hurriedly re-dressed himself. Even if she was his daughter, there were etiquette standards that must be upheld. Once he dressed himself up, he went to have breakfast with the rest of the family. He looked on at the familiar faces that were already seated, however, there was an obvious opening in the spot directly to his right. Reserved specifically for his heir, the Duke knew that seat was always left open for Keaton. Frowning, he looked towards the servants who quickly informed him that the young master was not feeling well. "He is sick? Wasn''t he just fine yesterday?" Doubt apparent on his face, the Duke asked once again to be sure. "..." Seemingly unsure how to respond, the servant could only hold his tongue. "Father, it seems brother suffered a humiliation at training yesterday. He came back stomping and raving around in fury. Perhaps he still has not gotten over it." Although the words seemed to be spoken out of concern, the cold mocking intent in tone could not be hidden. The Duke turned his gaze upon his younger daughter, Estrilda Mendenhall. She was born a year after Keaton from the same mother. However, their shared blood did not prevent her from harboring ambitious intentions. Ever since she was young, she competed with her older brother and was not resigned to allow Keaton to become the heir without a fight. "Oh? Tell me more, Estrilda." His interest piqued, he calmly sat down at the head of the table. While doing so, he motioned to the others that they could start eating. "It seems that older brother made a bet with the His Highness, Prince Braiden, and his sister, Princess Aphina. It was a fight to see if the commoner would stay on the team and become the leader or have to resign the representative spot during the team battles. Lord Vervan, Lady Tatyana, and Earl Hildebrand were brother''s teammates. While Prince Braiden, Princess Aphina, Lady Eris, and the commoner were on the other team. Brother''s team lost and he was even knocked out by the princess who is a healer." All too pleased to discuss Keaton''s embarrassment, Estrilda did not hold back and quickly released the news. She had paid a lot of money to have someone buy the news from the Ashtree family. That Cherell always did have a big mouth. The Duke''s brows furrowed as his utensils clanked down on the plate. "Preposterous! How could that be the truth? Who is spreading such false rumors?" Although Keaton lost fairly to Greyson before, one would be mistaken to think that meant he was weak. The Duke knew his son''s strength was still not something that the princess could go against. "Father, I don''t think there is anything wrong with the news. The source is trustworthy. However, it did seem that there was more behind the defeat. They would not be completely honest. I could tell they were holding something back, but money would not open their mouth." Estrilda did tremble a little under her father''s anger, but she made sure to defend her information clearly. The maid she sent had mentioned that Cherell seemed to be hiding something, but that she could not dig deeper. Duke Winterbridge had ordered the rest of the representatives to keep a tighter lid on Aphina''s ability to use illusions. The other countries had spies everywhere, so the less people knew the better. The Duke''s expression grew grim and scary-looking. The rest of the children at the table all felt like they could not breathe in the suffocating atmosphere. They all knew their father held the Mendenhall family honor with utmost importance. While fearful, they were also filled with feelings of schadenfreude. Even Keaton, the beloved son, would not escape from punishment this time. They were right. Waleran was boiling with anger and had half a mind to go up and start scolding Keaton. However, the Empress called for his presence and he could not be late. He would leave right after breakfast. No longer in the mood to eat, he just slowly placed a couple bites in his mouth. He knew the rest were too scared to touch the food unless he ate. Breakfast passed precariously in this way. "My Lord, I heard Amadea summoned you?" In private, both the Duke and Duchess still referred to their daughter by her name. "Yes, I will be going right after breakfast to make sure I arrive on time. Wife, you should go up and discuss with Keaton about the specifics. I wish to hear from him personally after my return." His voice turned colder at the end. "I understand." The Duchess did not speak anymore and continued eating her meal quietly. She also spoiled Keaton, but she would never go against her husband''s decisions. The two were not an affectionate couple, but they gave each their due respect and did not bother with the other''s affairs much. ... After breakfast, the Duke quickly boarded his carriage and headed to the palace. With his position, he easily arrived in front of the Empress''s guest room. The servant announced his arrival as the door opened. Without looking up, the Duke entered a couple steps so the doors could close behind him. At that spot, he bowed just the right amount. "Your Majesty called for me?" "Rise. Yes, I am sorry to have called the Duke on such short notice." Amadea''s apathetic voice echoed a little as she responded. The Duke quickly straightened himself and finally took a look at his eldest daughter''s appearance. When he saw her alienated eyes, his heart sank. There must be bad news coming. "It is no problem at all. It is your vassal''s responsibility to come when called." He remained humble. "I called you here for but a small thing concerning Keaton, that troublesome brother of mine. I understand the Duke''s desire to spoil his favored son, but true parenting comes in the form of knowing when to say ''no'' and punish, is it not? Repeatedly giving my brother-in-law, Duke Winterbridge, trouble and forgetting his place... His Majesty quite dotes on this younger brother of his. I''m really put in an awkward position, wouldn''t you say? The talents of our country must be cherished. The Duke should be aware of the current position of the Snow Country and Moon Empire in this continent. We are just barely holding on. Arrogance and pride must kneel in front of the bigger picture. Were those not your wise teachings to me when I was training to become Empress? The heir to the Ducal House of Mendenhall cannot be any less aware of such things. The other representatives no longer have any issues and should be able to work well together for the cause of bringing our country glory. I just want to make my brother understands how to act from this point on in front of the others." Barely concealing the irritation in her tone, the Empress subtly voiced her grievances. The little competition was of course not hidden from the eyes of the imperial family. They could let this first confrontation go as power struggles between the imperials and nobles occurred all the time. But now the rest of the noble children have acquiesced Greyson''s presence, then Keaton cannot continue on his own. It would instead have negative consequences and cause the other nobles to be more disgusted with Keaton''s behavior than working with a commoner. Plus, while the Mendenhall family was hard to go against, the imperial family were the rulers after all. Having someone constantly poke at their authority would eventually bring their wrath. This time the nobles had a united front, so they held their tongue because it was not worth intervening. If the Mendenhall family continued to create trouble on their own... Duke Waleran was no fool. He immediately caught the undertones of his daughter''s words. This was her warning. There is a growing dissatisfaction with her maternal family due to the trouble they are causing towards her imperial identity. While also reminding her father the wisest course of action so her maiden family will not drawn into trouble. No matter what was said, they were her power as much as she was their power. They were riding on one boat together through the storm. ... The Duke''s grave expression stayed with him the rest of the ride back to the manor. When he arrived, he barely paid any attention to the greetings of the servants and instead climb the stairs heading straight for Keaton''s room. He kicked the door open in anger and laid eyes on his son. This son that was his pride was constantly disappointing him as of late. Keaton did not look to be in great shape, either. His eyes were red and the rest of his face still had bruising. His clothes were still wrinkled and distressed while his hair was loosely strewn over his face. The room was a mess, as well. All sorts of broken glass and ripped cloth were strewn over the floor. "What is this appearance!? Someone might think you have gone mad. Pull yourself together! You skipped the representative practice today didn''t you? Stop embarrassing yourself and our family any further. You will go tomorrow. On time. What is another loss anyway? It just means that you are still too weak and too stupid. You have already lost all our face by being beaten by a healer, how much lower can you go? So just go back and practice well. Bring back some honor through the competition." Pulling his son up by the collar, he shouted straight into Keaton''s face. "Father... I..." Keaton''s eyes flashed with deep hatred. "I hate them. I want to kill them! I want to strangle that b*tch princess and b*stard commoner!" *Slap!* Keaton''s eyes finally grew more focused as he held his cheek in shock. "You-, you hit me?" He stuttered. "I will hit you again if that is what is takes for you to come to your senses. Who do you want to kill? Who do you want to strangle? Someone could have you executed! Stop thinking about them and think about yourself. You are just making yourself out to be a clown. Where is your dignity? Look at that Trevion. He is also the heir to the Vervan House, but he is so different looking than you. He also lost, did he not? I''m really embarrassed in front of Duke Vervan who obviously knows how to raise his sons correctly. Can you not embarrass us with your juvenile acts of jealousy? There will always exist people with stronger talents. Once you go to the competition, you will realize how small your world is. Just seek to make yourself stronger in this small pond and take the power that I am handing to you. Why must you bother with things you cannot change? Your position and power are all there, one Greyson means nothing. Will he be Duke Mendenhall? In the end, I also do not believe that he will stay. Greyson has so much talent, he might even get recruited into the inner countries. This would only mean positive things for the Snow Country and our future." "But you were the one who encouraged..." Keaton felt wronged. "I encouraged because there was a chance. Have I ever scolded you before when you acted out in vengeance? I am saying you have to be smart about where and when to flaunt your power. The chance is no longer there. The imperial family is set on protecting Greyson and building good relations. We can only follow along this time. At this time, our country truly does need someone to help build better connections. It has been too long since a genius has made it into the inner countries from our empire." Duke Mendenhall was by no means a saint. How many crimes or shady activities has he been a part of in order to grow his power? Too many to count. But that is only pushing around the weak without powerful support. He could stay in his position for so long because he knew how to tip toe the bottom line of the imperial family. "Now I have said no more. I don''t want to hear any more of this. Just obediently reign yourself in and cooperate." 174 Awkward Beginnings The minute the names were announced, everyone''s faces turned grim. Although they were expecting it, all the normal cliques were split up between each other. While they had no deep enmities with each other to say that they were comfortable working together would be a stretch ¡ª especially for the people with the blindfolds. ... Aphina looked a little odd at first before a wide grin appeared on her face. She giggled to herself mischievously. Trevion glanced over and clearly noticed her expression. As intelligent as he was, how could he not know what she was thinking of? Feeling the future was dim for this team mission, he could only let out a sigh. ... Eris, being her usual self, gave Efren a playful wink and hooked her arm around his shoulders. "It looks like you will be my eyes for this mission. There''s no hard feelings from the match, right?" "No, it was a fair fight. I was the weaker party. I will try to accomplish this team challenge to the best of my ability." Completely unbothered by her actions, Efren calmly lifted her arm, respectfully placed it back by her side, then took a wide step away from her. Throughout the process, his facial expression stayed at the same cold and apathetic expression. "Tsk... It''s as if you''re afraid others don''t know you''re an ''ice'' element magician. How dull..." Already feeling bored, Eris just looked at him with annoyance. Efren gave her a blank look and promptly apologized with his monotone voice, "my apologies, I was born like this." "..." Having met her match, Eris felt speechless. Truly, she could never get along with people like Efren. ... Greyson looked at Cherell. Cherell looked at Greyson. The both of them just felt awkward. From start to finish, there really was not any words exchanged between the two of them until now. To say that Cherell was friends with Keaton would be oversimplifying their relationship, so Greyson did not want to automatically dislike her for Keaton''s doings. In the end, she was of a lower rank and was not even the heir to her weak family. She was more of a follower to put it politely. Perhaps, she did not want to act out against him and was following Keaton''s orders? Greyson could only silently hold this hope in his heart. He tried to force a smile to sound her out. "Hmph!" Sniffing disdainfully, Cherell quickly went from surprised to annoyed then finally calmed to no expression. Obviously, she did not care for being his partner, but she knew she could only hold in her opinions at this time. The apprehensive feeling turned out to be correct. Greyson sighed and felt that this would be a long and painful process. He gave a helpless laugh as he took the blindfold the Duke handed over. It was made of fine silk so there would be no issues with discomfort. But couldn''t he easily... Greyson realized he was thinking too simply. Necrospiders were dark element magic beasts whose silk was well known for blocking out light. A lot of curtains in bedrooms have their silk weaved in to keep rooms dark even when the sun rises. It was also thicker and not easy to see through. Hey, can we help? He heard Lucius''s voice echo in his head. It was only then that he remembered he was not alone. At first, he felt excited, but simmered down because he felt that the Duke would not allow such an advantage. However, it wouldn''t hurt to ask. "Excuse me, Instructor, can I use my magic beasts?" He interrupted. Hearing his question, everyone quickly looked over and finally seemed to notice the small animals. All of their eyes glanced at each one and looked back at him with similar strange expressions that read: I see... so you were that kind of person... Already used to people having this misunderstanding, Greyson''s lips twitched as he tried his best to ignore them. He only kept his attention on the Duke. "Yes, I already noticed you had them earlier. I cannot allow their participation. Wouldn''t them helping you completely defeat the purpose of this exercise? I have to place you guys into situations that will enforce teamwork. If you just work on your own with your magic beasts then this would be pointless. I would just be training you to walk around the forest blindfolded." As expected, he gave a hard no. Greyson just shrugged and told all of them to get off him and stay here or go run around as long as they don''t get into trouble. Worry more about yourself. I see a lot of tree and ground hugging in your future. Lucius just scoffed at Greyson''s warning and precautions and shot back at him sarcastically. Thanks, buddy. I can tell you are really sympathizing with me. Greyson dryly responded. Well, anyway, don''t forget about your dragon bloodline. Although you should not use right off the bat, if Cherell keeps messing with you and not taking the exercise seriously then you can use it. With your other senses enhanced, then you might not need your sight to get around. You could also hunt better. That''s part of your strength, and I doubt the Duke would disallow something like that especially if you give teamwork a try first. I know. Even without Lucius''s warning, Greyson was already thinking along those lines. He truly did want to train in teamwork with the rest and felt that subtly cheating would not be good. But he also did not want to waste his time if Cherell was determined not to cooperate with him. "The time limit for this team exercise is 3 days. If you have not brought 10 Jegers to me at that time, then there will be a punishment. Trust me when I say that punishments from me are the last thing you will want to take on. Try your best!" The Duke gave them a smile full of evil intention. Braiden and Aphina also turned extremely pale and showed grave expressions. The rest could clearly notice their changes and also felt that they would not want to find out what kind of punishments the Duke had planned out. Greyson and Eris both looked over questioning the siblings with their eyes: That bad? The sister and brother exchanged looks with each other before looking back at their friends and making the same motion ¡ª discreetly cutting their hands across their necks. The other two knew exactly what kind of bad news that meant, so they reinforced their vigor to do better. ... Once they reached the edge of the forest nearby, the Duke instructed the Greyson, Trevion, Eris, and Tatyana to put their blindfolds on. Greyson had to make a small gasp of surprise once he opened up his eyes again with the blindfold on. He thought maybe he would be able to make out light at the least, but all that remained in front of him was complete darkness. It stuck to the face a little so that daylight could not peek through the cracks. For the first time since being told about this team exercise, Greyson started to feel nervous. Imagining not being able to see and actually experiencing it were two completely different things. His human hearing and sense of smell were not anything special, so he was really thrown off balance. Maybe if he activated his dragon bloodline, he could move around more confidently. But he already made up his mind to wait a bit for that. He wanted to reach out and possibly hold onto Cherell, but he only needed a second to give up that thought. While they were not the most conservative culture on the continent, Snow Country still upheld more strict ideas of male and female contact. Normally, he should not get too close to another female by his age, especially a noblewoman. The nobles felt their honor was of the upmost importance. Him, as a commoner, touching her would be a great insult. Greyson was not the only one facing this current conundrum. Colin and Braiden both stood awkwardly not knowing how to approach Tatyana. Eris had no such qualms, but Efren was hesitating. His cold eyes showed some confusion on how to proceed. Only Aphina seemed to look conflicted for only a moment before gracefully slipping her hand around Trevion''s elbow. Although she was being a little forward and the two of them were not close, the others could see she was keeping the line of propriety. Taking a note from her, Braiden and Colin led Tatyana''s hands around their respective arms. Efren also stiffly approached Eris. However, she did not follow the script and just straightforwardly grabbed Efren''s wrist. "What were you dillydallying for? Don''t worry, you can just think of me as a boy if you have to. How will we get through this if you keep trying to keep pointless etiquette?" Even with her eyes covered, anyone could tell that Eris must be rolling her eyes right now. "But..." "No buts! Explanation time is over, so I''m guessing now it''s just time to go. Right, Instructor?" "Yes." "The early bird get the worm, no? So, let''s get going. Lead the way. Those Jegers are not going to catch themselves." Eris pulled Efren in front of her and gave him a little push with her free arm. "..." Efren was silent, but he did not disagree. He began the trek into the forest quietly leading Eris by the wrist. Not to be defeated, the other two groups also tacitly agreed and began to move. Unlike Efren and Eris, however, they took a slow pace and kept a polite distance. Now, only Greyson and Cherell were left at the edge of the forest. He waited for her to approach, but did not feel any presence getting closer to him. He could not even hear the faint sound of breathing, so she must be a decent distance away from him. "Ahem... Ms. Ashtree?" Not sure how to address her, he thought of the most average and polite way possible. "Follow my voice." She responded at a normal volume. "I can do that now, but what about later in the forest with a bunch of trees. Are you going to verbally remind me about everything? Would it not be easier if you just physically helped pull me one direction or another. This way you could also keep a good eye on the ground around me and warn me about twigs when I hunt. If I make too much noise, it doesn''t matter if you spot something because I will scare it away. Although it seems quiet to us, Jegers have fantastic hearing. I would sound about as inconspicuous as a loud horn during a parade. I know you have some misgivings about my status, but who would know during this mission? The Duke is not so loose-lipped and neither are the representatives. We just need to peacefully get through this stage. I hope to be a able to trust you and that you could trust me despite the status situation. If we fight together later, would it not be awful to have to watch your back against your own teammate? We have some bad blood due to Keaton in between us, but I would hope that we can bridge this gap for the sake of the competition." Usually, Greyson was not one to say much. He just had the feeling that the Duke had purposefully made this combination because Cherell and Colin were in an awkward position in the group. They get bossed around by Keaton, but that did not mean they were as bad as the former. Most nobles were a little intolerant of commoners, thus their attitude was nothing special or rare. They picked a side once but failed. They also were not close to anyone. If this works well this time, Cherell can grow closer to Greyson and in turn the others while Colin can grow close to Braiden and Tatyana and get to the know the rest of the group. Of course, this scenario would carry out as such in a perfect world. Who knows how that group of three will go, let alone the group of two he was stuck with? He did not hear a voice respond to him, but he heard some careful steps coming his way. Finally, he felt a cool hand reach out and touch his arm lightly. It was barely a pull, but someone tugged on his clothes to get him to follow. Maybe he got a little too close, because a cold and disdainful voice once again spoke for a second. "One foot away. That is proper." "You do realize I cannot see, right? How am I supposed to know if I''m a foot away from you or not? Am I supposed to smell or hear that distance? I''m not an animal or a trained hunter or scouter." Greyson just shook his head and tried to explain the reality to her. "Just... don''t get too close. You should still be able to vaguely feel where I am." Her tone softened with some hints of helplessness. "Alright, I will try my best. Let''s just get going. The rest have already gotten a head start on us." ... With that, the last group also began their travel through the forest. The Duke watched them all with a humorous look. He seemed to be enjoying a joke only he was aware of. "Your Grace, we will start our surveillance." "Go ahead. Follow your orders. Don''t get caught." He responded with a quick reminder and a nonchalant wave of his hand. Once he knew he was alone, the Duke chuckled under his breath. "I couldn''t possibly make this too easy. You all are in for a treat. The punishment is also great. I''m really looking forward to see who will fail this time..." 175 The Art of Teamwork Part 1 Efren was serious and responsible by nature and was fully prepared to support Eris, however, he realized that she did not need as much help as he originally assumed. As if trained, the minute she entered the forest, she crouched down and started rummaging around the forest for something. When she stopped, she stood up with a long stick in her hand. Keeping hold of Efren on her left side, she used the right hand to hold the stick and touch around. In this way, she began to confidently walk forward even without his reminders. With Efren on her left helping her avoid things on that side, she just needed to use the stick to keep the right side in "sight". "Jegers love dark and damp places, so they are usually located deeper in the forests where the shade is even greater. You are probably pretty familiar with the forest, right? Lead the way." Keeping her head forward, Eris spoke up and questioned Efren. "...Yes." "Let me tell you now, women do not like men who treasure their words like gold. I''m not telling you to suddenly become chatty because, with your looks, the contrast would be a little too disgusting. Just, spread you answers a little. Later on, if you come to my kingdom, I''ll introduce you to some of my favorite ladies. They are all beautiful and charming~. Picking up women is also an art. This master will give you a couple tips." Although Efren could not see her eyes under the blindfold, he could almost feel the playful wink directed towards him. Somehow, this beautiful woman was more of a rogue than any of the lustful nobles he had seen around. When he fought her, she was much more serious and powerful. How did she become so lackadaisical the minute she was off the battlefield? "It won''t be necessary." He finally answered. The forest surrounding them descended into silence once again. "At this rate, I feel I might kill you instead of the Jegers." Eris spoke up once again. "I miss my cute Greyson, he is so much more fun to tease. My beautiful maids, too, they would never make me suffer in this silence." Efren did not even deign to answer. He just sighed helpless and picked up the pace. All he could think about was finishing the mission faster and throwing away this crazy tomboy far away from him. ... "Pfffttt..." While she tried to hold it in for a minute, Aphina could not help it and starting cracking up. Holding her aching side, she almost teared up from all the laughter. It was just too funny. He was obviously holding his head up arrogantly and walking seriously with each step. With that majestic posture, he slammed right into a tree! This was pure comedic gold! She almost regretted that she was the only one in the audience right now. "*Cough* ... Could you be more serious? We need to get this mission done. You should let me know in the future if there is something there. Communication is key to building teamwork." Clearing his throat, Trevion thickened his face. Anyways, he was still someone who had lived almost 40 years. In normal human terms, he was middle-aged. He just let himself go and did not care for her laughing. "Hm... Yes, you are right... I''ll tell you next time." Clearly pausing in between her words to hold in laughter, Aphina gave a positive response still. "I do not want to fail this mission. I think we can work together and finish well." "You are right. I''ll be serious next time. We really do not want to end up suffering through Uncle''s punishments. They are never physically draining, but psychologically draining. I don''t even want to know what ''great thought'' he has given this time. His smirk said it all. My Uncle''s expression does not change like that unless he is really amused and pleased. The more it''s like that, the more crazy or weird the punishment will be." Aphina shivered in fear and finally the laughter cleared away. She grabbed Trevion''s wrist and pulled him along quickly towards the inner parts of the forest. This time, one could hear her quiet voice sending out reminders of his surroundings. The two made quick progress through the forest. ... Colin and Braiden were both older and steadier, so, from the beginning, they did not give Tatyana a hard time. Instead, they almost surpassed the first two groups because they traveled at a fast speed with serious expressions. The only problem was that the two of them liked to move quickly but in completely different ways. Braiden was almost frustrated by running around like they were instead of traveling through the shadows as he normally would. Tatyana also felt that she was stifled by the slow pace where she would normally be running off with the wind. However, she was blindfolded and needed to reply on other''s directions. Otherwise, she could run straight into a branch or tree which could seriously injure her at her normal speed. Colin was the only one left unbothered. He continued to scan the surroundings hoping to get lucky. They were still pretty far from the inner forest, but maybe he would get lucky and see one. ... The Duke''s soldiers following each group nodded in approval watching their respective groups. They were taking it seriously from the beginning which was a good sign at least. But who knows how they would hunt together? Someone without the same element ordering another person would be difficult since they don''t innately know how other elements work. Even if they had a common element, it would still be hard if they don''t have similar fighting or hunting styles. The final group''s invigilators reported in: Off to a negative start. It was brief, as the messages could not be long. But just from those words, the soldiers are pitied Greyson in their hearts. From the earlier observations, that young noble lady would definitely be trouble. She did not look like she had left her pampered mansion her entire life. How could she suddenly fare well in the forest? She even wore a long skirt to the practice. Although it was not some full blown dress, it was still unwieldy. Even Princess Aphina wore pants and casual fighting clothes for ease of movement. ... Just as those soldiers suspected. Cherell was like precious glass. She seemed to think she would break from the slightest bumps. First, it started with the complaints about getting mud and dirt on her shoes and skirt. Greyson just inwardly scoffed and continued feeling around to move on his left side. However, Cherell suddenly pulled away from him and allowed him to get caught in a thorny bush. She continued to instinctively avoid things and forget to warn Greyson about going around them as well. If someone were to see Greyson at this point, they would almost wonder if he had a fight already. His clothes were clearly distressed and dirty. His hair was messed up with a couple of leaves caught inside. Thankfully, the small cuts he got every now and then would heal quickly. Even without him thinking about it, his dragon bloodline would help him hasten healing of smaller wounds. His skin was also thick and they did not hurt much in the first place. However, Greyson not hurting was far from him not caring about running into all these trees, bushes, or even tripping over tree roots and falling into the dirt. However, he held it in because they were still progressing and he did not want to fight and slow their movement. Not too long into their trek, Cherell suddenly stopped and plopped down next to a tree. "What are you doing?" Greyson turned towards her general direction. "What does it look like?" She shot back. "Well, gee, I can''t see, so I really couldn''t tell you." He sneered with his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. "I''m resting. I need a break. I''m exhausted." She finally responded more clearly. "It has barely been a couple hours. How could you already need rest? We need to keep moving. I''ve read about Jegers. They are usually in the inner and more shaded parts of the forest. I want to get there before nighttime that way we can take a quick rest and start preparing ourselves to hunt before their most active time. Just wait a couple more hours, then we can take a longer break." Trying to reason with her, Greyson explained his logic. But he clearly overestimated her ability to think in the long-term or for the good of their temporary partnership. "No! I said I can''t move anymore! My feet hurt and my legs are sore. My shoes are all dirty and my skirt is ruined." "Would you give it a rest?!" He finally shouted when she refused to get up. "Why are you being so difficult?! It''s like you have never seen the outdoors or something. How could you possibly be part of the 10 representatives with such pathetic endurance and strength? You''ll just end up dragging he rest of us down later. I really regret I did not challenge you and kick you out of the group while I could. At least, Rouven was aware of his own strength and position and wanted to leave before embarrassing himself. While you have just shamelessly stuck out your existence. You should have worn comfortable shoes and pants to begin with. Even if you did not know we would be sent out into the woods, we were supposed to be practicing and fighting. Inevitably, we would all get a little dirty and have to move around. Why would you wear clothes that you are so reluctant to get dirty in the first place?" He really could not take it. Greyson felt on the verge of hurting her after only a couple of hours. How was he supposed to complete the rest of the mission later? "You, you, you..." Her face bright red, Cherell could only repeat the same word as she glared daggers at Greyson. "Me, what? Is it not the truth?" "..." Her mouth continued to open and close wordlessly at a loss for words. Her face turned so red from shame and anger that it looked like she would blow steam out her ears any second. "So, are we going to keep moving?" He pushed. He was way passed delicacy at this point. Treat her any more delicately and she will really think that she can treat this as a leisurely outing. "...Not moving." Although she hesitated, Cherell still pursed her mouth, crossed her arms, and refused to move. Greyson frown deepened as he started walking towards the direction her voice came from. "What are you doing?" He did not respond and continued getting closer. When he was close enough, he reached out towards her. Shocked, Cherell forgot to dodge and let his hand touch her arm. Taking the arm, he pulled it around his neck and lifted her up into a princess carry. "I asked: what are you doing?! Put me down this instant! Where do you think you are placing your hands?!" Struggle as she might to get out of Greyson''s grip, Cherell could not move from his arms. Her measly strength could not make a difference. "Well, right now, we started late so we were behind the rest then you proceeded to walk slowly so we are probably even further behind. I need to speed up this process. If you are going to continue to complain, then I might as well just carry you like this. At least, I don''t have any troubles this way. Plus, now you are in front of my body, so if you don''t want to be the one running into everything, then you better start giving me better directions." Tired of waiting for Cherell to do more, Greyson decided to just force the issue. When it came to brute strength, he had plenty of it. Carrying Cherell would not tire him out much. Unbeknownst to Cherell, the white scales on his body already began to appear under his clothes. Greyson had a lot better control over his transformation now, so he only used it for a boost in strength in his arms and legs. In a blind leap of faith, he began to break out into a fast-paced run. Cherell broke out of her thoughts and started shouting out in fear. "Are you crazy? Put me down! No wait... wait! Stop! There''s a tree! To the left, to the left!" She still tried to get out of his arms in the beginning but was then forced to start giving directions for her own safety. And like that, the two finally managed to start moving with good speed towards everyone''s goal. ... In the meantime, Eris and Efren made swift progress through the forest. Both of them moved well together especially with Efren''s responsible directing. Eris was also confident in herself and do not fear looking silly while swinging the stick around, thus she allowed herself to move faster without fear of running into things with too much force. They reached their general destination fairly quickly. Efren also began to frown because the visibility was already lower as the forest grew dim. The light was blocked out by the trees and leaves even the air grew chillier. "Let''s take a break and think of a plan." Eris suggested. "Okay." When they both picked a spot to sit down, Efren remembered to ask. "How is your long distance attacking ability?" "...trash." After pausing in silence for a moment, Eris still answered honestly. "...that bad?" At a loss for words, Efren also took a moment of silence before continuing. "Well, you would not have lost to me earlier if I was not a good fighter. I certainly didn''t get to my level of skill with the spear and close quarters combat by wasting any time practicing long distance spells. So, yes, honestly I''m not good with accuracy over a long distance nor do I know any great spells for long distance shots either." "..." Efren stopped answering and sat in silence as he began to think about how to solve this issue. "It looks like we will have to try to lure a Jeger close enough to us that you could attack." He finally spoke again. "Yeah, no kidding. The problem is just how we are going to do that." "I have a plan." ... In another part of the same area, Trevion and Aphina were also starting their hunt. Aphina was keeping her eyes peeled while looking at the surroundings. She finally spotted a black piece of fur quite a distance away from them. She had enhanced her sight earlier with a support spell, so she was able to see it from far away. Excited, she quickly tapped Trevion''s shoulder and whispered over to him. "I see one! It''s over to the right!" But before she could finish, Aphina accidentally stepped straight onto a crisp twig on the ground. A clear *Snap!* sound came out from beneath her feet. After flinching, she quickly looked back to where she saw the Jeger. She saw the beast''s ears twitch before turning dark blue eyes in her direction. The minute it saw her, the beast ran off into the wind and she could no longer see it anywhere. "It ran off..." She dropped her head in shame. "Next time you see one, just stop moving. We will immediately stop and try to just use your hands to point my own in the direction you see it. Even whispering could be too loud unless well-controlled. Their hearing and senses are quite sharp. We will also have to start walking extremely carefully, otherwise, we could scare any of them away before getting close enough for you to spot them. It seems were are already in the outskirts of where their common territory starts, so we should be prepared. You should be prepared because I am not as skilled in attacking, so we will inevitably miss a few in the beginning while working out the kinks of our teamwork." Trevion stayed calm and did not get upset. Instead, he started coming up with a plan and making sure Aphina understood the reality of their situation. He was not expecting much results this first day of hunting. In fact, they may not even get one today, but he felt they would be able to improve enough to catch more and more at a faster pace the closer it gets to the deadline. He was not thinking about finishing early. As long as he could reach the goal before the deadline then he was content. "Alright, I get it. Let''s keep moving." Aphina was quick to bounce back and appreciated Trevion''s stable attitude. She knew that it definitely helped her stay calm as well and keep clear goals in mind without getting too far ahead of herself. ... With Tatyana and Braiden working together, the two had actually already managed to catch one Jeger. Braiden understood how to give accurate directions to a location, and Tatyana had great long distance accuracy with her needles. The weapon itself was a silent one that was laced with poison, so she did not even need to hit a vital point. As long as the Jeger was even nicked, the poison would do the rest of the work to debilitate it. Then, they could approach and kill it with a quick stab of Braiden''s dagger. Colin became an almost useless accessory. "My uncle should have definitely been aware that we would be able to finish this task easier than the rest if we were put together. It shouldn''t be this easy..." Braiden whispered while feeling like he was missing something. "Maybe the Duke had specific people he wanted to pair together and so our last group was just put together in the end with the people left. Who just happened to have the right skill set for this mission. Who is to say the next teamwork exercise would work in our favor? Next time, we could be the ones suffering big time. We were just lucky." Colin was not feeling the same doubts. "I mean the sounds logical. I just don''t know. My uncle is not that type of sloppy person." Braiden could see what Colin was trying to say, but he still had a sinking feeling that this was just the beginning. 176 The Art of Teamwork Part 2 Braiden, Colin, and Tatyana were unaware of this plan and walked around feeling fairly confident of their chances of succeeding. It took until the end of the first day when they realized they still had only found and killed one Jeger that they began to feel a bit more panicked. "Aren''t Jegers fairly common? How have we not even spotted a second one? It''s not like we made a mistake and missed one. There really have just been no Jegers around us. This is not right." Braiden started feeling suspicious. Was this truly just bad luck? "Are you guys just getting lazy? Did you drop your vigilance since we killed one so quickly in the beginning?" Tatyana frowned and questioned them. "Hey, we want to pass just as badly as you do! Who wouldn''t want to finish as early as possible? Why would I get lazy and force us to stay in the godforsaken forest for any longer than necessary?" Colin snapped angrily. "There is no need to get so defensive. I just can''t help but suspect whether you are making sincere efforts. I travel and train through the forest all the time. I often spot several Jegers in just an hour once I am in the right area. If you all are at least half competent with directions, then we should be in the correct zone of the forest. So, reason dictates that we would have at least gotten half our quota by tonight." Tatyana just curled her lip in disdain towards his responses. She clearly did not trust Colin or Braiden. She was thinking that these two were getting arrogant and did not look hard enough. "I don''t know about Colin, but do you really think I am that type of person?" Braiden just shook her head towards the speculation. "...Then, do you have any idea what''s going on right now?" She silently agreed with him. "Hey, what are you trying to say? Why do you believe in him and not me? And you, Braiden, what are you insinuating? You can see just fine! Did you not see me putting in the effort?" Colin had only just caught on to their words that were clearly looking down on him. "I did say my uncle was not such a simple person who would let our group pass so easily. He must have put some plan in action to make sure that this was still a challenge. We have to double our efforts or we could really fail." Ignoring Colin, Braiden only answered Tatyana''s question. "You both!" Colin huffed angrily feeling indignant. "Alright, alright, we don''t have any time for fighting. Just keep looking. Even if you were putting an effort in before, we need to try even harder." Braiden finally looked towards Colin and dismissed him before telling him to work harder. Colin did not quite catch the undertone and just snorted before continue to look around for a Jeger. He would definitely find the next one and show the two of them then! Though she could not see, Tatyana could still picture the scene happening next to her. She just rolled her eyes feeling that the idiot Colin would count the money as Braiden sells him off. ... Eris and Efren were also struggling to work together. The ever confident Eris had an awkward look on her face, feeling apologetic towards her stoic teammate. They had already had the luck to see three Jegers but each time Eris would miss and startle them or her spell was too weak. Even someone with her confidence was feeling humiliated by her constant mess-ups. However, Efren would never say anything about her missing. He would just silently pull her along and continue to look for a new one. Eris had yet to even hear him sigh with some grievance. "Hey, we can''t keep going like this. My long distance spells are too bad and my aim is also bad. Should we practice a little right now on my aim? We could get used to certain signals so I know exactly where to aim." She finally broke the silence and mentioned her suggestion. "Do you know how to throw your spear at all?" Efren answered her with a question instead. "Throw my spear? Are you suggesting I try to hit the Jegers with my spear? Hey, as much as my large presence may have impressed you, I''m not actually so large that I could throw something so heavy such a long distance." Eris almost couldn''t resist laughing at his naivety. "No, I have a spell that creates ice javelins. I have trained with throwing javelins along with sword-fighting when I was in the military. I was just wondering if you could learn some of the basics right now. Honestly, since you wield your spear so well during a fight. I don''t doubt that you have the necessary strength." Efren continued seemingly unaffected by Eris sarcasm and teasing. "Javelin? Well, I am know for my talent with weapons. What''s learning one more? I believe I can perform decently as long as my teacher knows what he is doing." "Alright. Let''s give it a try." He immediately whispered a spell. The temperature seemed to dropped as the ice elemental spirits gathered around. 10 pristine ice javelins soon appeared in front of Efren. Eris shivered at the even colder temperature. "Hey, no wonder your face always looks stuck in that frown all the time. Maybe your skin is permanently frozen and unresponsive to your emotions after spending so long in temperatures like this. The Snow Country is already cold all the time even without magic and you just have to go and be talented at using ice magic." Eris complained. Efren just glanced at her before handing her the javelin. He knew after so long that Eris''s mouth seemed to complain and never stop, but she would always do everything that she needed to do. Like he expected, once she felt the cold near her hand, she reached out and grabbed it without any more words. "So how are we going to do this?" She asked. "I''m going to give you simple instructions of where to throw in four separate directions. Then, we are going to practice until you can hit where I want with accuracy in those four spots. Once you get the feel for them, we will start hunting again. I will try to position your body so that one of those four directions will be where the Jeger is. You may have to adjust a little, but that will be easier once we have a set baseline." "Then let''s start! I''m already sick of missing all the time. It''s really breaking my image." Gripping the javelin tighter, Eris began to already get herself into a ready stance. "Your form''s wrong, though..." Efren''s voice broke her concentration. "Hey, come closer for a second. I promise I won''t drive this thing through you..." Eris smiled and threatened. This man was truly an atmosphere killer. "...I will teach you the form first." ... Greyson and Cherell finally managed to arrive at the area, as well. Once Greyson picked up the speed, he was able to last until they arrived with tons of energy to spare. Even Cherell was not too heavy so at least she was not dragging him down. She also gave the correct directions once her safety was placed in his hands. "Alright, you can stop, we are already in the right place." Cherell almost pleaded. Greyson came to a quick stop and pretty much dropped her out of his arms right away. Tripping over her feet and wobbly legs, Cherell quickly fell to the ground. "You! Can''t you put me down nicely?" She snapped. "I did not want to hold you in the first place if it was not necessary. Now that we are here, I can finally drop the dead weight." Greyson just shrugged. If he was honest, her perfume was suffocating him the entire run here. It was as if she just dumped the whole bottle on herself. He wanted to drop her more than once. Now that they were here, he was so happy to push her away from him. Not knowing what to say, Cherell just sat on ground trying to get her senses back to her. Moving so quickly really made her feel a little sick. She had to keep looking at their surrounding as they passed by quickly and still concentrate so she could give him directions to avoid things. Her head was already pounding from the overwork. "When will you be ready to start? I need your eyes." Greyson already pulled out his bow and arrows getting ready to start hunting. "When?! I will definitely need at least the whole night to recover enough to want to look at things." Cherell seemed shocked that he had even asked the question. "So you want to spend the entire first day doing nothing? Do you really want to pass? I''m starting to feel like you just want to fail and drag me down with you." "We will have all day tomorrow and the next day! We are already where we need to be, I don''t see why I would need to push myself right now. I will perform better once I am well-rested. It''s already getting darker and I won''t be able to see much once it''s night. It''s better to take this chance to rest, right? I would not be able to spot much for you in this lighting." Cherell actually took the time to explain herself. However, Greyson was less than impressed. "I understand you would not be able to see much later, but I''m well aware around what time it is currently. We still have at least 2 hours before the sun completely sets. There is a lot we can do in that time, including getting used to each other. Do you really think it would be so easy that you just need to tell me where the Jeger is and I will be able to hit it? There is a lot of information I will need to hit accurately. We have to practice to get used to eat other. It doesn''t even have to be with Jegers, just any magic beast you spot in the forest. We need to practice! Otherwise, we will waste more time tomorrow adapting to each other. Once it is actually dark outside, we can stop and set up camp. Before then, we should keep working." "My head hurts..." Cherell just continued to complain while tearing up. "Where? Come closer." Sighing, Greyson just held in his impatience and gestured for her to come closer. "Why? What you going to do?" Cherell had already learned her lesson the first time. "Just come over would you?" Surprisingly obedient, Cherell walked over in front of him. Greyson''s hand waved in the air for a second before coming in contact with her hair. He traced up until he found the top of her head. Afterwards, he used an easy light element healing spell. Cherell felt a warm current fun through her head down to her toes. It felt like all the little aches and pains were gone and she felt very refreshed. Glancing up at Greyson, she only realized how good-looking he was after looking at him so closely. A slight blush creeped up on her face. "You''re fine now, right? Let''s get going then." However, the blind Greyson did not feel the pink air around him and quickly separated from her and indicated her to lead the way. The warmth gone and feelings disappeared, Cherell just pouted for a second before deciding to keep working. She was already all out of excuses since she did not feel tired anymore. Just as Greyson suspected, they were off to a bumpy start. "There''s one over there." "So... over where exactly is that?" "Your left." "Okay, where to my left?" "I don''t know, it''s high up on a tree." "How high up is the tree?" "How am I supposed to know? It''s high." "...like look at my height. How many of me would fit beneath?" "Maybe 3-4?" "Okay, just point my chest in the direction the Jeger is at." Cherell turned his body without looking at the ground and allowed him to step on a bunch of thin twigs. Greyson flinched almost immediately and sighed. "Okay... oh no! It ran away!" Was it too late to just kill his partner and finish on his own? 177 Ill Kill You First Then Fail, Okay? "Cherell, have you ever hunted before? Even once?" He tried to confirm. "That is Ms. Ashtree to you. And to answer you question: No, why would I ever do something like that? My parents raised me to be a proper lady. Any talent in magic I have is just something to boost my family''s reputation and my ability to marry well in the future." Cherell scoffed while answering honestly. "Surely, you, personally, would have more ambitions in life than that?" He felt doubtful. After all, she had to have some talent to be part of the representatives now. "What do you know? I''m the third child of my father. My eldest sister is the most talented at magic, while my second brother has always been intelligent since young. My father was already comfortable leaving the household to them in the future and did not actually plan to have more children. I came late in his life and knew from the moment I was young that I was not special. My talent did not match up to my sister''s and my intelligence was not near my older brother''s, either. The only thing I had going for me was my beauty and family background. I just need to marry well and bring benefits to my family in that way. That is how I was raised. And I''m not particularly complaining. Who would want to go around fighting and working hard when I could just stay indoors and be pampered for the rest of my life?" Cherell faced looked fairly expressionless and unfazed. "You might not be the most talented, but you should at least have some talent to be a magister level stage five magician under 40. There is so many other things you could do rather than just look forward to marrying someone. " "You would not be able to understand me. For that matter, why am I even telling you about any of this? I''m not here to discuss my life philosophies with you. Let''s just try to get this stupid team exercise this over with." Cherell sighed with frustration and stomped on the ground a bit. She just felt the need to vent her anger somewhere. Greyson shrugged in response. He really was not that interested in knowing more about Cherell, so he quickly changed gears. Since she had never been hunting before, he knew that she would mostly ignorant about all the basics and what to look out for. So instead of moving to look for Jegers, he told her to sit down and began to teach her his insights into hunting. Just the little things that would make her a better look out and ways to describe the positioning of the Jeger if she saw one. Greyson continued to lecture her and came up with new ideas along the way. Cherell fought a lot of them, especially any suggestions that had her touching him since she felt that they should keep their appropriate distance. "Ms. Ashtree," Greyson emphasized, "I hope you realize that we are not in the middle of some public ball or gathering. Who in the world is going to go back and gossip about something so inane. The Duke''s supervisors? Have they nothing better to do? If something can make our lives easier, then we should just do it. Plus, if you really think about it, I''ve already carried you such a long way, would they not already have enough scandalous material? I really do not see the point in worrying." It took all his energy not run over and shake some reality into her. She was so bad at giving directions and has no experience, yet they were going to hunt Jegers from her verbal commands? He might as well just throw in the towel now and forget about the challenge, because there is no way he would hit anything unless through sheer dumb luck. His words successfully shut her up and she no longer made any protests. Seeing she calmed down and was listening to him, Greyson felt like there was finally hope in his situation. If they could just work out the kinks of their teamwork today, then maybe they could succeed the next day. With this in mind, he went into more detail and tried to dumb things down for her before he decided that practical experience was still the best. Before they even went looking for mobile targets, he decided to get her to point out some branches and see if they could hit them accurately together. In the beginning, it was still a mess and he missed more than 90% of the time. But as time continued to tick on, he started getting more and more accurate and needed less time to take aim. Their connection was becoming a bit more tacit. By sunset, Cherell was already sweating just from moving and directing Greyson. But she noticed that even though he had to shoot and recover so many arrows, Greyson had not broken a sweat yet. "Just what are you made out of, anyway? Are you not tired? You also had ca... carried me that entire time." She started the question rather annoyed but blushed near the end. Of course, the currently blind-folded Greyson did not pick up the subtleties in her tone and just plainly shook his head. "I''m fine. I''m used to much more hard work than this." Greyson felt he was definitely still far from his limits. Part of it was that he truly normally lived a harder life than this before, while the other part was just natural physical strength and endurance. With the dragon blood in him, how could this minor exercise truly drain him? "Oh right, you were a peasant, were you not? Did you have to farm? Or did you starve without parents?" Suddenly, Cherell''s tone filled with pity. Greyson turned his head over in her direction. He truly was in wonder of how her mind worked. Everything he said seemed to somehow make its way back to this topic of social status. Too exhausted to correct her, he just shook his head and silently prayed for whatever man would be unfortunate enough to be scammed into marrying her in the future. That man would surely not be prepared for the tiring life ahead of him. "What?" She seemed to sense something but could not put her finger on it. "Nothing... Let''s just take a rest now so we can get up at the break of dawn. We need to have as much time as possible so we can have a higher chance of spotting more Jegers." ... While the Greyson-Cherell combo were still suffering, the other groups were showing more success. However, their success was still relative. Trevion and Aphina managed to catch 2 by the time sunset arrived. Most of it was luck, as Trevion''s aim was still a work in progress. The two of them truly were not the ideal partners for hunting as neither of them were really the type of fighter who would excel at something like catching animals from long distances. Actually, Trevion did have a spell that would help him sense animals from far away through the earth and plants even without his sight. However, he knew that the Duke was not testing what spells he could use. Therefore, he was stuck using a more trial and error approach where Aphina would give directions and he would send rock projectiles in that direction. He made sure they were small so they would not make a lot of noise and also so that their could be many of them creating a greater chance of hitting the target. He was just glad that this fiery princess only looked immature on the outside. Once she calmed down, she was more serious than anyone. He did not have any issues with her complaining about hard work or losing focus. She continued to seriously survey their surroundings from the moment they arrived until it was dark. By the end, he was already impressed. Just this amount of goodwill made him realize that the Duke''s idea might not have been so bad after all. While it was too soon to call them friends, he could at least claim to be cordial with her. He could also feel her prejudice towards himself decrease as the day continued. "Aphina, it''s already dark now and our chances of spotting a Jeger now are slim to none. You have also been boosting your sight and body for a while now, I''m sure your mana is almost exhausted. We should rest now and recharge for tomorrow." Trevion advised. "As much as I would like to claim that I still have tons of fighting energy left, I''m really about to be drained. We should quickly find a place." Aphina could not help but inwardly let out a relieved sigh. Really, her pride was what was keeping her from bringing it up first. Without his sight, Trevion could not see the beads of sweat dripping down her face from exertion. "That much is actually simple for me." Trevion gave her a rare smile. He placed his hands on the ground, said a long chant in a low murmuring voice, and soon the ground began to light up. Cracks appeared as parts of the rocks from the ground rose up while the trees and bushes twisted to form a nice sized hut. He then took a twig and etched a symbol into the ground that allowed an invisible shield to border around. Aphina''s jaw dropped a little as she quickly went into the hut to check out the inside. Although the construction was obviously rough, there were still two separate spaces that looked like rooms. Trevion followed behind her and used two shorter spells to have to blocks of dirt and stone rise from the ground to form a makeshift bed. "Can I bring you on every trip I take?" Aphina suddenly looked at him with eyes glowing. "Earth magic is so convenient. It''s like having a crew of builders and workers with just one person." "..." Was he just a glorified worker in her eyes now? "We should rest." Trevion just decided to ignored her statement and walked into his area. "The shield should block most things. If it breaks, then there will be a loud screeching noise that can warn us." "Really, I''ll pay for your services if you join me." Further impressed with how easy this made her life, Aphina felt that giving her this partner was her uncle''s way of doting on her. Trevion snorted and plopped down on the hard block. He was already used to harsh conditions, so he was able to quickly find a comfortable position and fall asleep. Aphina struggled a bit more, but thankfully she always kept a blanket on her in case of an emergency. As part of the royal family, she would, of course, have a spatial tool. Her''s was in the form of a bracelet. She tossed and turned a little while wrapped in the blanket before a wave of exhaustion washed over her. Following after Trevion, she also fell into a deep sleep. ... All the team members made similar decisions to give up once night fell in order to wake up at the break of dawn. Braiden, Tatyana, and Colin''s team managed to finally get four Jegers but it was a definite struggle for them to find ones due to their supervising team''s hard work. The team which found the most success was actually Eris and Efren. After Eris practiced for a while, she managed to quickly catch on and improve in accuracy. After all, she had enough weapons and combat practice to have decent coordination and muscle memory. With Efren''s experience hunting and his accurate directions, the pair was able to already catch five and were halfway to their goal. The Duke continued to keep tabs and pay attention to the reports. Seeing the pairs do about as he expected, he smiled knowingly. He could always make the test a little harder again, but his goal was already being met. They were working hard together and slowly grinding down the enmity between each other. In fact, other than Keaton, the rest did not have any real bad blood between each other. While the noble faction and the imperial faction butt heads, it is always under the surface and gives way in front of national issues. This competition was one such event where they would have to let go of prejudice and learn to work together. The pride of the country was on the line based on their performance. Coming in last all the time was quite ugly and shameful. Most citizens of Snow Country do not even realize how much other countries disdain to associate with theirs and privately laugh at their weakness. Especially the strong outer countries with ties to the inner region. Zaire had gone as both a participant and as a teacher and each time he returned with a feeling of disgrace that he could only swallow and endure. The petty infighting from before must stop early so they can show a united front. Plus, the better they know each other, the better they will fight together later in the team battles. Since they have now endured the short hardships together, he will let the groups experience the sweetness of success accomplished together. Well, at least some of the groups... Greyson could not sleep very soundly as he knew that Cherell would not stay alert, so he decided to meditate instead. When he felt the light from the sun rise, he shouted out to alert Cherell. He was not sure where her body was so he could only call her name repeatedly. Eventually, he heard the sounds of leaves rustling and a disgruntled groan in response. "Are you up? Let''s hurry and start." Greyson quickly organized his clothes and slung the quiver over his shoulders. Holding his bow, he was already bursting with energy and enthusiasm. They needed to quickly catch at least their first Jeger. At the rate they were going, he could only see them failing. "-ust, -ait a e-ond." He could hear her slightly slur a respond through a yawn. "What?" "I said to wait a second. Just let me wake up." Cherell snapped back clearly in a bad mood. "Well, hurry up." Greyson shrugged in respond and stood tapping his foot impatiently. After some more clothes rustling, he finally felt a hand on his elbow start to lead him. Knowing she was now ready, he followed her quietly and waited for her signal if she spotted something. "Should we practice? Or should I only look out for Jegers?" "We can practice if there is a chance and you spot something. Otherwise, we should aim to get our first Jeger." "Okay." Surprisingly obedient, Cherell listened to his suggestions without complaint. Hearing no sharp remarks back, Greyson felt that the sun must have risen from the west this morning. Not that he was complaining, though, he could not be more relieved that she seemed to calm down and be more eager to take the initiative today. It was already worlds away from her earlier behavior. The two continued their walk deeper into the forest. Cherell was not really sure of the direction, so she walked closer and closer in towards the center. Greyson was not too clear on which direction they were heading, so he ignorantly followed along. Without a word, Cherell grabbed Greyson''s arm and started to turn his body. She tapped his right elbow signifying the angle that they agreed upon and also tapped his ankle with her foot to tell him the height. Earlier, when they were practicing, he had shot at certain angles with the similar amount of strength so Cherell would understand about where they would land. Seeing that she found a target on the ground, it probably was not a Jeger and they normally hid and travelled up on trees. However, he did say to practice, so he followed her directions. Knowing that he would mostly likely not be able to hit the target if he only shot one, he did not grab an arrow and instead let his mana flow through the bow. This bow was a gift from his teacher and he had made it from dark element materials. Soon, multiple black arrows appeared on the bow. When he released, they shot forth silently. The target could not hear the impending attack at all. "Awooooo!" He heard a weak cry that sounded vaguely familiar. "You hit it! I think you killed it." Cherell finally spoke once again. Still bothered by the call, Greyson had to ask for more information. "Wait, Cherell, what does the target look like?" "Appearance? Why does it matter?" Back to her talking back, Cherell did not answer him right away. "Can you just answer without asking back?" "Hmph... it''s white with semi-faded looking black stripes. It kind of looks like a tiger cub?" She tried her best to describe what she was seeing. Greyson''s expression finally changed and suddenly grew the urge to strangle his partner once again. "Where are we? What part of the forest were you leading me into?" "Huh, I just kept walking in the direction you were running to get us here?" "...Are you not from this area? How could you possibly know less about this forest area than me?! The deeper you go into the forest, the more dangerous the magic beasts we will come across are. Jegers are near the bottom of the food chain so while they like the denser forest because it is darker, they stay further out. Do you not recognize that call just now combined with the tiger cub appearance? Did you not take any classes on Magic Beast identification?" "What are you trying to say? Just spit it out clearly." Cherell sounded a mix of worried and annoyed. "I''m saying we need to leave right now. Turn me in the direction we came from. I will run us back." Without asking more questions, she turned him around to retrace their footsteps. Greyson picked her up once again and began to run as fast as he could. He only took a couple steps before hearing a deep roar from behind. He grimaced and activated the wind element to heighten his speed more. "What was that?" Cherell was almost too scared to ask. "Oh, now you are curious? It''s a Kiryn! They are famous in this area. They do not have their offspring until they are at the peak of the magister level and meet a mate of similar strength. Their young start white furred but eventually grow darker black stripes on their body. They only have one offspring every 50 years and are thus very protective. They had to be nearby." "Oh, you made it sound scary. Isn''t it just a magic beast at the same level as us?" "Well, I''m sorry, if you want to fight the pair by yourself you are more than welcome. I will standby and watch." "Who are you trying to fool? Like you can''t take of magic beasts of that level!" "I''m blindfolded! My fighting strength has severely dropped at the moment because I can''t see. Even if my senses are heightened, it''s not to the point that I don''t need eyesight to help me fight. Why do you think the Duke made lower level beasts like Jegers our target? In terms of strength, we could probably massacre them, but they are wily and fast so they make for difficult beasts to hunt when your senses are blocked. It builds teamwork but is not a dangerous magic beast. Kiryns are ferocious and talented magic beasts. They use the dark element and the water element. You are weak against water element magicians and magic beasts. You are a long distance fighter while Kiryns move quickly and are strong in close quarters. Actually, you are not even allowed to use magic or both of us are eliminated from this test and fail! Of all the magic beasts to choose from, you just had to pick this one. Are you some god of bad luck? Or are you secretly trying to make me fail for Keaton? Or maybe you are just really that ignorant? You know, suddenly I don''t want to know." "You-!" "What?" "Just keep running!" She huffed. It took all Greyson''s will not to drop her right then. "Wait, stop!" "Would you make up your mind?" "No... it- it''s in front of us!" "Huh?" Coming to an abrupt halt, Greyson could not help trying to listen harder. However, there was no crunch of snow or breathing sounds around him. "Where is it?" He could only depend on Cherell''s eyes. "In front of us! Are you blind?!" "..." He was going to die, wasn''t he? Maybe he would just have to accept the fail for this exam. Punishment or whatever, he will take it. As long as he can beat Cherell first and then fail. 178 I Couldnt Care Less "In case you have not noticed, for all intents and purposes, I am blind! So I don''t know where it is, obviously! The Kiryn is not making any noise either which is one of its specialties. Is it still moving towards us?" "Why in the world are you still blindfolded?! Take the d*mn thing off already and help me defeat this thing!" "Is it moving towards us? Please answer the question!" "No! It''s just watching us from atop the trees. But it looks like it could pounce any time now. So take off the f*cking blindfold and fight!" Far past holding to her etiquette training, Cherell could not prevent the curses from running out of her mouth. "I refuse to fail because you are stupid and ignorant! We just need to work together, okay?" Greyson''s angered reached a peak as he snapped at her before calming down. He still needed her help, so he could only ignore her mistakes and focus on what could be done in the present. He could easily solve the situation without the blindfold, but he really felt that failing the test this way was so dissatisfying. Why did the Duke have to pair him with this awful woman? From what he has heard, Cherell was one of the oldest of the representatives and was already in her late-30s. She had lived more than double the time he had, but she could only act like someone half his age. Did she not live her life in vain?! He could only wonder how in the world she managed to live this long and reach her level. "You!..." Cherell strongly wished to refute him, but she couldn''t help but hold her tongue. She truly was the cause of the situations, so what more could she possibly say? "Now, listen to me. Do you have some sort of scented perfume on you? Or just anything that would release a strong smell?" Greyson just had to hope that she had a space magic tool. She obviously was not carrying anything with her. "What does that have to do with anything?" "Yes or no?" "Yes!" "Give it to me!" He quickly commanded. "But... this was a limited..." "Are you really quibbling at this point?!" Greyson growled. Unwilling, Cherell pouted and brought out a vial of perfume. She walked over and placed it into Greyson''s hand. "Alright, now go far away and hide somewhere. I can''t pay attention to protecting you, so protect yourself." "What are you going to do?" Cherell couldn''t help but ask. "Something really dumb and risky. It would be right up your alley." He laughed dryly in response. Cherell response was slightly delayed before she stomped her feet and quickly ran. Who was she kidding? She was not going to even stay around to watch. This was her chance to escape. She did not actually care what would happen to Greyson. Although she was not fast, she still managed to get further and further away. Greyson had summoned that same arrow from before that still smelled of the blood of the young Kiryn. He knew that this would definitely anger the adult one around him somewhere. He needed it to confront him head-on. Kiryns were generally cautious beasts and did not attack with full force. They instead stayed hidden and tried to end the fight with one hard hit. Partly, because they liked to play with their prey, and partly because their forte was stealth. He could not continue to fight blind if he continued to be unable to smell or hear the Kiryn as it moved. He could feel the silence around him that caused goosebumps from tension arise on his skin. Readying himself, he activated his dragon bloodline. The pure white scales appeared throughout his skin across his whole body. His body was taut at the ready to react. Just when he felt impatient, he felt a cold breath near his back. Before he could even shiver, he twisted his body and threw the perfume in his hand. At the same time, he felt a sharp claw rake against his left arm and torso. The scales cracked under the pressure and his body shot sideways into the trees. Trunk snapping under his weight, Greyson spit out a little blood as he felt an injury to his ribs. Although the scales broke most of the impact, it was inevitable that taking a direct hit would still cause damage. However, instead of frowning, Greyson laughed in relief. Plan success! Now, he could sniff out the pungent smell of perfume. While he could not identify exactly what smell it came from, it was sweet and fruity and stood out immensely in this forest. It seemed like such a small vial, yet it carried such a strong fragrance. He thought his plan would only result in a faint smell that could stand as a marker, but it was better than he imagined. While he was celebrating, he could hear a low growl and roar. Even more than him, the Kiryn was probably extremely bothered by the new smell on its body. Magic beasts in general usually had strong senses of smell, but the Kiryns were stealthy hunters. They were especially sensitive to their own scent and the scent of prey. Not wanting to give the Kiryn a chance to recover from its surprise, Greyson quickly gather lightning and fire mana in his palm and shot out an attack in the direction he could smell. Their was an explosion and a pained yelp. He did not let up and continue to attack with all that he could pull together quickly. Too large of an attack would take too much time to gather mana for and allow the Kiryn to escape. Plus, the more it moved around, the more the scent would spread to its surroundings. Then, Greyson would get confused by the overwhelming smell from all sides. When he finally did not hear any more noise, Greyson finally stopped his rain of attacks. He gasped for breath as he had exerted himself to cast that many spells in rapid sequence. "Cherell! Cherell, where are you? Did I defeat it? Can you see?" Shouting out loudly, Greyson tried to get her to approach once again. She had hid, but she should still be close enough to hear him, right? However, to his surprise, silence was his only answer. Furrowing his brows, he tried to shout to her again, but once again received no response. "Did she actually f*cking run away?!" Although his opinion of Cherell was already low, she truly managed to make him reevaluate her. Was he not fighting the Kiryn so that they could both pass? He did not even ask her to help him, yet she actually dared to run away to leave him alone! *ROAR!* In the midst of his distraction, he could barely react in time. Follow a final roar, the Kiryn charged with a fierce ice claw spell. Greyson managed to get a weak wood shield up using the trees around him. However, it only took off some of the edge. He put up both his arms in front of his chest to block, so they took the brunt of the attack. He felt the scales split and crack and the sharp claws ripped through his arms and cut into his lower abdomen. Puking up a mouthful of blood, Greyson grit his teeth and grunted in pain. It seemed the Kiryn had been fatally injured, though, and fell on top of Greyson without moving. Sensing that the Kiryn on top of him was not breathing, Greyson sighed in relief. The weight on top of him was truly unbearable. Inhaling short breaths, he could not get his chest to rise to far underneath the Kiryn. He did not have any strength in his arms at this point, so he could not push it off of him. Trying to calm himself down, Greyson decided he did not have any other choice but to recover in this position. Closing his eyes, he started bring in light element spirits around into his body turning into a stream of mana. His cuts and broken bones healed slowly. As the day started to darken, he was still stuck in the same position waiting for his wounds to recuperate. Another day had been wasted and he had yet to reach their goal. At this point, Greyson had resigned himself to the fact that he would probably end up failing. He swore that the next time he saw Cherell he would beat her into the ground, girl or not. He was barely keeping his thoughts from planning to kill her. Shivering and teeth chattering from the snow melting and seeping into his clothes, Greyson could feel his exhaustion. Under normal circumstances, the cold would have no effect on him, but he was so hurt now that his mana and dragon bloodline could not protect him. Both were working in tandem to fix his injuries. After a couple more hours, Greyson could feel the strength return to his arms. Pushing with both his arms and legs, he huffed with effort as the Kiryn slowly lifted off of him. With one final effort, the beast''s body fell to the side at long last. Immediate relief filled his body as he inhaled deeply filling his lungs. He kept lying there exhausted. All his mana had gone to healing his arms, that he did not have any left in store. Even the meditation did not help him restore mana but instead went straight to healing as well. Shivering, he brought his aching body into a sitting position and began to meditate once again. The minute the mana began to flow through his veins, his body began to heat up once again. A sigh of comfort escaped his mouth. In the midst of his recovery, he finally heard the snow crunching near him as someone walked closer. "You''re alive? You managed to defeat it? Ugh... why do you smell as if you dumped my perfume on you?" When he heard that familiar voice, Greyson could not help but grind his teeth in anger. However, he was still weak, so he focused on recovering. He did not even deign to answer her at this point. "Hello? Are you alive? I know you are because I can feel the mana gathering." Cherell continued to both him. "I have to wonder if I''m truly the blindfolded one. Clearly, I''m injured. So just shut up and wait for me." Greyson had no patience or politeness left in him. His words seemed to work for once, as he no longer heard her annoying voice buzzing around his ears. Their silence continued until the sun began to set and the sky grew dark. Both of them were silent as they both knew that they only had one morning left to try to pass the test. "Are we going to try to hunt in the morning?" Cherell finally broke the silence. "Yes, we are getting up at the break of dawn and working until the very last moment. You better work hard if you don''t want to be punished by the Duke." ... And they did just that. However, it was to no avail. They only managed to kill and catch six at the end. Greyson''s face did not change expression the entire time. Cherell could not tell if he was angry or not, but she still felt afraid of his brooding. The two finally made it back to the edge of the forest where the rest of the representatives were waiting. "Greyson, you look terrible, just what happened?" Aphina spoke out in shock. Truly, Greyson changed his clothes, but not all the bruises had healed yet. He did not want to waste his mana on healing flesh wounds. He just needed to be able to hunt. "A lot." He just sighed. "Well, you all can take off the blindfolds now." The Duke announced. As if finally freed, the four of them ripped off the blindfolds. The first thing Greyson did was glare dagger at Cherell. "I already know the results, but I shall announce them here. All groups have passed except from the Greyson-Cherell pair!" The seven other pairs of eyes all turned to look at Greyson and Cherell. Aphina and Braiden held a special amount of pity in their eyes. "I accept whatever penalty. You can even add on an additional punishment." Greyson cooly responded. "Additional punishment for what?" Aphina interrupted in confusion. However, Greyson did not answer her. Instead, he turned towards Cherell and immediately acted. Before Cherell could respond, he sent her flying with a flaming kick to the torso. She screeched in pain and spit up blood. "What... are you doing?!" She managed to squeeze out amidst the pain. "What I have been dying to do since the beginning!" He sneered before sending another fireball at her. He limited himself to the fire element because he didn''t want to kill her. Only the fire element would do less damage even if he hit her directly. "You only know how to bully women, you brute!" "Please, then I could say that you only know how to rely on children, you imbecile. A blind one at that. Plus, if you are really going to join us in the competition, you need to know how to fight and not just hide behind the stronger ones. Who knows if the enemies will care if you''re a woman or not? I know I sure don''t care. Usually, they only go easy on the pretty ones, so you are pretty much doomed anyway." As if he was finally exhaling the fire he was holding inside, Greyson could feel the anger dissipate. He beat her down into the ground again with one last fireball before stopping. He turned to the Duke, instead. "Instructor, if you wish to punish me for attacking a teammate, I will accept it." He could not care less about punishment or penalties. He was just happy to finally teach her a lesson. The Duke looked at him for a moment with his brow raised with a hint of smile visible. "Well then I will now announce your punishments: Cherell, you will go to the criminal fighting arena. You must fight 5 death row criminals of the same level as you. Greyson, you will have extra training with me every day at the crack of dawn." The moment he finished, everyone grew silent. The other representatives couldn''t help but wonder: what exactly had Cherell done to piss off the Instructor so badly?