It was thest day of the academy, and a boy could be seen walking toward the corridor of the Mazar Academy. He appeared in front of a ss door. A bell was beside it; he rang it and said, "Come in." A voice appeared. The boy entered the room.


    Oh, it''s you," a heavy voice appeared. The boy looked in front, and his eyes fell on the slender old man sitting on his chair. He was the principal. The old man looked at the boy and said, "Take a seat."


    The boy pulled out a chair and sat. "It took you long to visit; others have already met me in the morning," said the old man.


    "I am sorry, Sir; I was a little busy in the morning. When I got free, it was alreadyte. I didn''t want to disturb you, so I decided to visit in the evening," replied the boy apologetically.


    The old man raised his hand, signaling him to stop. "That''s all right. I have called you to ask you about your future ns. Which university do you n to enroll in? If you have not decided, I can suggest some. Selecting a university is very important for your growth. They teach you about advanced knowledge ofbat."


    "In universities, you must do many dangerous missions to continue living there. They also have top-quality resources and a training area. Many students wait two years and prepare themselves so that they can clear the entrance exam. You are lucky that you can directly enter them."


    The boy heard everything and maintained eye contact before replying, "Sir, I want to take a break for one year to work on myself. Once I enter university, I will not have time to focus on what I want to do."


    "Again, same reason," said the principal in a high tone. He then took a deep breath and exhaled, "Listen, boy, one year is a considerable period of time. It''s long enough for everyone to forget you. When you appear again, other people will have already taken your ce. You might also need to participate in the entrance exam to join any university."


    "The entrance exams of the universities are very tough. Many students lose their lives. They don''t provide safety measures, and killing other students is prohibited. There are many ways to make it look like an ident; that''s just the beginning," he continued.


    "Other students would be wary of you, while seniors would bully you. There are no strict rules there. Killing another student in the campus area is prohibited, but they can cripple you. Your status would be useless there. This will all never happen if you enter by taking a rmendation letter," he added.


    "Don''t need to worry, Sir; I can handle all that. This one-year break is crucial for me to break through and master everything I know. When Ie out of the seclusion, the entrance exam will be no big deal," replied the boy with a confident smile.


    They discussed some more things before Rishi decided to leave. He came out and looked at the academy. He visited all his favorite ces; this was hisst day in the academy, and he wanted to see them all for thest time. These three years had been much better than he had experienced before; he was about to turn fifteen years old.


    The time when he would awaken, his bloodline wasing near. He needed to have it to face stronger opponents in the future. He started walking towards his apartment, thinking about these things. He would only know what would happen when he faced them in the future.


    ***


    A boy could be seen seated on the back of a four-meter-long bird covered in blue mes. His hair danced as the cold wind pped on his face. He closed his eyes and enjoyed this feeling. A tiny baby beast was on hisp looking at everything around it with its eyes wide open.


    The feathered beast stopped on top of a mountain. It then disappeared, and the boy started falling. The baby beast held him tightly. He approached thend, but he was still unconcerned. Soon his body met thend; the strange part was that it passed by thend as if it were water.


    He appeared in a dark ce, and soon fourrge wings came out of his back and helped him tond softly. The area around him was full of darkness. He kept moving and appeared in a strange, wide-open area. It was filled with strange flora and fauna.


    The creatures here were all resting in their ownirs. They released weing noises when they sensed him. Soon, multiple figures walked by and appeared before him; they were the first five Shadow Assasins. Behind them was a boy wearing a skull mask. Rishi ignored them and approached him.


    Both hugged each other and started talking. "When did youe here, Vinay?"


    "I came a few days ago and was surprised when I saw this. You did a good job creating this ce. It is very suitable for me to train as well. At first, I thought I would need to create many undead soldiers to guard this ce, but who would have thought you had already prepared so many beasts for that task?" replied Vinay.


    "It just came to my mind when I discovered this ce that these beasts here don''t attack each other. So I got closer to them and earned their trust; as time passed, they epted Night Owl as their leader. Talking about him, where is he? I can''t see him anywhere," he asked, looking around.


    "He is about to break through. It looks like being in the presence of such a good amount of shadow energy helped him break through his limits. He might be a lot stronger," said Vinay.


    "I see. Let''s talk inside," said Rishi. They both entered the hideout and started discussing their ns. For the first few months, Rishi was not going anywhere. He would practice his rune-making skills and be a four-star rune master as soon as possible.


    Vinay was focusing on learning new spells and raising his summons. The dark energy here was helpful for him to raise them faster. He was also carefree here, not concerned about anyone disturbing or spying on him. He was also gaining a lot of attentiontely.


    His rtives were different from him and sent many assassins to eliminate him. He was not the same as Rishi and was going to attack them, but he was stopped by Yakshini, who asked him to calm down. He didn''t have time to waste thinking about bugs; he needed to focus on himself.


    It took him much time to calm down and let go of all these feelings. He was now able to feel what Rishi felt all the time. It was tough to let go; hopefully his job responsibilities helped him immensely in this aspect.