ã€ŠThe God of Lightningã€‹


 Chapter 1: Newborn

    In the outskirts of Ascelyn city, dark clouds gathered above a forest under the night sky. Thunder and lightning appeared and struck the woods. It was as if the ground was an anvil and the lightning was a hammer. A barrage of white flashes came down and with it came a repeated echo of loud rumblings and crashes. Even though it was night time, the flashes of light lit up the sky and acted as the sun.

    In a village nearby, people closed their windows and stayed inside, fearing that the lightning would strike them. No one knew how long the thunderstorm would last but as dawn came and the rooster crowed, the storm was over and the villagers stepped outside.

    A woodcutter named Roussel Gale ran out of his house and immediately sprinted towards the forest. If the trees were caught on fire that meant the village would have no more wood and no wood means no fire.

    Because the village didn¡¯t have any proficient mages, natural resources and labor were required by everyone in order to survive.

    Roussel was a burly man who seemed to be around forty years old and it took him a while before he reached the forest.

    The man wondered how this was possible. A thunderstorm of that magnitude should¡¯ve burnt this forest to a crisp.

    Roussel walked further into the forest and in the middle of the forest was a baby sleeping.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Roussel gasped. ¡°Impossible! A newborn was in the middle of where the thunderstorm was and nothing happened to him?¡±

    The burly man slowly picked up the baby who was wrapped in a thin cloth. The baby opened his eyes and cooed at the man and smiled. Even though Roussel was scared of what his wife would say if he randomly brought a baby home, he couldn¡¯t just leave the newborn here. A wild animal could pass by any moment and devour it.

    The forty-year-old man slowly walked back home while cuddling a baby in his arms.

    <hr>

    ¡°What is this? You brought a baby home? Where did you get it? Did you have an affair? Who did you do it with? Are you raising this child? Why didn¡¯t you tell me anything...?¡± A pale-skinned, stern-looking woman with clouded eyes bombarded Roussel with questions.

    ¡°Please, Darcy. Don¡¯t just open fire on me with all these questions.¡± Roussel whimpered.

    ¡°Alright, fine. First, where did you find this baby?¡± Darcy said angrily.

    Roussel told his story of how he found the baby in the woods.

    Darcy calmed down as she listened to his story.

    ¡°Hm¡­what do we do with it?¡± asked Darcy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I wanted to ask you but I couldn¡¯t just leave him out there so I brought it with me,¡± Roussel replied.

    ¡°We should stop calling it an it.¡± Darcy grabbed the baby out of Roussel¡¯s hands and unraveled the cloth. There was a jade blue pendant on the baby that shone brightly.

    ¡°This pendant has something written on it! As¡­Astra?¡± Darcy reached for the shining stone.

    BUZZ!

    ¡°Ow!¡± Darcy yelled in pain.

    ¡°It seems to be a protective talisman of some sort.¡± Roussel speculated.

    ¡°His parents must¡¯ve been in some danger otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t leave a protective talisman on a baby.¡± Darcy thought out loud.

    Roussel asked, ¡°¡­Should we take care of it in the mean time?¡±

    ¡°Might as well¡­Perhaps his parents will give us some rewards when they come for him.¡± Darcy grinned.

    ¡°What do we call him?¡±

    ¡°The pendant says Astra, so I guess we¡¯ll call him that.¡±

 Chapter 2: Talent

    Several years passed and Astra was now eight years old. He would frequently accompany Roussel to the woods because all the other kids were scared of him. Everyone in the village knew that Darcy was unable to have a child due to an accident and figured that their new child had something to do with the lightning storm. Thus, all the parents would tell their children to not get too close to Astra or they might be struck by lightning.

    Astra didn¡¯t mind though, he had lots of fun exploring the woods by himself while Roussel was cutting down trees. Darcy and Roussel had treated him like he was their real son and Astra was grateful for that.

    The burly man would gather firewood from dawn until dusk because in addition to providing the village with wood, they also had to pay taxes to a nearby noble who was in charge of their land.

    Every week, a group of men who looked like bandits would come to the village and demand a variety of things. The village wasn¡¯t highly populated and had a lack of mages to boot yet the noble imposed a ridiculously high amount of taxes.

    The group of men would beat up anyone who couldn¡¯t pay their taxes. No one could fight back because the group of men would always bring a mage with them. A single mage could single handedly deal with thirty ordinary humans nevertheless a weak village like this one.

    One day, the villagers couldn¡¯t take it anymore and formed a party consisting of the strongest men. Of course, Roussel was included since he was a burly man and was decently strong due to cutting trees all day.

    The rest of the villagers stayed inside their homes while the party confronted the group of men. Astra climbed to the rooftop and laid low.

    Surprisingly the party managed to beat back the group of men, and only one man was standing. The mage didn¡¯t do anything because he knew that he could wipe them all out without much effort.

    Even though the villagers knew he was a mage, it was too late to turn back. Ten men ran right at him and the mage extended his arms towards them.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The mage shouted, ¡°Come to me!¡±

    A white aura surrounded the mage, and Astra saw slivers of blue strings gathering in front of the mage¡¯s palm and a ball of wind was formed. The ball was released from the mage¡¯s hands and slammed into the men.

    Everyone fell backward and passed out.

    The mage sneered, ¡°This was your first rebellion, so I went easy on you guys. Next time, I¡¯ll break your arms.¡±

    Astra stared at the mage intensely. Darcy had told him that mages were the strongest beings and had the power to do anything they wanted. Astra had believed that all mages were good people and that magic was used to help people. This abuse of power should not exist, someone had to stop this.

    The mage felt a slight killing intent and looked at a rooftop. He saw that a child was glaring at him.

    The mage threatened Astra, ¡°You keep staring at me, and I¡¯ll gouge your eyes out.¡±

    Astra looked at him for a few more seconds before climbing down the rooftop.

    ¡°Hmph, silly child,¡± The mage woke his men up and walked away.

    Even though Astra was an outcast in the village, it was still the place that he lived in. He felt the desire to protect his home.

    Astra immediately ran up to Darcy and asked, ¡°Mother, please teach me magic.¡±

    ¡°You want to learn magic? What for?¡± Darcy pulled up a seat and signaled for Astra to sit.

    ¡°I want to become strong,¡± Astra said with determination. ¡°I want to protect this village, and I want to protect our family.¡±

    Darcy sighed. ¡°Not many people can become mages just because they want to. You have to be born with a body suitable for absorbing mana.¡±

    She looked at Astra¡¯s disappointed face. ¡°Astra, see if you can do this.¡±

    Darcy held her palm out. Astra saw a single strand of blue string condensed into a ball of wind the size of a pebble.

    ¡°Astra, this ball of wind is condensed from mana. Listen carefully to me,¡± She said.

    Darcy instructed, ¡°Calm your mind and breathe in and out. Hold out your palm. Imagine an empty sphere laying on top of your hand. Envision the air filling up the sphere.¡±

    Astra looked at Darcy¡¯s palm. So that means these blue strings around me is mana. Her ball of wind was only made from one strand, if I could gather more, wouldn¡¯t mine be bigger?

    He held out his hand and breathed in and out. The air around him¡­.gathering into a ball¡­within his palms¡­

    She looked at Astra¡¯s palm. Nothing was happening. Darcy sighed, she had hoped that Astra would have some sort of talent but it seemed like that was wishful thinking.

    Astra was still breathing in and out. He felt the blue strings coming closer and closer.

    Darcy consoled him, ¡°Astra if you can¡¯t do it, it¡¯s okay to give up.¡±

 Chapter 3: Training

    Suddenly a gust of wind appeared within the house and gathered within Astra¡¯s palm. The ball of wind was the size of a melon and was many times greater than Darcy¡¯s.

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Darcy gasped. ¡°An eight-year-old child being able to create a ball of wind of this size?¡±

    ¡°Mother, how did I do?¡± asked Astra.

    Astra¡¯s ball of wind was half the size of the one that took down the villagers. Despite the difference in age, Astra¡¯s ball of wind could rival mages who were a couple of years older than him.

    ¡°A genius¡­My son is a genius!¡± Darcy laughed out loud.

    Astra thought to himself if all I needed was to envision a ball of wind to create a ball of wind¡­wouldn''t I be able to create a ball of fire or a ball of water just by imagining it...?

    The door slammed opened, and Roussel shouted, ¡°What¡¯s wrong! What happened? Did they hurt you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing dear, come! Come look at Astra¡¯s palm!¡± Darcy beckoned Roussel over.

    Roussel quickly ran over and stared at Astra¡¯s palm.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Roussel stuttered, ¡°Th-This is¡­H-How?¡±

    Darcy smiled, ¡°Our son is a genius! Quick, we must enroll him into a school or get him a tutor!¡±

    Roussel put his hand to his chin and rubbed it. ¡°Darcy, he¡¯s only eight years old! And where would we even get the money?¡±

    Darcy¡¯s smile quickly faded, and she looked at Astra.

    Astra released his control of the ball of wind, and a breeze of wind touched the three of them.

    Astra crossed his arms, and the three of them were silent.

    Suddenly, Astra spoke up, ¡°I have an idea.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± asked Darcy.

    Astra spoke his mind, ¡°I¡¯m still only eight, why don¡¯t I just train in the woods until I¡¯m of age to enter a school? If I¡¯m really a genius, then I should be able to get a special pass or something, and that should solve the money issue.¡±

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s not a bad plan,¡± said Roussel.

    Darcy nodded her head, ¡°Alright, neither of us are mages, so we have no idea what to teach you. You¡¯re going to train and educate yourself.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled, I¡¯m gonna go train right now!¡± Astra said with a beaming smile.

    Astra ran out the door and towards the woods.

    ¡°You know what I¡¯m hoping for?¡± said Roussel.

    Darcy looked at him with curiosity, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Maybe Astra could get really strong and then we wouldn¡¯t be afraid of the noble¡¯s men anymore.¡± Roussel laughed.

    Darcy angrily stared at Roussel, ¡°Are you kidding me? You want Astra to take on that mage by himself?¡±

    ¡°No! Of course not! The rest of us would be helping as well!¡± Roussel would always get scared whenever Darcy got angry at him.

    ¡°Are you joking? That mage said he took it easy on you guys and still blasted you guys away with one spell! You would just get in Astra¡¯s way instead!¡± said Darcy harshly.

    Roussel chuckled, ¡°Looks like you were seriously thinking about Astra fighting that mage.¡±

    Darcy rolled her eyes.

 Chapter 4: The First Threat

    Astra began to train in the woods every day. From the moment he saw the mage that attacked the villagers, a desire to get stronger was planted in his heart. While Roussel was cutting wood all day, Astra was training the whole time. His gradual increase in strength motivated him to train more every day.

    Ever since the first rebellion, the villagers¡¯ taxes were increased a little bit each month. Their beatings also got a little bit rougher and although there were no broken bones, black and blue bruises would appear. The villagers were frustrated, if their injuries increased, how were they to pay more taxes?

    Every time Astra made a ball of wind, he would get a little tired. He realized that physical fitness correlated with the usage of mana. Every day, Astra would run in the woods, climb trees, hunt for food, and experiment with mana.

    Within a couple of years, Astra was a head taller than the kids his age in the village. He was well built and a bit tan due to all the time he spent outside. His black hair complimented his stern onyx eyes.

    He was incredibly fast and agile due to the unpredictable terrain of the woods. He had learned how to survive in the forest and even gained battle experience from exchanging a few blows with bears and wolves.

    If his parents had known what he had done in the forest, they would¡¯ve been scared out of their wits. Imagine a twelve old kid fighting beasts by himself out in the wild, everyone would think that he was a beast himself.

    Through his experimentation, Astra¡¯s hypothesis of creating fireballs and waterballs were proven to be correct. But without anything to learn from, Astra could only use mana in very basic ways. Astra would exhaust himself at the end of the day by using up all his mana.

    Unknown to Astra, this exhaustion of mana allowed his mana pool to grow slightly bigger every day. Compared to kids his age, his mana pool was nearly two times as big.

    Every day, Astra would go a little bit deeper within the forest. He wanted to explore the whole place and discover new things.

    One day, as Astra went deeper into the forest, he found that the forest was actually the entrance to a mountainous region full of hills and caves. There was a loud roar off in the distance which piqued Astra¡¯s curiosity.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Astra ran towards the direction of the roar and saw that there was a large monster that was four meters tall with green skin. Its large hands held a small tree which was being swung around ferociously.

    Astra immediately hid behind a bush and saw that the ogre was fighting someone.

    ¡°Ugh, you damn ogre. You¡¯re lucky you caught me injured or else I would¡¯ve pummeled you already.¡± A man in his thirties was wearing a white robe stained with blood while holding a three foot long staff.

    ¡°ROOOOARRR!¡± The ogre yelled into the air as it charged towards the man.

    The man held his staff to the left of him and created a ball of wind. The ball of wind blasted the ground and the man used the recoil to dodge the charge.

    The ogre crashed into a mountain but was uninjured.

    ¡°Shit, out of mana.¡± The man heaved and gasped for air.

    Astra wasn¡¯t sure if this he could take on this ogre. It was unlike anything he had ever fought before.

    The ogre recovered from its charge and looked towards the man again. The ogre immediately began charging at the man once again.

    The man did not want his life to end this way. He had just finished an intense battle. Normally, a monster of this caliber would only take ten percent of his strength to defeat but right now, he didn¡¯t even have one percent left.

    Astra thought to himself, if he couldn¡¯t even protect someone who was right in front of him, how would he be able to protect his family?

    Suddenly, the man heard a shout.

    ¡°Who are you? Where are you from?¡±

    The man looked around and immediately replied, ¡°My name is Fausto from Ascelyn Academy!¡±

    Ascelyn Academy? Wasn¡¯t this his chance?

    Astra leapt out of the bushes and blasted a fireball at the ogre¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°ARGHHH!¡± The ogre covered its eyes and swung its tree around.

    Astra landed besides Fausto and pointed south, ¡°Run towards my house. Ask for Roussel or Darcy.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, young man.¡± The man slowly limped away.

    Staring at the ogre in front of him, Astra wondered if it would¡¯ve been better to just ignore the man and ran away. It was too late for regrets as Astra had already caught the ogre¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Now then, how should I deal with you?¡± Astra looked at the ogre from top to bottom.

    This was Astra¡¯s first battle against a monster of this level. He was unsure as to how to defeat this thing. If Astra couldn¡¯t beat this ogre, he and the man would be dead. Astra analyzed the situation. From the look of ogre¡¯s charge, it would be impossible for Astra to act as a decoy and run in the opposite way to buy some time, not to mention there weren¡¯t many trees here in this mountainous region so the ogre would have an easy time charging right at Astra.

    A battle of endurance? Astra immediately casted that thought away. The ogre was enormous and swung a tree around like it was a stick. It was bound to have more energy than Astra who only trained for several years.

    There was only one option left.

    Astra had to fight the ogre.

 Chapter 5: Knocked away

    Think! Astra racked his brains.

    Aiming at its eyes won¡¯t work again now that the ogre was aware of him.

    Astra considered the reach of the ogre. The tree that it held increased its attack range by another 10 meters for a total of 15 meters. Mid-range battle would be risky. The safest play would be staying 15 meters away from it and blasting long range spells.

    ¡°ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!¡± The ogre yelled and charged right at Astra.

    Shit. No more time to think. Astra fired off fireballs, windballs, and waterballs one after another.

    The fire barely burned the ogre. The wind cut apart the ogre¡¯s skin, but not enough to bleed. The water splashed apart as if it was a water balloon.

    Despite his spells having the size of boulders, it couldn¡¯t do any real damage to the ogre. The intensity of his spells weren¡¯t strong enough. He needed to make his attacks stronger.

    The ogre was three meters away from Astra.

    Dang it. Astra swore in his heart. He had spent too much time firing off magic spells and didn¡¯t have enough time to leap out of the way. Astra thought back to Fausto.

    ¡°First time for everything.¡±

    Astra created a ball of wind in each of his hands and fired it at the ground to the right of him.

    Using the recoil, Astra blasted himself out of the way of the ogre.

    It was Astra¡¯s first time using this move, he had copied it from the man in white.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Astra tumbled on the ground after the leap and roughed himself up.

    The ogre charged into a rock wall and was stuck.

    Astra didn¡¯t think that it would get stuck too long with its immense strength.

    Sure enough, the ogre only took a couple of seconds to get its head out of the wall.

    Astra gathered his resolve. It looked like he had to fight in close combat for him to do any real damage. An ogre was still a living being and all living beings have vital spots. Astra didn¡¯t have any weapons so piercing through its head or heart would be nearly impossible.

    His water spells didn¡¯t seem to do anything but his wind and fire spells actually did a miniscule amount of damage.

    Astra sprinted towards the ogre.

    The ogre raised its arm and swung the tree horizontally.

    He ducked down to dodge the swing and continued sprinting.

    ¡°Wind slash! Fire slash!¡±

    Astra swung his hands as if they were swords.

    During his training, Astra had learned that he could change the forms of mana and produce something else other than balls. Astra had condensed the fire and wind elemental mana into a sharp and crisp slice, acting as a sword. This gave the attack more power and accuracy.

    A beam of wind and fire headed towards the ogre¡¯s ankle.

    The fire beam had weakened the skin allowing the wind beam to easily cut through it.

    The ogre felt a tinge of pain and looked down.

    ¡°GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!¡± The ogre seethed in anger.

    It could not believe that it had been wounded by such a small animal.

    Astra had planned to immobilize the ogre by aiming at its ankle but due to its strong defenses, he had to continuously attack it, slowly whittling it down.

    The ogre swung its tree around in a crazed manner.

    It was as if it was trying to swat a mosquito.

    Astra dodged every single swing by a sliver. A single hit from that tree would knock Astra unconscious.

    The young boy continuously fired off beams of fire and wind at the same ankle.

    ¡°ARGH!¡± The ogre snarled.

    A stream of blood came from the ogre¡¯s ankle.

    The swings of the ogre sped up as it became enraged.

    The sudden change in tempo had surprised Astra and a swing had caught Astra in a bad position.

    Shit! If Astra took that head on, it was unlikely that he would survive.

    Think! Think! Astra focused on the tree.

    WHACK!

    Astra was knocked 30 meters away.

    The ogre knelt down and rested his bleeding ankle.

 Chapter 6: Unknown Strength

    Before Astra was knocked away, he had surrounded his body with wind, hoping that it could act as some form of armor. Astra sensed that he was still alive, so the armor had worked to an extent.

    Astra struggled to open his eyes. Nothing appeared in his vision. Pitch black darkness all around. He didn¡¯t even know if his eyes were open. There was no sensation in his body. No pain, no aches, nothing at all. Astra tried to shout. No sound came out, nothing was heard.

    All of a sudden, a pair of electric blue eyes appeared in front of Astra.

    Who¡­? Astra thought to himself.

    Another pair of the same eyes appeared.

    Then another one.

    And one more.

    In an instant, hundreds of electric blue eyes surrounded Astra. Gazing at him intensely.

    ¡°Survive¡­¡± A voice echoed.

    ¡°Grow strong¡­¡± another voice boomed.

    ¡°Avenge us¡­¡±

    Hundreds of voices started repeating these same lines, slowly increasing in volume and intensity.

    ¡°SURVIVE. GROW STRONG. AVENGE US.¡±

    These words penetrated Astra¡¯s very soul.

    The voices reverberated at a tempo, almost like a heartbeat.

    Astra began to feel his heart thumping to the rhythm of the voices.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    As the voices grew louder, Astra felt like his heart was going to explode.

    Suddenly, everything turned white.

    Astra opened his eyes.

    THUD. THUD. THUD.

    The ogre was slowly limping its way towards him.

    Astra was laying on the ground. His right arm was broken. His left leg had a huge gash on it and streams of blood gushed out.

    Astra felt an overwhelming desire to live. He felt like he had to do something important. The jade blue pendent glowed ever so slightly.

    A scream filled with unknown energy came from Astra.

    His hair turned azure, crackling with sparks of lightning. His eyes became electric-blue, bolts of light flickering in his pupils.

    Astra felt reinvigorated with energy. He got up and stared at the ogre.

    The ogre immediately swung his tree.

    To Astra, the tree was moving slower than before, almost at a snail¡¯s pace.

    Astra took a step forward and transformed into a surge of light. He seemed to pass through the ogre¡¯s body, appearing right behind it.

    He clutched his hand. It was surrounded by blue sparks.

    Astra stabbed his hand through the ogre.

    BUZZZZZ. The ogre was being electrocuted.

    ¡°ARGHH!! GRRR!!....¡± The ogre growled and grunted.

    The ogre slumped over and hit the ground. Its body became a mangled piece of burnt flesh.

    Astra¡¯s hair returned to black and his electric-blue eyes went reverted to onyx.

    A spray of bloody mist came from Astra¡¯s mouth as he slumped to the ground.

    <hr>

    Roussel stopped chopping wood as he saw a silhouette coming towards him.

    ¡°You¡¯re early today, Astra. What¡¯s wrong?¡± asked Roussel.

    ¡°H-Help¡­me¡­¡± The silhouette came into view and revealed a man limping, blood dripping from his clothes. The man fainted as he took another step.

    Roussel quickly ran over and held up the unconscious man. He took the man and carried him back to the house.

    ¡°Darcy! We have an emergency!¡± shouted Roussel as he kicked open the door.

    ¡°What¡¯s wro-¡± Darcy ran up to the man and examined him.

    ¡°What happened? Quick, set him down on the bed.¡±

    Roussel gently placed the man down on the straw bed.

    ¡°Where did you find this man?¡± asked Darcy.

    Roussel replied, ¡°He was limping out of the forest.¡±

    ¡°The forest? Isn¡¯t Astra training in the forest...?¡± Darcy said out loud.

    ¡°Oh no¡­¡± Roussel immediately ran out in search of Astra.

    If it weren¡¯t for that incident, Darcy could have immediately healed the man and interrogated him for information. Darcy sighed. With her fragile body, she couldn¡¯t search for Astra if she wanted to.

    Two days passed.

    Roussel would return with a dejected face every night.

    The next morning, the injured man awakened and groaned in pain.

 Chapter 7: Survived

    The man got out of bed and immediately started coughing and wheezing. Darcy ran to the kitchen to get a cup of water.

    ¡°Drink this! Where is Astra!?¡± Darcy shoved the cup into the man¡¯s hands.

    The man took the cup and gulped down the water.

    ¡°¡­¡± The man looked at the cup of water in his hands.

    ¡°Please¡­Anything, tell us anything¡­¡± Darcy pleaded, tears in her eyes.

    ¡°Your son¡­saved me¡­He gave his life for mine.¡± The man mumbled.

    ¡°NO! You¡¯re lying!¡± Darcy shrieked.

    ¡°I will go see¡­if I can recover his body¡­¡± The man got up and walked out of the house.

    Darcy felt her legs shake. She collapsed onto the ground and started weeping.

    <hr>

    The young boy was laying on top of burnt flesh. Luckily, Astra had collapsed on the ogre, allowing him to easily eat the ogre with only his mouth. Astra¡¯s arms and legs were cramped up and the slightest movement would cause them to tremble violently.

    Ironically, this ogre had kept him alive for the past two days.

    Astra had questions. He did not know how the ogre died and why it was burnt.

    As Astra kept on eating the ogre, he found a small white crystal.

    He could feel that this white crystal had a huge amount of mana within it, way more than what he could gather by himself.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Astra wrapped his tongue around the white crystal and placed it in his mouth. Now then, how would he absorb the mana within this?

    As Astra was thinking about this, the white crystal seemed to have sensed Astra¡¯s intentions and immediately dissolved itself, transforming into numerous wisps of mana.

    Astra could feel the mana circulating his body, accelerating his recovery. He never knew that he was starving for mana until he absorbed this crystal.

    Suddenly, the bushes rustled.

    Astra could feel the vibrations on the ground. Something was coming closer towards him.

    Oh no, he thought, Astra had not finished recovering yet. Whatever was coming, he did not have the power to fight back.

    ¡°Unbelievable¡­You¡¯re still alive!¡± Fausto gasped in shock. ¡°Hold still, I¡¯ll heal you.¡±

    Fausto ran over to Astra and placed his hand over Astra¡¯s chest. A green glow emanated from Fausto¡¯s hand.

    What was this warmth? Astra felt a warm, cool feeling spreading throughout, deflating his swollen body.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Fausto felt another type of energy inside Astra¡¯s body. ¡°This¡­You¡¯ve absorbed the ogre¡¯s mana crystal?! You¡¯re insane!¡±

    ¡°For a kid like you to absorb a mana crystal of an ogre at the peak of white rank¡­If I weren¡¯t here, you would¡¯ve exploded!¡±

    Astra was surprised. He did not feel like he was going to explode, in fact, he had wanted more.

    Several hours later¡­

    Astra was completely recovered, his internal bleeding had stopped and all his bones were mended back together. The fight had left him with numerous scars on his body. Astra saw this as a trophy of sorts, a testament for him to keep on growing stronger.

    Fausto carried Astra on his back, ¡°Hold on tight.¡±

    ¡°Wait, I don¡¯t need you to car-¡°

    WHOOSH.

    It was unlike anything Astra had ever felt before. It was as if he was gliding through the air. In a matter of minutes, they had arrived at Astra¡¯s home. It would¡¯ve taken Astra nearly an hour to return home normally.

    Astra opened the door.

    Darcy was still weeping on the ground.

    ¡°Mother,¡± Astra whispered.

    ¡°A-Astra¡­? You¡¯re alive!¡± Darcy got up and hugged Astra.

    Darcy sobbed and sniffled, ¡°A-Astra, t-that man said t-that, you were d-d-dead!¡±

    Fausto stood next to Astra and said, ¡°I never expected your son was strong enough to take down an ogre.¡±

    Darcy wiped her tears and calmed herself down, ¡°We need to tell Roussel to come back, he¡¯s been searching fervently for you this past couple of days.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go look for him. You two need to have a moment.¡± Fausto stepped out and disappeared like the wind.

    ¡°Astra, what happened out there?¡± asked Darcy.

    ¡°Well, everything went down like this¡­¡±

    Astra told his story.

    ...

    ..

    .

 Chapter 8: Recommendation

    Darcy was in shock. For a twelve year old to survive against an ogre was unthinkable!

    Fausto came back with Roussel a few moments later.

    ¡°I think¡­I think I¡¯m about to barf.¡± Roussel vomited before he stepped into the house. He couldn¡¯t even handle riding wagons and he was dragged along by Fausto since Fausto did not like the idea of carrying such a big burly man.

    Roussel cleaned himself up and gave Astra a bear hug.

    ¡°I knew you didn¡¯t die. A smart kid like you, what could ever kill you?¡± Roussel chuckled.

    ¡°Urgh¡­¡± Astra couldn¡¯t breathe.

    ¡°Let him down you big brute. You¡¯re suffocating him,¡± scolded Darcy.

    ¡°Oh¡­sorry, Astra.¡±

    Roussel let Astra down.

    Fausto coughed and got everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Child, you saved my life. If there¡¯s anything you want, I¡¯ll do my utmost to get it for you.¡±

    Fausto turned to the young boy, ¡°What would you like, Astra?¡±

    ¡°I want to learn at Ascelyn Academy.¡± Astra grinned.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you enroll under my recommendation,¡± replied Fausto.

    Astra laughed inwardly. His plan to save the teacher and get into Ascelyn Academy for free had worked.

    ¡°How old are you, Astra?¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Twelve.¡±

    ¡°TWELVE?!¡± Fausto yelled in shock.

    Fausto had thought the kid to be at least fourteen years old from his height. It would be a miracle that a fourteen year old survived against a monster at the peak of white rank, but this kid was only twelve years old! He wasn¡¯t even old enough to take the entrance exam for Ascelyn Academy! But with Fausto''s recommendation, Astra would be able to take the exam at any age and be pardoned from any tuition fees.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to go to Ascelyn Academy right now? Most of the freshman there are at least fourteen years old. There¡¯s a two year gap between you and them.¡±

    Astra nodded, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    Astra wanted to get stronger as quickly as possible. If he could enter a school right now, why wouldn¡¯t he?

    Fausto closed his eyes and rubbed his chin in deep thought.

    Fausto opened his eyes and stared at Astra, ¡°How long do you need to get ready?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± said Astra immediately.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any armor or weapons that you need to pack? Keepsakes?¡± asked Fausto.

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    ¡°Good, then let¡¯s leave right now¡­¡± Fausto turned around and started walking out.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Roussel stopped them.

    ¡°Father?¡± Astra stared at Roussel. Could it be that Roussel thought that Astra was too young and that he shouldn¡¯t go?

    ¡°I have a farewell gift for you.¡± Roussel went to the back of the house.

    There were sounds of dirt being dug and locks being opened.

    Roussel came back with a three foot long sword in a silver sheath.

    ¡°My father had passed this on to me because he had wanted me to be a mercenary. He told me that this sword was special, that its power would explode once I learned how to use mana.¡±

    Roussel sighed.

    ¡°Sadly, I never wanted to be a mercenary. I just wanted to lead a calm and quiet life. So now I¡¯m giving this sword to you as my father gave it to me.¡±

    Astra took the sword and unsheathed it.

    The sword was pale, white three foot long and four centimeters wide.

    Astra swung it a couple of times. It was very well balanced, not too heavy, and not too light.

    The excitement in Astra¡¯s eyes reminded Roussel of when he first held the sword.

    Astra asked, ¡°What¡¯s the name of this sword?¡±

    ¡°Sword of Gale,¡± Roussel said proudly.

    Fausto stared at the sword. Sword of Gale? Could it really be THAT sword?

    Astra noticed Fausto¡¯s eyes were filled with curiosity as he stared at the sword being swung around.

    Was this sword really that special? Astra wondered.

    Fausto stopped staring at the sword and said, ¡°Let¡¯s set off.¡±

    Suddenly, the stomps of hooves and the neighs of horses echoed off in the distance.

 Chapter 9: Leaving with no troubles

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Fausto asked.

    ¡°We have to pay taxes for a noble that lives nearby.¡± Roussel replied.

    ¡°Taxes for a noble nearby?¡± Fausto scratched his chin.

    A loud yell came from outside, ¡°ALRIGHT EVERYONE, PAY UP OR GET BEATEN!¡±

    The henchmen went around to each house, demanding their pay.

    Unsurprisingly, some people were beaten up since theycouldn''t meet their quota.

    Knock. Knock.

    ¡°Oy! Roussel! Get your wood out here!¡± A man screamed outside of their house.

    ¡°Oh no, I was so busy searching for Astra these past couple of days that I haven¡¯t met their quota.¡± Roussel whimpered.

    Fausto opened the door.

    ¡°You¡¯re not Roussel. Who are you?¡± The man outside threw a punch at Fausto.

    ¡°Hmph, stupid brutes.¡± Fausto retaliated with a kick to the man''s abdomen. Astra could see slivers of blue strings crawling in and out of Fausto¡¯s leg.

    The man took twenty steps back and hunched over.

    ¡°BLARGGGGG!¡± The man started vomiting.

    Astra stared at the man groaning. Fausto did not seem to be physically strong. Just how had he deliver the kick with such power?

    The henchman¡¯s mage noticed this scene and stared at Fausto.

    ¡°Another rebellion? I don¡¯t recognize this guy. Your village hired a mercenary?¡±

    ¡°Not that it matters¡­¡± The man put his arms out and a ball of wind came exploding towards Fausto.

    ¡°Elementary magic.¡± Fausto scoffed.

    Fausto held his hand out to disperse the ball of wind.

    Suddenly, Astra fired off a ball of wind and dispersed it himself.

    The mage eyed Astra up and down, ¡°A kid like you want to battle me? Come back in a couple of years, ha-ha.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    The man immediately fired off several wind balls in succession.

    Fausto stood behind Astra, ¡°Show me what you can do.¡±

    Astra nodded and fired off wind balls of his own.

    Impossible! The mage was shocked. The child seemed no more than twelve years old and yet his mana capabilities were equal to his. How could a backwater village raise such a monster?

    ¡°Unbelievable!¡± The mage gasped. After a dozen exchanges, the mage quickly realized that Astra¡¯s mana pool was much bigger than his.

    The balls of wind collided and dispersed. He could no longer keep up the barrage of spells.

    If the mage couldn¡¯t win in a magic battle, he had to take it to melee combat.

    The mage ran at Astra.

    Noticing the mage was no longer firing off balls of wind but opted for a meleebattle, Astra ran at him as well.

    Even if he lost out in mana, the mage still had his grown up body. No way would a twelve year old best him in melee combat, the mage thought.

    The mage began throwing out a barrage of punches at Astra.

    Slow¡­The man was so slow! Astra dodged every single one of the mage¡¯s punches with ease. Compared to the bloodthirsty wolves that ran at him in the forest, this mage was practicallya tame dog.

    The man sped up his punches in frustration.

    Astra blocked several of the punches before the mage ran out of breath. Astra quickly finished the man off with a kick to the abdomen.

    The mage was knocked away and tumbled for several meters before stopping.

    Fausto walked up to the mage and threw a medallion at him, ¡°This village now has relations with Ascelyn Academy.¡±

    The mage¡¯s eyes went wide as he heard the name Ascelyn Academy. He quickly took the medallion and ran off.

    The henchmen scuttled away as they saw how disadvantageous their situation was.

    And just like that, the mage was gone.

    Darcy stepped out of the house, ¡°What happened? Why did they leave so early?¡±

    Roussel smiled at Darcy. ¡°The tax collectors won¡¯t be bothering us anymore.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Darcy beamed. ¡°Astra! Now you don¡¯t have to go to Ascelyn Academy anymore! You don¡¯t need to protect us from them anymore!¡± Darcy turned to Astra.

    Darcy wanted to test Astra¡¯s resolve. If Astra¡¯s desire for power waned just because he easily won his first battle, he shouldn¡¯t go to Ascelyn Academy at all.

    Astra was silent for a moment. The mage wasn¡¯t coming back anymore. But Astra had loved dedicating himself to a goal. Every single day that he trained in the woods, he felt himself getting stronger bit by bit.

    ¡°I-I can¡¯t stay¡­I want to get stronger¡­No, I NEED to get stronger.¡± Astra said with determination.

    Darcy¡¯s clouded eyes cleared up for the first time. Darcy looked at her son. She didn¡¯t know that Astra was already so grown up. With his potential, staying in the village would only harm him. She gave Astra a gentle smile.

    ¡°Go then¡­Be strong.¡±

    Astra stared at his mother. It was the first time that he had seen this. Her eyes were usually clouded and she seemed very frail and sickly. But at this very moment, she seemed to give off a gentle, angelic aura as if she was giving him a blessing.

    Darcy nodded at Fausto and walked back inside the house.

    Roussel didn¡¯t seem to notice anything.

    ¡°Good bye, Dad. I¡¯ll take care of this Sword of Gale for you.¡± Astra smiled at Roussel.

    Roussel sniffled. ¡°Even though you aren¡¯t our real son, Darcy and I had always treated you like you were.¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m grateful for that.¡± Astra hugged Roussel and walked off with Fausto.

    Roussel waved good bye until he could no longer see them.

 Chapter 10: Basic Technique

    Astra had never gone anywhere else besides the village and forest. This was his first time going anywhere else. Fausto and Astra walked beside each other on a dirt road.

    Fausto turned to Astra, ¡°Your village is quite far away from Ascelyn City. I haven¡¯t recovered enough to get us there quickly. We might as well take it slow while I tell you about the academy.¡±

    Astra nodded.

    ¡°What do you know about it?¡± asked Fausto.

    Astra tilted his chin and crossed his arms in thought. Ascelyn Academy was famed for being one of the top magic schools in the country of Cresal. Even reclusive villages like Astra¡¯s knew about it.

    Astra replied, ¡°There are a lot of mages there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it? That¡¯s all you know?¡± Fausto was surprised at the lack of knowledge that the boy had. Even five-year-olds in the city would be able to tell him more than that. But then again, Astra was from a village near the mountains, just what did Fausto expect from him?

    Astra nodded again.

    ¡°Oh boy, where should I start?¡± Fausto looked off into the distance while they were walking.

    Thinking back to the ogre that Astra had killed, Fausto asked, ¡°The ogre that you killed. How did you kill it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was caught off guard by its swing, and I fell unconscious. Next thing I know, the ogre was dead, and I was laying right on it,¡± Astra retold his experience.

    Fausto stared at Astra with a puzzled expression.

    ¡°That ogre was at least at the peak of white rank, that¡¯s why I was surprised that you survived.¡±

    It was Astra¡¯s turn to look at Fausto with a puzzled expression, ¡°White rank?¡±

    ¡°The way that we measure mana is by its purity. The purity of your mana can be probed through a mana sphere or when you cast a spell that¡¯s powerful enough to reveal an aura. The higher the purity, the stronger and more effective your spells are.¡±

    ¡°Mana purity is ranked from lowest to highest: White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.¡±

    ¡°Similar to the intensity of flames.¡±

    ¡°Each color has nine stages to it. We call it steps since it gets harder and harder to break through as you improve. Monsters and beasts are also rated by mana purity even if they possess little or no mana.¡±

    ¡°For example, a beast ranked at Red 9<sup>th</sup> step requires at least a mage of Red 9<sup>th</sup> step to kill it. The higher ranked the beast, the more people that it takes to defeat it.¡±

    ¡°Did you get all that?¡± Fausto turned to Astra.

    Astra nodded. Could Astra be a mage at the peak of white rank then? No, that was impossible, he didn¡¯t even know what happened since he fell unconscious.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Fausto took in a breath of air.

    ¡°Whew! I¡¯m all tired from speaking already, must be my wounds. You¡¯ll learn other things like geography, history, medicine, mana control, and some other stuff at the academy.¡±

    ¡°Instead, I¡¯ll teach you something more interesting.¡±

    Astra looked at him with curiosity.

    Fausto said, ¡°The basic technique of absorbing and condensing your mana.¡±

    This basic technique was created for children who had yet to fully mature since children were able to grow stronger at a rapid pace. It was a safer procedure to increase one¡¯s mana pool at a young age.

    Before this technique was created, countless children would attempt to expand their mana pool by using a crude method; they would think of it like a rubber band, the more they pushed the boundaries of their mana pool, the more mana they would be able to handle. The children would continue using mana way past the point of exhaustion.

    This method caused countless children to essentially break apart their mana pool, preventing them from keeping the mana inside of their body. The mana leakage rate from a broken mana pool was faster than a child¡¯s mana absorption rate which killed many children.

    Mana was the source of life for all living things. Without it, all living things would wither and die.

    Fausto began teaching Astra the basic technique, ¡°Feel the mana in the air, draw it inside your body. Mend the mana inside you as if it were your blood. Circulate the mana around, creating a never ending flow. Each cycle strengthens the mana inside you and helps to condense it.¡±

    ¡°By condensing your mana, the purity of your mana increases. As you get stronger, you will need to find other resources to help you, or you can acquire a better technique.¡±

    Fausto had witnessed the battle between Astra and the mage. With the amount of mana he had seen Astra output, Fausto assumed that Astra was born with an abnormal amount of mana. Perhaps Astra was a descendant of some powerful bloodline that died out over the years.

    Astra did as Fausto instructed.

    Several pebbles started rolling near Astra. A breeze of wind blew by. Sweat soaked Astra¡¯s clothes. Steam emanated from Astra¡¯s heated body.

    Astra¡¯s affinities with the four basic elements were higher than Fausto expected. Fausto had never seen this type of phenomenon happen to a first year before, nevertheless a twelve-year-old child.

    ¡°Astra, your mana is leaking out. Keep it under control.¡± Fausto said.

    Astra nodded. He slowed down the flow and regained control of the mana. The jade blue pendant around his neck glimmered as he meditated.

    ¡°What element and spells can you use?¡± Fausto curiously asked.

    ¡°Wind, fire, and water. Balls and slashes,¡± Astra answered.

    Fausto nodded. Astra had a huge mana pool and had the ability to use three elements but was severely lacking in techniques and spells. The ones that he knew how to do was something every noble child in Ascelyn City mastered.

    Fausto was astonished at the fact that Astra didn¡¯t try to use more elements. Every child in Ascelyn City would have their affinities tested, the more elements one was in tune with, the higher chance they would be able to use rare elements.

    Astra continued, ¡°During the fight with the ogre, I was able to wrap my body in wind elemental mana. I call it wind armor.¡±

    Fausto smirked. This was quite interesting. Elemental armor was only taught early on by middle ranked nobles and higher. With wind armor, Astra should easily be able to pass the exam.

    Fausto decided to do all that he could to help Astra out. He still felt guilty for leaving Astra alone to deal with the ogre. It was one of the darkest moments of his life. The thought of sacrificing a child so he could live ate away at his soul.

    Several days went by before they reached Ascelyn City. They had encountered several beasts, but with Fausto recovering to almost his full strength, they were easily dealt with. Astra had continued to use the basic technique for the past couple of days. His control over his mana usage improved vastly, but his mana pool was increasing at a slower pace than before.

    Fausto and Astra walked up to a giant steel door with the words ¡°Ascelyn City¡± hung on a large metal plate above it.

    ¡°Halt!¡± Two guards were stationed near the doors.

    Fausto threw a medallion to the guard.

    The guard took the medallion and looked at it.

    ¡°Welcome back, sir.¡± The two guards¡¯ moved their hands in unison, creating a multitude of hand signs.

    The giant steel door slowly creaked open.

 Chapter 11: Ascelyn Academy

    The massive doors cracked open.

    A bright flash hit Astra¡¯s eyes.

    When Astra opened his eyes, he saw a long street lined up with shops and stalls on both sides.

    Everyone was shouting, trying to get more customers.

    ¡°Cloth armor here! Get your cloth armor here! Only ten coppers!¡±

    ¡°Chain mail here! Huge discount! Only 30 coppers!¡±

    ¡°Iron sword! 15 coppers!¡±

    ¡°Basic recovery potions here! 50 coppers!¡±

    Astra was amazed at the things being sold. There were so many things that he had not seen before. Darcy had told him about these recovery potions. It was a magical liquid that would heal whatever wounds you had with just a sip.

    ¡°Come, we have to get you settled in. Don¡¯t get lost.¡± Fausto walked through the crowd.

    The people gave way for Fausto as he was still wearing his blood-stained robe.

    Astra kept his eyes on Fausto. He did not want to get lost in the city. It would be extremely troublesome if he were to split off from Fausto.

    As Astra and Fausto walked towards Ascelyn Academy, Astra could feel the mana in the air getting denser. He didn¡¯t know that a different environment could affect the mana so much.

    A large moat appeared. It was filled with clear blue water, unlike the dark green rivers near Astra¡¯s village. The moat surrounded a castle that had hundred meter tall walls. A bridge laid across the moat, connecting the land to the castle.

    Fausto led the way, and Astra followed behind.

    As they reached the end of the bridge, a door appeared on the castle walls.

    A soft, gentle voice echoed, ¡°Welcome back, Fausto Clearwinds.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Fausto signaled for Astra to walk through the door.

    Astra did as he was told.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    A flash of white appeared, and Astra felt the space around him being distorted.

    As he opened his eyes, he was in a plaza with a fountain in the middle. He was surrounded by flowers and the thick scent of medicinal herbs.

    Fausto walked straight ahead, ¡°To the north is the school, where classes take place. To the east is the arena, for practicing and dueling. To the west is the grand library. To the south, where we are right now, are the gardens for herbs and medicine.¡±

    Astra nodded as he followed behind him.

    ¡°We have a lot of time to spare. The entrance exam should be in a couple of days. I¡¯ll take you to a guest building. With your abilities, you should be able to pass with no problem. You¡¯ll be able to move to the student dorm then.¡± Fausto explained.

    ¡°Do you know what I¡¯m going to be tested on?¡± Astra asked. He did not have much knowledge of spells or anything else for that matter.

    ¡°Nothing that you need to study for. Just your physical attributes and mana talents.¡±

    Astra sighed in relief.

    Astra arrived at a two story tall building made out of wood.

    ¡°There will be someone coming to take care of your needs. I need to make a report now. I¡¯m looking forward to seeing you later.¡± Fausto grinned.

    Astra opened the door to the guest building and walked inside. The wooden planks creaked, and dust flew around as he strolled inside.

    This was a guest building? This academy sure was luxurious. It was much more spacious than his home in the village since it had two floors but everything was covered in dust. Astra decided to clean up a bit since he would be living here for a while.

    Astra created a hundred pebble-sized rain drops and splashed it all over the floors, walls, and ceiling. The droplets absorbed the dust, and Astra gathered all the water into one big ball. Big wet clumps of dirt and dust appeared in the center. Astra tossed the ball out the window.

    Astra swiped his finger across a wooden table. It was still wet. His mastery over water still needed work.

    He threw his arms out and created gentle gusts of wind to dry off the water.

    ¡°There. All cleaned up.¡± Astra smiled at his achievement.

    Knock. Knock.

    Fausto did tell him that someone would be coming.

    Astra opened the door.

    Outside was a person who was around the same height as Astra. They were wearing a black cloak and a white mask that only had holes for eyes.

    The cloaked person handed Astra a basket.

    Astra took the basket and peered inside. The basket contained apples, oranges, bread, and some clothes.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Astra.

    The cloaked person nodded and walked away.

    Astra laid the basket on the kitchen table and ate a couple of apples. After he was full, Astra went upstairs and sat on his bed to practice the basic technique he had learned from Fausto. His pendant gleamed of blue light.

    At night, another knock was heard at the door. When Astra went to open the door, there was no one there except for a basket that laid on the ground. There were more food and more clothes.

    Astra took the basket and ate his dinner. He went back to meditating. Astra realized that his mana pool still had plenty of mana left even after using the basic technique for extended periods of time.

    Couldn¡¯t Astra just exhaust his mana pool after he used the basic technique? That way he would gain mastery over mana control and at the same time, increase his mana pool.

    Astra grinned at his insight. He dispelled most of the mana within him in an instant, exhausting his mana pool. He immediately fell dizzy and collapsed into a deep sleep.

 Chapter 12: Entrance Exam

    Astra spent the next couple of days just eating, meditating, and sleeping. He would¡¯ve loved to explore Ascelyn Academy but he was afraid of stirring up trouble since he was unfamiliar with the place.

    Knock knock. Knock, knock, knock, knock.

    There were more knocks than usual. Astra opened the door and Fausto appeared in a white robe.

    ¡°Have you checked the place out?¡± Fausto asked.

    Astra shook his head.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to get lost.¡±

    ¡°Reasonable.¡±

    Fausto turned around and signaled for Astra to follow. ¡°Today¡¯s the entrance exam. Are you nervous?¡±

    Of course Astra was nervous. He was just some boy from a village who knew nothing of the outside world. The desire to gain strength allowed Astra to have to courage to follow Fausto to Ascelyn Academy.

    Astra didn¡¯t want to seem weak in front of Fausto. ¡°No, I¡¯m not nervous.¡±

    Fausto laughed, ¡°Hahaha, good. Very good.¡±

    They came to a stop in front of the stadium.

    A board near the entrance said, ¡°ENTRANCE EXAM TODAY. ALL DUELS CANCELLED.¡±

    ¡°Go in,¡± said Fausto. ¡°I¡¯ll be watching from above.¡± Fausto gave Astra a little push.

    ¡°Wai-¡± Astra turned around but Fausto was already gone.

    Astra walked through a long dark corridor before finally seeing light.

    Rows of teenagers stood side by side on the arena grounds.

    People in robes and armor were watching from the stands.

    As Astra walked out of the corridor, a person dressed in a warm, red robe spoke sternly to him.

    ¡°Please line up behind a person. Do not talk until the principal has spoken or you will be disqualified.¡±

    Astra nodded. Astra didn¡¯t want to talk to anyone anyways. He had little interest of socializing with people. He would probably be made fun if they knew he was from a village.

    Astra lined up behind a boy who was a head shorter than he was. The boy was wearing a white robe while holding a wooden wand. His robe was too big for him and the ends of it was smeared by dirt.

    The boy glanced at him before turning to the front again.

    A yellow flame exploded in the air. A person appeared but only their silhouette could be seen since the sun was directly behind them.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    A loud voice echoed, ¡°Welcome to Ascelyn Academy¡¯s 96<sup>th</sup> entrance exam. This year will be a little bit different since there is an unprecedented amount of people enrolling, we will first test you in two groups. The first group will have a battle tournament. The second group will be tested on supportive elements.¡±

    Astra was troubled. Fausto had said that he would be tested on physical attributes and mana talents. Astra had not practiced using the Sword of Gale nor any spells. He was at a huge disadvantage if he encountered someone who truly knew how to fight.

    ¡°Split yourselves off.¡±

    Surprisingly, there were more people who joined the second group than the first. Astra did not even know what the supportive elements were so he only had one choice.

    ¡°Second group follow me. First group, follow the instructions of the battle instructors.¡±

    The silhouette slowly flew away with a group of people running behind him.

    ¡°Ten¡­Thirty seven¡­Eighty nine¡­One thirty two¡­¡± One of the instructors started counting the number of people.

    ¡°Perfect, all even. You will fight against the person next to you. If you win, move to the left side of the stadium, if you lose, move to the right. The stage is surrounded by a barrier, don¡¯t worry about controlling your spells. You win when your opponent surrenders or is unconscious.¡±

    The little boy in front of Astra turned around and eyed Astra up and down then gave him a look of disdain.

    Astra looked at himself. All he was wearing was a cloth shirt and shorts. His Sword of Gale was strapped on to his back.

    The boy walked towards a stage and Astra followed behind.

    Many of the others started doing the same. There were more than a hundred stages. The arena was incredibly large for it to hold a hundred of these gigantic stages.

    The boy sneered at Astra, ¡°You¡¯re not from here, are you? I¡¯ve never seen you before. Those clothes, where did you get them? My servant has better attire than you.¡±

    Astra sighed. Just because he wasn¡¯t wearing nice clothes, he was being slandered.

    Astra unsheathed his three foot long sword.

    ¡°Oh? Looks like there¡¯s something nice on you after all. Where did you get that sword? Did you steal it? No way can a poor bloke like you get a sword like that,¡± said the boy.

    Everyone around them had gotten up on their stages.

    ¡°START!¡± The instructors yelled in unison.

    The boy laughed, ¡°Hahahaha. Are you really going to fight me with a sword? This is a magic academy you know? Not a mercenary camp.¡±

    ¡°Take a look at this!¡± The boy started a chant, ¡°I command fire¡­¡±

    Astra sprinted towards the boy.

    The boy¡¯s eyes grew serious. Astra was faster than he thought. He quickly finished chanting his spell, ¡°I CALL UPON THE FLAMES SO IT MAY BLOW!¡±

    A breath of flame appeared in front of the boy¡¯s wand.

    ¡°Take this!¡± The boy pointed the wand at Astra.

    This breath of flame was truly astounding. Its intensity was nothing like Astra¡¯s fireball. With Astra lacking in spells, he could not counter it with another spell. The only other thing he had was his wind armor, but even that might not be enough.

    Astra struggled as the breath came closer towards him.

    He surrounded his Sword of Gale with wind mana and cleaved at the breath of flame.

    An abnormally strong slash of wind emanated from the sword and dispersed the flame then immediately flew towards the boy.

    ¡°I-Impossible! What kind of sword is that!¡± The boy yelled in shock. The boy quickly rolled out of the way but ended up sprawling on the floor as the slash was too quick.

    Astra looked at the sword. He had not intended for the slash of wind to appear after his strike. He had wanted to use the sword to extend his reach to deflect the breath of fire. Who knew that the sword would be able to enhance his wind magic by so much?

    Astra appeared next to the boy before he was able to get up and pointed the sword at his neck.

    ¡°I¡­I surrender¡­¡± The boy whimpered.

    ¡°Arena thirty four finished!¡± An instructor shouted.

    Astra sheathed his sword and walked down the stage. He moved towards the left side of the stadium.

    The boy reluctantly picked himself up and went to the loser¡¯s spot.

    Surprisingly, over half of the battles were already finished. Many had dominated their opponents as Astra did in the first couple of moves.

    Astra did not have many chances to fight against mages in his village. He concentrated on the remaining fights and observed the different battles.

 Chapter 13: Massive Mana Pool

    After a couple of minutes, all of the matches were done. Astra had seen a lot of different types of battles.

    Some mages were just chanting one long spell and finished the match in one move. There were some who had low mana pools and began slugging it out with fists and kicks after a single spell. The ones that lasted longer were the people who were running around and casting small balls of magic.

    ¡°Look at the person next to you. Fight again. Same rules as before.¡± The instructor bellowed.

    Astra looked at the person next to him. The teenager was as tall as him and held a seven-foot long spear. The teenager grinned at him and started walking towards the stage.

    Astra followed behind.

    The teenager twirled his spear several times and got into an offensive stance.

    Very intimidating, Astra thought. It seems like the teenager had practiced a lot with the spear.

    ¡°START!¡±

    The teenager threw his spear at Astra¡¯s head and sprinted forward.

    ¡°???¡± Astra sidestepped the spear reflexively. Why would the teenager throw his spear? Wasn¡¯t that his only weapon?

    Astra looked in front of him and saw the teenager two meters in front of him.

    Was the teenager going to fight Astra bare-fisted? Astra took a defensive stance, not willing to take the risk.

    The teenager jumped in the air.

    Suddenly, a spear appeared in his hands.

    ¡°What?!¡± How did another spear appear in the teenager¡¯s hands? Astra parried the blow and quickly rolled to the side. Astra instantly got up and distanced himself.

    Astra looked behind him, ¡°The barrier!¡±

    ¡°Shame.¡± The teenager grinned at Astra. The teenager had finished his first match by using this exact move. His opponent had let his guard down and prepared to attack the teenager with a spell but was suddenly struck by a seven-foot long spear which appeared out of nowhere.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    The teenager continued throwing the spear and catching it off the barrier.

    The spear was too fast. Astra was barely able to dodge it.

    The teenager caught the spear and spun around, firing the spear continuously off the barrier. The ricochet had helped the spear sped up so much that a loud boom could be heard every time the barrier was struck.

    Astra focused on the spear. He had to get used to the speed quickly, or it would pierce right through him. It was a battle of reactions. Every time the spear flew back, the teenager also had to catch the spear before throwing it back. If Astra just focused on dodging, he should be able to last to the point where the teenager couldn¡¯t grab the spear anymore.

    The teenager seemed to have read Astra¡¯s thoughts. He caught the spear and twirled it around to kill off the momentum.

    ¡°Nice reactions.¡± The teenager complimented.

    ¡°Tha-¡±

    Before Astra could finish his sentence, the teenager stabbed into the ground.

    ¡°Heed my call, Earth fissure!¡±

    Spikes of rock came from the ground and headed towards Astra.

    Astra leaped to the right but was cut off by another row of rock spikes. He was trapped between the spikes and had nowhere to go.

    Astra fired off a fireball, waterball, and windball at the teenager.

    ¡°What the heck? Triple elements?¡± The teenager gasped in shock.

    ¡°Protect me from my foe, Earth wall!¡± The teenagers stabbed the ground again, and a massive wall came in front of him, blocking all of Astra¡¯s attacks.

    ¡°Tsk.¡± Astra did not have the luxury of having someone teach him any spells. His attacks were too basic and did very little damage.

    Astra was afraid of making this a melee battle. The spear obviously had more reach, and the teenager¡¯s twirling demonstrated mastery over the weapon.

    The only thing Astra had left was the huge mana pool that he had and the sword that he held.

    Astra circulated all of his mana through the sword and used it as a wand.

    The Sword of Gale had a bright, white glow around it. It was as if the sword was happy that it was fighting.

    ¡°WATERBALL, FIRESLASH, WINDBALL, WATERSLASH, FIREBALL, WINDSLASH!!!¡±

    It took all of these spells to crack apart the earth wall. Astra continued the barrage of magic.

    ¡°Ugh¡­EARTH WALL!¡± The teenager kept on stabbing the ground, forming a layer of walls in front of him.

    An instructor looked at their battle with curiosity. This was one of the most intense battles he had seen in an entrance exam. It was a pity that the fight was about to end.

    Astra continued his bombardment while the teenager put up his earth walls.

    ¡°Urgh¡­¡± Astra groaned. His mana pool was almost depleted. If this continued any longer, Astra would pass out soon.

    Suddenly, the teenager yelled.

    ¡°Stop! Stop! I surrender!¡±

    ¡°Finally,¡± Astra sighed a breath of relief and released the ball of wind that was at the tip of his sword.

    The badly cracked earth wall in front of the teenager fell apart on its own.

    The instructor signaled the end of the battle, ¡°Arena eighty-seven finished!¡±

 Chapter 14: Mana Test

    The teenager walked up to Astra and asked, ¡°That was a fun fight. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    Astra had not forgotten how the teenager interrupted him while he was trying to say thanks. But then again, they were in the middle of a battle.

    ¡°Astra.¡±

    ¡°Astra, huh? Never heard of you before. I¡¯m called Watson. I¡¯ll come back for you after I win on the loser¡¯s side.¡± Watson grinned.

    Astra watched as Watson strolled off to the loser¡¯s side, not minding the fact that he had just lost. Astra walked to the winner¡¯s side and waited for the battles to end.

    As the final battle ended, the instructor spoke, ¡°Arena sixty-two finished! All battles complete! The tournament is now over!¡±

    ¡°Everyone on the winner¡¯s side has passed. The ones that have lost twice, please leave. If you are discontent with the result despite losing twice, please come to the reevaluation exam on a later date.¡±

    The instructor heaved a long sigh. The principal had given directions for the instructors to host only two battles. So many young talents were disqualified just because the principal didn¡¯t want a day-long battle tournament.

    There was a bit of protest from the teachers, so the principal told them to host a reevaluation exam at a later point by themselves.

    Astra was relieved. He had passed the enrollment test. The first fight was a breeze and was a complete opposite to what he faced in his second fight. If there were another fight, Astra would probably lose since he had just run out of mana.

    ¡°Everyone that has passed, please follow me onto the golden platform.¡± The instructor walked on to a stage that had a shiny, gold floor. There were tons of lines and words marked up on the stage and were dazzling bright.

    ¡°This is a teleportation formation and will lead us to the next stage of the exam.¡±

    Everyone converged onto the stage.

    ¡°Psst!¡± Someone whispered from behind.

    Astra turned around. It was Watson.

    ¡°It was a shame that the tournament ended so early. I was about to win all the matches on the loser¡¯s side then come back to face you.¡± Watson said with a cheeky grin.

    Astra was about to say something when a bright light appeared beneath him. Space distorted around him and he was reminded of when he passed through the castle door of Ascelyn Academy.

    Astra took a look around him. There were around two hundred pillars of light appearing beside him. Astra looked in front of him; there was a huge stone pillar surrounded by hundreds of crystal balls.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    The instructor spoke, ¡°Everyone here has passed. We will now test your mana. Place your hand on top of a crystal ball and inject as much mana as you can. Your names will appear on the pillar. The top fifty ranks will receive merit points. Each rank above rank ten will earn much more.¡±

    ¡°We will give you several minutes to recover your mana pool from your battles.¡±

    ¡°Merit points?¡± Astra mumbled.

    Watson was right next to Astra, ¡°They¡¯re the currency for Ascelyn Academy. To prevent wealthy nobles from dominating the commoners, they¡¯ve implemented merit points that can only be earned through quests, discoveries, selling potions, and more.¡±

    Astra nodded.

    Everyone got off the stage and went in front of a crystal ball.

    Watson continued, ¡°You can use these points to buy spells, books, potions, weapons, receive tutoring, and so on. Anything you would do with money, you would do with merit points.¡±

    Astra was delighted with this currency system. He would have a chance to acquire new spells and armor even though he had no money.

    Astra put his hand on top of a ball. Watson chose the ball right next to his.

    ¡°Begin whenever you feel like it, I will give a warning when there is one minute left,¡± said the instructor.

    Everyone started injecting their mana onto the board.

    ¡°Ahahah! I knew I was the best!¡± Someone exclaimed.

    The person in first place was named Dewey Bean.

    ¡°No! What¡¯s happening?¡±

    Dewey¡¯s name was no longer in first and was skyrocketing downwards to the hundredth place.

    The list of names kept on changing. Everybody¡¯s names were scattering and switching spots. Anxiety could be seen all around. Grunts and screams could be heard as people injected all the mana that they had.

    Astra kept his mind calm and at peace. He looked over at Watson. Watson seemed to be glancing all around, surveying the people around him.

    Astra closed his eyes and focused on meditating.

    The rankings started to stagnate and stabilized after several minutes.

    ¡°Here¡¯s my chance!¡± Astra heard Watson whisper.

    ¡°HA!¡± Watson yelled.

    The space around Watson seemed to tremble as he infused an enormous amount of mana all at once into the ball.

    ¡°Whoa! Who¡¯s that? He¡¯s going up the ranks like crazy!¡±

    ¡°Watson Whitley? If I recall correctly, he comes from one of the middle noble families!¡±

    The crowd watched in shock as Watson¡¯s name soared through a hundred ranks and placed at seventh place.

    Watson looked around and was pleased with the reactions that he had gotten. He looked next to him and noticed that Astra wasn¡¯t injecting any mana at all.

    ¡°Psst! Astra! What are you doing?¡± Watson whispered towards Astra.

    ¡°One more minute!¡± The instructor bellowed.

    Astra opened his eyes.

 Chapter 15: Dorm

    A clear, serene gaze could be seen in Astra¡¯s eyes as he finished his meditation. He caressed the crystal ball as mana started to circulate through his body and into the ball. Astra was recovering his mana and was even using the basic technique to gather up even more mana.

    A name could be seen on the giant pillar, climbing through the ranks as quickly as lightning.

    ¡°Astra Gale? Who is that? I¡¯ve never heard of him!¡± The crowd clamored.

    ¡°One hundred eighty¡­One hundred twenty¡­Ninety-eight¡­Fifty-two¡­Thirty-one¡­¡±

    The crowd¡¯s excitement grew as Astra¡¯s name rose to the top.

    ¡°Did he just climb two hundred ranks? How much does this guy want to show off? He just waited until the very end to inject his mana.¡± Some people sneered in disdain.

    ¡°Look! It¡¯s slowing down!¡±

    Astra¡¯s name soared to eighthplace, right behind Watson.

    ¡°Whoa, nice going! Just a little bit more and you could¡¯ve beaten me. What a shame,¡± Watson chuckled.

    Astra¡¯s eyes remained as calm as ever as if he didn¡¯t hear Watson.

    ¡°Look! It¡¯s rising again!¡± The crowd said.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Watson stared at the pillar.

    Astra was now seventh while Watson dropped to eighth.

    ¡°How¡­Ugh¡­¡± Watson murmured.

    ¡°Twenty seconds left!¡± The instructor yelled.

    The pressure of time seemed to have urged Astra to do his best as he climbed another rank to sixth place.

    ¡°Ten seconds left!¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Astra gripped the crystal ball tightly, transferring every last drop of mana that he had.

    ¡°Wow, fifth place! I¡¯ve never heard of the Gale family before. Is he from another city?¡± Someone said.

    ¡°STOP! The mana test is now over. Those who are rank fifty and above, go to the merit shop later to acquire your points.¡± The instructor commanded.

    The crystal balls turned into gray stone and crumbled apart as if it were sand.

    The instructor signaled for everyone to stand on top of the golden platform again and everyone transformed into pillars of light as they were teleported back into the stadium.

    A giant stone pillar engraved with names appeared in the air.

    The crowd in the stadium scanned the pillar.

    ¡°Ha! My pupil made it into the top fifty! What a talent!¡± An old man exclaimed.

    ¡°You think he¡¯s a talent? Mine is in the top twenty!¡± An old woman next to him said.

    ¡°We all know that you expended a tremendous amount of resources to help that girl of yours. It would be strange if she didn¡¯t at least place in the top ten.¡± The old man grumbled.

    Fausto chuckled as he heard these old timers argue over the talents of their pupils.

    ¡°Now then, let¡¯s see how you did¡­¡± Fausto scanned the pillar.

    Astra looked around him. The whole stadium was full of chatter.

    Suddenly, a yellow flash appeared in the air.

    A loud voice echoed, ¡°Congratulations to this year¡¯s examinees. I am very pleased with this year¡¯s outcome. No matter your status, as long as you work hard, you will rise to the top.¡±

    ¡°Freshman, report to the dorm headquarters for your dorm. That will be all.¡±

    Everyone dispersed through the stadium¡¯s many exits. On his way out, Astra met with Fausto.

    ¡°Great job kid, didn¡¯t expect you to get fifth place out of hundreds of people.¡± Fausto laughed as he complimented Astra.

    Astra replied, ¡°Me neither.¡±

    ¡°Here, I¡¯ll give you a map of the academy, so you know where to go.¡± Fausto left after giving Astra a scroll.

    Astra examined the map. The dorm headquarters weren¡¯t too far from here, so he went off on his way. He arrived at a three story building made out of steel and seemed to be reinforced by mana. It looked much better than the guest house he was staying at. Astra opened the door, and a familiar man sat behind a desk.

    ¡°My name is Ebarin. I will tell you which dorm you will be living in. State your name.¡± said the man in a warm, red robe.

    It was the same man from the exams. He was still carrying his book which held all the names of the examinees.

    Astra replied, ¡°Astra Gale.¡±

    The man glanced at his book.

    ¡°Dorm Conquest. Merit points will be redeemable after you acquire your medallion.¡±

    Astra nodded and left the building. He looked at his map for Dorm Conquest and went on his way.

    ¡°DORM CONQUEST¡±

    A giant sign was engraved onto the front of the massive building made out of wood and stone. It was many times bigger than the guest house, and the exterior was decorated with flowers and gardens.

    The new students walked on the concrete-paved road as they entered the building. Astra followed suit.

 Chapter 16: Merits and Factions

    Astra walked into Dorm Conquest and saw an enormous wooden board that contained the room number for each person. Astra scanned the board.

    Room 214. It should be on the second floor.

    Even though the dorm was huge, the new influx of students trying to find their room number crowded the entire lobby.

    Astra pushed his way through the crowd of people and arrived at his room. He opened it and was surprised to see three other people.

    ¡°Huh? It¡¯s you again! What a coincidence!¡± Watson laughed cheerfully.

    ¡°H-Hello¡­¡± a timid boy called out.

    A silhouette in the corner glanced at Astra and said nothing.

    Astra walked over to an empty bed and sat down.

    ¡°Let me introduce you guys to Astra. I fought against him in the entrance exam, and I was also next to him in the mana test.¡± Watson seemed to be bragging to the others.

    Watson turned to Astra. ¡°This is Diddle Swailes, and the guy in the corner is Jayce Verner.¡±

    ¡°Are you¡­Are you Astra Gale?¡± Diddle asked.

    Astra nodded.

    ¡°Wow¡­I don¡¯t belong here¡­I was only ranked forty-three on the mana test¡­I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m rooming with three of the top ten¡­¡± Diddle whimpered.

    Astra glanced at Jayce. He wondered what his rank was.

    Watson seemed to have read his thoughts. ¡°Jayce was ranked third in the mana test.¡±

    Astra nodded and asked, ¡°What are we supposed to do now?¡±

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s getting settled in right now, so it¡¯s free time for the most part. Dinner is in a couple of hours at the cafeteria. Then free time again until sleeping hours.¡± Watson said.

    ¡°Can I redeem my merit points?¡± Astra wanted to reap his rewards from the mana test.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°That''s an excellent idea. Let¡¯s go together. You guys coming?¡± Watson asked Diddle and Jayce.

    ¡°N-No thanks. I want to get settled in.¡± Diddle stuttered.

    ¡°¡­¡± Jayce continued looking out the window.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡± Watson led the way with Astra following behind.

    ¡°Watson, how do you know your way around here so well?¡± Astra asked. He didn¡¯t know how Watson, a first-year like he was, was able to navigate around the Academy so efficiently without a map.

    ¡°I was apprenticed to a mage here, so naturally I was living here for a while.¡±

    Astra was surprised. That meant that Watson had way more experience with the academy than just regular first-years.

    ¡°A lot of the first-years here are apprenticed to a mage at this school. The teachers here usually go out into the city in search of rare talents to boost their reputation.¡±

    ¡°There are several factions around here that you should be wary of. I don¡¯t mean to judge, but you don¡¯t seem like you¡¯re from the city.¡±

    Astra nodded, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°The fact that I haven¡¯t heard of your name despite being such a talented mage and your lack of noble clothing.¡±

    ¡°I see. What factions do I need to be wary of?¡¯

    Watson lowered his voice, ¡°The noble faction despise commoners. The commoners here are suppressed despite the merit system since the system only affects inside the academy and not the outside of the academy. The nobles blackmail and extort the commoners by threatening their families outside of the academy.¡±

    Astra detested these nobles. It reminded him of the mage from the village sent by the nobles. Astra did not like the way how the rich had to abuse their power and disregarded the lives of the commoners.

    ¡°But there¡¯s even a group stronger than the nobles. They call themselves the Elite Assembly. Comprised of the richest and most powerful of the nobles. Even the teachers have to turn a blind eye to any minor rules that they break.¡±

    Astra crossed his arms. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a noble, Watson?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­Yes. BUT I¡¯m not with either faction. I abhor the fact that they are corrupting the integrity of the academy. They intentionally bring down those who threaten their power and suppress those who possess potential.¡±

    Watson made a good point and reflected Astra¡¯s thoughts. Astra smiled inwardly; he felt that Watson would make a great friend.

    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re here already.¡±

    They went inside the merit shop and spoke to the clerk.

    ¡°Hi. We would like to redeem our merit points.¡± Watson said.

    ¡°Name and year?¡± The clerk asked.

    ¡°First year. Watson Whitley.¡±

    ¡°First year. Astra Gale.¡±

    The clerk fumbled through the desk. ¡°One moment please.¡± She went to the back room.

    The clerk gave each of them a medallion. ¡°This medallion also serves as a form of identification. Inject your mana inside it to bind it.¡±

    Astra and Watson both bound their medallions and scoured it.

    ¡°How many points did you get?¡± Watson asked.

    ¡°2600,¡± Astra replied.

    ¡°The heck! That¡¯s double my points! Ugh, I should¡¯ve tried a little bit harder.¡± Watson was dejected at how much more Astra received.

    The clerk spoke up, ¡°If you wish to use the points, please come back later. We are still settling in right now.¡±

    Watson and Astra nodded and left the shop.

 Chapter 17: Isabella Phoenixvale

    ¡°Watch out!!!¡± A girl screamed.

    A girl sliding on ice collided with Astra as they walked out of the shop.

    Watson dodged out of the way as Astra, and the girl tumbled on the ground.

    ¡°Ow¡­I¡¯m sorry. Are you okay?¡± The girl got up and reached her hand towards Astra.

    Astra grabbed onto the hand and got up, ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡±

    The girl asked, ¡°My name is Isabella Phoenixvale. What¡¯s yours?¡±

    ¡°Astra Gale,¡± Astra said.

    ¡°Sorry about that, Astra. I¡¯m in a hurry right now,¡± The girl ran off, leaving a trail of ice behind her.

    ¡°Lucky you,¡± Watson grinned at Astra.

    ¡°Isabella Phoenixvale was ranked fourth on the mana test, just one rank above you. Furthermore, she¡¯s from the prominent Phoenixvale family who are part of the high nobles. How¡¯s it like meeting a gorgeous beauty on your first day?¡±

    Astra crossed his arms, ¡°Is she part of any noble factions?¡±

    ¡°Not any that I know of.¡±

    Astra did not want to have relations with anyone from the noble faction. Astra wasn¡¯t even from the city, so he was poorer than dirt. Wouldn¡¯t he be treated worse than the commoners that came from the city? Who knew if the nobles would pretend to befriend him then backstab him at a later time?

    Astra asked, ¡°What now?¡±

    Watson looked at the sunset in the sky, ¡°It should be dinner time. Let¡¯s head back to the dorm.¡±

    Astra nodded as they walked back.

    They entered the cafeteria together and got their food. There was only rice, meat, and vegetables. There wasn¡¯t a variety of food, but the cafeteria allowed the students to eat as much as they wanted.

    Astra and Watson sat down on an empty table on the first floor. Astra looked above him and saw an open ceiling with many floors above him.

    ¡°Who are those people on the floors above us?¡± Astra asked.

    ¡°Hm? Those people? Usually the nobles and people with influence. They get to eat more luxurious foods, and the higher up floors even get food that is beneficial to their mana pool.¡±

    ¡°Tsk.¡± Astra was becoming more and more frustrated with how the nobles had so many more privileges than the commoners.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°How can I get up there?¡± Astra grumbled.

    ¡°Pay a monthly fee of merit points,¡± Watson responded.

    ¡°Even though we have the merit system at this academy, it can¡¯t get rid of the connections that the nobles possess. The point traders who wish to suck up to the nobles give them more points than normal. That¡¯s how the nobles are easily able to acquire a significant amount of merit points.¡±

    Astra sighed. Being rich sure was great. All the resources just come naturally.

    They finished eating and headed back up towards their room. Jayce was laying on the bed, and Diddle was reading a book.

    ¡°W-Welcome back, g-guys.¡± Diddle stuttered.

    ¡°Were you just reading the whole time? That¡¯s gotta be boring.¡± Watson said.

    ¡°Y-Yeah. I wanted to p-prepare for our class t-tomorrow.¡± Diddle went back to reading.

    Astra went to his desk and found a piece of paper with his class schedule. Watson came over with his and compared the schedules.

    ¡°Hey! We have identical schedules!¡± Watson was happy that they got to be together.

    Astra looked out the window and saw the moon shining brightly in the dark sky.

    ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t we have a little chat? Just to get to know each other,¡± Watson suggested.

    ¡°S-Sure¡­¡± Diddle responded.

    ¡°So, where is everyone from? Tell us a bit about yourself,¡± Watson looked at Diddle.

    ¡°A-Ascelyn City. M-My family belongs to on-one of the lower noble fam-families,¡± Diddle stuttered.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking¡­¡± Watson said. ¡°Were you born with a stutter? You don¡¯t have to answer if you don¡¯t want to.¡±

    Diddle was silent for a moment before speaking again, ¡°I-I was in an a-accident when I w-was a child wh-which gave me a con-concussion. Ever since th-then, I¡¯ve had a st-stutter.¡±

    ¡°Sorry about that¡­¡± Watson¡¯s curiosity had gotten the better of him. He looked towards Astra next.

    ¡°I¡¯m from a reclusive village quite far from here. I happened to meet a mage from here, and he gave me a recommendation for Ascelyn Academy,¡± said Astra.

    Watson nodded and looked at Jayce.

    ¡°¡­Topher City,¡± Jayce said nothing more.

    Watson was about to ask why he was in Ascelyn Academy instead of Topher Academy but decided not to.

    Watson pointed at himself and said, ¡°I¡¯m also from Ascelyn City, belonging to one of the middle-noble families. My family had relations with an academy mage, so I was apprenticed here at a young age.¡±

    The four youths began talking to each other about their lives. They were talking about likes and dislikes when they all noticed that they had something in common. All of them hated the corruption of nobles here. Even Jayce spoke a few sentences on the injustice of the nobles despite his usually quiet self. They began ranting about the rules that the nobles were breaking and how incompetent the principal was for letting this corruption ferment.

    This rant went on for hours until the four of them exhausted themselves and fell asleep.

    ¡­¡­

    ¡­.

    ¡­

    ¡°WAKE UP!!!!!!!¡± Watson grabbed Astra¡¯s shoulders.

    Astra woke up in surprise and head-butted Watson as he got up.

    ¡°Ow¡­¡± Watson cried out.

    Astra chuckled as Watson winced in pain.

    ¡°Time for our first class.¡± Watson got ready and walked out the room.

    Jayce and Diddle were not there when Astra woke up. They must¡¯ve gone to class before them.

    Astra prepared himself and quickly followed behind Watson.

    They walked into the classroom full of rowdy kids, gossiping and chattering.

    Astra and Watson sat at an empty table.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Watson Whitley? Who¡¯s that next to him?¡± A boy whispered.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t seen him before. Wait, look at his clothing! He¡¯s definitely not a noble!¡± A girl whispered back.

    ¡°What¡¯s a commoner doing with Watson? Could he be leeching off Watson¡¯s family?¡±

    ¡°That could be! Watson is a nice guy. This commoner must¡¯ve tricked him somehow.¡±

    Watson sat farther away than the two gossiping kids and didn¡¯t hear them. Astra was irked since he could hear everything that they were saying.

 Chapter 18: Enchantment Prank

    ¡°Quiet down class!¡± A middle-aged man wearing a red robe walked into the classroom. He started writing on the board.

    ¡°Enchantments.¡±

    He spoke loudly, ¡°Today, we will be some doing basic enchantments. As you all know, enchanting is one of the supportive elements that can quickly increase your battle power besides learning better spells and expanding your mana pool.¡±

    The middle-aged man took out a short wand, flicked it in the air a couple of times and chanted some words.

    A bright green glow appeared on the tables in front of the students. As the light faded away, papers and pencils could be seen.

    The teacher pointed at several students and instructed them to pass out some wooden swords.

    The appointed students got up and grabbed some swords and passed them out to the class.

    A mischievous young boy conjured up a small flame as he grabbed a sword.

    He pointed the fire at the wooden sword. The wooden sword seemed to suck in the flame and didn¡¯t look any different. This was gone unnoticed by Astra.

    ¡°Hehe, here¡¯s your sword.¡± The boy chuckled.

    Astra took the sword and placed it in front of him.

    ¡°Now class, practice drawing this inscription on paper.¡±

    The teacher scribbled down some weird lines and shapes on the board.

    ¡°This is a basic inscription for increasing the durability and sharpness of a weapon. Start drawing.¡±

    Everyone got to work and began scribbling on their papers.

    Astra struggled a bit since these weird lines and shapes were unfamiliar to him.

    A few moments later, the teacher spoke again, ¡°That¡¯s all the time we have for warm-ups,¡±

    ¡°The most important part of enchantments is your control over mana. Inscribing these inscriptions onto your sword requires intense concentration and focus.¡±

    The teacher explained the basic techniques of enchanting. Apparently, it was like drawing a picture in midair with mana and then pasting that image onto your equipment.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Everyone started swinging their fingers wildly in the air, constructing their inscriptions.

    Drawing the inscriptions on paper first helped Astra significantly. If one drew the inscriptions too slow, it would disperse before it finished.

    Astra finished the inscription and slowly pushed his inscription towards the wooden sword in front of him.

    As the inscription touched the sword, the blade cracked open slightly. A tint of flame could be seen within the crack. The cracks intensified and the whole sword seemed to be breaking apart.

    Was this supposed to happen? Astra wasn¡¯t sure. He reached for the sword and attempted to inspect it.

    ¡°BOOM! ~¡± The wooden sword blew apart, and pieces of wood flew everywhere.

    A girl next to the mischievous boy whispered, ¡°Oy! You overdid it! The fire was too intense!¡±

    The mischievous boy chuckled and whispered back, ¡°Nah. It¡¯s fine. Watch this.¡±

    The boy stood up and raised his voice, ¡°Oy! Where did you come from! Didn¡¯t anyone teach you anything? How did you manage to draw the inscription wrong? You¡¯re an utter failure. You¡¯re putting your classmates at risk!¡±

    A girl who was cut by a piece of wood also stood up, ¡°He¡¯s right! Look at my face! You¡¯ve scarred it! What family are you from! Your parents must¡¯ve been stupid commoners!¡±

    The nobles in the classroom realized that Astra was dressed like a commoner and no one knew his family. They immediately stood up and fanned the flames.

    ¡°Your ancestors were probably retarded as well. How stupid do you have to be to get the drawing wrong? Even a five-year-old could inscribe better than you!¡±

    The nobles started throwing every single insult they knew of at Astra.

    Watson saw how Astra was silent the whole time. He couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Watson stood up.

    ¡°You guys are idiots! His sword was obviously tampered with! How could a basic level inscription break apart a sword?¡± Watson shouted.

    All the nobles turned towards Watson. They did not like how Watson had just defended a commoner despite being a noble himself.

    A noble said sternly, ¡°Watson, we¡¯ve extended our invitations to you many times, and you¡¯ve refused every single time. We left you alone because you were no threat to us but now you¡¯re defending this commoner. Should we take this as a challenge to us?¡±

    Watson put his hand on Astra¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°He¡¯s my fri-¡±

    Astra grabbed onto Watson¡¯s arm and pulled him down, making Watson sit down. Astra turned to Watson and smiled. He was thankful that Watson had defended him. The time they spent together was short, but Watson had decided to be his friend. He was truly a good person.

    Astra¡¯s smile turned into anger as he stared at the nobles.

    Rage and fury built up within Astra as the insults echoed in his mind. Why did the nobles have to insult his family? What was so wrong about being born poor? Why did it matter where he was from? Was it wrong for him to be here? His ancestors? Really? They would insult a person¡¯s entire lineage so easily?

    Bitterness and frustration fermented inside of Astra. As he replayed the words that the nobles had said, he felt his heart beating wildly. Something inside him wanted to massacre these nobles like the inferior life forms that they were. Astra wasn¡¯t in control of these emotions bubbling up inside of him. This anger inside of him seemed to belong to someone else.

    His head started aching. He closed his eyes in pain and blanked out.

    Astra¡¯s jade-blue pendant glowed lightly under his shirt.

    When he tried to open his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness.

    A blue glow floated freely in the distance.

    Astra extended his hand out and reached for it.

    As his hand was almost grabbing the glow, a weak voice echoed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­!¡±

    It was too late. Astra had already caught the ball of light.

 Chapter 19: Not Astra?

    Astra was in a huge room surrounded by weapons and armor. He tried to move his body, but his body did not listen.

    Suddenly, his body began to move towards a black sword that was placed on a table in the middle of the room.

    Besides the sword, there were many parchments on the table that were filled with inscriptions.

    Astra tried looking at the inscriptions, but his eyes wouldn¡¯t move where he wanted them to go.

    In front of Astra were a pair of firm hands that seemed to belong to a man in his thirties. He realized that this wasn¡¯t his body, he was in someone else''s body right now.

    The man began to move his fingers in front of him wildly. Dozens of lines and shapes began to congregate together. Astra recognized this! The man was making inscriptions for enchantment!

    As the man finished his inscriptions, he swiped his hands past the inscriptions. All the inscriptions seemed to disappear from the air. The man lightly stroked the black sword from top to bottom with his finger.

    In an instant, dozens of inscriptions flew from the man¡¯s hand and inscribed itself onto the sword.

    Astra could tell that this was a high-level enchantment technique. Astra was currently in the body of a master enchanter!

    The man continued to enchant different types of weapons and armor.

    Enchanting. Enchanting. Enchanting.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    ¡°A-Astra? Wh-what''s wrong?¡± Watson stuttered.

    Astra stood up. His hair turned partly blue and crackled with lightning. His pupils were flickering with bolts of lightning.

    ¡°You inferior beings dare insult my clan? You all do not deserve to live,¡± A low, beastly voice came from Astra¡¯s throat.

    Watson stood up and backed away. This wasn¡¯t the Astra that he knew, even his voice was different.

    Astra unsheathed the sword from his back and held it in front of him.

    The teacher knew that something was wrong once he saw that Astra¡¯s hair had changed color. He immediately readied his wand and pointed it at Astra.

    Astra pointed his sword upwards. ¡°Die.¡±

    Shrills of lightning came from the sword and began to wreak havoc within the room.

    Watson took out his spear and stabbed the floor. An earth dome surrounded himself and several others.

    ¡°AHHHH!¡± A noble boy screamed. He was paralyzed by a lightning bolt.

    ¡°H-Help me!¡± A girl screamed. She tried to run out of the room, but a blue zigzag struck the girl¡¯s ankle and left her crying on the floor.

    All of the nobles who had insulted Astra were left lying on the floor. Some of them had their guts pierced and their legs charred.

    All of this happened in an instant; the teacher wasn¡¯t prepared to face this sort of situation.

    ¡°This is my plea, to create fire and heat, Flame Lance!¡± The teacher shouted.

    A spiral of flames congregated at the tip of the teacher¡¯s wand and transformed into a fire lance.

    ¡°HA!¡±

    The teacher fired off the spell at Astra. Flame Lance was a spell which required the user to be at least a Red ranked mage and have precise control over the element of fire. The spiral of flames allowed the spell to penetrate any armor with ease. If a mage below Red rank were to face up against Flame Lance, they would easily be shredded apart by the sheer intensity of the flames.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Astra glanced at the spiral of flames. He stabbed right in the center of the spiral.

    The flame disappeared as it touched the sword.

    ¡°Wh-WHAT THE FUCK?!¡± The teacher yelled. This situation was impossible to believe. A freshman had easily dispelled Flame Lance, a spell that would easily be able to kill anyone who had yet to reach White rank. This kid wasn¡¯t human at all!

    Astra¡¯s partly turned blue hair started reverting to black.

    ¡°Urgh...ugh¡­.¡± Astra growled. His eyes rolled back, and he slumped to the ground.

    The teacher looked around him. Everything was a mess. The tables were all burnt. The walls were scarred. Almost all of the students in the class were injured. The teacher blew a sigh of relief. If the boy had focused all of his attention on the teacher, there was a good chance that even the teacher would be severely injured.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Astra had lost track of how many times he had enchanted with the man. Astra was able to see everything the man was seeing and do everything the man was doing. It was as if his body was on autopilot. Thus Astra was unable to learn how the inscriptions were done. The man¡¯s technique was truly too fast for Astra.

    Suddenly, thunder struck the ground, and the ground shook. The man¡¯s knees gave out and collapsed to the ground. Astra¡¯s vision went black.

    ¡°I¡¯m...sorry...I couldn¡¯t control...myself¡­¡± A weak voice cried out to Astra.

    Who was talking to him? Astra felt that something was wrong.

    Astra was awake, but his eyelids were as heavy as mountains. His ears perked up as he heard two people speak beside him.

    ¡°This demon! How did we let this monstrosity into this school!¡± A man shouted.

    Astra recognized this voice. It was the teacher of his enchantment class.

    Another voice spoke, ¡°Calm down. We must properly investigate this first.¡± The voice belonged to a young man in his twenties.

    ¡°But principal! You saw the room and the students! What need is there for an investigation? Let¡¯s exile this demon already! Better yet, let¡¯s just execute him right now!¡± The teacher shouted.

    The principal gently said, ¡°Let¡¯s take a moment and relax. We don¡¯t know the full story behind this yet. The students were injured, yes, but at least they aren¡¯t dead.¡±

    The teacher was furious at the principal¡¯s lack of initiative and shouted angrily, ¡°Aren¡¯t dead? You¡¯re taking this matter far too lightly! Imagine the pressure from the nobles coming down on us. Can you even handle it?! All you ever do is leave everything up to the vice principal! Even at the entrance exam, you intentionally shortened it so you could quickly get out of there!¡±

    An oppressive aura emanated from the principal, even the barely awake Astra could feel the pressure.

    The teacher took a few steps back and spoke in a lower voice, ¡°Thank god I was able to stop this devilish kid before he got out of control or everyone in the class would¡¯ve been killed.¡±

    Was this child¡¯s power truly that frightening? The principal knew that the teacher was at least a Red rank mage who was very capable.

    ¡°He will be suspended from all his classes. Leave this matter to me,¡± The principal consoled the teacher.

    The teacher gritted his teeth. He knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to change the principal¡¯s mind. The teacher stomped out of the room.

    The principal walked over to Astra.

    Astra could feel footsteps coming closer to him.

    ¡°I know that you¡¯re awake, open your eyes,¡± The principal said.

    Astra slowly lifted his heavy eyelids. He looked around him.

    He was laying down on a bed with his hands and feet tied with rope.

    ¡°Huh? Wh-What is this? Why?¡± Astra stuttered.

    ¡°Relax. You¡¯re in the infirmary,¡± said the principal in a soothing voice.

    Astra looked at the man. The principal was a young man in his twenties who wore a golden, yellow robe. His short golden hair and firm gaze emanated a lion¡¯s ferociousness.

    The principal said, ¡°My name is Knoxon, do you know why you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Astra said. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what happened. One moment he was angry, the next he had a dream about enchanting.

    ¡°You injured all of your classmates,¡± The principal said.

    Astra stared at the principal in disbelief.

    ¡°How¡­? Why¡­?¡± Astra asked.

    The principal explained, ¡°Everyone was peacefully enchanting, but suddenly your sword blew up. You took your sword out and fired off lightning everywhere and injured everyone. That¡¯s what your teacher told me anyway.¡±

    Astra chuckled. The teacher had left out the part where everyone was insulting Astra. How kind of him.

    Astra didn¡¯t even know he had done these things, but the truth was staring him in the face. After the conversation he had heard between the teacher and the principal, there was no doubt that he was in trouble.

    ¡°What now?¡± Astra asked.

    ¡°You will be suspended for the time being. You are not allowed to go to any of your classes,¡± The principal instructed.

    Astra was shocked, ¡°Th-that''s it? I¡¯m not going to be imprisoned or anything?¡±

    The principal smiled, ¡°That¡¯s all for now. I will be seeing you again later.¡±

    Astra stared at the principal as he opened the door and walked out of the room.

    ¡°W-Wait! I¡¯m still tied-¡±

    The door slammed shut.

 Chapter 20: Invitation

    Astra surrounded his hands with wind and sliced apart the ropes. He got up and left the infirmary room. Astra took out his map and navigated his way out of the school. When he looked up at the sky, the sun was already setting. Astra didn¡¯t know what to do right now. He wasn¡¯t sure if he should go back to the dorm or not. With the incident that he had caused, wouldn¡¯t it be weird if Astra didn¡¯t get into any trouble at all?

    Astra thought about the things that had happened today and sighed. What even happened during his blackout? Wasn¡¯t there someone reliable that he could ask? Someone that he trusted¡­?

    Astra decided to go back to the dorm.

    When he got back to the room, no one was there. Everyone¡¯s belongings were gone.

    ¡°Guys? Anyone here?¡± Astra shouted.

    No response.

    There was a sheet of paper on Astra¡¯s desk. Astra walked over to his desk and picked it up.

    ¡°Hey, Astra. This is Watson. Due to some circumstances, probably due to the commotion that you caused today in the classroom, this room has been cleared out, and you are now the sole resident of the room. I was adamant to leave, but the principal himself came and told us to leave it all up to him...We will meet again, Astra. Take care and be safe.¡±

    Astra smiled. Even after the troubles, he caused in class today, Watson was still willing to be friends with Astra.

    Astra noticed that there were two more sheets of paper on his desk.

    ¡°Slow and steady wins the race! -Diddle¡±

    ¡°Farewell -Jayce.¡±

    Astra chuckled. What was Diddle even talking about? Using a single word to say goodbye, quite Jayce-like.

    Astra decided to take a nap before eating. His mind and body were both exhausted from everything that had happened today.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Knock. Knock.

    Who was it? Astra got up from the bed and walked towards the door. It shouldn¡¯t be any of the guys...but if it weren¡¯t them, who would it be? The principal?

    Astra opened the door.

    ¡°Hello, Astra.¡±

    It was Isabella Phoenixvale. Her soft gaze seemed to make Astra forget everything that had happened today. Her tight, blue robe accentuated her beautiful figure and emitted a pleasant aura.

    Astra stared at her for a moment before replying, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    Why would Isabella of all people come to visit Astra? This whole situation was weird.

    ¡°Have you eaten yet?¡± Isabella asked.

    Astra¡¯s stomach grumbled. He had planned to eat after his nap.

    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t,¡± Astra said.

    ¡°Great! Come have dinner with me,¡± Isabella walked down the hallway.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Astra had only now noticed that another person was standing behind Isabella the whole time. The person was wearing a fox mask and a black cloak.

    Astra was curious what Isabella wanted to do with him, so he quickly followed behind her.

    Isabella led the way to the cafeteria, but instead of the first floor, she went up to the second floor. She threw a medallion at the clerk.

    ¡°He¡¯s with me for today.¡±

    The clerk smiled before handing back the medallion a moment later.

    Astra and Isabella sat at a dining table with two seats facing each other.

    Isabella rested her chin on her hands.

    ¡°So, Astra Gale huh? Fifth place on the mana test. Pretty impressive.¡±

    Astra raised his eyebrow, ¡°¡­Thanks?¡±

    Astra wasn¡¯t a talkative guy to begin withand had no idea how to continue the conversation.

    ¡°I heard about what you did in enchantment class today. Quite an ordeal. I¡¯m surprised that you haven¡¯t been imprisoned yet,¡± Isabella said smugly.

    ¡°Me too,¡± said Astra. ¡°So, what do you want with me?¡±

    Isabella chuckled coquettishly, ¡°Can you guess?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Stop playing games with me,¡± said Astra sternly.

    ¡°Fine, fine.¡± Isabella lifted her chin off her hands. ¡°Are you interested in an expedition? One of our members had some matters to attend to, and we require one more person.¡±

    Astra crossed his arms, ¡°Why me? There are probably tons of other people better than me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for strong and suitable people. Coincidentally, who better than a person who has a lot of free time and was ranked fifth on the mana test?¡± Isabella smiled.

    Isabella did have a point. Astra didn¡¯t have anything planned for the moment since he was suspended from all his classes.

    ¡°Tell me more about it,¡± Astra said.

    A waiter came with plates full of food.

    ¡°Sure, you can listen while you eat,¡± Isabella pushed the plates in front of Astra.

    In front of Astra were slabs of marbled meat, crispy fried chicken, and a side of salad topped with glazing white mayonnaise.

    Astra had never seen anything like this. The amount of food here could feed his family back at the village for three days.

    Astra took a bite of the meat.

    It melted in his mouth and left him hungry for more.

    Astra devoured the slabs of meat and started on the chicken.

    The crunchiness of the chicken stimulated every single inch of his mouth. The juices from the chicken oozed out and made his tongue dance with joy.

    Astra gobbled up the rest of the chicken and looked at the salad. The white sauce on top was unknown to Astra, and he didn¡¯t know why leaves and grass would be an item on the menu.

    Astra took a big spoonful of the salad and plopped it into his mouth.

    The lettuce was surprisingly crunchy along with the crumbles of cheese. The creamy dressing complemented the sweet cherry tomatoes and crusty croutons.

    Astra finished up the lettuce and sat there in satisfaction.

    ¡°So?¡± Isabella asked.

    ¡°The food was delicious,¡± Astra chirped.

    ¡°...Did you even hear anything that I just said?¡± Isabella laughed.

    ¡°Oh...Could you repeat what you said?¡± Astra was astonished at how good the food was. His entire being had only focused on his sense of taste and disregarded anything else.

    ¡°Forget it, I have matters to attend to. I will leave a letter for you. If you agree to the expedition, burn the letter.¡± Isabella snapped her fingers, and the person with a fox mask appeared beside Isabella. She whispered to the fox mask, and the fox mask immediately ran off.

    ¡°See you soon, hopefully.¡± Isabella walked off.

    Astra stared at the table. Isabella had left her portion untouched. Astra quickly finished off her food and left. He didn¡¯t understand why anyone would leave such good food uneaten.

    When Astra returned to the room, there was a letter slipped under the door. It contained the information about the expedition.

    ¡°Palace of Sloveus: A legacy left behind by the master enchanter Sloveus, a Blue ranked mage.

    Portal to Sloveus¡¯ dimension opens in three days near the Dense Southern forests outside the outskirts of Ascelyn City.

    Dimension will close in seventy hours after it has opened.

    Isabella¡¯s party will meet in the plaza in three days at dawn.¡±

    Astra looked at the back of the paper; there was an inscription on the back of the letter. This must be why Isabella told him to burn the paper if he agreed, it would activate some signal because of the inscription and alert Isabella. Astra conjured up a small flame and burnt the letter to ashes.

 Chapter 21: Zephyr

    ¡°Let¡¯s see now¡­¡± Astra took out his map.

    Astra didn¡¯t know what he needed for an expedition. But now would be a good time to use his 2600 merit points to prepare for it. Astra headed to the merit shop.

    The clerk recognized Astra and said, ¡°Welcome back, here to shop or sell?¡±

    ¡°Uhm...Shop.¡± Astra replied.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± The clerk asked.

    Astra didn¡¯t need a weapon since he had the Sword of Gale, so he said, ¡°Do you have any good armor that¡¯s very light and durable?¡±

    Astra didn¡¯t like to wear clunky armor that slowed him down. He preferred to be free and light weighted to make use of his trained agility fully.

    The clerk thought for a moment, ¡°We do have the Zephyr armor set. Are you interested in taking a look?¡±

    ¡°Please show me,¡± said Astra.

    The clerk led Astra to an armor stand and presented to him the Zephyr armor set.

    ¡°The Zephyr armor set was found in a cavern belonging to a wind-attributed beast. We couldn¡¯t exactly see what kind of creature would keep this armor, but from all the wind elemental mana surrounding the cavern, we deduced that the beast in nature must have relations to wind.

    This armor set has a thin chainmail, arm guards, shin guards, thin-open gauntlets, and a lightweight sabaton. All the pieces have been enchanted with a 2nd-grade inscription and have the ability to synchronize with each other. With the whole set working together, the enchantments can increase their effects to a 3rd-grade enchantment.¡±

    Astra butted in, ¡°What enchantments does this armor set have?¡±

    The clerk continued, ¡°Their inscriptions will allow the user to increase their speed and agility. By allowing the inscriptions to drain your mana, you will be able to synchronize all the inscriptions which will double your speed for a short period.¡±

    Double the user¡¯s speed? With his base speed, Astra was already extremely quick, if he used Zephyr, would anyone even be able to touch him?

    ¡°How much for Zephyr?¡± Astra asked enthusiastically.

    ¡°30,000 merit points,¡± The clerk replied.

    Astra¡¯s mouth was wide open. He only had 2600 points right now. How was he supposed to come up with the remaining 27,400 points?

    ¡°How...How can I earn some points?¡± Astra asked the clerk for advice.

    The clerk chuckled. This was a usual occurrence. The clerk would regularly present pricey equipment to the incoming freshman and see their astonished expressions when they found out how much it cost.

    ¡°A lot of ways. The riskiest ones would be taking on kill-quests like exterminating monsters and beasts. The easiest but most difficult ones would include selling enchanted equipment and concocting potions or pills.¡±

    Wait a minute, enchanted equipment? Astra crossed his arms. Astra only had the knowledge of one basic inscription from enchantment class. Would he still be able to earn some points¡­?

    ¡°Thank you, I will be back soon,¡± Astra left the shop.

    The clerk had seen a look of determination in the eyes of the young boy. It would be interesting to see how he would come up with over 20,000 points.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Astra stared at his map. The only thing he knew how to inscribe was the basic weapon inscription that increased its durability and sharpness. Wasn¡¯t there someplace he could learn better inscriptions? Asking the enchantment teacher was out of the question after what the commotion he had caused. Astra looked closely at the map.

    The library! Wouldn¡¯t a library have all the inscriptions that he needed?

    A moment later, Astra arrived at the library.

    The librarian who was sitting behind the desk saw someone come in, ¡°How may I help you?¡±

    Even though the Grand Library of Ascelyn Academy held a lot of books, there would only be a couple of regular visitors a day. The library didn¡¯t have any spell books or any rare recipes. It was mostly just information, theories, and hypotheses about all sorts of things.

    Astra asked the librarian, ¡°Where can I find books on inscriptions?¡±

    The librarian took out a map of a library and pointed at a section. Astra thanked the librarian and went to look for inscription books.

    Astra combed through the entire section of inscription books. Not a single one had taught him more inscriptions. Even the basic inscription he had learned from class wasn¡¯t in any of these books. All he read about were theories of mana control, efficiency of the inscriptions based on the configuration of the inscription, and more mumbo jumbo.

    Astra went back to the librarian, ¡°Where is the section for actual books on inscriptions?¡±

    The librarian smiled meekly, ¡°Sorry, this is all we have. If you would like to read more advanced materials, you would need to go to the 2nd floor which costs 5,000 merit points a day.¡±

    Astra¡¯s eyes went wide. He barely had 3,000 points and now to access the actual inscription books, he needed 5,000? Astra had to make do with his basic weapon inscription.

    ¡°Is there any place where I can get weapons for free?¡± Astra asked. Even if he did know better inscriptions, he still needed weapons to inscribe them on.

    The librarian chuckled and thought for a moment, ¡°There might be some at the Training Grounds. There are usually some dull wooden swords lying around. If you ask nicely, they might just give it to you for free.¡±

    Astra busted out his map and headed to the Training Grounds.

    A stone archway appeared in front of him. The Training Grounds were surrounded by tall walls of stone. Astra walked through the arched entrance.

    Inside the grounds were tons of straw dummies that were about five meters apart from each other.

    Off in the distance, Astra could see a small cottage. He walked through the lines of straw dummies and arrived at the cottage.

    A decrepit, old man wearing a brown robe was rocking back and forth on a wooden chair with his eyes closed.

    ¡°Sir?¡± Astra walked up to the old man.

    The old man stayed asleep.

    Astra shook him a bit.

    ¡°Wh-What the¡­¡± The old man looked around him. His elderly gaze landed on Astra. ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Do you have any wooden swords that I can buy?¡± Astra asked.

    ¡°Wooden swords¡­? There are a couple of barrels full of dull wooden swords near that wall over there. Go ahead, take them all,¡± The old man pointed at a stone wall a couple of meters away from them.

    Astra thanked the old man and ran towards the barrels. He opened up all the barrels and saw that there were at least a thousand wooden swords. He took one of them out and inspected it. No wonder the old man gave it to him for free. These wooden swords were dull and chipped. One was chipped so bad that half of the sword was practically dangling.

    Astra sighed. At least he had a supply of swords now. Astra pulled the swords out and got to work.

    He recalled the enchanting dream experience, but the memory was still hazy. Even though he couldn¡¯t recall any inscriptions, Astra retained the essence of inscription and enchanting.

    Astra inscribed the basic sword inscription on the sword in front of him. He stroked the blade of the sword and compared it to a regular wooden sword. The enchanted one was nearly twice as sharp! From the books he had read in the library, that meant that his enchanted wooden sword was at least at the peak of 1st grade.

    Weapon grade was based on the material that it was made from and its enchantment. Each grade would be split into three tiers: low, middle, and high. A regular wooden sword would be considered a low 1st-grade weapon while copper swords would be considered low 2nd grade weapons.

    He would be able to sell his enchanted wooden swords for the price of a copper sword.

    Astra worked on the swords one by one.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    <hr>

    Nightbend Family Manor.

    A fat, chubby man sat on a throne.

    ¡°Is he coming?¡± The plump man spoke in a growl.

    A girl in a blue dress was kneeling in front of the man, ¡°Yes, my lord.¡±

    ¡°Isabella, do not disappoint me or your family will suffer the consequences.¡± The lord of the Nightbend family grunted.

    Isabella said in a somewhat reluctant voice, ¡°I...will do my best.¡±

    Isabella Phoenixvale stood up and walked away.

    ¡°Sorry, Astra,¡± muttered Isabella.

 Chapter 22: Employed by Gradrel

    The moon shined high in the sky.

    Astra had been working for nearly half an hour and had barely enchanted twenty swords.

    This won¡¯t work. It would take him at least twenty-five more hours if he wanted to enchant all of these swords.

    Astra took a breath and calmed down. He tried recalling his enchanting dream again.

    ¡°Oh yeah¡­¡± Astra remembered the scene where he enchanted multiple swords at once.

    He laid two swords in front of him and began drawing the inscriptions in midair. A minute later, he grabbed the two inscriptions and palmed it onto the two swords. This palming technique was something he had remembered from his experience. Rather than slowly controlling the inscription to go towards the sword, Astra would lightly embed the inscription on his palm and then transfer it onto the sword directly.

    This technique required a precise control of mana or else the inscription would be entirely embedded in Astra¡¯s hand and potentially blast his hand apart since the inscription was made for swords. This technique posed little difficulty to Astra who had been practicing the basic mana condensing technique for many days.

    Astra lifted his palms up and inspected the two swords. The enchantment itself was a success, but the quality of the sword had decreased. Compared to the peak 1st-grade enchantment he had made in the beginning, both of these swords would be considered middle 1st grade.

    Astra looked up; the moon was slowly moving west. Because he still had to sell the swords, Astra had to enchant faster.

    Enchanting. Enchanting. Enchanting.

    Astra¡¯s body began to have a mind of its own after doing the same thing so many times. His efficiency and speed began to increase and was no longer making middle 1st-grade swords but improved to making high 1st-grade swords.

    As the sun began to rise, Astra was enchanting five swords at the same time. Surprisingly, Astra had managed to gain some insights into the basic weapon inscription and had increased the sharpness and durability even more. As he enchanted more and more, the vague dream that he had became more vivid and clear. Combined with the inscription books he had read in the library, he was slowly improving the basic sword inscription with each enchantment.

    Astra¡¯s latest batches were all middle 2nd-grade weapons. His basic weapon inscription has evolved to an intermediate level.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Astra had been enchanting for more than six hours. He laid down on the ground and fell asleep.

    A brown robed old man slowly walked near the sleeping Astra.

    ¡°Hm¡­?¡± The old man raised an eyebrow as he picked up one of the wooden swords from the barrels.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± The old man picked up another sword.

    ¡°How¡­¡± The old man began to inspect one sword after another.

    Whack. Whack. Whack.

    Astra woke up. Who is making all that noise? He opened his eyes and saw something unbelievable.

    A myriad of wooden swords were embedded into the stone wall in front of him.

    The old man noticed the dazed Astra, ¡°Good morning, young man.¡±

    ¡°Morning...What are you doing to my swords?¡± Astra asked.

    The old man chuckled, ¡°I was merely testing them out. I didn¡¯t think you would actually be trying to enchant all of these swords. How about I buy them off you?¡±

    Astra¡¯s eyes lit up. He was frantically trying to enchant all of these swords so he would be able to sell them quicker.

    ¡°How much are you willing to pay me?¡± Astra asked.

    The old man looked at the barrels and counted the swords, ¡°Let¡¯s see...For all these swords, I¡¯m willing to give you 20,000 merit points.¡±

    Astra frowned. Even if he sold all of the swords, he would still be 7,400 merit points short.

    The old man continued, ¡°Are you interested in a job? We have quite a lot of blunt weapons here that are in need of enchanting. No blacksmith would repair these swords since they would rather be making new ones.¡±

    Astra smiled meekly, ¡°Can I possibly get 7,400 merit points in advance? I really need to buy something before I head out for an expedition.¡±

    The old man stroked his long beard for a long time, ¡°Fine, you better produce some quality work.¡± The old man put his hand out.

    Astra tossed his medallion at the old man.

    The old man gripped the medallion tightly before throwing it back, ¡°Done.¡±

    Astra scoured his medallion. He had exactly 30,000 merit points now.

    ¡°Thanks so much!¡±

    Astra was about to run off to the merit shop when the old man coughed loudly. The old man stared at the remaining swords that were yet to be enchanted.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°Oh...oops.¡±

    Astra slowly walked back in front of the barrels and got to work.

    Four hours later, Astra had finished enchanting all of the swords. Things were going well. Astra earned enough to acquire Zephyr, increased his mastery of enchantments, and also got a job.

    Astra immediately ran towards the merit shop as soon as he finished his last batch. Astra slammed the door open and threw his medallion at the clerk.

    ¡°Zephyr! I want to buy it!¡± Astra yelled.

    The clerk was surprised and flustered. The medallion was being juggled a couple of times before the clerk finally caught it.

    The clerk peered inside the medallion, ¡°Huh?!¡±

    It hasn¡¯t even been a full day yet, but this boy had managed to acquire 30,000 merit points! What has he been doing?

    The clerk brought Astra to the armor set and helped him finalize the purchase.

    Astra smiled as he jumped up and down, trying out his new armor. It didn¡¯t even feel like he was wearing anything, truly worth the 30,000 point purchase.

    Suddenly, Astra felt an onset of extreme fatigue and exhaustion. He slowly tottered his way back to the dorm and fell asleep on his bed.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Several hours later.

    The intense gaze of the sun bore down upon Astra¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Astra slowly got up and went to eat breakfast at the cafeteria.

    There was still two days before the expedition, but Astra was out of merit points. He still had to work off his debt since he asked for his merit points in advance.

    Astra walked over to the Training Grounds.

    The old man greeted Astra at the entrance. There were a couple of people practicing their sword techniques on the straw dummies.

    Astra realized that he didn¡¯t know who this old man was, ¡°I forgot to ask but, who exactly are you?¡±

    The old man chuckled, ¡°Training instructor for Ascelyn Academy, the name is Gradrel.¡±

    Training instructor? This was perfect! Astra couldn¡¯t go to any classes right now, but couldn¡¯t he ask Gradrel to train him?

    ¡°Gradrel...Would you mind training me?¡± Astra asked.

    Gradel laughed, ¡°I¡¯ll think about it after you work off your 7,400 merit points. Come, follow me. I¡¯ll show you where you¡¯ll be working at.¡±

    Gradrel led Astra towards the cottage. When they got there, Gradrel took Astra behind the cottage. There was another small building that was hidden from view.

    The wooden door creaked slowly as Gradrel opened it.

    Astra took a look inside. Wooden crates and barrels filled the room alongside with spiders and cobwebs.

    ¡°Clean this storage room up, and enchant everything in here. I¡¯ll give you something interesting after you finish,¡± Gradrel strolled off happily.

    Astra looked around him. He felt like he just got scammed. He would be able to pay off the 7,400 merit points easily if he just enchanted wooden swords for four hours. Gradrel had better give him something more than just ¡®interesting.''

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Five hours later.

    The sun was slowly setting; night time was coming.

    Astra had skipped lunch to work in the storage room. He had managed to clean everything up and made things nice and tidy. When he opened the barrels and crates, there were tons of weapons and armor. Since Astra only knew how to enchant on swords, only a third of the items in the storage room were enchanted.

    The door creaked open.

    Gradrel came strolling in with a platter of food, ¡°Nice job with the room, looks very nice.¡± He placed the food on the table and looked around the room.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Don¡¯t you know any other enchantments? Only the swords are enchanted,¡± Gradrel asked.

    Astra shook his head.

    ¡°Weird...A person with your enchantment skills only knows one inscription? I¡¯d expected you to have at least twenty inscriptions in your arsenal,¡± Gradrel said with a trace of curiosity on his face.

    Astra smiled meekly.

    ¡°Alright, give me a moment,¡± Gradrel stepped out of the room while Astra gulped down his dinner.

    Gradrel returned with several pieces of paper. Astra held up the pieces of paper and read them.

    ¡°These are¡­¡± Astra murmured.

    ¡°Yep, basic level inscriptions. These should cover most of the equipment in here,¡± Gradel said.

    Where exactly did Gradrel get these papers from? One had to know that even the library didn¡¯t have inscriptions for him to learn. How could an old man like Gradrel acquire these inscriptions?

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you in the morning,¡± Gradrel left the room.

    The door clicked as Gradrel left.

    ¡°Gradrel? What did you do?¡±

    Astra ran towards the door and tried to open it. The door would not budge. Why did Gradrel lock him in here? If Astra wanted to, he could easily break down this door. Gradrel must¡¯ve known this, so why would he lock Astra in the storage room?

    ¡°Forget it,¡± Astra muttered as he sat back down at the table.

    Astra inspected the papers. It had details on exactly which order the inscription should be drawn in and the amount of mana and speed used in each part of the inscription. Astra gasped. These weren¡¯t just simple basic inscriptions; these papers showed how to apply the theoretical knowledge that Astra read about in the library!

    Astra meticulously studied these papers before he was mentally exhausted and fell asleep.

    <hr>

    Ascelyn Academy: Principal¡¯s Office.

    Knoxon was sitting at the principal¡¯s desk, moving his hands at inhuman speeds.

    ¡°Principal, if you keep going on like this, you won¡¯t last until the end of the year,¡± said a bald man wearing an orange robe.

    Knoxon stopped and rested his hands, ¡°If I don¡¯t get all these paperwork in order, the alliance will fall apart. Who else would stop their machinations if the alliance won¡¯t? Are you going to do it, Gubin?¡±

    Gubin sighed as Knoxon continued working on his papers.

    ¡°That boy, Astra. Why didn¡¯t you imprison him?¡± Gubin asked.

    Knoxon chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re telling me I should keep him in a place where barely anyone have any eyes on him?¡±

    ¡°Ah, I apologize. Having him in the public eye would allow your sentries to keep watch over him,¡± Gubin realized as he thought about it some more.

    Knoxon said, ¡°That way, none of the nobles would dare to try anything funny as long as Astra is in Ascelyn Academy since I¡¯ll catch them in the act.¡±

    Knoxon finished up his last batch of paperwork and stood up.

    ¡°Leave everything to your vice-principal,¡± assured Gubin.

    Knoxon nodded his head and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

    Gubin rubbed his head. There were many matters for the principal to attend to. On top of that, he¡¯s taken it upon himself to try and protect another student when he could''ve just left Astra alone. Everyone at the Academy thinks that Knoxon was a young principal who spent his days fooling around but they couldn¡¯t be more wrong.

 Chapter 23: Isabellas Party

    There was only one day left before the expedition to Sloveus¡¯ Palace. With the papers that Gradrel had given him, Astra had quickly enchanted the rest of the equipment in the storage room. He had also learned basic inscriptions for all sorts of weapons and armor.

    Click.

    Gradrel walked into the storage room, ¡°I assume everything in here is enchanted now?¡±

    Astra nodded.

    ¡°Good, here you go,¡± Gradrel threw a red ring towards Astra.

    Astra caught the ring and inspected it, ¡°What is this?¡±

    Gradrel stared at Astra for a while before replying slowly, ¡°A space ring.¡±

    Astra raised an eyebrow.

    Gradrel frowned, ¡°You don¡¯t know what a space ring is?¡±

    Astra shook his head.

    Gradrel explained to Astra what a space ring was. A space ring had the ability to store all sorts of items as long as they weren¡¯t alive. The size of storage varies by the grade of the ring which was ranked the same as mana purity. A white ring would have the space of a crate while a red ring has the space of a small room.

    Astra wore the ring and injected his mana within it. A projection of a small room appeared inside his head.

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡± Astra murmured. ¡°Say, why did you lock me in the storage room? I had to sleep in here without a bed yesterday.¡±

    Gradrel smiled and said nothing.

    Astra raised an eyebrow and stopped his interrogation.

    ¡°Am I free to go now?¡± Astra asked.

    Gradrel nodded, ¡°Make sure you come to the Training Grounds at least once every two weeks or you¡¯re fired.¡±

    Astra nodded and left the training grounds. There wasn¡¯t a whole lot that Astra could do anymore since he only had one day left until the expedition. He had been working himself to the bone for the last two days. If he was still suspended after the expedition, Astra would beg Gradrel to train him.

    Astra went back to his dorm and slept the rest of the day away.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Dawn.

    Astra woke up and prepared himself. He went to the cafeteria to have a quick breakfast before heading to the plaza to meet up with Isabella¡¯s party. As Astra reached the plaza he saw four other people with Isabella.

    ¡°You¡¯re a little bit late, but we should be fine,¡± Isabella said as she waved Astra over.

    ¡°Sorry, I overslept a little,¡± Astra apologized.

    ¡°Let me introduce you to the rest of our party,¡± Isabella began to give a little background information on the party while the six of them headed out of the Academy.

    Isabella and her group were all wearing a common attire. Their robes had a shiny luster and emanated nobility. All of them were fourteen years old and haven¡¯t broken through to White rank.

    Joseph Lonebow, a boy with short brown hair who uses wind spells with his bow.

    Robert Bouldergust, a muscular young youth who uses twin battle axes along with earth magic.

    Clara Commonflame, a red haired girl who uses a wand for fire spells.

    Anton Bluehelm, a heavily armored teenager who uses a longsword and didn¡¯t specialize in any elemental spells but focused on physical enhancements.

    Astra nodded his head as Isabella finished her introductions. None of them seemed very pleased to see Astra. Only Isabella was willing to stand beside him, the rest of the group were a couple of meters ahead of them.

    Thanks to the frequent kill-quests the Academy gave out, only a couple of stray wolves and foxes came attacking their party. They reached the Dense Southern Forest without much trouble.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Gather around,¡± Anton grunted. He reached behind his back and pulled out a pouch. Anton threw the pouch in the air as a mysterious powder surrounded the party.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Astra asked Isabella.

    Isabella explained, ¡°This is a repelling powder, there are quite a few White ranked monsters in this forest and we don¡¯t want to waste too much time dealing with them.

    Astra nodded. The party headed deeper into the forest. The repelling powder seemed to be working, no monsters were seen in their vicinity.

    A couple of minutes later, a black hole appeared in front of the party.

    Clara spoke up, ¡°Sloveus¡¯ portal, the only way into his dimension and only opens once every ten years.¡±

    ¡°Try to keep track of the time inside, when the sun inside sets, that means the seventy hours is nearly up. If you¡¯re still inside, you¡¯ll be trapped forever,¡± Joseph warned.

    Robert continued, ¡°You won¡¯t even be able to survive since the entire dimension will collapse.¡±

    Astra nodded. This was crucial information to him. If he didn¡¯t know this and he was split from the group, Astra would¡¯ve died inside Sloveus¡¯ dimension.

    The party jumped into the black hole.

    A vast grassy plain appeared in front of Astra. There were several bulls and bears around.

    Anton whispered to the group, ¡°While the powder is active, let¡¯s rush to the palace.¡±

    Everyone nodded and quickly sprinted towards a massive mansion off in the distance.

    Astra felt Zephyr increasing his speed by leaps and bounds. He was able to keep up with the group just by running.

    A few moments later, the group arrived at Sloveus¡¯ palace.

    Joseph¡¯s ears perked up, ¡°Careful; I can hear a mob of monsters inside.¡±

    The group cautiously entered the palace.

    Torches automatically lit up around them, brightening the faces of the trolls and kobolds inside.

    ¡°They¡¯re much stronger this year. I can feel that their aura has almost reached White rank,¡± Clara whispered.

    Anton commanded the group, ¡°Protect Isabella and Clara, don¡¯t let them get close no matter what. Stay behind, Astra. You¡¯ll just get in the way.¡±

    Astra stood near Isabella and Clara.

    Astra raised an eyebrow, wasn¡¯t Joseph also ranged? Astra stared at Joseph as he ran towards a troll. He shot two arrows, each hitting an eye. Joseph nimbly arched his back as the troll swung its club and missed. Joseph took out a small dagger and jumped on top of the troll.

    The troll groaned as Joseph accurately pierced its jugular. Joseph jumped off the troll as it slumped down on the ground.

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡± Astra murmured. It was the first time he had seen this type of fighting.

    Astra looked over the the others. Anton was drawing the aggro of two kobolds and a troll while Robert snuck behind them and chopped off their legs. Anton and Robert dodged out of the way as Clara and Isabella bombarded the monsters with fire and ice magic. Meanwhile, Joseph had taken care of another troll.

    Astra stared at the group in amazement. It was evident that their party had been on many adventures and fought with each other through many battles.

    Suddenly, a drop of gooey saliva landed on Astra¡¯s face.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡± Astra looked up.

    Ten goblins were gripping tightly onto the ceiling. They noticed that Astra had spotted them, so they immediately let go and fell towards the party.

    ¡°Watch out above!¡± Astra yelled.

    ¡°AH!¡± Clara screamed.

    Isabella managed to fire off an icicle, piercing through one of the goblin¡¯s head.

    There were still four goblins above them. The rest of the group were too far away. The one weakness of being a long-ranged mage was that they needed time to conjure up a spell that could actually deal damage.

    Astra unsheathed his Sword of Gale and jumped up towards the goblins. He realized that even his vertical had increased by at least thirty percent. Astra smiled as he surrounded his sword with wind magic.

    Astra fired off a horizontal beam of wind.

    Slice!

    Four goblin growls echoed throughout the palace as the goblins fell to the ground. The injured goblins held their disemboweled organs in their hands as they tried to run away.

    Joseph shot two arrows at the goblins as Isabella and Clara finished off the other two.

    Anton walked up to Astra, ¡°Nice job, kid. You surprised me; I thought you were just some leech Isabella picked up.¡±

    Astra smiled meekly, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    The group advanced further into the palace.

    <hr>

    Inside another part of Sloveus¡¯ Palace.

    ¡°Heath, do we really have to do this?¡± A short youth with abnormally large muscles asked.

    ¡°Polito, when did I ever say you could question my decisions? You¡¯re my fucking lackey. Do lackeys ever question their bosses?¡± A handsome young man dressed in a white robe spoke harshly.

    ¡°Sorry, boss.¡± Polito stared at the ground, feeling disheartened.

    ¡°Listen, I¡¯m very well aware of my father¡¯s plans. I guarantee you this won¡¯t affect them in any way,¡± Heath assured Polito.

    Polito asked in a worried voice, ¡°But you¡¯re thinking about killing him, wouldn¡¯t that actually influence his plans significantly?¡±

    Heath, repressing his rising anger, spoke softly to Polito, ¡°Listen here you maggot¡­¡±

    Suddenly, Heath exploded in a furious voice, ¡°HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY THAT OUTLOUD?!¡±

    ¡°Eeek!¡± Polito quivered as he took a couple of steps back and fell to the ground.

    ¡°Go away! Don¡¯t appear in front of me unless I call you!¡± Heath commanded.

    Polito quickly crawled away.

    A black shadow appeared behind Heath, ¡°My lord, he¡¯s here.¡±

    A harsh light glinted in Heath¡¯s eyes, ¡°Good...We¡¯ll get rid of him after the trials.¡±

 Chapter 24: Sloveus Trials

    With Astra taking care of the backline, Anton and the rest were able to focus on the mobs in front of them. Their party quickly swept past the monsters as they went deeper into the palace.

    Isabella looked at her and frowned. Clara was engaging in some idle chatter with Astra. Now that Astra had proven himself to be competent, Clara was trying to flirt with him.

    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± Anton said.

    As they exited the corridor, a huge platform appeared in front of them. Numerous passages were leading to the same place that they were in.

    Astra was baffled by the amount of people standing on top of the platform.

    ¡°How come there are so many people here?¡± Astra inquired.

    Isabella replied, ¡°You didn¡¯t think we were the only group here, did you? We used different entrances to avoid congestion.¡±

    Astra nodded.

    Clara looked up at the ceiling, ¡°It¡¯s almost time.¡±

    A beam of sunlight was inching closer to a crystal gem.

    ¡°Time for what?¡± Astra asked.

    Clara pointed at the gem, ¡°You see that crystal? When the beam of sunlight hits it, the platform will teleport everyone to Sloveus¡¯ trials.¡±

    Astra now understood why everyone was standing on the platform.

    ¡°No reason not to get on now,¡± Joseph said as he walked towards the platform. Everyone else did the same.

    A few moments later, the platform shone brightly, and everyone turned into pillars of light.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Astra opened his eyes.

    There was a wooden sword, a copper chest plate, and a bronze bow on the table in front of him.

    Astra looked around him; no one else was there.

    An elderly voice resounded within his head, ¡°Welcome everyone. I am Sloveus; I will be testing you all on enchantments.There will be three trials. First, enchant the equipment in front of you.¡±

    Astra inspected the equipment. Their grades ascended with each piece of equipment from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

    A few moments later, Astra had completed his enchantments. The wooden sword came out to be high 2nd grade since his experience with swords were extremely proficient. The copper chest plate was also high 2nd grade, but the bronze bow was only low 3rd grade. Even with all the papers that Gradrel gave him, Astra didn¡¯t have enough experience enchanting chest plates and bows.

    During this enchantment session, Astra noticed that there were significant similarities between the three different types of inscriptions. Even though the inscriptions were fitted to be enchanted on various types of equipment, since the core of the inscription was about increasing the material¡¯s durability and strength, Astra saw through the parts of the inscriptions that allowed it to be fitted onto a different piece of equipment.

    ¡°Pass.¡± The voice echoed. ¡°Second trial. Mana control.¡±

    An unfamiliar inscription began to appear in front of Astra. The inscription was drawing itself in front of Astra.

    ¡°Replicate,¡± The voice said.

    With Astra¡¯s insight and trained mana control, he easily saw through the parts where he needed to vary his speed and the amount of mana.

    ¡°Pass. Third trial. Finish the inscriptions.¡±

    Three parchments appeared and levitated in front of Astra.

    Astra carefully inspected the three inscriptions. It was evident that all of them had missing parts.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°Interesting¡­¡± Astra murmured. This was actually a piece of cake for Astra thanks to Gradrel¡¯s papers that he had meticulously studied the day before. The papers had taught him the function of each part of the inscription, by deducing the remaining parts of the inscriptions in front of him, Astra was easily able to fill in the blanks.

    This made Astra wonder even more about Gradrel¡¯s identity. Was he really just a regular training instructor?

    ¡°Pass. You have completed all of the trials.¡±

    Astra turned into a beam of light and appeared in a luscious garden with a fountain in the middle that was spewing glittering water everywhere. Above him was a clear, blue sky without a single cloud in sight.

    ¡°Hello? Anyone here?¡± Astra¡¯s voice echoed throughout the garden.

    No response.

    Astra sat down and meditated while using the basic technique.

    Half an hour later, three pillars of light appeared in front of Astra. He immediately stood up.

    The lights faded away. The three people looked around.

    Isabella was baffled when she saw Astra, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you made it.¡±

    ¡°Astra Gale¡­¡± A handsome young man murmured.

    A tall, mature girl wearing a revealing red robe spoke up, ¡°Who knew you would be here as well, Heath Nightbend?¡± Her white, pale thighs could be seen through her black stockings. Her long, silky hair drooped down to her waist.

    Heath glanced at the red robed lady, ¡°Ivona Roseshade, what brings you here?¡±

    Suddenly, an old voice echoed throughout the garden.

    ¡°Congratulations to all of you.¡±

    A bag appeared in front of each of them.

    ¡°To Heath Nightbend, five hundred silver coins, and three intermediate inscriptions.¡±

    Heath smiled happily, five hundred coins was equivalent to fifty thousand merit points. But what he was most ecstatic about was the intermediate inscriptions. These inscriptions were a rarity even in Ascelyn Academy. If he donated these inscriptions to the library, who knows how many points he would receive?

    ¡°To Isabella Phoenixvale, one thousand silver coins, four intermediate inscriptions, and an ice elemental spell book.¡±

    Isabella quivered with excitement. Her family hailed from a lineage that specialized in fire arts. They didn¡¯t have many spell books for water techniques let alone ice. The ice elemental spell book was more precious to her than the inscriptions and silver coins combined.

    ¡°To Ivona Roseshade, three thousand silver coins, five intermediate inscriptions, a fire elemental book, and an amethyst gem.¡±

    Heath was surprised that Isabella received an additional intermediate inscription and even a spell book. But he was furious that Ivona had received an amethyst gem. One had to know that gems were able to enchant weapons to strengthen them easily. An amethyst gem could potentially enhance a 3rd-grade weapon to rival a 4th-grade weapon easily.

    ¡°To Astra Gale, five thousand silver coins, one advanced inscription, and a topaz gem.

    Isabella raised an eyebrow, Astra¡¯s rewards were so much better than theirs. Why was he the only one that didn¡¯t receive any spell books?

    ¡°WHAT?!¡± Heath grew frantic. He didn¡¯t expect Astra to receive so many things. This must mean that Astra had done the best out of all of them. This wasn¡¯t good. If Astra were given more time, Heath would no longer be able to contend against him. Thank god Astra was about to disappear soon.

    The old man was not finished.

    ¡°To Astra Gale, I pass behind my legacy and also Reach¡¯s token.¡±

    Heath bit his lips. Astra did receive Sloveus¡¯ legacy after all...but what was that about Reach¡¯s token? Could it be¡­?

    Astra took the floating bag in front of him and stored it inside his space ring. He began to wonder about Reach¡¯s token.

    A moment later, the four of them were teleported outside of the palace.

    Heath looked around. Sure enough, people were waiting for Heath to come out.

    Everyone crowded in front of the four of them.

    ¡°Did anyone get Sloveus¡¯ legacy this year?¡±

    ¡°Did you get any rewards?¡±

    ¡°I got kicked out after the first trial; I thought I did well.¡±

    ¡°I wish I had gotten something at least.¡±

    Heath looked at the crowd in front of him and smirked. This was going to work better than he thought.

    ¡°Everyone! Everyone! Settle down. The four of us received many rewards. Especially Astra Gale,¡± Heath spoke loudly.

    Isabella looked at Heath with a furrowed brow, ¡°Heath, what are you doing?¡± She whispered.

    Heath ignored her, ¡°Do you guys want to know what he got? I¡¯ll tell you what he got. Sloveus gave him his legacy! A mere commoner! Who would¡¯ve thought! Let¡¯s give up a round of applause!¡±

    Heath began to clap on his own. A couple of nobles began to clap as well.

    ¡°You know what else he got? Reach¡¯s legacy!¡±

    The clapping stopped.

    The crowd began to clamor with whispers.

    ¡°Reach¡­? The legendary mage?¡±

    ¡°Could it be? The mage that our continent was named after?¡±

    ¡°It has to be! It¡¯s because of him that our continent is named The Great Reach continent!¡±

    The crowd began to stare at Astra like a savory piece of meat. They didn¡¯t think much of his resistance since there was a whole crowd of nobles against him.

    The crowd was still hesitating to take action, but it wouldn¡¯t be long before they figured out what they should be doing.

    Seeing the faltering crowd, Heath gave them one more push.

    ¡°Astra, why don¡¯t you take it out and let us see it? I would very much love to see what it looks like,¡± Heath grinned madly.

    Astra looked around him. Crazy glints appeared in everyone''s¡¯ eyes.

 Chapter 25: Dead end

    Out of the corner of Astra¡¯s eyes, he could see a dense forest in the distance. He glanced at the hesitating crowd.

    With a scream, Astra madly circulated his mana within his body. Using the synchronization effect of Zephyr, Astra easily sprinted to the entrance of the forest in several seconds.

    Astonished by Astra¡¯s sudden speed, Heath quickly screamed, ¡°WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING? AFTER HIM, QUICK!¡±

    Astra ran into the forest. It was the perfect terrain for him. The nobles behind him were raised in the comfort of their own homes. Why would they ever step into the woods to temper themselves? They would just get dirty for no reason.

    The unstable ground made the mob lose their footing and slowed them down. The thick trees masqueraded their vision. The unknown dangers that lurked in the darkness spooked the nobles and deterred their chase.

    Seeing the idiotic nobles in front of him, Heath quickly instructed them, ¡°You retards! If you can¡¯t see anything, then just set the whole forest on fire! If you can¡¯t run, make your own ground!¡± Heath berated the group.

    The nobles didn¡¯t like being yelled at since they had a huge ego but Heath did have a point.

    The group quickly conjured up balls of flame and lit up every single inch of the forest. The ones with earth affinity stomped their feet and made their own smooth ground to run on.

    Isabella and Ivona were standing outside the palace.

    ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll see you later. Hope that boy makes it out alive,¡± A cheerful laugh came out of Ivona¡¯s mouth as she strolled away.

    Isabella clenched her fists. She didn¡¯t know things were going to be this way. All the Nightbend lord had told her was to invite Astra to the expedition so they could take his sword without interference. Why was Heath going on a mad rampage to slay Astra? If she helped Astra, she would be going against the wishes of one of the Elite Assembly members.

    Astra exited the forest.

    There was a gigantic fissure that created a cliff. Roars and howls could be heard at the bottom of the fissure as Astra peered down the cliff.

    The crowd of nobles appeared before him.

    Heath Nightbend pushed his way to the front of the crowd.

    ¡°Astra Gale, you drew too much attention to yourself. If you weren¡¯t so arrogant and just kept your head down, this wouldn¡¯t have happened today.¡±

    Astra grimaced, he didn¡¯t do anything wrong. Why did this have to happen to him?

    The crowd took a step towards Astra.

    Astra took a step back. His feet were now teetering on the edge of the fissure.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, Astra. Just give us your things. That¡¯s all you need to do, and you¡¯ll live,¡± Heath grinned with his eyes full of greed.

    Astra touched his ring.

    This was all right. As long as he lived, he could start over. Right? He just needed to throw Heath his ring and Astra would live. That¡¯s all he needed to do. Living was the number one priority. Right¡­?

    Astra¡¯s hands trembled as he held onto his ring.

    But who¡¯s to say that Heath won¡¯t do this again? If he gave in this one time, what about the next time? Was he really going to give up without a fight?

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Never.

    Something inside of Astra seemed to scream with pride and honor.

    Astra unsheathed his sword and gripped it tightly with both hands.

    ¡°Wha...What are you doing?¡± Heath raised his eyebrow.

    Astra didn¡¯t answer him. He began to use the basic technique with whatever little time he had.

    Heath laughed, ¡°Ha-ha. Fine. If you want a fight, we¡¯ll give it to you.¡± He shouted to the group, ¡°Kill him! Don¡¯t let his dead body fall off the cliff though!¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Shouts and chants were heard all over the battlefield as the group charged in and the mages in the back prepared their long-ranged spells.

    Astra spoke slowly, ¡°Wretched nobles¡­¡±

    Astra grinned as the nobles began their onslaught.

    Clink~ Clunk~

    Dozens of weapons struck at Astra. He did his utmost to dodge what he could and parry the attacks. Astra didn¡¯t have time to use any spells.

    Even though Zephyr allowed Astra to move faster, it was impossible for him to dodge attacks that came in all directions plus all the long-ranged spells. The spells didn¡¯t possess a significant threat to him, but it distracted him from the close-ranged attacks which could easily end him.

    Afraid of hurting their comrades and destroying the cliff, the nobles held back on their attacks and stuck to melee strikes. The mages in the back supported the front liners by siphoning their mana to them.

    Splurt!

    A sword stabbed right through Astra¡¯s arm guard.

    ¡°Urgh!¡± Astra held onto the boy¡¯s arm and kicked him away, drawing the sword out in one fell swoop.

    There were dozens of scratches on Zephyr already. If it weren¡¯t for this armor, Astra would¡¯ve probably died a long time ago.

    Astra could see the eyes of everyone around him. They were filled with greed and madness. If Astra was going down, he wasn''t going to go down fornothing.

    Astra activated Zephyr and did a multitude of slashes and stabs in a split second.

    Seeing the motionless nobles around Astra, Heath shouted, ¡°Why are you guys stopping! Attack him!¡±

    Several heads and disemboweled guts fell to the ground.

    Astra took deep and heavy breaths. He had used Zephyr twice already and was left with half of his mana. Injecting his mana into all of Zephyr¡¯s inscription took a harder toll on him than he thought.

    The remaining nobles crowding around Astra hesitated in fear. They didn¡¯t believe that any of them would actually die.

    ¡°Attack! He¡¯s only strong because of his armor! When you kill him, you can take it!¡± Heath yelled.

    The nobles shook off the fear and greed overtook their minds again.

    Astra decided to forgo defending and focused on dodging and attacking. Swords and axes began to graze Astra and left him with minor cuts and bleeding. Astra managed to inflict some small wounds which slowed down the attacks by a small degree.

    Out of the corner of his eye, Astra spotted a sword coming right for his head. He quickly arched his back as Joseph had done.

    Astra touched his forehead. The blade had nicked the top of his eyebrow. A stream of blood leaked into Astra¡¯s eye and impeded his vision. Astra quickly made the cut deeper, allowing the blood to flow near his temple and out of his eyes.

    The nobles stared at the blood-stained Astra. He was covered with blood from top to bottom. As Astra took deep and heavy breaths, he gave off the impression of a wounded wolf.

    Due to the excessive bleeding and fatigue, Astra figured he only had one more use of Zephyr left.

    A sword strike came towards Astra¡¯s eye and a thrust at his body. Astra quickly dodged the blow and parried the thrust. He wanted to use his last activation of Zephyr to get out of this mess. Astra glanced around him; there were more nobles than he thought.

    It was impossible. Even Zephyr wouldn¡¯t get him out of this mess now.

    ¡°Together now!¡± A greedy youth shouted.

    The nobles combined their attacks and made sure they would hit Astra with at least one of their attacks.

    ¡°DAMN IT!¡± Astra cursed.

    He activated his last use of Zephyr and dished out a hurricane of strikes. Astra had managed to block most of the attacks and killed the nobles around him.

    Astra breathed slowly. All this fighting was extremely taxing on him. To finish his opponents quickly, he had used his full power in almost every single strike.

    There were swollen cuts and bruises all over Astra¡¯s body.

    Heath grinned at the injured Astra, ¡°You¡¯re only human after all. I must say, you¡¯ve surpassed my expectations. I now have even more reason why you should die.¡±

    Heath wanted to toy with Astra a bit longer, ¡°But since you have done so well, I should reward you, shouldn¡¯t I? I¡¯ll give you a chance. Sign a contract and become my slave, only then will you live.¡±

    Heath started laughing madly, ¡°How about it?¡±

    Astra stared at Heath angrily and said slowly.

    ¡°Fuck. Off.¡±

    ¡®HAHAHAHAHA!¡± Heath¡¯s laughter intensified. ¡°Fine by me. You¡¯ve killed your fair share. I¡¯ll make sure you die this time.¡±

    Heath turned to the backline of mages, ¡°Support me.¡±

    Heath took out a black whip and raised it high in the air. Small slivers of red flames surrounded the whip.

    The mages began to pour their mana into Heath.

    The flames began to intensify and grow in size. Mana fluctuations made the battlefield tremble.

    ¡°I¡¯ll finish you off with my family¡¯s secret art. Breath of the Flame Dragon!¡±

    Heath struck his whip down, and a fiery, blazing dragon shot towards Astra.

    As if awakened by Heath¡¯s attack, a loud roar was heard from the fissure. The ground began to tremble.

    The red dragon extinguished into thin air as Heath canceled his spell and quickly leapt back.

    Cracks began to appear as the cliff started to fall.

    Astra tried running away from the cliff, but there were too many cracks. He had already lost his footing and was falling into the darkness.

    ¡°FUCK!¡± Heath madly shouted. His whole plan was ruined!

    Astra screamed as he fell into the infinite darkness.

 Chapter 26: Dahlia

    Astra desperately screamed as he fired waves of wind balls beneath him, attempting to use the momentum to propel himself upwards but it was no use. The battle had left him wounded and his mana pool drained.

    Several moments later, Astra had forced out every drop of mana that he had and was completely out of mana.

    ¡°Is this it¡­? This is how my life is going to end?¡± Astra muttered to himself as he continued falling down the fissure.

    Astra growled, ¡°Heath Nightbend...If I don¡¯t die here, I will definitely kill you!¡±

    Astra¡¯s eyes rolled backwards as he fell unconscious.

    <hr>

    Heath heaved in anger as his plan was now ruined. He just wanted to extort several items from Astra. Who would¡¯ve known that Astra would fight back like a cornered wolf? Heath looked around him.

    Everyone stared at Heath as they didn¡¯t know what to do next.

    ¡°Now what? What do we do about everyone who was killed?¡± Someone asked.

    Heath sneered, ¡°I didn¡¯t force you guys to do this. You were all blinded by greed and couldn¡¯t see the danger. Their deaths have nothing to do with me. If you want to blame someone, blame Astra Gale.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes went wide with shock. If it weren¡¯t for Heath telling everyone about what Astra got from Sloveus, no one would have even paid attention to him. This had nothing to do with him? Everything happened because of him.

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair! You enticed everyone and instigated the group to attack Astra! The teachers won¡¯t let you get away with this!¡± Someone yelled.

    Heath grimaced, ¡°Is that a threat? Are you threatening me? What family are you from? I¡¯ll exterminate your entire family if you dare speak a word of this to the teachers!¡±

    Everyone took a step back in fear.

    ¡°...Wh-What do we tell them then?¡± Someone asked.

    Heath stood still for a moment, thinking of a clever excuse.

    ¡°Here¡¯s what we say¡­¡± Heath began to tell the group their alibi.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Ascelyn Academy.

    A teacher overlooking the academy gate was surprised to see the amount of students that came back and immediately told them to stop.

    ¡°What happened? Are there still students left in the dimension?¡± The teacher asked.

    A young man spoke up, ¡°A commoner by the name of Astra Gale screamed for help but it was actually a trap! He lured us to a fissure then conjured up an earthquake, instantaneously throwing us off the cliff! ¡±

    To further cement the alibi, several people told the same story and even began crying.

    ¡°..I-I-I never thought th-th-that this would ha-happen¡­¡± A girl sobbed.

    ¡°We have never done anything to him nor spoken to him and yet he would be so devious! Taking advantage of our kind hearts to lure us into a trap!¡±

    ¡°These commoners have nothing to lose! No wonder they would do something as insane as this!¡±

    The teacher frowned. A single or even a dozen commoners dying was no big deal. But when more than a dozen nobles die to a commoner¡¯s trap, this would invoke the rage and fury from all the noble families. No way in hell that the teacher was going to try and meddle in something as serious as this.

    ¡°This should be reported immediately,¡± The teacher quickly turned around and continued staring over the academy walls.

    Heath grinned. A death of a noble was a huge deal. It was no surprise that the teacher didn¡¯t want anything to do with this.

    ¡°Well then, this is where we part ways,¡± Heath smiled at the crowd and headed back towards his manor.

    <hr>

    After an unknown amount of time had passed, Astra gradually regained his consciousness. His surroundings were a completely black world where he couldn¡¯t see a single thing.

    ...Am I still alive?

    Where am I¡­?

    Astra stayed still and focused on recovering his mana. He began to recover his senses and was able to hear his own bated breath.

    ¡°I¡¯m..still alive¡­¡± Astra whispered to himself.

    Astra tried to clench his fist, but was only able to slightly curl his fingers.

    As he began to regain his strength, he could feel that his entire body was wracked with pain.

    Suddenly, Astra felt an earth-shattering stomp.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Astra grunted. The vibrations from the ground was making his wounded body tremble with agony.

    With each step that came closer and closer, Astra groaned in pain.

    Suddenly, the steps stopped. Astra felt a huge figure looming over him. The aura coming from the figure was able to shake his soul but yet Astra felt his blood boiling which kept him conscious.

    Astra was able to feel the warm breath coming from the creature. It felt like the first breeze of summer. The breath seemed to revitalize Astra as he managed to fully open his eyes.

    A gigantic claw was inching closer and closer towards his chest. If the creature had wanted to kill Astra, it could have done it already. Astra laid there silently, calmly breathing.

    Right as the claw was about to touch Astra¡¯s chest, a soft clink was heard as the claw made contact with Astra¡¯s jade pendant.

    An intense blue light shined from the pendant and lit up Astra¡¯s surroundings. The creature¡¯s turquoise scales gleamed in the blue light. It¡¯s teeth were bright and sharp. It¡¯s eyes shimmered with a violet glow and seemed to contain all the wisdom in the world.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    A dragon!

    There was no mistaking it, Astra had seen this creature in a children¡¯s book before. Darcy had told him that dragons were once the kings of this world but went extinct thousands of years ago. So why was there one right in front of him?

    Before Astra could ponder on the question, a fierce crackling came from his pendant as if summoning a divine deity.

    Suddenly, a girl materialized above of Astra.

    The girl looked to be the same age as Astra and wore a tattered azure dress. Her petite and dainty body was curled up like an infant. Below her dress revealed two slender pale legs and two naked feet. Her closed eyelids revealed her long and delicate eyelashes. They seemed as soft as cotton and light as feathers.

    The most dazzling thing about the girl was her hair. It was as blue as the clear sky and was flowing like silk from the dragon¡¯s soft breath.

    The girl slowly descended and landed besides Astra¡¯s battered body.

    Astra took a deep breath. Under the glow of his pendant, the girl¡¯s face appeared in his line of sight. Astra froze in shock as he looked at her.

    ¡°...Beautiful¡­¡± Astra let his thoughts slip out.

    The dragon bowed down and put its head to the ground.

    ¡°Forgive this lowly one for summoning you, I had felt your presence and sensed your lack of vitality hence I imparted some of my life force upon you,¡± The dragon slowly spoke in a humble manner.

    The girl nodded at the dragon, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°But if it weren¡¯t for this imbecile, my vitality would have never weakened in the first place,¡± said the girl in an arrogant tone.

    Wh-What? Is she talking about me?

    Astra opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out.

    ¡°Can you heal this idiot for me?¡± The girl asked the dragon.

    The dragon nodded politely, ¡°Of course.¡±

    The dragon tappedits claw lightly on Astra¡¯s chest. An immense amount of mana came surging towards Astra and immediately filled up his mana pool. Astra felt a warm yet cool feeling spread throughout his body. This feeling felt familiar to when Fausto had healed him but its effectiveness was much greater.

    In a few seconds, Astra was fully recovered. He got up and clenched his fist and felt his strength return.

    Astra glared at the girl, ¡°Who are you? Why did you call me an imbecile?¡±

    Suddenly a ferocious aura came from behind him and paralyzed his body. The pressure was so immense that Astra couldn¡¯t even breathe.

    The girl held her palm towards the dragon signalling for it to stop.

    The aura was retracted in an instant and Astra began wheezing for air.

    ¡°You may call me Dahlia. As for why you¡¯re an imbecile, it is because you are an imbecile,¡± The girl responded.

    ¡°H-Huh? You¡¯re..not answering..the question,¡± Astra gasped for air as he spoke.

    ¡°This pendant...do you know what it is?¡± Dahlia asked.

    Astra recovered his breath and looked down at his chest, ¡°Don¡¯t know, I¡¯ve had it since birth.¡±

    ¡°Do you remember the ogre in the forest?¡± The girl sat down in front of Astra.

    ¡°I was the one who killed it.¡±

    Astra¡¯s eyes went wide with astonishment, ¡°You? You killed that ogre? How?¡±

    ¡°I took over your body with the power of the pendant. Before that point, I only needed a little bit more time before I could fully materialize but no, you had to go get yourself into trouble and forced me to save you,¡± Dahlia scoffed.

    Dahlia continued, ¡°That little commotion in the classroom? That was also me. Without the abundant energy from the pendant sustaining me, my mentality was weak and I was easily angered by the words of several lowly beings. But you, you just HAD to reach out towards the ball of light after I told you not to. You almost killed me because of that.¡±

    Astra sat down silently, he didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°That little battle earlier, I tried saving you but my energy was utterly depleted at that point. If it weren¡¯t for this dragon here, you would¡¯ve definitely died,¡± said Dahlia with a hint of anger.

    Astra stared at Dahlia, ¡°...Who exactly are you? Where did you come from?¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t even bother but...Do you know of the Lightning Clan?¡± Dahlia asked with a tint of hope.

    Astra raised an eyebrow, ¡°Lightning Clan? What¡¯s that?¡±

    Dahlia sighed in disappointment and mumbled, ¡°What did I expect¡­¡±

    ¡°Forget it, if you don¡¯t know then there¡¯s no point in talking about it. Let¡¯s focus on the present,¡±

    With Dahlia¡¯s attitude and the dragon behind him, trying to force Dahlia to talk about it would be a very bad idea. Astra kept his mouth shut and sat in silence.

    ¡°What now...What now¡­¡± Dahlia murmured to herself. She looked up and felt that something was wrong.

    ¡°This place...It¡¯s crumbling soon! We have to get out of here!¡± Dahlia exclaimed.

    Astra quickly got up. Sloveus¡¯ Dimension only lasted for seventy hours! How long has it been since he fell down?

    Dahlia looked towards the dragon, ¡°Can you bring us out of here?¡±

    The dragon flapped open its wings. It was tattered and full of holes. Blood spurted from its back as it tried to forcefully flap its wings.

    Dahlia looked at the dragon and felt heartbroken. The dragons were a proud race famed for their fighting prowess and wings that would allow them to soar throughout the skies. A dragon who had lost their ability to fly was no longer a true dragon.

    ¡°Enough, we will find some other way,¡± Dahlia said sternly.

    The dragon dejectedly put its wings away as a puddle of blood formed beneath him.

    ¡°This lowly one truly is useless...even in your time of need, I could not help,¡± The dragon whimpered.

    Astra looked at the dragon, ¡°How did you survive here? Doesn¡¯t the whole dimension close?¡±

    ¡°This fissure is enchanted with inscriptions that only allows me to survive the collapsing of the dimension,¡± The dragon gloomy replied.

    What kind of joke was this? Wasn¡¯t this basically trapping the dragon here? A creature as powerful as this dragon was trapped here? Who would be able to do something like this?

    Dahlia stared at Astra¡¯s pendant. The dragon had replenished her vitality but not the energy of the pendant. This pendant was no ordinary pendant, it was an accessory that would be able to gather divine energy and allow the user to do whatever they wished with it. With divine energy severely lacking in this realm, Dahlia would not be able to take over Astra¡¯s body in a long while.

    Astra sighed and faced Dahlia, ¡°You should save yourself. With your power, you should easily be able to get out of here.¡±

    Dahlia stared at Astra like he had said the stupidest thing in his entire life.

    ¡°Our souls are connected...if I stray too far from you, I¡¯ll disappear,¡± Dahlia said.

    Astra was shocked once again, ¡°Wh-What? Souls? What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°Enough, let me think,¡± Dahlia stared at the sky in silence.

    Astra sat down and began thinking as well.

    The dragon was of no use, its wings were brutally torn apart and was bleeding profusely with every flap. Dahlia apparently had no more energy so taking control of his body was impossible. The fissure was way too tall to climb. Even with Astra fully recovered, it wouldn¡¯t make a difference.

    ¡°If only I could enchant some flying boots...if only I could¡¯ve learned it from the enchanting master¡­¡± Astra mumbled.

    Dahlia immediately turned towards Astra, ¡°...What did you say?¡±

    Astra was afraid of saying something stupid again, ¡°N-Nothing¡­¡±

    ¡°No, not nothing. Say it again!¡± Dahlia commanded.

    ¡°I-I was just saying...that if I learned how to enchant flying equipment from the enchanting master, I could just fly out of here¡­¡± Astra responded meekly.

    ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± Dahlia smiled.

    ¡°Really? We¡¯re going to fly out of here?¡± asked Astra.

    ¡°No, you idiot. You¡¯re so incompetent that I forgot that you have the bloodline of the Lightning Clan,¡± Dahlia said haughtily.

    Dahlia¡¯s smile faded as she looked at the sky, ¡°...Even if you are the most talented genius our clan has ever seen, you¡¯ll never be able to learn it in the amount of time we have left.¡±

    The dragon¡¯s ears perked up, ¡°Time? If you need time...I am willing to give you time.¡±

    Dahlia looked at the dragon and grimaced, ¡°...Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°With all these years that I¡¯ve spent trapped in this fissure, it has to be fate that you have appeared before me today. If I just stay here, I¡¯ll eventually rot away sooner or later. I would be honored to use what little time I have left to help you,¡± The dragon said proudly.

    Dahlia sighed, ¡°Fine. Whenever you are ready.¡±

    The dragon nodded and closed its eyes.

 Chapter 27: Lightning Shura

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± Astra shouted as the fissure began to shake.

    Dahlia kept her eyes on the dragon and replied, ¡°Relax, just stay still.¡±

    Astra traced Dahlia¡¯s line of sight and focused on the dragon.

    What was going on? What is it doing?

    A soft glow emerged from the dragon and began to spread throughout the fissure. As the glow surrounded Astra and Dahlia, an aura of warmth and comfort covered them and put Astra at ease.

    Dahlia waved her dainty arm in the air and rubbed her fingers together, ¡°Thank you...I will repay you for your loyalty.¡± Dahlia murmured as she sighed.

    Astra felt the mana around him becoming more dense and compact.

    ¡°What just happened?¡± Astra asked.

    Dahlia looked to the skies as she began to explain, ¡°One of the descendants of the Supreme Lightning Dragons, The Vreme Dragons. Blessed with the combat prowess of dragons and the elemental attributes of lightning, the Vreme Dragons were also gifted with the ability to distort time and space. However, this ability could only be used by sacrificing their life force. Depending on the amount of space, each hour inside is equivalent to one second outside. However, each second inside equals a decade of their life.¡±

    Astra was baffled. Being able to distort time? How ridiculous is that? It made sense that the price for using this ability was extremely costly.

    ¡°How long do we have?¡± Astra inquired.

    Dahlia closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, ¡°I would say at least three days.¡±

    Astra muttered to himself as he did some quick calculations in his head. Three days...Seventy-two hours...Four thousand three hundred twenty minutes¡­

    ¡°The dragon could¡¯ve lived for at least twomillion more years,¡± Dahlia said as she saw Astra taking quite a while.

    ¡°T-T-Two mi-mi-million?!¡± Astra stuttered in shock. The dragon was the dragon willing to give up two million years of its life in order to help Dahlia? Who exactly was this girl?This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°Focus. We don¡¯t have much time,¡± Dahlia frowned.

    Astra quickly took a couple of breaths and regained his composure, ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡±

    ¡°Do you remember when you reached for that ball of light in the classroom?¡± Dahlia asked.

    Astra nodded, ¡°I would never forget it. I was possessing a master of enchantment and experienced everything that he did.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± said Dahlia. ¡°I will teach you a skill that will help us get out of here.¡±

    ¡°...Am I going to possess you?¡± Astra asked slowly.

    Dahlia glanced at Astra¡¯s pendant, ¡°No, there isn¡¯t enough energy for that. In fact, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to receive your inherited memories in a long while.¡±

    Astra raised an eyebrow, ¡°My inherited memories?¡±

    A loud crackle came from Dahlia¡¯s palm and a cerulean rod that was a meter long appeared in her hand.

    ¡°Enough, you will know more after we get out of here. The skill I will be teaching you is called the Lightning Shura. There are seven steps in completely mastering the Lightning Shura. No one in the clan¡¯s history has ever gotten to the seventh step. Even our progenitor was only at the sixth step.¡±

    Dahlia thrust the rod into the air a couple of times. Even an ordinary person would be able to tell that Dahlia was at a high level of mastery with the rod.

    ¡°Since our time is running low, I will beat the skill into you.¡±

    Astra quickly retreated a few steps and looked for his sword.

    ¡°No weapons, learn it with your body,¡± Dahlia quickly thrust the rod at Astra¡¯s abdomen as they were less than a few feet apart.

    Astra bent over in pain as he gasped for air.

    ¡°The first step of Lightning Shura, Tempest Bolt. The very foundation of Lightning Shura which supports all future steps.¡± Dahlia swung the rod at Astra¡¯s legs as she continued talking.

    As Astra was still bent over, he couldn¡¯t see the rod coming at all and ended up being swept to the ground.

    ¡°To use Tempest Bolt, you must have an innate lightning physique which is already covered by your bloodline. By gathering and converting the mana inside your body into the lightning element, you will be able to move as fast as lightning.¡±

    Dahlia continued explaining as she did an overhead swing.

    Astra quickly rolled out of the way and pushed himself up with great difficulty.

    ¡°Wait! How do I do that? Just teach me normally! Why are you beating me up!?¡± Astra shouted.

    Dahlia smiled as she charged at Astra.

    Astra turned around and began to run...but it was too late. Dahlia was already right behind Astra and began pummeling him with a series of thrusts and swings.

    ¡°Trust me...you¡¯ll learn faster this way,¡± A soft laughter came from Dahlia as she continued chasing down Astra.

 Chapter 28: Knot Blossoms & Tempest Bolt

    Nightbend Family Manor.

    Heath Nightbend walked up to the Nightbend Manor and pushed open its doors. A row of maids and butlers bowed down and greeted Heath.

    ¡°Welcome back, young master!¡± The row of servants welcomed Heath back enthusiastically.

    An old man dressed in a similar but different butler outfit stepped out from the row of servants and walked up to Heath.

    ¡°Your father wishes to speak with you, Isabella is already here,¡± The old butler said softly.

    Heath nodded and headed to the main meeting room. As Heath opened the doors to the meeting room, the sight of an expressionless plump man who was sitting on top of a throne and Isabella Phoenixvale kneeling in front of the man greeted his eyes.

    Heath walked up and knelt besides Isabella, ¡°I have returned, father.¡±

    ¡°What happened in there?¡± Heath¡¯s father asked with a low voice.

    ¡°A commoner by the name of Astra Gale received Sloveus¡¯ legacy as well as Reach¡¯s token. I attempted to retrieve the items but he put up more of a fight than I had thought. A mysterious earthquake interrupted us and he fell off a cliff along with several others,¡± Heath reported.

    The Lord of the Nightbend family stared at Heath for a moment before asking, ¡°...Is he dead?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone could have survived that fall. He should be dead,¡± Heath replied.

    Heath¡¯s father glared at Isabella and asked dully, ¡°Is he dead?¡±

    Isabella¡¯s brow furrowed and replied, ¡°No...I still feel my imprint on him. He¡¯s definitely still alive.¡±

    Heath looked over at Isabella with astonishment as he thought to himself. There was an imprint on him? Nevermind that, he¡¯s still alive?!

    Isabella exhaled a sigh of relief. The Nightbend Family had eyes and ears everywhere. New students that were deemed to be special was marked by a special imprint that was specially created by the Nightbend Family. The imprint allowed the user that imprinted it to know the target¡¯s location and their status. However, marking a person with the imprint requires a strong physical collision in order to embed it deep within their body. Furthermore, making the target ingest a special powder would activate the second trait of the imprint which was minor hypnosis. The target would still be able to think rationally but would be subconsciously inclined to do whatever you wanted them to do.

    ¡°...Impossible! There was no way he survived that fall! I saw him fall down myself!¡± Heath said anxiously.

    With indifference on her face, Isabella replied, ¡°He¡¯s alive.¡±

    The Nightbend Lord raised his hand.

    A black shadow appeared behind Heath and knelt down besides him, ¡°Yes, Lord Bozo?¡±

    ¡°Is my son lying?¡± Bozo Nightbend grunted.

    ¡°No, my lord. Astra has indeed fallen off the cliff.¡± The black shadow replied with a husky voice.

    Bozo breathed in deeply and pondered. Bozo knew that Fausto¡¯s recruit wouldn¡¯t be someone ordinary. With Fausto¡¯s accomplishments and attitude, there was no way he would choose a typical mage. It seems that placing an imprint on Astra wasn¡¯t a huge waste after all. However...it seems like the boy really did fall off the cliff and yet he is still alive¡­

    ¡°Who else fell off?¡± Bozo inquired after a few minutes of contemplation.

    ¡°Nobles,¡± Heath responded.

    Bozo rubbed his hefty chin, ¡°Anyone important?¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°No, just some lower-tiered ones,¡± Heath answered.

    Bozo smirked and instructed Heath, ¡°Tell the Elite Assembly. Mention that Astra is still alive and make the situation as tense as possible.¡±

    ¡°Yes, father,¡± Heath and the black shadow dismissed themselves and walked out.

    Seeing Heath leave, Isabella got up and began to walk out when a repulsive voice stopped her.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going? Your family is still indebted to me, don¡¯t be so eager to leave,¡± Bozo Nightbend sneered.

    Isabella grimaced and muttered to herself, ¡°...Bastard pig of a man¡­¡±

    Several years ago, Isabella¡¯s father, the Lord of the Phoenixvale Family, had been poisoned and was heavily injured. It was a rare poison that would cause one¡¯s skin to bloat up to the point of bursting and bleed from the seven orifices. Only a medicinal herb named the Knot Blossom could cure the poison. With how rare the poison was, the Knot Blossom was just as difficult to acquire, but as luck would have it, the Nightbend family had a scarce supply of Knot Blossoms. With the Lord of Phoenixvale nearing death, the family would do anything to keep him alive because if the Lord died, the family¡¯s power would diminish and the other nobles would snatch up their territory.

    The Nightbend Lord didn¡¯t want money or territory but rather he wanted the youngest heir of the Phoenixvale Family which happened to be Isabella. In exchange for giving the Phoenixvales the Knot Blossom, Isabella had to serve the Nightbend family for eight years. If Isabella were to disobey the Nightbend Lord, the Phoenixvale Family would have to hand over half of their territories. The Phoenixvale Family wasn¡¯t lacking in heirs and wasn¡¯t reluctant at all to hand over Isabella.

    ¡°Come here,¡± Bozo motioned for Isabella to sit on his lap as he chuckled pervertedly.

    With great reluctance, Isabella slowly walked over to his throne and sat on his lap. Bozo ran his thick fingers through Isabella¡¯s hair and placed it under his nose.

    ¡°Mmm, your aroma never fails to please me,¡± said Bozo as he breathed in deeply.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    <hr>

    Bottom of the Fissure.

    Astra grunted as he struggled to dodge Dahlia¡¯s blows. After dodging a few blows, Astra would always gain some distance from Dahlia and managed to run several meters away before Dahlia appeared in front of him in an instant.

    ¡°A desire to dodge...A desire to run...A desire for speed,¡± Dahlia chanted these three phrases like a mantra as the duo continued their training.

    Soon enough, Astra was able to dodge Dahlia¡¯s strikes and run away from her with ease.

    Dahlia stopped as she took a deep breath, ¡°Finally, your body is ready. Now it¡¯s time for you to use it.¡±

    Astra focused within his body. Indeed, there were minor changes to his mana. If he were to concentrate on a small part of his body, he would feel a slight electric current flowing through his veins.

    ¡°How do I use it?¡± Astra asked.

    Dahlia gave off an uneasy smile, ¡°There must be a need for you to use it...Lightning Shura, first step! Tempest Bolt!¡±

    A glow of sapphire surrounded Dahlia as she disappeared into thin air.

    ¡°Huh? Where did she-¡±

    Suddenly, Astra felt a sharp pain on his back. He looked over his shoulder and saw Dahlia standing right behind him. He had never seen this sort of acceleration before. Dahlia¡¯s speed had explosively increased.

    Without a moment¡¯s hesitation, Dahlia repeatedly struck Astra in the back four times before he managed to tumble and roll away.

    Astra coughed and spat out a puddle of blood. He looked up at saw a murderous intent in Dahlia¡¯s eyes.

    That...was too fast!

    In a split second, Dahlia appeared in front of Astra and thrusted her rod right at Astra¡¯s head. A sense of danger acquired from training in the forest from a young age gave Astra the intuition to quickly duck his head. Astra¡¯s blood began to boil as his body recognized that he was in a life-and-death situation. A barrage of strikes came at Astra as he quickly got up.

    With no time to think, Astra fully depended on his body and his intuition to dodge Dahlia¡¯s lethal attacks. Astra panted heavily as he thought to himself.

    Dodge it!

    Quicker!

    Faster!

    Unbeknownst to Astra, soft crackles could be heard from his body and his agility began to increase. Astra began to move faster and faster in order to dodge the rod. The crackles became louder and louder as if Astra was the embodiment of thunder itself. A blue glow slowly appeared on Astra¡¯s skin.

    Noticing this, Dahlia smiled as she aimed for Astra¡¯s chest.

    Astra grinned as he saw the rod slowly coming towards him. As swift as lightning, Astra kicked the rod out of Dahlia¡¯s hands.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done it,¡± Dahlia smirked.

    Astra frowned, ¡°I almost died there. If I hadn¡¯t awakened my power then I would have been in big trouble. Were you really going to kill me?¡±

    Dahlia chuckled, ¡°If that was all it took to kill you, the Lightning Clan doesn¡¯t need you.¡±

 Chapter 29: The Elite Assembly & Mana Channels

    Elite Assembly Council Room.

    A tanned youth with long red hair that dropped to his shoulders sat at the center of a gigantic round table along with four other individuals.

    ¡°Streth, were there any accidents regarding the Sloveus expedition this year?¡± The red-haired youth asked.

    A skinny, pale teenager with the height of a twelve-year-old replied, ¡°Apparently Heath tried to extort a commoner but an earthquake interrupted him. The commoner, Astra Gale, and several other nobles fell off the cliff and into the fissure, I would assume that they are dead.¡±

    A girl with blonde curly hair that was tied up in a ponytail laughed haughtily, ¡°Uriel, I thought you had everything under control in this academy. Why are there nobles dying to a commoner?¡±

    ¡°Flora, The loss of many human lives is no laughing matter,¡± A girl with long chestnut hair said softly.

    Flora laughed again, ¡°Oh Sherry, just because you saved a couple of lives here and there doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re some sort of saint now.¡±

    ¡°Enough, the commoner is already dead. Let¡¯s move on to the next topic unless you want to pick up scraps from their house,¡± said a youth with short blond hair and orange colored eyes.

    ¡°Although Dio may be a bit insensitive, he has a point. Let¡¯s move on,¡± Uriel said with indifference.

    Suddenly, there was a knock on the council room door.

    ¡°Heath Nightbend, may I come in?¡±

    ¡°You may enter,¡± Uriel said.

    Heath opened the doors and bowed down slightly to greet the five leaders of the Elite Assembly.

    ¡°Speak,¡± Uriel immediately commanded with a domineering tone.

    ¡°Have you heard of the incident in Sloveus¡¯ dimension?¡± Heath asked politely.

    Streth chuckled, ¡°Of course we have, that was the first thing that I brought up. Aren¡¯t you taking my connections too lightly?¡± Streth was from the Pierce family who was famed for their archery and stealth prowess which allowed them to gather information with haste and efficiency.

    ¡°Ah, then you must know that Astra Gale is still alive,¡± Heath said.

    Flora burst out into maniacal laughter, ¡°HAHAHAHA! The commoner killed several nobles and yet he still lived? What a joke!¡±

    Heath continued, ¡°But he is still in Sloveus¡¯ dimension, I have placed some of my men at the entrance to see if he will come out.¡±

    Uriel nodded,¡°If that is all, you may leave,¡±

    ¡°I will excuse myself,¡± Heath bowed politely before heading out.

    Uriel turned to the four of them and said gravely, ¡°This changes things,¡±

    ¡°This changes nothing!¡± Dio said heartlessly. ¡°The fissure in Sloveus¡¯ dimension is thousands of meters deep! There¡¯s no way he could get out of there even if he is alive. He¡¯s probably dangling on a piece of protruding rock.¡±

    Sherry shook her head, ¡°We should make our decision after the dimension closes for good. After all, right before the dimension closes, space starts to become distorted. The exit portal might appear right before him.¡±

    Streth chipped in, ¡°If Astra does survive, It¡¯s just going to be a bunch of he said she said, we will have to pick a side to support.¡±

    ¡°Naturally, you will support the nobles, won¡¯t you?¡± Flora glared at Uriel. Unlike the rest of them, Flora Avonal didn¡¯t hold a real position in the Elite Assembly and naturally had no responsibilities. She was only recruited into the Assembly because the Avonal Family had relations to the royal Ascelyn Family. All Flora really had to do was to attend the daily meetings but even then, she was frequently late. Flora spent most of her time strolling around Ascelyn Academy in skimpy outfits, reveling in the perverted gazes that would surround her.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Uriel cleared his throat and got everyone¡¯s attention, ¡°If he lives, we will listen to his story before we decide what to do with him. Streth, have your people patrol near the entrance of Sloveus¡¯ dimension until it closes. Bring Astra in if he manages to get out.¡±

    ¡°Understood,¡± Streth nodded.

    Flora grimaced. Even though Flora had relations to the royal family, she was no royalty. Uriel was from the Draconian family who was known for having strong combat prowess and its abundant connections to military and mercenary services. The Draconians even had an extremely loyal private army at their beck and call. If the Draconians mustered all their power and connections, even the royal Ascelyn Family wouldn¡¯t be able to destroy them without harboring heavy losses.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    <hr>

    Bottom of the Fissure.

    ¡°Sit down and rest for a while, you¡¯ll be scaling this fissure soon,¡± Dahlia instructed.

    Astra nodded but first, he looked for his Sword of Gale. Surprisingly, the sword was only several meters away from him. He picked it up and stored it in his space ring before laying down on the ground to rest.

    Dahlia walked up to the dragon.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to leave soon, is there anything you want me to do for you?¡± Dahlia asked softly.

    The dragon half-opened its eyes and shook its head, ¡°.Being able to meet the deity that allowed my ancestors to prosper is enough for me. However, there is something more that I can do for you and that boy,¡±

    ¡°And what is that?¡± Dahlia raised an eyebrow.

    The dragon sighed deeply, ¡°I have but several hundred years left. That time will pass in a blink of an eye. I might as well be dead right now. I will give you the remains of my body, it will help you greatly in the future.¡±

    Dahlia gaped as she was slightly shocked inside.

    ¡°But before that, allow me to soften his mana channel entrances,¡± The dragon continued.

    Dahlia said with a solemn face, ¡°You are truly rushing to your death.¡±

    As the name implies, mana channels are channels within the body that allows a person to channel their mana. The more channels a person has open, the faster one can absorb and circulate mana within their body. Most mana channels are naturally opened when one breaks through to White rank and so on, but there would always be leftover mana channels that weren¡¯t opened during the breakthrough and would require one to spend an arduous amount of time absorbing mana to break open the channel.

    To forcefully tone down the resistance of mana entrances requires an enormous amount of skill and knowledge regarding human anatomy and mana channels. If the dragon was in its prime, it would be able to do this without sacrificing a second of his life. But now that the dragon was severely exhausted and lacking in life force, even weakening one mana entrance would require him to sacrifice several days of his life.

    ¡°ASTRA! WAKE UP! GET OVER HERE!¡± A thunderous voice came from Dahlia that shook Astra¡¯s very soul.

    ¡°Wh-What¡¯s wrong? Did something happen?¡± Astra looked around worriedly. It hasn¡¯t even been five minutes since Astra laid down. He quickly trotted to Dahlia¡¯s side.

    The dragon raised his claw and gently placed it on top of Astra¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°Relax, young child,¡± The dragon whispered.

    Astra calmed his breathing. Just like the first time, if the dragon wanted to kill Astra, it could¡¯ve done so already.

    A violet light came from the claw and penetrated Astra¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°Hm...What¡¯s this?¡± The dragon mumbled to itself.

    Dahlia raised her eyebrow in curiosity, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s an imprint in his body...It¡¯s a two-step imprint that requires an external and internal force. It appears to be some sort of tracker and bears some effect on the mind as well.¡± The dragon replied.

    ¡°An imprint?...When was this?...¡± Dahlia murmured to herself.

    ¡°I will erase the imprint while I am opening his channels,¡± The dragon said.

    Dahlia nodded in approval.

    ¡°Ugh,¡± Astra grunted as a weird feeling overcame his body. It was as if thousands of needles were trying to escape from inside his body and out through his pores. Suddenly, microscopic holes appeared all over Astra¡¯s body and blood squirted from all of the holes. Astra¡¯s breathing became heavy and rapid as he became rigid.

    ¡°It is done,¡± The dragon retracted his claw.

    Dahlia nodded and lightly pushed the statue-like Astra who fell onto the ground unconsciously.

    Currently, most of Astra¡¯s mana channels were tightly closed since he had yet to break through to White rank. If the openings of a mana channel were compared to a steel door, then the breakthrough to White rank would be comparable to drilling a hole through the doors. Right now, the doors were being poked through by thousands of small needles.

    Blood started leaking from Astra¡¯s mouth, a small river formed beneath his body.

    Dahlia waited for the process to end.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

 Chapter 30: Out of danger

    Bottom of the Fissure.

    After an unknown amount of time had passed, Astra opened his eyes.

    ¡°Ugh...What happened?¡± Astra groaned. He looked down and saw that his clothes were stained with red.

    ¡°Finally,¡± Dahlia said irritatedly. She walked up to the dragon and gently caressed its snout.

    ¡°Farewell...I will not forget what you have done. If we ever encounter your kind, they will be greatly rewarded.

    Astra got up and examined his body. Despite being covered in blood, his body felt light and relaxed. He turned towards the dragon and felt that its oppressive aura was diminishing rapidly.

    What¡¯s wrong with it?...Its aura is getting weaker and weaker¡­

    Noticing the standing Astra, Dahlia motioned for him to come over, ¡°Say your goodbyes.¡±

    Astra looked at the dragon dejectedly and knelt down, ¡°I thank you for saving my life and sacrificing yours to help me.

    The dragon looked at Astra closely. The violet light in its eyes slowly dimmed as his life force faded away. The dense mana around them began to disperse and scatter.

    Dahlia hesitated for a moment,¡°...Use your space ring and put the body inside,¡±

    Astra put his hand out and sucked the dragon¡¯s body into his ring. The space within the ring was immediately filled up.

    As the dragon¡¯s space-time distortion began to fade, rocks and debris began falling down the fissure.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, it won¡¯t be long before the dimension collapses,¡± Dahlia walked up to Astra and disappeared as a green glow enveloped her body.

    ¡°What the? Where¡¯d you go?¡± Astra looked around.

    ¡°Inside the pendant, you idiot. We don¡¯t have time, use Tempest Bolt and climb!.¡± Dahlia said.

    Astra nodded and shouted, ¡°Lightning Shura, first step! Tempest Bolt!¡±

    Astra could feel the soft crackles flaring up within his body. His skin glowed blue as a light shade of electric-blue glossed over his onyx colored eyes. Astra exhaled as he firmly clutched the ground with his feet.

    Boom~!

    A sonic boom echoed throughout the fissure as a shock wave formed behind Astra as he ran up towards the fissure. In an instant, Astra already ran a hundred meters up the wall. He managed to run a couple more meters before gravity slowed him down and made Astra resort to climbing up the fissure with his hands.

    As Astra looked above him, instead of endless darkness, a tiny glimmer of light could be seen.

    ¡°I see light! I¡¯m close!¡± Astra grunted as he climbed up the wall.

    With Tempest Bolt strengthening and increasing the agility of his body, Astra was like a monkey in the jungle, easily scaling the last couple hundred meters of the fissure in several minutes.

    As Astra climbed out of the fissure, he took a deep breath and looked around him. There were broken trees scattered all around and the sky seemed to have small cracks. Astra looked around for the exit portal.

    ¡°Your left! Quickly!¡± Dahlia shouted.

    Astra did as he was told and quickly started running to his left. A couple of minutes later, Astra saw a small purple dot off in the distance.

    ¡°The exit portal!¡± Astra said happily as he continued running.

    Before long, Astra was a couple meters away from the portal.

    Suddenly, the ground began to rumble and shake. Cracks appeared as the ground began splitting apart, creating a massive cliff. Once again, Astra stood at the edge of a cliff. The portal was fading in and out and was about to disappear at any moment.

    ¡°You have to jump!¡± Dahlia yelled.

    Astra gritted his teeth as he bent his knees and leaped forward.

    Without warning, the portal disappeared right in front of Astra¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Huh?! WHAT!? FUCK!¡± Astra began flailing in mid-air as he fell down the cliff. What kind of shitty luck was this? To disappear right before me? Anger rose from within as Heath¡¯s arrogant laugh came to Astra¡¯s mind.

    Out of nowhere, the portal appeared right beneath Astra as he continued to yell obscenities.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    A wave of nausea assaulted Astra¡¯s head as he fell through the portal.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Astra groaned. Did I burst a blood vessel from being too angry? Astra¡¯s eyes grew heavy as his body was exhausted from the strenuous use of Tempest Bolt.

    In a flash, Astra appeared at the entrance of Sloveus¡¯ Dimension and fell face first onto the ground.

    ¡°...What the fuck? Is this the kid? He¡¯s actually alive?¡± A male youth shouted.

    ¡°Is this him? This must be Astra Gale, correct?¡±

    ¡°Thank god, I thought I was standing here for nothing.¡±

    A group of people clamored over to the scene as the portal faded away.

    ¡°Take him, we have to report this to Streth immediately. Heath¡¯s men, you can go back,¡± said a muscular youth with an arrogant tone. It was apparent that he was the leader of the group.

    Several of the crew nodded as they diverted from the group. Two people held up Astra from his sides and carried him off.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    <hr>

    Ascelyn Academy: Meeting room.

    A skinny tall man with no hair on his head that seemed to be in his forties slammed his fist on a table.

    ¡°My son is dead, what will the academy do about this!¡± The man said angrily.

    Uriel sat at the head of the table with composure. He glanced around the table. There

    were several adults sitting next to him with anger and anxiousness on their faces.

    Sherry said softly, ¡°We are currently waiting for the dimension to close before we make any final decisions.¡±

    The man glared at Sherry, ¡°Final decisions? If I heard correctly, the kid should be in a fissure right now! He¡¯s dead! Quit wasting time!¡±

    Out of the blue, there was a knock on the door.

    Uriel¡¯s eyes narrowed as he thought to himself. Every time that there was a knock, something unexpected would happen.

    ¡°Come in,¡± Uriel said.

    The doors creaked open as a muscular youth appeared. The youth bowed slightly as he quickly walked next to Streth and whispered into his ears.

    Streth¡¯s eyes widened as he turned to Uriel, ¡°He¡¯s alive. They brought him back.¡±

    Rage appeared in the forty-year-old man¡¯s eyes as he quickly got up, ¡°He¡¯s still alive?! And he¡¯s here!?!¡±

    The man ran out of the room as he shouted, ¡°My son! I¡¯ll avenge you right now!!¡±

    Flora chuckled as she followed the man, ¡°This should be a good show.¡±

    Everyone in the room got up and exited the room.

    ¡­

    ..

    .

    Ascelyn Academy Plaza

    Astra was laying down on the ground as several people watched over him. A crowd began to form out of curiosity.

    ¡°Who is that?¡± A girl asked.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear? He¡¯s the one that killed all the nobles in the expedition!¡± Someone in the crowd replied.

    ¡°Him? But he¡¯s so young!¡±

    ¡°What is going to happen to him?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡±

    Suddenly an angry yell was heard throughout the plaza.

    ¡°GET OUT OF THE WAY!¡± An angry man shouted from the back of the crowd.

    The man forcefully shoved several students out of his way as he slowly made his way through the crowd. The man began to fume as he finally got to the front and saw Astra lying on the ground.

    ¡°Wake him up!¡± The man yelled.

    The group of people watching over him stared at each other. They didn¡¯t even know this man, why should they listen to his orders? But a few moments later, the Elite Assembly appeared behind the man. The group of people noticed Streth¡¯s nodding head as they slapped Astra¡¯s face a couple of times.

    Astra woke up instantly.

    Where am I? Huh? ...Isn¡¯t this Ascelyn Academy? I¡¯m out?! I made it out!

    Astra smiled in relief as he stood up but furrowed his brow as soon as he noticed the crowd around him and the angry man glaring him down.

    The man took out his wand and released his aura of a White rank mage. The Elite Assembly quietly watched as the man prepared his attack. Dio sneered and thought to himself. Thanks, old man. Now we won¡¯t have to get our hands dirty.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Sherry shouted. The man ignored her and continued channeling his mana.

    ¡°Pay for your crime! My son won¡¯t rest in peace knowing that you¡¯re still alive!¡± The man shouted as a stream of water burst out from the tip of his wand at a frightening speed and flew straight at Astra.

    In an instant, Astra realized the danger he was in and quickly activated Tempest Bolt which allowed him to see the beam of water that was coming straight at his head.

    The surge of water grazed Astra¡¯s cheek as he twisted his neck forcefully in order to dodge the attack. A trickle of blood flowed down his face as an inch long cut appeared on his right cheek.

    ¡°Wha-What the fuck? A kid who hasn¡¯t even broken through to White rank dodged my attack? Impossible!¡± The man was baffled.

    ¡°In that case, take this!¡± An immense amount of mana began to gather at the tip of the man¡¯s wand.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to kill you-¡± The man stopped talking as he stared above him.

    What happened?

    Astra tilted his head and traced the man''s line of sight.

    There was a man standing in mid-air as a yellow glow surrounded him. An oppressive aura came from the man. Having felt the oppressive aura of a real dragon, Astra wasn¡¯t flustered and kept his composure. Astra looked closely at the man.

    It¡¯s him!

    ¡°Principal Knoxon,¡± Uriel quickly kneeled down.

    Noticing this, the entire crowd began kneeling down.

    A murderous intent came from Knoxon and kept the man in front of Astra standing.

    ¡°I...Th-this boy! He deserves to be punished!¡± The man stuttered as he tried to explain himself.

    ¡°Are you trying to kill one of my students? In MY academy?¡± Knoxon¡¯s voice echoed through the crowd.

    ¡°N-No, I would never¡­¡± The man whimpered.

    ¡°Enough, DISPERSE!¡± Knoxon commanded.

    The crowd immediately began to thin out as everyone left the plaza.

    Pinned down by Knoxon¡¯s aura and killing intent, the man¡¯s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the ground.

    Knoxon descended from the air and landed on the ground. He glanced at Astra, ¡°Come with me.¡± Knoxon began to quickly walk away.

    Astra released Tempest Bolt as he followed behind Knoxon.