Chapter 9: (8/9)

They arrived at the Mages’ Academy and went inside to pay respect to the Principal, Ethren Bellas, and passed on a letter from the Mages Council explaining that Kain and Arthur were here to ‘learn’ from other Student Master Mages of Ganarion. ‘Learn’ is a nice way to put it, Kain and Arthur were here to inspect his Mages’ Academy. The Principal understood that the Mages Council was not happy with him because there were no talented magic casters who graduated from Mages’ Academy of Ganarion for the past two hundred years. In some way, the Principal felt like he should be angry at the Mages Council for continuing sending bad Professors instead of the quality that he had repeatedly asked for.

“You are free to tour around my Mages’ Academy without limited access. Let me know if you needed anything else.”

“Principal Bellas, I wonder if we may start the tour immediately.” Arthur asked.

“Fine, go.”

“Thank you.”

Kain and Arthur toured the Mages’ Academy of Ganarion. To their surprise, most of the students were playing instead of learning or mediating. The professors seem like they don’t give a crap and continue teaching regardless of how many students were actually listening. Not just one or two classes, but all of the classes were like that. The students and professors saw Kain and Arthur but they didn’t even bother to speak with them.

Kain asked Arthur, “What the heck is going on with this Mages’ Academy?”

“This is ridiculous. No wonder the Nalas Kingdom is considered to be the weakest in Toria Continents.”

Kain and Arthur went back to the Principal's Office and expressed their concern. The Principal just laughed it off and said, “The professors of this Mages’ Academy got paid sixty percent less compared to average wages of professors in Mages’ Academies of other nations. The Student Mages graduated here don’t have to train hard because they can pay their way into the Mages Council and get access to great Magical Items that could greatly enhance their training much faster. Why work hard now for the same result you can easily achieve in the future?”

Arthur thought to himself, “Not only the members of the Gray stationed in the Nalas Kingdom are corrupted. Members of other Colors are corrupted as well. Magic casters can bribe their way into becoming members of the Colors. That was why they didn't have to work hard during their time in the Mages’ Academy of Ganarion.”

“Principal Bellas, have you reported this to the Mages Council?” Arthur asked.

“I have sent many letters but never received any reply from the Mages Council. I asked for professors who graduated from other Mages’ Academies but the Mages Council continued to appoint new professors from the Student Mages who graduated here. I even told some Executioners when they happened to pass by here but nothing had changed. I have given up on this Mages’ Academy.”

After they had done speaking with the Principal, Kain and Arthur decided to go back to their hotel rooms and will investigate more about this issue later. On the way back using the horse cart, they were approached by four Master-tier magic casters.

“Is this horse cart belonging to Arthur Castillon and Kain Almos?” One of the magic casters asked.

“Who is asking?” Kain asked back.

“My name is Ralnor Briarfell. Just like you, I am a member of the Gray. We have prepared a small feast to welcome you to this nation. Please come join us.”

“We refused.”

“Refused?”

“Yes. Move.”

“Let me explain better. This small feast was set up by Executioner Lyfalia Immeril. I think you better go.”

“Lyfalia Immeril? She is an Executioner level 50 Legend-tier of Ice Magic. I think we better go, Kain.” Arthur whispered into Kain’s ears. Kain nodded in agreement. They can’t disrespect such a strong Executioner.

“Lead the way.” Kain told Ralnor.

They arrived at a small restaurant. Kain and Arthur walked in and saw a table of twenty seats were set up in the middle of the restaurant. No other table was seen nearby. There were no customers except them.

Ralnor said, “We have paid to reserve this restaurant for a whole day so our dinner won’t be interrupted by the outsiders. Kain and Arthur, please have a seat. The other will join us soon.”

Kain and Arthur looked at each other, nodded, and took out their Storage Rings given to them by Executioner Bodwyn. They dropped the Storage Rings on the floor to turn it into storage chests. Kain and Arthur took out nine more LYAUR each and put on each of their fingers. They closed the storage chests to turn it back into Storage Rings and hide it inside their robes. Kain and Arthur calmly sat down but both of them have their LYAUR ready anytime. If these Master-tier magic casters were planning something stupid against them, they wouldn't go down without a fight.

Ralnor opened his eyes wide when he saw Kain and Arthur each have ten LYAUR. As a member of the Gray, Ralnor had one LYAUR at the time he joined. But ten LYAUR per member? This is crazy. Kain and Arthur teamed up together won’t be strong enough to take down Executioner Immeril but running away from here wouldn’t be a problem.

“Arthur Castillon, Executioner Immeril wanted to speak with you alone. Please come with me.” Ralnor said.

Arthur turned to look at Kain. Kain smiled and said, “Weakling, go see what game do they want to play. Get your Arwen ready. I will also get my Finwe ready. The moment I hear noises, I will massacre everyone in this restaurant.” Kain released a dark gray aura for just two seconds to manifest his mana pool.

Kain was just making a casual conversation but Ralnor felt chilled up to his bones. Ralnor looked into Kain’s eyes and noticed Kain was being serious. Ralnor was forty-seven years old and he was a level 30 Conjurer Mage, but Kain was too young. He couldn’t understand why Kain could have released such a powerful aura. Kain’s mana pool was definitely bigger compared to Ralnor’s mana pool.

Arthur smiled, knowing what Ralnor was thinking. Arthur also released his dark gray aura to show off how big his mana pool was. It was just for a second but Ralnor could see Arthur’s mana pool would match with Kain’s mana pool.

“These guys are too strong for their ages. I remembered Arthur Castillon was still just an Intermediate Mage two years ago. But now…” Ralnor shook his head because he doesn’t want to think about it anymore.

Master-tier magic caster is very much different compared to Intermediate-tier. At Intermediate-tier, it's possible but very rare for a level 20 magic caster to have a mana pool that was twice as big compared to another level 20 magic caster. For Master-tier, it's rare but not impossible for a level 30 magic caster to have his/her mana pool three times larger compared to another level 30 magic caster.

The color of the released aura will depend on which Elemental Soul the magic caster possessed.

There was a reason why Kain and Arthur showed off their auras. To let Ralnor know that they won't back down from a fight. Even if Executioner Immeril is really here, she won't be able to defeat Kain and Arthur that easily. Ralnor and his guys should think twice before taking any stupid actions against Kain and Arthur.

After Arthur followed Ralnor into a room. All the other magic casters walked away leaving Kain by himself. Sensing a strong presence approaching behind, Kain secretly activated [Infused Blood] to tap into the blood pool of his new Blood Pedant.

"Time to massacre them all." Kain thought to himself.