It has been a few day since Wesley has finished with the final channel's transformation.

A dark winged Wesley was flying all over the basement with a look of elation on his face. Normally, Wesley only spent an average of few hours getting used to each of his other spells, however, he has spent almost half a day with this one.

There were two reason for this. First, Wesley was really excited about this spell. Flying is often a far dream for mages that are not wind mages or elders. However, Wesley is now able to fly around, making his childish tendencies, which he often tries to suppress, to emerge.

The second reason is that this specific spell was slightly different than the other spells Wesley learned. Unlike dark spike and dark pillar, which only needed to be cast, this spell needed constant mana to be maintained. This meant that Wesley needed to expand his own mana to keep his wings intact.

After Wesley discovered this small fact, he instantly had an idea. He could no longer use refining darkness lately because his refining speed exceeded the speed at which his Dark Domain used mana.

Even with his reduced mana refining speed, Wesley's spells needed a smaller amounts of mana compared to before. Wesley just attributed this to the chance that perhaps his new mana core was more efficient.

Now, Wesley was faced with a the choice between either increasing his Dark Domain size, increase the amount of mana he expended, or use another spell that consumed mana at a faster rate.

The first option was not viable because Wesley had no more space. The second option was better, but Wesley chose the third option. He would use Dark Wing in place of Dark Domain. This was not only more fun than just sitting around, he also got to become proficient in this spell.

Wesley was flying from one end of the basement to the other. He would twist around and glide sometimes and he maneuvered around quiet nimbly. Wesley's Dark Wing was fundamentally different from the Wind Wing it was derived from.

Because Wesley's wings were made from dark elements, they were more solid than their wind counterpart which is somewhat ethereal and translucent. The solid nature of Wesley's wings takes away from the speed that the wind ones have, however, Wesley gained something else.

Wesley's wings were had more uses than their wind counterpart. Wesley came up with the idea to use his wings to wrap around him and act as a shield. This was only possible because of the solid nature of his wings.

Wesley also learned to use his wings for attacking. Although he had his sword and other spells for that, it was nice to have some tricks to surprise one's enemies with.

Wesley who was jubilantly flying around the basement suddenly stopped mid air as his wings continued flapping. He noticed some slight mana fluctuations in a corner of the basement, however, before Wesley could cancel the spell, a dark robed Neal emerged from the ground.

The moment Neal emerged from the ground, his eyes landed on Wesley who was midair with ten feet long dark wings. A look of astonishment appeared on his face as he stared at Wesley. Even if it was somewhat dark in the basement, Neal was able to able to clearly see those pairs of wings.

Neal was very knowledgeable. And as an earth mage he knew that wings were a trademark of wind mages. Wind mages would often rely on their flying abilities to neutralize the abilities of earth mages like him.

However, he also knew that Wesley was a dark mage, and although they never really talked about it, Neal knew the first time he met Wesley and walked in on his practice session. But Wesley had wings, could he be a wind mage?

Neal instinctively opened his mouth to ask Wesley. However, before he could speak Wesley's feet touched the floor and the pair of wings disintegrated into nothingness. He immediately spoke with some laughter:

"Neal. You should really stop barging in on me like this. Haha."

Neal just looked oddly at Wesley. Clearly Wesley was focusing on the wrong thing. He once again tried speaking, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Wesley again:

"Haha, any news regarding our phantom family heads."

Wesley's blatant attempts to change the subject knocked Neal out of his stupor. He remembered how mysterious and secretive Wesley is. As such, he immediately put the question regarding Wesley's magic in the back of his head and ordered his thoughts.

He immediately spoke with his usual whisper like voice:

"No sign of the two family heads. Everyone believes that they were killed."

Wesley was quiet for a moment. His smile seemingly gone and a frown in its place. Wesley hated the feeling of not having any information about his enemy as it put him in an exceedingly disadvantageous position.

He looked at Neal after a few moments and spoke:

"I refuse to believe that they have disappeared into thin air. Anything odd with the four families? They must need to use their families' connections if they want to make a move."

"The two family heads have truly disappeared. However, I did receive some odd reports a few days ago."

Wesley's eyes lit up some. He immediately spoke with some excitement:

"What did they say?"

"Remember how aside from the Kader family, I have planted some agents in the manors of the other families?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I received reports from all of them saying the same thing. A few children disappeared without a trace from each of the families."

Wesley became quiet as he started thinking. The disappearance of these children could mean one of two things. One of these was great news, while the other was terrible news. Wesley spoke again:

"Do you have any details regarding these children."

Neal thought for a moment and then replied:

"They were all direct descendants. They were also fairly talented and a few of them were even hailed as geniuses."

"Neal. As far as I see it, this can mean one of two things. First, the two family heads have ran away and taken with them some promising children to safeguard that their families' blood is passed on. This extremely good news for you. However...."

Wesley stopped speaking as a deep frown emerged from his face. Neal was not slow, so he caught up to Wesley's thinking and immediately spoke with a similarly deep frown:

"However, it could also mean that they are hiding their promising youths and preparing for an all out assault."

"Hmm"

Wesley simply nodded his head as he stared at Neal thoughtfully. However, to his surprise, Neal was now smiling slightly. This caused Wesley to wonder as he spoke:

"What are you so happy about?"

Neal just continued smiling at Wesley with an odd look on his face. This was the kind of look an adult would have if they saw a child thinking too hard about a simple problem. He let out a small chuckle and spoke:

"Wesley. You are thinking too pessimistically. I believe the first scenario is the truth."

Wesley was dumbfounded. How could he be thinking pessimistically. He reached this conclusion after thinking about everything that was happening. Wasn't Neal being too optimistic.

Neal simply continued speaking:

"The first scenario is simply more probable than the second."

"How so."

Wesley simply couldn’t see what Neal was seeing. Neal's smile simply got broader as he spoke:

"For the second scenario to be true two things must be true. First, the Kader family must be aware that our Black Family were behind the attacks. As far as we know, this might not be true."

Neal paused slightly as if to see if Wesley was seeing what he was implying. Wesley, however, just stared at him confused so Neal continued speaking:

"Second, They must be aware of the specifics of the contingency plan. Only if these two things were true could we justify them preparing for an all out assault. However, this can't be the case because if they knew of the contingency plan, then they would realize that it is only a smokescreen for us to escape. There is simply no way they would waste so much effort."

Neal continued speaking while his smile got bigger and bigger. He seemed to enjoy seeing something that Wesley couldn’t:

"Also, considering that the four families have tremendous wealth and even an Elder at their disposal; they simply don't need to go through all this trouble to deal with us. Don't you think so."

Wesley's furrows that were scrunched relaxed and his eyes shone with a bright light. Neal's words were reasonable and made sense in this situation. As he heard Neal's explanation, Wesley felt like he understood something. He has been somewhat cynical and somewhat inclined towards the worst case scenario. His fear that the kids might be hurt clouded his judgment and led his vision to narrow.

Wesley looked at Neal with an understanding light in his eyes as he spoke:

"The four families had no idea who was attacking them. And even if they discovered that some power was working behind the scenes, and had some suspicion regarding your Black Family, they still had no concrete information. After all, I was the only one who acted and your Black Family never did anything suspicious."

Neal smiled and nodded as he spoke:

"Indeed. Given all these factors. The first scenarios is the most probable. The two family heads probably retreated fearing that whoever the third party that was attacking them was too strong."

"You already knew this didn’t you. Why stress me when you could've just told me."

Wesley spoke with a frown that was more of a pout than a frown. It was clear that Neal already reached this conclusion before he came, meaning that he was simply making fun of Wesley.

Neal just laughed and spoke:

"Haha. I did intend to tell you. But it is was too tempting to see you stumped for a moment."

Wesley just turned around and walked towards the exit to the basement in anger. However, he spoke while walking:

"This means we can slightly relax now. But, try finding those two remaining heads. I don't like leaving an enemy roaming around in the shadows. That is how we got the four families in the first place"

"I know."

Wesley simply continued walking towards the exit without even looking back. If he had looked back, he would have seen Neal smiling towards him.

..................................................................................................................................................

Wesley emerged from the basement with a smile on his face. Even though he hated the fact that Neal was playing with him, he still received good news. His little siblings were no longer in danger and they wouldn’t need to escape. How could he be angry after receiving such news.

However, before Wesley could head towards the study to read some books and relax. Mary who seemed to be walking in a hurried pace towards him. Wesley immediately looked at her oddly and spoke:

"Mary. What's the hurry."

Mary breathed deeply for a few seconds to catch her breath and then she spoke:

"Master. Two people from the Royal Academy are here to see you."

Mary was a commoner so all she knew about the academy is that it was mostly attended by nobles and was very prestigious. That is why she came to inform Wesley of their arrival with haste.

Wesley simply sighed. They were most likely here to receive his confirmation about his attendance next year. This caused Wesley to have some complicated emotions to emerge in his heart.

Two years. It has been two years since he has left Holt Castle. Two years since he has seen his brother. Saying that Wesley felt homesick would be an exaggeration since he never truly felt that that place was home. Rather, Wesley missed his brother.

Wesley had no idea how his brother was faring. He has sent him letters over these two years, but for one reason or another, he never received a reply back. This has caused him no small amount of worry, but he knew that his brother was the family's treasure, and that nothing happened to him.

Perhaps his father forbade him form replying. Perhaps, his brother was not interested in talking to him. Perhaps, the letter didn’t even reach him. Wesley couldn’t help but wonder what happened.

"Master?"

Wesley was pulled back by Mary's voice. It seems he has gone to a stupor thinking about something that he had no control over. He simply chuckled to himself and spoke to Mary:

"I'll go see them."

Wesley cast his distracting thought aside and went outside to meet the people from the academy. He didn’t receive them in the study this time because there was no need. All he needed to do was confirm his attendance next year, receive his uniform and be done with the whole thing.

…................................................................................................................................................

A week later.

Outside the walls of the Four Moons Royal Academy, a plethora of students wearing varying colors of uniforms were flooding towards the entrance. The majority of the students seemed to be wearing blue, while a portion wore red, and a few wore green.

A green clothed youth who was about five feet tall was walking along the crowd of students. This student, unlike the other green clothed students that were also walking about seemed to exude a different air. Be it strength or something else, the other students simply couldn't compare. This caused many people to move away from him.

His light blue hair was cut with what seemed to be a neat crew cut which made his sharp facial features clear. He also seemed to be exceedingly pale, as if he has never stepped a foot into the sun.

However, his most visible characteristics were not his face or cloth, rather it was the two dark swords that hung from his left hip as well as the long, thin wooden box that was in his left hand No one knew what was in the box, but everyone who saw it couldn’t help but wonder.

The green robed students walked until he got past the entrance of the academy. He continued walking past the place where the blue robed students were being directed and went towards another place were green robed students were lined up which was in front of the main Academic building.

A few minutes after lining up, he reached the front of the line and was standing in front of a table. Behind this table sat a white robed women who was currently looking down and checking something on a sheet of paper.

The white robed girl looked up after she was done with her paper. However as soon as she lifted her head she saw a pair of jade green eyes staring at her apathetically. She startled slightly.

She calmed herself and spoke with a respectful voice:

"Identification Tablet please."

The green robed students simply extended a small, square tablet towards her without uttering a word.

She looked at the tablet for a second, but this was but pretense. She knew who this person was so she randomly pulled a piece of paper from the pile to her right. In fact, she was startled earlier because she was looking to see if a certain person has already picked up their schedule.

This person so happens to be the exact person she was looking for. The fact that this person was now standing in front of her slightly startled her. This was the only person who left a profound impression on her last year.

The green robed student simply took the paper and looked at it for a few second. After a few seconds, the green robed students nodded his head and was about to walk away.

The white robed girl hesitated for a moment and then spoke:

"D..Did you find everything alright."

The green robed student simply looked at the white robed girl with an odd look. He really couldn’t understand why she would ask such a redundant question since he was already about to walk away. However, he still replied in a firm voice that belonged to neither child nor adult:

"Yes. Thank you."

The green robed student was about to walk away again, but the white robed girl spoke again:

"Because l...last year, you were not happy with your schedule."

This time, the green robed student was starting to get rather annoyed. He just looked at the white robed girl and spoke with some annoyance in his voice:

"Is that so."

The green robed student simply walked away without waiting for her response. Technically he has already answered her initial question and her last words were a statement so there was no need for him to bother.

The white robed girl stared as the green robed student walked away. She couldn’t help but laugh inwardly at herself. She really thought that this student was interesting and wanted to learn more about him, unfortunately, she really had no reason nor means.

She simply turned her head away and spoke:

"Next."

................................................................................................................................................

Wesley walked through the academy' as he headed towards his first class which was his swordsmanship class. This was going to be the first day of his third academic year, however, he was neither excited nor nervous. He only had three more years left, then he could leave this place and see his brother and master.

As a third year student, Wesley was allowed to specialize and only take one class. As such Wesley only had swordsmanship class to attend; of course, it was still first year swordsmanship with the second elder since he failed to pass it last year.

To be honest, this swordsmanship class was the only thing that interested Wesley in this entire academy. At least now he doesn’t have to endure supplementary classes like history and geography.

..............................................................................................................................................................

That's all folks.

I will release one chapter tomorrow that will serve as the epilogue for this first arc. So look forward to that.

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Well am done, so good night.