All of a sudden, everything seemed to slow down.

I felt like I was moving through a thick soup, and I could even count the stray leaves fluttering in the air. However, I was still unable to move beyond my regular speed. It was a surreal sensation.

Mysterious energy coursed through my body quickly, but it did not feel foreign. It was as if it had always been there. Could this be mana? In most situations, I would have been ecstatic and extremely excited but this situation did not call for it.

It however, gave me hope that I could do something to save my mother! I racked my mind, taking advantage of slowed time to recall the lowest ranked spells that I could think of.

Unsure of my natural element, I thought of casting every spell one by one, starting from the most destructive elements. I channeled mana into both my hands and casted Flame Dart and Zap towards the offending bandit!

To my shock, both bursts of attacks shot out from each of my hands! It was extremely rare to have dual elements, most dual wielders descended from noble bloodline! I grinned as the spells hit the bandit on his head.

The zap gave the bandit who was about to kill my mother a shock and the dart of fire set his hair on fire! He screamed and rolled instinctively, unfortunately for him towards me, and I stuck with my hoe.

A cracking noise sounded out as my hoe hit him. Many people might have hesitated to perform such a vicious attack, but to me, it wasn't much different from butchering a pig. Heck, I felt more guilt killing a innocent pig. The bandit screamed as my hoe crunched downwards into his chest.

Pulling out my hoe, I started running towards the other bandits, brandishing my weapon threateningly. I never knew fighting was this exhilarating! I almost felt like the main character of some novel, crushing hapless enemies with ease.

It was around this time when my adrenaline rush wore off and time sped up. The soup like texture of the air wore off and returned to it's natural "softness". Having spent a lot of energy pushing hard again the thick air, the sudden change caught me off guard and caused me to fall hard on the ground. Shit! Why did my boost have to fade at this crucial moment?

I assumed the bandits were going to zap me with spells the moment I fell and quickly rolled to the side. Multiple spells were dodged. I was about to congratulate myself for the fast thinking when a bolt of lighting hit my back. Fuck!

I wasn't sure if they were smart enough to not all chant spells at once against a single target or if some of them were slow, but this meant disaster for me. I tried my hardest to twitch into another position to dodge but the eletricity had paralysed me. A fireball then hit my back, making me want to scream. I restrained myself, unwilling to let them get the satisfaction of hearing me scream.

And for dessert came a flying rock, hitting my head and causing everything to go black.

****

The darkness seemed to leave as fast as it came. I shot up right away, ready for combat but realised I was in a different loccation. The familiar walls around me made me realise I was back at home, sitting on my rough and bumpy bed. I was very confused. Was it all a dream?

"Awoken, have you?"

I almost jumped up in shock but winced at my injuries. Ouch, ouch, ouch! Nope, not a dream. I realised the voice was very familiar, the voice of the blond guy from the capital!

"Why are you here? What happened?"

I turned my head towatds him, demanding answers right away!

"Whoa dude, calm down. I took out the bandits and saved your mother. Everything is fine!"

I had no idea what dude mean but that wasn't important right now. Was that a different dialect?

"Why have you followed me from the capital?"

I was by a little paranoid by nature, wondering if he had followed me from the capital to rob me. It was extremely unlikely as he would have robbed me in the grasslands if that was the case. Despite that, the slight doubt I had made my tone sound slightly hostile. I felt slight regret at my hostile tone but it was too late.

"Dude, chill. I ain't trying to hurt you. I do however admit I ain't here for entirely unselfish reasons though."

Did this guy have to speak so oddly? I still got the gist of what he said however.

"So, why are you here then?"

"I have come to recruit you to Lumious Academy! Ah, I have truly struck gold this time, a dual wielder, ha ha ha ha!"

He laughed heartily, patting his chest. I was confused. This guy came to scout out a random peasant?

As if noting my confusion, he tried to explain.

"You see, in our school, pupils are encouraged to recruit more members! For every pupil successfully invited, we gain rewards! When the students first enter, we get rewarded with ten Slivs(100,000)! Furthermore, if the dude accomplishes amazing things, the recruiter gets a reward too!"

I see. It was a interesting way to stock up on pupils, but why would they scout out random people? The blond had not noted any talent from me before I awoken my magic after all!

"Alright. But why would they recruit random people like me?"

He grinned.

"You see, there is a large sum of a Glod(1,000,000) to pay before being able to enter Lumious! The high price deters the talentless and even if trash joined them, at least they would get a large sum! I noticed that you were at the capital to sell the crystal so I knew you would have enough after the trade! Ah, I'm most definitely not calling you trash though!"

As if I had the cash! I grew aggitated simply thinking about that shameless scammer. I relayed the incident to him and he was shocked!

"My goodness! I had no idea Arcanium was this despicable to the poor! Alright, considering your talent, I will lend you a Glod(1,000,000), work hard for my sake, won't ya?"

He laughed yet again at his lousy joke.

"So, am I allowed to bring my mother to Lumious?"

"Hmm, they give every student a place to hole up so it should be fine! It's just that she won't be allowed to use most of the facilities in the school and food will not be provided. Is that fine with you?"

"That's fine with me! Shall we go now?"

I was felt extremely excited! Even since I was a child, I had wanted to partake in the magical arts! Who in the world did not want to give magic a try after all? Even better, me and my mother could even stay in better homes from now on!

I stood up in enthusium and then fell back down from the pain.

"Ah! Let me help!"

I decided to nickname him Blondy mentally.

He took a jar filled with a strange paste and applied it onto my back. It was so potent, I could feel the wounds closing up on my back. That was simply incredible stuff! However, I was a little miffed.

"Couldn't you have applied it when I was knocked out?"

"Sorry, my bad, haha!"

I sort of wished he would stop laughing.

Blondy reached out his arms and a tornado formed in the air. He then whisked me into the air and we flew swiftly pass the grasslands and into the capital. It was terrifying, almost as if a very strong wind had blown me right into the air. Blondy responded to my screams with another laugh. Stop laughing already! As he passed Gerald, he tossed two Dollops(200) to him and we reached the gates of Lumious in no time!

I was thrown onto the ground disorientated, and I tried to stabalise myself. Ignoring my dizziness, I shook in excitement as I stared at the gates.

My journey into the magical arts was about to begin!