They flew for around four hours before arriving at the nearest settlement that contained a branch of the magi association. It was a bustling place that contained tens of thousands of citizens walking around, with at least a fifth of them wearing armor and wield either swords and spears or outright flintlock rifles and pistols.

The place was called Nebula Stronghold, and as the name implied, it held strategic military position to the kingdom and its forces as it was situated somewhat near the eastern border. It served both as a defense point to protect the inner regions of the kingdom as well as a recruiting point to supply the border strongholds that directly face the foreign threats to the crown with able soldiers.

Another very important characteristic of this stronghold was that it was positioned in the midst of two major trading routes. That allowed it to easily stock provisions, medicine and weapons through trade with travelling merchants, as well as having various sources of information provided by said merchants.

And of course, here was stationed a branch of the magi association. Considering the high flux of people in this place, the association thought it was wise to build a branch here as this would allow them to, hopefully, scout out some talents and acquire provisions to train them via trading.

Once a month the populace would be stirred as trials would be held in the magus tower to select a new batch of apprentices to work for the association. The magus tower was a 100-meter tall stone tower that would from time to time flash with magical runes, it had a single massive 10-meter tall metallic gate that was made of dark iron and gold. At this time it was open and several hundred walked in and out of the building.

The tower was not only impressive in size but also oppressive in aura. Thanks to mana gathering arrays, the building had a huge concentration of mana on it that made any common person barely able to walk in its vicinity due to the atmospheric pressure caused by the high levels of mana in the air. Weaker magi would feel a discomfort in the tower, whilst stronger ones barely felt anything.

However, to those that trained in magi arts, this place was a paradise since it allowed to achieve double the results with half the effort. The concentrated mana allowed the magi to better grasp the concepts of mana and more easily perceive the intricacies of their practice and techniques.

The trials were about to start, due to that Richard wasted no time in the city and instead flew directly to the magus tower. As the soldiers saw a white light flashing through the sky they were prepared to attack, but when they saw that the light stopped right above the magus tower, they stopped their intent and stood down.

The pair descended in instants right in front of the entrance gate, their descent caused quite a commotion as there weren't many that would dare fly that close to the tower due to its powerful defensive arrays that would attack any non-authorized beings that flew near to it.

The crowd had to make way as Richard's transport bubble simply pushed them all aside when it landed in the midst of the crowd. The bubble disintegrated in instants and revealed the pair of travelers, making the crowd immediately fire curses of annoyance as well as gasps of shock and admiration.

"So noisy," Richard complained, "Silence!"

As he shouted his aura blasted out of his body and pressured everyone around them making them unable to utter a word. The crowd felt as if it was facing an enormous beast that would tear them to shreds at the minor sound they made. In an instant, Richard retracted his aura and resume to walk towards the tower.

"Much better," he smiled, "Come, kid, let us go and handle business."

Ventus nodded and followed quickly after him. A few instants later they were inside the tower, however, the inside was very different from what Ventus picture considering the external appearance of the tower. Instead of a dark dungeon-like space, what greeted him was more like a noble's residence full of ornaments and precious stone filled decorations.

There were several vases with exotic decorative plants and huge gold-rimmed portraits on the milky white walls. Not only that but there were also several mana stones on the wall and on the majestic candelabra that hanged on the ceiling. There were three receptionists behind a counter that lazily replied the people that applied for the trials, they gave information and instruction always wearing an arrogant expression on their faces. Two of them were males, whilst the remaining one was a female, and that one specifically seemed to be especially nasty to deal with. Beside the reception counter, there was a luminous oval portal that constantly fluctuated as people used it.

"I don't like their attitude," Ventus spoke, "They speak as if they were doing people a favor, when in fact they are paid to do this."

"Precisely kid," Richard replied, "Quite often you will see that people that have even the slightest amount of power will most likely bully the powerless ones."

"I despise that sort of behavior." he concluded.

"Next!" a female voice sounded towards them.

The pair approached the female attendant when they were called. As they walked towards her the female heavily judged them. They wore simple clothing and as such the female concluded that they were another pair of regular commoners trying to ascend to power by becoming members of the association.

"100 mana crystal to register for the trials" the female spoke.

"Excuse me?" Richard spoke confused, "Since when is there such a high fee to register?"

"So you're from out of town huh?" the woman spoke, "well, to join the association one has to participate in the trials and to participate one must pay a fee that serves to help with the maintenance costs of the tower."

"Is that so?" Richard questioned with a strange smile on his face, "I think you're lying."

"what does a country hick like you know about the association?" she sneered indignantly, "Either you pay and shut up, or you scram before I get the guards to throw you out!"

"Throw me out eh? I'd like to see that happening." He laughed.

"Guards!" She screamed.

As she did the crowd immediately circled around the pair and excitedly watched the commotion. Now and then there would be a stupid person that would end up provoking one of the attendants, and 9 times out of 10, said idiot would not have a decent ending.

Ten guards appeared and circled them with a fierce expression, they pointed their spears towards them with a malignant grin on their faces. The guards led a very boring job as the stronghold rarely had any trouble, and when it happened, it would never reach the tower as there were almost no forces that were willing to offend the behemoth that was the magi association. As such, when they had a chance to relax and bully someone, they would enjoy it to the max, often leaving the victim severely wounded or even crippled depending on their mood.

"I'd like to see you continue to arrogantly talk trash now!" the woman laughed.

"Oh, so I am the arrogant one eh?" He chuckled.

The woman was incensed and was about to command the guards to attack when Richard turned his face to Ventus and spoke.

"Should I use the badge or the muscle to subdue them kid?" he asked with a naughty expression.

"I think you fighting against them would truly be overkill!" Ventus laughed.

"I see," Richard nodded, "Then I will teach you today how to bully someone with prestige."

The two of them completely ignored the crowd, the guards and especially, the woman. That made her completely furious! How dare a commoner to disregard her like that? she was a member of the magi association, even if she was just an attendant, she was still leagues above commoners like them!

"Guards, break their limbs and throw them out!"

"Yes ma'am!"

The guards were about to dash and strike, but before they even had the chance to move a single step they saw that Richard had turned to face them and didn't seem scared at all. He was, in fact, grinning widely at them like one would when looking at fools. He pointed a single finger to his chest, on it, there was a black crow-shaped badge with fine gold details and writing on it that said "Grandmaster".

The guards stood petrified in their positions. Their once malignant and naughty expressions had turned into horrified masks of fear. They had just intended to attack a grandmaster magus and even worse, they intended to do that inside the magus tower! they were truly courting disaster upon themselves this time!.

"So..." Richard spoke grinning, "Why did you raise your weapons at me? did I perhaps do something wrong?"

The next actions shocked the crowd as the ten guards immediately withdrew their weapons with fearful expressions.

"Never!" they spoke, "this was just a misunderstanding, how could you ever make a mistake sir!"

"That's more like it!" He replied satisfied.

He then put a finger on his lip and signalled them to return to their posts and stay silent, they nodded and went back to their positions.

"Hey! were are you going?" The woman shouted irritated, "Throw them out or lose your jobs!"

The guards however completely ignored her and simply continued their duties.

Richard then turned to face the attendant that had a confused expression on her face, his grandmaster badge had disappeared.

"So..." he spoke slowly, "You said something about the guards breaking me and my dear apprentice's limbs huh? I think the guards aren't willing to do that."

The woman was furious, however, she was just an attendant. She didn't have any combat strength and couldn't face a magus in combat, as such, she could only resign to calling for help.

"I'll call the manager and we'll see if you can continue to behave so arrogantly in here!"

She pressed a button on the counter and spoke on the phone with someone. She relayed how there was a student-master pair causing trouble and offending the association. Of course, as one would expect, she added a couple more of crimes to her story to worsen their situation.

The oval portal shook after a few moments as an elderly man walked out of it emanating an oppressive aura. That man had a head full of white hair and a wrinkly face, his eyes were green and radiated an azure light equal to his aura that represented his affinity with the water element. He wore luxurious golden robes and although his whole being emanated the dignity of a powerful magus, he had a fat body with a big round belly to match that made people look down on him slightly.

He arrived in front of Richard and Ventus and glared at them, his aura skyrocketing making the crowd tremble.

"So you are the ones causing a ruckus in my magus association!?" he spoke angrily.

"Yes, what are you going to do about it?" Richard chuckled.

"I'll show you just what I'll do!" He bellowed.

The old man raised his hand to attack. However, he stopped as he saw Richard grinning and looking at him as if he looked at a fool. His fury only grew higher, but it didn't last long as he looked Richard's finger pointing to the grandmaster badge on his chest. His face turned grim as he looked from the badge to his face several times unbelievingly.

The fat manager furiously rumbled his brain to find a solution. He had just raised a hand to attack a grandmaster of the association! Not only was the man in front of him a rank higher than his, but he was also immensely stronger than himself, he had truly courted death today. What god had he enraged to get such bad luck?.

His expression hower lightened in instants and suddenly grew into a wide grin as he stared at Richard as a desperate last hope appeared in his mind. What if that badge was a fake? he had never seen a grandmaster of the association at this stronghold before, and also, why would a grandmaster even come to this place anyway? there was no way a grandmaster would bring his disciple to a minor kingdom's branch to take the entrance trials right?

"Impudent!" he roared madly, "Faking a grandmaster credential and presenting it to me! such insolence and disrespect towards the association are deserving of death!"

"Fake you say?" Richard laughed, "Then maybe you'll believe in this credential."

Richard's earthen aura flared and crushed the manager's aura completely making him kneel as the ground beneath him cracked. The crowd around them couldn't bear the pressure and fled the building to preserve their lives. Ventus, however, stood motionless as Richard controlled his pressure so that it did not affect him.

"G-g-grandmaster!" The manager stuttered fearfully.

"Forgive me! it was all just a misunderstanding, have mercy!" he begged as he struggled to withstand the massive pressure.

"Oh, but moments ago you were saying I deserved death," he chuckled, "Do I still deserve it now?"

"N-n-no! never! This old man was just joking, I would never dare say such words!" he replied desperately.

"I see," He smiled, "Okay then, I'll let you go, but I hope you hire more competent help to manage this place to prevent such things to happen a second time."

"Y-yes, of course! I will take more care in the future!"

He retracted his aura finally allowing the fat manager to stand and breathe. The man felt aggrieved as he had unknowingly kicked a steel board this time, he had offended a grandmaster! as his mind calmed down he turned to the attendant and his rage grew once more, this trouble had all happened because of her!.

"Wench!" He bellowed furiously, "How dare you to mistreat the grandmaster!"

"Guards!" he commanded, "Get her out of my sight, she's fired and is never allowed to step into this building ever again!"

He then pointed to the other two attendants.

"Also," he continued, "Get these two idiots out as well, they're fired!"

The three attendants were shocked and instantly they began to plead.

"please, don't do this, we don't deserve to be treated this way!"

"SHUT UP!" the manager roared, "Guards! what are you taking so long? do you want to lose your jobs as well?"

The guards came and took the trio away rapidly. They struggled and screamed as they were dragged out, cursing at the manager and at Richard and Ventus before being thrown out the tower and crash landing on the street.

Richard stood serenely while looking at the commotion, he then turned to Ventus with a grin on his face, Ventus laughed.

"You're such a bully!" he laughed.

"I'm no ordinary bully, I'm a grandmaster rank bully!" Richard replied laughing loudly.