Willem ignored the heated gazes of the young women in the carriage and closed his eyes. Despite his eyes being shut completely, he could see more clearly then he every could before, as if having vision was just interfering with his true senses.

The other young man tried and failed several times to start a conversation with the young women in the carriage, and when the sun finally disappeared from sight everyone in the caravan began falling asleep.

A large cloth was hung from the top of the carriage in order to differentiate the sleeping areas of the two sexes. Since there was only three males, they got less room compared to the five females.

Willem, who had officially connected to his magical power, did not necessarily require sleep like the others and therefore only kept his eyes closed for the sake of appearance.

After a few hours had passed since the females fell asleep, the young man that was pretending to be asleep beside Willem 'woke up' and began to move around. Thankfully, due to the lack of light, Willem could not be seen doing what he was about to do.

Willem clearly saw through the youth's intention to do something to the girls while they were sleeping, and knocked the boy out cold by grabbing onto his head and hitting it off the wall of the carriage. In order to make sure no one was awoken by the sound, Willem used minor wind magic to suppress the noise while maintaining the force of the strike.

With the boy out cold, Willem could now relax a little easier after healing the wound with minor water magic.

Willem quickly found out that when he circulated the magic in his body and mind, the capabilities of his higher brain functionality also increased. With a mere thought, Willem was now able to recall obscure information from his childhood or conversations he had only heard in passing while he was walking the streets.

The young Water Mage that helped him out at the Lions inn had casted a water healing spell, and Willem could recite it word from word. Though it was a rudimentary understanding of the concept of healing, it rejuvenated most minor wounds just as he saw and felt himself on that day.

Though he had kindly asked for assistance in locating his Father's pendant from the Grand Mage of Earth, there was some sort of disruption that made it impossible to locate. Instead of disappointing his new resident genius, the Grand Mage used his network of informants to physically locate and retrieve the pendant.

Now, everything seemed to be properly falling into place for the young Mage on his way to the Magic Academy. At least in regards to his own path. AS he was taught, anyone who did not act with morals would not earn his amnesty, especially when it came to those close to him.

[When the life of someone else is under your care, you do everything you can to ensure they get home alive.] The words that his Father spoke constantly rang in his head as a reminder of his duties.

The strong protect the weak, and the weak seek to become strong.

However, this mindset that had been drilled into Willem was slowly being twisted. From the loss of his parents, to the theft of his pendant and the attempt of selling his friends into slavery, Willem began to feel that the Bastion of Hope was beyond saving.

At any corner, you could meet a con artist or someone from the thieves guild waiting to pick the pocket of an unsuspecting farmer who was just trying to feed his family.

In the homes of a noble, women were bought and traded like cattle to fulfill hedonistic desires. Men were worked to death for the mere mention of a gold coin, whereas the nobles of high houses would trade hundreds of gold coins for the pleasure of a high class whore.

If Willem had his way, he would only save the families that deserved to be saved, and burn the city to the ground with those that did not still inside.

Of course he could never reveal his intention to anyone, including Kinsey, as those in power understood that a genius with his potential may yet have the ability to do as he wanted. The people in power were unscrupulous in their actions and had no qualms with capturing and torturing just to ensure there was no thoughts of treason.

After a long dark night of mysterious sounds from Magical Beasts, the sun finally arose and the caravan was off after a quick early morning meal. The young boy that attempted to assault the girls in the night woke up dazed and confused, and assumed that he tripped on something and knocked himself out.

The girls in the caravan kept an eye on Willem's demeanor throughout the rest of the journey while waiting for an opening to approach him, but they found no such timing.

After another full day of journeying, the caravan finally reached the entrance to the Magic Academy as the sun was still only slightly visible, slipping behind the Mountain peak.

Despite being in one of the deepest parts of the Mountains against the Sea, the Magic Academy was lush with green hills, and the higher you climbed, the closer you cam to actually reaching snow or lava depending on the direction you chose.

The Magic Academy was in a perfect placement for nurturing rare herbs as it had a varied climate depending on the direction and path one would take.

As for the aesthetics of the Magic Academy itself, it could be said to surpass even that of the Royal Palace in decorum. Statues of old Mages and founders long since passed stood mightily at the gates to the Academy, and even the students were all dressed in the finest cloth, that was how much Magic was valued in the Bastion of Hope.

It had three separate but similar buildings which made up the property. On the left was a large L shaped building where all classes took place. In the middle was 'The Grand Library' where most students tended to go if they needed to brush up on a certain subject. Lastly, on the right was a reverse L shape building where the research societies did their work.

Some of the societies studied ancient glyphs while others worked on alchemy or summoning Magic. Each society had their own function and philosophy but held equal importance in the eyes of the faculty.

Upon Willem's arrival at the gates of the Magic Academy, there was already a group of people ready to greet him.

Willem was unsure of the customs of this new area and assumed this was just another thing that was done. However this was not a group formed to greet Willem but instead to test him.

Rumors abounded within the Magic Academy of the Grand Mage of Earth taking a new Mage under his tutelage, which caused a certain amount of turmoil among the students. When pressed for further information, the Grand Mage only stated that the student was not yet part of the Magic Academy.

How they narrowed it down to Willem was just a matter of calculated guesses based on what little information they had, which could be considered somewhat a specialty of those with higher brain functions.

"Is that him?"

"I cannot see, move fatty!"

"Someone stepped on my toe..."

"..."

"Young master, such actions are really beneath someone of your-"

"Silence."

The majority of the crowd was silently waiting for the new arrivals, but a few distinct conversations could be heard among the still gathering crowd.

"Hey, which one of you is the Grand Mage's new student?" A rotund kid with gnarled teeth called out from the front of the group to the students emerging from the caravan.

The girls of the group looked at each other nervously, unsure of exactly what was going on. Willem and the other young boy looked at each other for a brief moment, despite Willem knowing exactly what the group was talking about.

"Is this some sort of hazing ritual?" A peppy girl in twin pigtails who was on the caravan barked at the gathering crowd.

"Who are you to speak to me like that? If you are not the student of the Grand Mage of Earth, then scram!" The gnarled toothed boy spat everywhere as he spoke.

"Who are you? I do not understand what is going on so this just seems like a big joke to me." The peppy girl retorted.

"I am the son of Ottolus Bisrach, and my Great Grandfather was one of the founders of the Bastion of Hope!" The gnarled toothed boy seemed beyond perturbed, spitting and waving his arms in a fluster.

"Does that mean anything here? Only strong Magic is recognized in the Academy. Those with power do what they want..." Another boy cut in specifically to interrupt the fat boy.

The young man that pushed through the crowd was drastically different from the fat gnarl toothed boy. With a slender build, red hair and blue eyes, as well as a small fox sitting on his shoulders, the young man was the textbook definition of someone with good looks.

Though he had much better looks, his tone was neither condescending nor argumentative. As if he was merely informing the gathering instead of directly confronting the fat boy.

"Says the nobody whose Grandfather was banished for disobeying the King. If even a worm like you gets in here, then the Magic Academy is worse for it." The gnarl toothed boy looked around at the crowd in order to gauge their reaction.

The crowd had no interest in the quarrel between the two students.

"Tch..." The fat boy bit the tip of his finger and stomped away after being ignored.

"New students, you may call me Drand, I am the head of the Magic Nullification Society. Come find me if you have the time." As soon as the red haired boy was done speaking to his audience, he flourished his shawl and walked away elegantly.

"Who is it?"

"We still do not know..."

A mischievous grin appeared on Willem's face for the first time in a long time.

"Did you not mention you were apprenticed to a Grand Mage?" Willem feigned innocence as he looked at the boy beside him.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat-" The boy was completely taken aback as he could not find the words to deny the claim.

Willem placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Try not to have indecent thoughts about women until you are ready for the consequences." Willem whispered as he laughed and turned around to walk away, Kinsey obediently in tow.

No one stopped the young man from leaving, and Kinsey followed closely behind him while safekeeping the small box of his mementos close to her breast.

As a commotion began to erupt from the group, Willem first made his way to the Grand Library, where he promised to meet the Grand Mage when he finally arrived.

A set of large mahogany doors stopped Willem from progressing further. The doors were made of the densest material available to the Bastion of Hope, Black Iron. The mahogany texture was just an effect of nature manipulation to give it more of an elegant feeling.

Willem attempted to open the door to the Grand Library but it would not budge.

Unsure of what to do, Willem looked around for guidance.

"Do you need help with the door?" A young bookworm type girl with thick horn-rimmed glasses appeared in front of Willem and Kinsey.

"Yes, how does one enter the Grand Library?" Kinsey asked gently.

"The Black Iron door is to keep out any normal humans. Just circulate your magical power and the door will easily open for you." The bookworm girl curtsied and continued on her way.

Willem took the opportunity to confirm the information by circulating the quickly gathering magical power into his hands, which he used to forcefully open the door.

To his surprise, the door easily opened and almost sent him flying backwards due to the amount of force he put into pulling.

Some of the wiser students at the Magic Academy saw the events and giggled to themselves.