It was another pleasant morning for Adimir freelancer. It had already been 50 years since he was born into this world. Confused as to why he was already 50? The explanation was quite simple. Adimir was a half-elf, and in this world, and elves aging process for 10 years was equal to a human aging 1 year. For Adimir since he was a half-elf aging process was 5 years is equal to a single human year. That means that right now he had the body of a ten-year-old. So, he's thankfully not an old man. Not yet at least. A lot of things happened in the past 50 years. He was lucky enough to be born into the household of a noble family which gave him quite a few privileges other not so fortunate people never had a chance at. One such example is the fact that he had his own magic instructor to teach him the basics of magic. He managed to convince his parents around the age of six that he'd be able to handle it, and they allowed him to start learning from a friend of theirs. Although that's probably because he spent over three days begging them endlessly to allow him to start learning magic. Right now, Adimir was currently getting dressed to meet his magic instructor in his family's backyard. He was apparently some sort of battle mage back before he retired but decided to retire. Adimir looked into the small mirror in his bathroom and reexamined his face. He had short glossy raven black hair and smooth milk-white skin. His nose was small and straight, and he had slightly chubby cheeks giving him a cute childish look. Finally, his eyes were a dark green which added to the elf looks he inherited from his father. His ears were slightly pointed, but not to the point of which they looked like knives like pure blood elves. He splashed some water onto his face to help himself wake and dried his face. Adimir then rushed to meet his instructor in the backyard. Today was the last day of his teachings and would be the day he'd graduate from being a novice mage to an apprentice mage. The backyard of his family's mansion was 150 feet long and 90 feet wide making it rather spacious and was walled in. His parents had hired a skilled gardener to trim all the various bushes lining the walls of the backyard into the form of various fantastical creatures, and warriors. Some of which were in poses of battling each other. Almost as if they were vying for supremacy of the backyard. In the center of the backyard was a fountain with a dragon statue in the middle firing a stream of water from its mouth into the fountain. Standing in front of the fountain was a tall man standing around 6 feet and wearing a dark blue cloak. When Adimir walked up next to him the man didn't turn to acknowledge him but started talking. "Your grandparents had terrible taste in fountain decorations. Everyone has a dragon fountain these days. I've been trying to convince your parents to switch it out for something better like a troll fountain." The man said to him. "You forget the fact that trolls are one of the vilest and filthy creatures around. No one in their right mind would want one as their fountain decoration." Adimir pointed out. "That's beside the point. The point is that the dragon styled fountain is overrated and overdone. Now let's move on and start your examination for you to pass. I have faith that you'll pass with flying colors with you being a prodigy and all." He replied. Adimir nodded. He had been branded a prodigy due to the fact that he behaved like a fully matured adult for the most part despite other half-elves and elves his age still behaving like kids due to their own mental development being slowed just like their physical aging. "You bet I will! So, what's the test for today?" Adimir asked eagerly. "Simple. Start using your mage eyes and then I want you to cast the spell I cast just by watching me do it." He answered with a smirk. Hearing this he couldn't help but drop his jaw in shock. The reason for this was because spells were a complicated thing, and it was difficult to copy a spell just by seeing it taking place in front of a person. Not only that but the difficulty of doing so as it increased through the Tiers and got more complicated. "I do at least get to see you do it multiple times right?" Adimir asked getting a hopeful look on his face. However, his master's answer squashed the blossoming hope like a person would a bug. "Nope. I'll only be doing it once. You can take consolation in the fact that the spell will be done on a smaller scale than the original spell so it should be easier to do." His master said. However, this time instead of his hope reigniting Adimir instead got suspicious about this spell. "What Tier is it?" He asked hesitantly. "Tier- 3. It's called hellfire. Your mother asked me to make it the last spell you learn since it's one of your family's specialty spells. So, you can think of this test as not only one to graduate to an apprentice level mage but also living up to the freerider name." Answered the former battlemage. Once again Adimir gaped in shock. He had only cast up to Tier- 2 spells up till now so casting even a degraded version of a Tier- 3 spell would be an astonishing feat for him with a difficulty still quite a bit more difficult than a Tier- 2 spell. "Now activate your mage eyes and watch carefully kid." His instructor ordered him. Adimir nodded and closed his eyes and began channeling his mana into his eyes. Mage eyes was when a mage used their mana as a replacement for their eyes to detect everything within a set area using mana. One could increase the range by decreasing the amount of information one gets from the environment. For Adimir he could get a range of 30 feet maximum and at minimum 5 feet. Right now, however he channeled every bit of his attention towards his master's mana signature. Typically, a person would only have a series of channels akin to the circulatory system in which a person's mana flowed throughout their entire body. However, for those rare few who have lived long enough and trained enough their mana instead flowed through every single cell in their body making them look like a walking humanoid being made entirely of mana when viewed with spells like mage eyes. This was exactly what his master looked like marking him as an existence with a phenomenal amount of power at their disposal. But that wasn't what he was focusing on at the moment. The thing that was attracting his attention was all the mana in a single finger gathering on top of his hand and starting to glow with a fierce intensity while getting smaller and smaller. Then suddenly all the mana that was gathered in the palm of his hand fell apart and was absorbed by him. "There you go. Now you go ahead and try. You're a freerider so you should be able to do the spell even if it's above your league. It is your family's specialty after all." Adimir's master said to him. Adimir nodded and focused on the mana flowing through his hand and began to gather it above the palm of his hand. He then began to heat up the air particles and an orange flame ignited in the palm of his hand. But the mana signature was only a dull blue instead of the shining blue that his master made. Adimir focused intensely on the mana in his hand while heating up the air particles further. Just as it began to glow brighter and reach the stage of a blue flame beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. Adimir began to get light-headed as he tried to heat up the flame further. He forced himself to stay awake and focus on the mana signature of the flame in his hand. Gradually as it heated up further it began to flicker as Adimir's concentration began to break down. Gritting his teeth Adimir bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood as he supplied more mana and focused on the flame. Then it happened. The previously dull glow of the flame reached a bright glow as the flame turned white from the intense heat that it reached. "Good job! As expected of a freerider. It's almost as if you guys are born to use the flames of hell." His master congratulated him with a hint of admiration in his voice. Adimir quickly extinguished the flame and deactivated his mage eyes and collapsed to the ground panting with sweat dripping down his forehead. "That. Was. Intense." Adimir said exhausted from the amount of mental energy the spell took out of him. "I'd be shocked if it wasn't. Even for a Tier- 3 spell hell flame is a difficult spell to master. Only master pyromancers really ever use the spell because it's so difficult to master, but you freeriders specialize in using hell flame as one of your most powerful spell types. Bit of a tradition really. Anyways with this, you have officially graduated to be an apprentice mage! Good work Adimir. Now, do you remember your parent's promise?" The older elf said with a proud smile. Hearing the question his master asked Adimir couldn't stop the excited grin that crept upon his face. "You bet I do! See you later master Kurumu! I'll do you proud!" Adimir declared excitedly as he ran inside. Master Kurumu on the other hand just shook his head with an amused smile on his face. The promise he mentioned was how his parents promised that when he graduated, they'd allow him to strike out on his own and become an adventurer. Although they probably didn't think he'd graduate at such a young age. Upon rushing inside though he slammed into an adult elf with dark brown hair. The elf wearing expensive clothing was, in fact, his father. He is a retired battlemage who served in the army decades ago. "What's the rush about?" His father asked in an inquisitive tone. "Dad! I just graduated to an apprentice level mage!" Adimir exclaimed proudly while puffing up his chest pridefully. His father instead of laughing at the amusing image that his pose created instead stood there in mute shock. "Did you really?" He asked hesitantly. "Yup!" Adimir confirmed. His dad sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well, your mom's going to be thrilled to hear this…" He muttered. "Right!? So, will you keep your promise? Can I go become an adventurer?" Adimir excitedly asked. Who could blame him for being excited? What fantasy lover wouldn't want to try and become a famed and powerful adventurer even if for a short time? "I'm a man of my word and so is your mother. So, we will keep our end of the bargain. However, there's something that I and your mother want to give you before you depart on your adventure." His father replied. Curious as to what it was, he motioned for his dad to lead the way. His dad led Adimir to the master bedroom where his mom and dad both stayed. Inside there was his mom sitting at a desk reading a book. When they entered, she looked up and shot them a dazzling smile. She was easily in her 80's but because of her insane mana capacity, her life extended and she looked like she was only in her late thirties. She had shoulder-length raven black hair and the deep doe brown eyes. Her skin was still fair with some claw-shaped wrinkles at the edge of her eyes. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of the two most handsome men in my life paying me a visit at the same time?" She asked with a voice that soothed one's ears like honey did a sore throat. "Our son here has graduated to an apprentice level mage. He wants to go out and become an adventurer." His dad explained the situation to her. Hearing this caused a look of surprise to cross over his mom's face. "Already? I must say to have been able to use the hell flame so soon into his life is something I never expected despite his rapid growth. I'm impressed Adimir. I suppose though we'll have to keep our word. Wait one moment I'll go grab the items." His mom replied with a pleased smile on her face. She went into the rooms walk-in closet and a minute later walked out carrying three things. The first of which that caught Adimir's eyes was a metallic green staff with a large chunk of glowing crystal stuck onto the top. Then there was an old leather-bound book which had perhaps thousands of old yellowed pages tucked between the leather book cover. The final item was a dark blue cloak and hood that had mana emanating from it marking that it was an enchanted item. His mother handed him the staff. It looked like it was an alloy, but it was surprisingly light, and he was able to easily hold it with one hand. "This is your mage staff. It's made of elvish steel and is able to channel magic with almost no resistance. The crystal at the top is a magicrystal. You see how bright it's glowing? That's how you can tell how pure it is. The purer the more mana inside of it. It can be used to strengthen your spells using its own mana instead of yours. The best part about it is its ability to regenerate the mana it loses like a mage can." His mom explained to him. She then put the enchanted cloak and hood on him. "This right here is a mage cloak that's enchanted to regenerate your mana 1.5 times quicker when you wear it. These two items are heirlooms from your dad." She said with a smile. Adimir glanced over to his dad who flashed him his own smile. She then handed him the old leather book. When he held the book the leather cover felt like it was emanating a slight warmth and he felt a strange connection with it. "This one is a family heirloom of the freerider family. It's been passed through many of our family's greatest mages. It's called a blood bound mage book. By using one's own blood to write down spells any who have the freerider blood will be able to use the journal to be able to use any and all spells in the book while they hold it without memorizing it. You can add more spells you come across using the same method. There are two thousand pages here and on every page twenty spells can be put down. There are already two hundred pages filled. I trust you'll fill up a couple pages while it's in your hands." She said. "Wow, all this is amazing. Are you sure I can have this stuff?" Adimir asked with an awed expression. "But of course! You're our direct descendant and our inheritor." His dad answered him with a big smile. Adimir pulled both of his parents into a hug. "Thank you both so much for all the support you've given me over the years." He thanked them sincerely. His parents both hugged him back in return with joy and pride highlighting their faces. "Remember son that we'll always have your back. So, if you ever run into something out of your league try and contact us and we'll do everything in our power to help you," his mother told him, "I mean it." She emphasized as the temperature in the room increased by several dozen degrees. He hurriedly pulled away from the hug and looked up at the two of them. "Will do mom. I'll just um go start packing to head out now." Adimir responded quickly. His dad chuckled and ruffled his hair before Adimir went off and started packing. His dad then shot a stern glare to his mom who only offered a innocent smile as the temperature lowered back to its original temperature. Ten minutes later and Adimir's master along with his parents were seeing him off as he departed from the manor. He offered them one last wave in farewell before heading out. The journey would take a couple of days since the nearest town was around that distance away. So, he made sure to pack enough food and a bit of money for the next few days just in case. And with that Adimir took his first steps to become an adventurer making a living through his own power.

Meanwhile Adimir's parents and master were discussing the young boy as he left. "Your son is absurd you know that?" Kurumu told the parents. "We know." His dad replied with a smile. "I fear for the world and the things he would do to change the world. The rate at which he grows in magic is simply unnatural." Kurumu said with an exasperated sigh. "He is a freerider. Maybe the most freerider a freerider can get." His mom commented. "Well, let's just hope that he doesn't do anything too crazy in the future." Kurumu finally said. The two parents nodded in agreement as they watched the figure of their son slowly disappear into the horizon.