A ball of water materialized from thin air above Matthew’s palm. With only a thought he started spinning the ball rapidly. The clear blue liquid didn’t spill anywhere, and was safe for human consumption. As Matt stared at the revolving ball, a smirk formed on his lips. He willed the [Water Ball] to shoot into the pool, and got up from his cross legged pose.

Typically when a mage first starts training, they’re unable to form any spells since their mana heart hasn’t fully developed. Thus if a beginner wanted to train their spells, they’d have to go to a source of their affinity like fire or a pool of water. Once you advance to the 2nd stage of sorcery,

Matthew stared at his reflection in the pool. Smooth pale skin featuring the face of a boy showing signs of gaining maturity. His brown eyes naturally drew one’s attention, and his vibrant blonde hair was still slicked back. Ever since his meeting with Rebecca, one of the most notable changes was the fact his hair seemed to glow in the dark. Albeit it was only a small shimmer, waking up in the middle of the night to glowing hair was an interesting experience.

Also Matt still couldn’t figure out how to use any of Rebecca’s abilities. He tried praying a bunch and reciting some random religious mumbo jumbo from the past, but nothing has happened. It was getting to the point where Matt started to doubt if Rebecca had any sort of divine abilities for her followers, yet she said she gave access to him so there must be something. Still four years with no progress on that end did leave a sour taste in his mouth.

“Well at least I’ve progressed in other areas.” Matthew’s sour attitude quickly took a change for the better. What fourteen year old could claim they’re a 4th stage [Warrior] and 2nd stage [Apprentice], all without any help from teachers? Right now he had the strength of the average adult, only because he was young and he hasn’t reached his physical limits yet for this stage. A couple months of hard training should fix that though.

Training the physical body was the easy part. The hard part was developing his magical ability, as Matthew never received formal training as a magician. The farthest he’s ever gotten was the 4th stage, which serves as a border between those with and without ability. Matthew had no clue how to advance past that, but his enrollment in the academy should fix that problem.

Of course before Matthew even worried about that he had to increase his knowledge of the world. The only reason he didn’t do so previously was because he was too small to reach the door without alerting his dad. Yes it was a stupid reason in hindsight, especially since there was no real reason for Eric to be mad at him for pursuing knowledge. Honestly it was the paranoia of his awareness being discovered, which was also why Matt trained behind closed doors.

What Matthew focused on was learning more about the lay of the land, since he knew nothing in the subject. Basically the continent was around four thousand miles wide and eight thousand miles vertical. The area was split by the three factions and various unclaimed land left to monsters. They were all situated on the eastern half of the continent, with the Griffon Kingdom being north of the Dragon Dynasty and the Elven Lands to the left of the kingdom.

The Royal Academy was situated in the capital, and is a state of the art training and education facility ran by and for the kingdom. Anyone who can would be scrambling to send their sons and daughters there, even if they couldn’t afford the tuition. The Academy has a program where as long as you enlisted for a decade, you’d receive a free ride for the full four years. Many lower class citizens would send their children there in hopes they’d make a name for themselves in the army, but more often than not they’ll wind up being a foot soldier.

The sound of approaching footsteps entered Matthew’s ears, and as he turned around he was greeted by an old lady. There was a slight hunch in her gait, and the previous head of mostly black hair has turned grey. Wrinkles were lining her face, yet she moved with a vigor exceeding her age. Clearly this was the head maid of their household, Evelyn, and she walked until she was two feet away.

“Young master your parents have called for your presence.” Her voice came in a dull soft tone, an effect of her clearly increasing age. Matt never bothered to ask how old she is, but he’s heard that Evelyn has been serving the family since she was a young lady.

“Alright tell them I’ll be there shortly.” Evelyn walked back towards the villa, and Matthew got up and performed some stretches. Being a 4th stage [Warrior] obviously his body would be fit, and his typical cotton outfit couldn’t hide his ever-developing frame.

He quickly navigated the lush garden and made a brisk pace towards the villa. Matthew always wondered how his mother could maintain a garden and run a bakery full time. It’ll remain another unsolved mystery since he quickly arrived inside and saw his parents waiting for him.

Eric’s turquoise hair was now switched from a man bun, to a nice flowing mane that extended to his neck. His beard was still nicely maintained, and although 14 years have passed he still looked to be in his early twenties.

Jessica on the other hand looked exactly the same as she did nine years ago, which is shocking considering the fact she doesn’t practice aura or magic. Matthew chalked it up to good genes. He sat down on the grey sofa across from his parents, and Evelyn brought a tray filled with sweets made by herself and Jessica that Eric promptly got to work on.

“Today’s your last day with us until the caravan for the Royal Academy arrives. How are you feeling?” Matt could hear the concern in her voice, as any parent would be worried sending their child away from home.

“Don’t worry mom I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’ll be there alone for the whole four years, since you’ll be coming after the second month.”

“We’re not worried about you Matt, but the various nobles and potential swindlers you’ll meet. Don’t look down on Elyssia son, it’s a big city and you’re still quite ignorant of the world. The academy will wind up being a valuable life lesson for you” Eric interjected and Matthew could only roll his eyes at this (internally since Eric would work him to death if he found out). Experience was the one thing he didn’t lack especially with people.

“I’ll keep that in mind but I was wondering why they decided recruit all the kids in this town. I don’t understand what they’d get from that.” Maybe it was a political thing? Either way Matt couldn’t piece together the bigger picture yet.

“I don’t know but I’m assuming they were just so happy with your attendance that it became a spur in the moment decision.” Jessica took an optimistic approach, but Matthew had a bad feeling about this.

Eric reached into his bosom and placed a brown leather pouch on the table. The clinking of metal resounded throughout the room. Matthew grabbed it and noticed it was deceptively heavier than it appeared, although he could still easily fling it around. Matt looked inside and discovered some gold and mostly silver coins, all engraved with the marking of a Griffon. Everyone used the common copper, silver, and gold coins as currency but depending on where you resided the markings on the individual coin would be different.

“That should be enough money to last you until your mother and I move to Elyssia in 2 months. Make sure you keep it close with you.”

“Do you need any more help packing sir?” Evelyn stepped forward and retrieved the now empty tray. Matthew didn’t even get a chance to try any since Eric kept swallowing them in seconds.

“I should be fine now but thank you Evelyn. I should go finish packing my stuff now.” After he finished addressing his parents, Matthew got up and started to climb the stairs only to be interrupted by Eric.

“Remember what I told you yesterday.” Eric waved him off and went back to convincing Jessica to bake some more sweets. Matt only shook his head at this, as his father kept trying to ingrain in him not to abuse commoners. At least once a month he would always remind him about his behavior since Eric wouldn’t be there to supervise him. Frankly he was starting to get annoyed with it, especially since Eric would praise him all the time about his behavior yet stay obstinate regarding this.

Matt entered his room and jumped on the bed. He decided to take a nap now then pack and train later. Tomorrow would be a long day anyways, and his experience with caravans always resulted in some back pain afterwards.

“God I hope the caravan doesn’t fuck up my back again…”