The morning after Darius visited the Red Tower he awoke to the sounds of his father silently training his upper body on the floor next to his bed. Darius was used to being the first to wake up every morning, but now his father was consistently beating him to it.

His father stopped pushing his body up before looking Darius in the eye, "Son, we need to finish our talk from yesterday. We'll talk after breakfast. Don't wake your mom or sister on the way out."

Darius nodded at his father before heading for the door.

"Breakfast is one thing, but training is another. Make sure you eat something before you go outside. You shouldn't train on an empty stomach."

"Yes, father."

Darius looked at his father's legs before biting his lip as he made his way to the training field. "I wonder what father wants to talk about?" Darius thought about it for a few minutes before putting it out of his mind. He sat cross-legged on the hard gray stone that made up the center of the Northwood family manor sparring stage.

There were a lot of things he wanted to try. Darius placed his hand on his chin while thinking about his sparring match with Tobias. During their exchange, Darius combined multiple 2nd Circle spells to create a single powerful projectile. This wasn't revolutionary. The knight Dimitri did something similar as well when he faced Tobias.

The only difference that Darius noticed was most mages or knights he'd seen didn't cast more than one spell at a time. Even that Blond demon, Argon's Emperor Lukas something, only used a few spells at a time: during the war for Ayes. Which was strange because Darius found it pretty easy to do. Magic was just a method of using the mana inherent in one's body.

Spells were similar to techniques or Qi arts in his mind. If someone was a little more creative, they'd probably figure out how to use the mana to improve their physical traits.

He chuckled before a comical image emerged in his mind. Darius imagined large muscular mages lifting heavy stones before shaking his head. From what he had seen, no one had even thought of such a thing yet.

At least once in a while, he would try using his mana like Qi. When he had tried to do this before, mana would just flow into his muscles like air flowing into a balloon. It was ineffective, to say the least. Maybe if he had more mana, he could do something, but just brute forcing it seemed like a bad idea.

He decided to try something else.

A small flame appeared above his palm. He focused internally instead of on the flame itself. His attention zeroed in on the connection his mana had to flame itself. Slowly, a thin thread of Qi swept down his arm, through his palm, and his fingers. It traveled up to the spell matrix producing the flame. His Qi moved around and interacted with the spell matrix, practically begging for a reaction. The flame flickered like a wick buffeted by a gentle breeze before growing hotter. In half a second, the flame rapidly grew in size before, "Pop!"

A sound similar to a bubble popping occurred. Darius furrowed his brow, too stubborn to give up, and tried again. This time he wrapped his Qi around the mana in his palm before casting the spell. The flame appeared in his palm before flickering and going out once more.

He grunted, "This is impossible! It's like trying to mix a liquid and a gas."

"What's impossible?"

Darius jumped to his feet in surprise. His father was rolled into the training field by his mother in a small wooden carriage. It was the perfect size for his body and with large wooden wheels, easily moved around. His mother stood by his side while holding a sleeping Ella.

"Father?"

"Son, we need to talk about a few things."

"What about breakfast?"

Darien smiled before saying, "Rhea is making breakfast for us now. When I'm done talking; we'll go inside and eat together as a family."

"What do you want to talk about? Is everything ok?"

Darius was genuinely confused. His father rarely brought something up so seriously. He had just woken up from his coma, and Darius was afraid something had happened with his father's health.

"Everything is fine. I want to talk to you about the next few years. Particularly about squires."

Darius tilted his head before asking, "Squires?"

"Elion has a custom. An old one that dates back to the founding of the kingdom itself. Mages, nobles, and even the king look for talented children when their own children reach the age of five. They scour the kingdom taking in lesser-mage families' children or even taking in talented kids from the common folk and train them along with their own. This way, the highborn children will have loyal and powerful knights; that will grow up together with them. Protecting them, growing with them."

Darius couldn't stop his mouth from opening and closing. No one had told him about any of this. He didn't like the idea of being forced to watch over some brats as they learned magic next to him. "I don't need any. I don't need a squire! I'm already five! Why am I only being told about this now?"

Darien sighed, and Elaine looked sad as she looked toward the ground, "Son, I was going to tell you about it when you turned four... I've lost a lot of time." He looked at Elaine by his side and said, "Your mother didn't tell you because it wasn't her priority. My coma got in the way of everything it seems."

Darius got angry and shouted, "Your coma isn't your fault, it's that retarded Emperor's fault! In a few years... Soon... I'll take care of him myself."

"No, son, but it doesn't change the fact that I wasn't here for my family. Whether it was my fault or wasn't my fault is irrelevant. I'm here now, and I won't be going anywhere anytime soon."

Darius fought back his emotions as he nodded at his father. "Elion's traditions have nothing no bearing on me, father. I can't imagine having some sniffling kid my age growing up with me. I don't care if I sound arrogant, but they'll just slow me down."

Darien moved his seat a little closer as he said firmly, "Tobias was my knight, Elijah... A few others are no longer with us. I took in Tobias as an adult, but Elijah was with me from the beginning. Whether or not you outgrow them, whether or not they can keep up with you isn't important. Elijah... He and Tobias have saved my life many times. Too many times."

Upon hearing his father mention Elijah, Darius choked up. His words got caught at the back of his throat. He tried to think of something to say, but couldn't think of anything.

His father continued, "There's nothing you can say. It's already final. I sent word to Joseph while you went to the Tower yesterday. Recruitment will be starting by the end of the week. Soon, Renee will be filled with parents willing to send their children ages 4 to 6 to take all kinds of tests, and only the most talented will be chosen. They will be your lifelong friends and confidants, and will go with you to the academy in a few years."

Darius questioned what he had just heard, "Academy? Even now? What could I possibly learn at the academy that I haven't learned already?"

"Manners for one. Mostly it will be for you to gain connections with other nobles and Jame's children. He has a daughter two years older than you, so you should be attending around the same time as her."

"James?"

"He's Elion's King, and also my friend. Son, you're five years old and can cast 3rd Circle spells without an incantation. The academy has no magic or teachings that will suddenly enlighten you, but it will teach basic knowledge you are so desperately lacking. You don't even know the name of Elion's current king." He shook his head before saying, "I'm sure I've even talked of him before, but it doesn't matter. There are things you need to know in life that you can learn at the academy. Magic is only one part of the whole, son. You'll be leading Renee one day, and probably the Tower as well."

Darius reluctantly nodded. His recent joy was hampered by some unpleasant news. He'd deal with it like everything else. However, he felt like it.

Renee was bustling with activity. There was a festival that filled the city with light as the people sang and danced in the streets. Red Tower mages set up booths with crystals and sat waiting. They didn't need to ask around or do anything to attract attention. All they did was sit, and the people would come to them. Slowly a line of children formed at the mage's booths where children would place their hands on the crystals for a few seconds and then take a step back. The intensity with which the crystal lit up and the color displayed was marked in a little book before the next child would walk up and follow the same actions.

Unfortunately, Renee wasn't completely free of inequality. No place ever would be. Mages and wealthy merchants would pass the lines and offer some gold to the sitting mage. Their children would cut the line and do their tests right afterward. A few mages, like Linda, didn't take bribes or give special treatment, but most did. Hundreds of children were tested every day, but it took two weeks before a potential candidate was found.

A young red tower mage with obsidian black hair and gray eyes planned to find a squire candidate for Lord Northwood in order to boost his reputation. His current status in the Tower was a measly 2 stars which was hardly worth mentioning. It was rare, but magical talents were sometimes found in rural villages, or at least so he'd heard. He entered the most rural village in Renee and set up a small booth with earth magic. The villagers didn't leap at the chance to get them tested. Making the young mage Teller all the more annoyed.

I’m near the bottom ranks of official mages in the Red Tower. I’m not 2nd circle mage but a full-fledged 3rd circle one. However, I’m stuck relegating to a 2nd circle position in the Tower. I could make a thousand excuses, but the reason was simple, casting time. My casting time is simply, too slow. If it takes over a minute to cast a third-circle spell, can you truly be considered a 3rd Circle mage? That question was posed to me recently. I wish I could shove that question down that pink-haired bastard's throat.

It’s not like I don’t practice either! I’ve been training diligently every day to reduce the casting time, but weeks of practice only speed up my casting by a few seconds. At this rate, it'll take me a decade before reaching a true mage position. Honestly, I’d only be 40 by then, and that progress is still good even in the Red Tower, but I don’t want to lose my position either. I'm ambitious! I want to move up in the world.

This was my chance! Being a testing administrator is a huge deal, and if I find some pearl amongst the swine, I might finally move up in the Tower. I’m in charge of all the small villages and towns darting around the Northern part of the Renee region. Duke Northwoods territory reached many small towns and villages.

Honestly, it makes up a large and wide area, but the villages only have small populations. Those villages aren't right next to each other, and they take a lot of work to travel from one to another. My biggest problem was time constrain. My gut was telling me I'd find a fantastic candidate in these backwater villages, but two weeks had already gone by. It was only a matter of time before the four squire spots would get filled.

I still had two months, but if candidates are found it won’t matter if I find anyone. Whoever I find will be sponsored by the Red Tower and have a bright future, but it won’t have the same merit as finding one of young master Darius’ official squires. The only way I could top that is by finding some monstrous heaven-shaking talent, and I know that’s not realistic. I had already gone through 5 villages and was heading to the 6th. It was a small village by a small river, the total population couldn’t be more than 200 people, but just like most small villages, it was doing well.

The village had a dirt road connecting to it and was intertwined amongst the trees spreading out in every direction. The Renee forest was wide and sprawled out far beyond the Elion boundary. This is especially true in the North, where the Renee forest eventually splits off into the Great Longwoods, a forest filled with powerful monsters beasts, and legends. Renee's forest didn't even have goblins. The biggest threat one would find here would probably be a simple gray bear. I looked at my map and wrote in my journal the name of the village, Little Brook.

The trip to Little Brook village was uneventful. When I arrived I had my assistants and guards set up a table and tent while I made the magic circle on the ground. One of my assistants started going door to door and explaining why we were there and what we were doing. It took half an hour to set up, and as I was getting ready a small child walked up to me and watched. He was dirty as though he hadn’t bathed in a few days, and had just come from plowing some field. The boy was short and malnourished with silver-gray hair and violet eyes. Both were rare. Looking at his features he might be a distant relative to some forgotten mage somewhere. Usually, mages were a bit more colorful than ordinary folk. He thought of his own hair and the Tower Master's and thought maybe the true genius' had ordinary hair colors.

The boy broke him out of his thoughts as he asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm testing kids for magic."

"Magic?"

He looked around for a parent, but only a few villagers had come out of their homes in curiosity. It didn't seem like any of them were his parents.

"Where are your parents?“

"Th-They are busy working in the fields, but they asked me to check out the commotion."

I looked at the kid with some suspicion before asking, "Can I get a name young one?” I waited a while before raising an eyebrow. “Oh me? My name is Aaron, just Aaron. No last name.”

There was no one else in line, I hope he isn’t too slow. “Alright, Aaron do you know why I’m here?”

“I heard your picking people to learn magic?” The boy looked incredibly excited, so I had to damper that a bit. “No, I’m looking for kids that can listen and learn. I’ve gone through 5 villages already, Aaron, and haven’t found one candidate yet.” Looking at how excited the boy was, I added, "If you don't pass the test, you can always apply for the knight's academy when you get older. Renee takes in anyone with a good work ethic."

“So it’s not guaranteed?”

“It’s not.”

His expression was a little less enthusiastic, so I began. “Aaron walk to the center of the circle and place your hand on the crystal at its center.”

“Got it!”

“Focus on the Crystal and try to imagine it warming up or lighting up, take your time.” I liked to give plenty of time to the kids. After all, I didn’t want to miss some prodigy because I was in a hurry. One minute passed by, and nothing happened. I wasn’t surprised. "Sigh. Look, kid.." I was about to let him know his results when the crystal started glowing. The light grew brighter and brighter until cracks started forming jagged lines all across the surface of the crystal, and then it stopped.

The brat was breathing hard head slicked with sweat.

I was dumbfounded. He fucking cracked a testing crystal. It took almost all of my willpower to push down my emotions and dull my reaction.

“Did I do something bad?” The kid asked while looking at the crystal. His innocent expression needed some work. He knew breaking the crystal couldn't be seen as a bad thing. The little brat was looking for praise.

“No, you passed. I just need to talk with your parents, and then I’ll be able to take you with me.” His face scrunched slightly when I mentioned his parents.

“Ok.”

He directed me to a small wooden cabin near the edge of the village with some farmland surrounding it. A young man and a middle-aged man were working on the land with what looked to be hoes. Their middle-aged man stopped and shouted, “Son? Who the hell are all of you?”

I frowned before shouting back, “We are mages of the Red Tower. We came to Little Brook village to test if any children can learn magic. Your son has passed the test.”

“My son passed what? I don’t appreciate you standing over my son like that.” It looked like this wouldn’t be as simple as I thought. I walked alone with Alex to his father, leaving my guards behind. “Sir, the Red Tower is currently looking for young talented children for future knight candidates throughout the Renee region. We just started conducting a test for magic compatibility in the village, and your son passed.” The man stood with the hoe over his shoulder as if he’d swing it at me if I said something wrong.

“Please use language a farmer can understand.”

“Your son can learn magic, and the Red Tower wants to sponsor him. He’ll learn magic, and be educated, and your family will be paid a monthly stipend or a monthly wage. You can come to see your son anytime, and he can come back when he gets breaks in his education.”

“It sounds like you're asking me to sell my son because he can use magic.”

I was beginning to grow frustrated, “No sir if you were to sell your son. You wouldn’t be able to see him anymore, and he wouldn’t have the freedom to return.”

“If I wanted to end his education halfway through would I be able to?”

“No at that point you wouldn’t.”

“Then I wouldn’t have a say in my son's future, would I?”

“He would have a say in his future.”

“But I wouldn’t, how is that not selling?” He set his hoe down and crossed his arms. I felt sweat trickle down my nose, a farmer beat me in an exchange of words. “I’ll be honest, if you accept, he’d have a dangerous future, learn magic and martial arts, and his duty would be to protect the Red Tower master's son, but his future would be bright with his talent. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d reach the level of the current vice tower master in your lifetime. I've never seen or heard of anyone breaking a testing crystal before.”

“What good is my son learning magic, if he’s going to be sent off to war and die? I’m no fool the current situation with Argons not good I have friends that have told me that a war is brewing.”

“If a war breaks out with Argon do you think you’ll be completely safe? If he knows magic and can defend himself wouldn't he be better off?”

“He’ll be at the front line to die. While some spoiled noble's son runs away, pissing his pants in fear. I know the drill. Seen it for me.”

“If he becomes a knight of lord Darius I doubt he’ll be sent to the front line to die.” We had reached an impasse. “Look, sir, I’m not forcing your hand here. I’ll continue testing the rest of the village today and will come by again tomorrow to have a proper talk with your family. If your decision stands as a no, then I’ll just leave. We will just have to keep looking for candidates elsewhere. At the current rate, four candidates will be found by the end of the summer at least. With your son's talent, he can always get a scholarship at a magic academy, so it’s not as though his future will be damned if he doesn’t go."

The kid yelled, "Dad! I want to learn magic! Please!" The older boy went and grabbed him taking him into the house.

I really didn't want to lose this candidate, but I may not have a choice. I'd at least try and say the rest of my peace before leaving, "However, sir, it’s widely known the earlier you start learning magic the better. It’s better to start learning anywhere from 5-10 after that will seriously affect one's future growth.” I had finished my speech and was a little upset that the gold I had found had crap on it and couldn’t be taken. I left and finished my tests for the day. There were no other candidates in the village. We settled down into the carriage and slept there for the night. When I woke up in the morning I was approached by Aaron's father. He said his name was Sam.

It was still early morning, but his wife and son were waiting. “Look, I was an adventurer. I know more about these things than the average person. I walked away from it all because it was a dangerous occupation, and I don’t want that for my son. We talked it over last night and have decided to entrust our son to the red tower. I’ve heard the good and the bad coming from the nobles, and the Red Tower master has a rather good reputation amongst the adventurers.”

The mother spoke afterward, “Mr. Mage." "You can call me, Teller." "Mr. Teller, please promise us that you’ll look out for our son! That he'll be safe!” She looked as though she’d cry at a moment's notice. It was a little unsettling how quickly they had changed their mind.

“Of course! I promise I will watch over him as he is under my care and will look out for him whenever I have any spare time. You have my word!”

I wasn’t lying either this kid is directly related to my future, so of course, I’ll want him to succeed. The boy was looking at me with anticipation burning in his eyes. Well, I couldn’t blame him. I was pretty excited as well. “We’ll have breakfast so you can spend as much time with him as possible. I'll write a letter about his acceptance before continuing on my journey. I still have to check the other villages. They will send someone to us to take him safely to the Red Tower. After reading my report. he'll probably be taken to the Vice Tower master himself.” I watched as a crying family sent off their son to the unknown. It almost made me feel like some kind of villain. “So Aaron do you want to see some magic?” I chanted briefly under my breath and brought a little flame to life above my palm. The brat was so excited he was almost giddy seeing magic for the first time. "Wow!" I helped load the carriage with all of our goods. I could almost taste my bright future. I'm sure this would continue to be a productive trip.