Wizard

Today was Char's sixth birthday.

Although he could only spend it inside the flying vessel, with no one around to congratulate him, he was still very happy.

Compared to his former life, his current days were already dreamlike.

Born into a poor family, with so many siblings, even having enough to eat had often been a problem.

One meal a day had been the norm!

It had left him somewhat underdeveloped.

He was skin and bones, and far shorter than other children his age who had grown normally, like a little skinny monkey.

But being found to possess Wizard talent had directly improved his family's circumstances.

Though it was only third-grade talent, supposedly an average level—neither good nor bad—it was still something ordinary people could only dream of.

As the absolute rulers of this world, Wizards held the noblest status in it.

Every mortal nation was merely a breeding ground for them, and the so-called royal families were nothing more than tools they used to govern mortals.

Under the Wizards' propagandistic indoctrination, producing descendants with Wizard potential for them was the greatest honor of all mortals!

At this moment, Char was only a Wizard apprentice candidate.

Yet the benefits brought by that status had immediately made his once-struggling parents and siblings into Persons Above Persons.

The city lord of the city where his family lived had even directly granted them several properties and over a hundred gold coins—wealth enough for them to live through two lifetimes without ever having to worry about making a living again!

After carefully smoothing out his clothes once more, Char still felt uncomfortable wearing such luxurious garments.

He had only ever seen such fine fabric on nobles before.

He had not even dared to look at it too much, much less touch it with his own hands.

Ever since they had become apprentice candidates, the city lord had ordered people to work day and night, making several sets of clothes for each of them to wear every day.

Whenever Char thought of that plump, fair-skinned city lord handing him the clothes personally with a kindly smile, he felt deeply moved.

I must repay him someday!

Though the expensive clothing felt very comfortable against his body, he still felt a faint sense of awkwardness.

Wearing clothes this good was something he had never imagined in his old life. He had never even dreamed of it.

He felt like a toad draped in swan feathers. He believed that, in others' eyes, he looked like a clown, so he did not dare speak with anyone. After boarding the vessel, he had obediently stayed in his room, afraid of seeing ridicule in other people's eyes.

But after hearing exclamations outside his door, he finally could not resist stepping out after having stayed inside for several days.

Following the others, he arrived at the top of the giant flying vessel.

Through the great whale's transparent eyes, he saw a dense cluster of buildings appear on the ground not far away.

They lay within a thick forest shrouded in heavy mist. Even from high in the sky, he could only make out their vague outline.

But that simple outline alone told Char that the scale of the buildings far surpassed anything he had imagined.

The city where he had lived before was not even worth mentioning beside it, like a toddler standing before a giant.

At that moment, a voice that was youthful yet remarkably composed sounded beside him. "It's truly enormous. Even the Royal Capital seems tiny compared to it."

Char turned and saw a boy who looked about his age standing beside him. Both his appearance and attire carried an air of nobility, and he was watching Char with a smile.

Meeting Char's gaze, the boy extended his hand with a friendly expression. "Hello. My name is Saya Glens, the seventeenth Prince of the Kingdom of Dort. This is the first time I've seen you aboard this vessel."

Facing the hand held out to him, Char looked completely at a loss. He had never imagined he would come into contact with a Prince, much less that someone of such lofty status would take the initiative to shake his hand.

After fumbling about in a fluster, Char hesitantly reached out and clasped the other's hand. "N-nice to meet you. I'm Char."

Unlike Saya, who had a surname, Char was a commoner. He possessed only a given name and no family name.

Rather than mocking Char's timid behavior, Saya Glens smiled. "Char, is it? A fine name. I'll remember it."

He stepped forward and stood beside Char, looking down at the scene below.

Saya calmly shared his thoughts. "You really don't need to be so nervous. You should have confidence in yourself. No matter what your circumstances were before, as someone outstanding enough to possess Wizard aptitude, you no longer need to let your past life bind you. You now have a far broader future. Those things are already meaningless."

"Believe me, Char. You can live with more confidence."

Hearing the gentle words, Char felt an indescribable stir in his heart.

Looking at his thin reflection in the other boy's azure eyes, Char could not tell what he was thinking.

At that moment, he clearly realized that there truly was an essential gap between people. The Saya before him possessed a charm that won Char's wholehearted admiration.

Perhaps I really do need to change...

It was the first time in his life he had ever thought that way.

Seeing the other boy stunned by his words, Saya Glens's expression remained unchanged, but he felt secretly pleased.

Gifted and intelligent, and raised under an elite education from childhood, he knew full well that in an unfamiliar place, forming one's own clique was necessary. A commoner like Char—timid, clearly inexperienced, and lacking in scheming—was precisely the kind of person most suitable to win over.

That was why Saya, as a Prince, had lowered himself to take the initiative and approach him.

Oh, no. Since Char was a Wizard apprentice, his actions did not count as lowering himself at all. They were perfectly appropriate.

Nodding in satisfaction, Saya Glens silently gave himself a score of one hundred.

That was not to say he was sinister and cunning.

Compared to his elders, the still-young Saya did not yet possess much malice.

The greatest issue was simply that the environments in which they had grown up had made them view matters from different angles.

Compared to the somewhat submissive Char, Saya preferred to seize control of the situation himself.

A middle-aged man stepped forward.

With a wave of his hand, he stopped the noisy chatter of the many students.

Though Char did not know how to address him, he knew the man was the leader of this recruitment party.

The man coldly instructed the new students present, "We'll arrive at the academy shortly. The flying vessel is preparing to descend, so make your preparations."

"Yes!"

Standing amid the crowd and looking at the third eye on the man's forehead, Char shrank back slightly and echoed the response with the others.

Not long afterward, in his room.

Recalling the appearance of that man and the other instructors, Char wondered curiously, In all kinds of legends, these Wizards possess, more or less, some traits different from ordinary people. I wonder if I'll become like that someday...

"Whoa..."

As they watched an opening appear in the mist above the academy, Char, Saya, and the other new students could not help crying out.

It was the first time they had ever witnessed such a sight.

Even Saya could not help sighing. "So people can control the weather..."

After passing through the opening, the flying vessel slowly descended beside a sea of red flowers.

Just before opening the hatch and lowering the stairs, the lead instructor turned to the students behind him with a stern expression. "If you don't want to die, don't touch those red flowers."

Though the students behind him did not understand why, the gravity of his expression made them all respond in agreement.

Walking down the stairs and gazing at the endless sea of red flowers, which rustled like waves beneath the breeze, Char felt as if he stood in an ocean of blossoms. Overwhelmed, he murmured, "So beautiful..."

Vaguely, Char seemed to see the flowers slowly releasing red mist.

When the breeze swept through that mist, it showed no sign of dispersing. Instead, it remained tightly wrapped around the flowers, as though a layer of red gauze had been wound around them, making them appear even more beautiful and enchanting.

And perhaps it was only an illusion, but as he breathed in the fragrance drifting from the flowers, Char felt an inexplicable comfort. He had the urge to stop and linger, to inhale their scent a while longer.

What he did not know was that he was not the only one. The other new students felt the same way, and infatuated expressions appeared on their faces...

Watching the strange scene, the lead instructor frowned slightly, but he was not surprised.

It looked like this every year.

Unlike the new students, his senses could clearly detect a force manipulating the flowers, suppressing most of their power.

Otherwise, these new students, who were merely at the level of ordinary people, would have been completely unable to resist their power and would have immediately fallen into madness.

Just as he was about to lead the new students away, he suddenly noticed a figure casually sitting on a branch of a nearby tree.

Seeing that scarlet hair, he immediately understood the figure's identity and hurriedly greeted him.

His teacher had once discreetly told him that this guardian was entirely different from the academy's other guardians. The Dean had personally summoned him from another distant world through some kind of Summoning Ritual. Though he seemed peaceful in Human Form and could converse rationally, he was said to be an extremely dangerous species by nature. Unless necessary, it was best not to make contact, so the instructor chose to follow his heart.

After they departed, Orsaga asked the empty ground beside him, "Why do you Wizards all love conducting bloodline experiments? You're more like monsters than I am, a Demon."

Unangered by Orsaga's somewhat abrupt question, Hawthorne's calm voice came from there in reply. "To people like us, such narrow concepts as race and bloodline hold no meaning. The only thing that matters is one's identity as a Wizard."

Orsaga smiled and remarked, "I see. So identification as a Wizard outweighs everything else? What a strange spellcasting profession. Though mad, it really is powerful..."

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By the way, starting tomorrow, I want to change to two updates a day, with 2,000+ words per update.