Bruno's First Meeting, Ian's Change of Heart, a Year and a Half, and the First-Stage Assessment!

The next day.

The breeze was gentle, and the sun shone brightly.

Ian walked down the street.

Suddenly, a Wizard appeared ahead of him.

He had an ordinary face and wore a Gray Tower Witch Robe, but his back was hunched, as though he had spent years that way.

The Wizard stood squarely in Ian's path.

Ian's breath caught.

The aura of the man before him made him shudder instinctively.

Three rings.

And a very powerful three-ring Wizard at that.

This was no chance obstruction.

He could feel the Wizard's gaze coiled tightly around him, confirming that the man had come for him.

"This is Gray Tower. I'm a Wizard here on a study tour."

Ian spoke at once.

He hoped his status would make the Wizard think twice.

This was Gray Tower's territory, after all.

Instead, the Wizard smiled. "Lord Ian, Lord Bruno wishes to see you. Sorry for the trouble, but please come with me."

Bruno?

Ian froze.

You must be joking.

But when he looked at the Wizard and the letter the man slowly produced—the very letter he had sent Edith—Ian went numb.

"All right."

Filled with apprehension.

Ian followed the Wizard.

They headed straight for the heart of Thousand Tower City, and when the enormous central Gray Tower finally loomed before Ian.

He realized.

The Wizard had not been joking.

Bruno really wanted to see him.

Gray Tower's only four-ring Wizard, Edith's father.

The moment Ian followed the Wizard inside the Wizard Tower, he felt as though he had entered another world.

Inside the Wizard Tower.

A plain spread out before Ian, with an even larger Wizard Tower standing nearby.

Merely looking ahead, he could sense one powerful aura after another.

Every one of them belonged to someone with at least three rings.

Gulp.

Ian swallowed.