Southern Seaport City

Including Adam, all five apprentices had imagined how the Mage Master would take them away from the Northland. Perhaps by some mysterious tool they had never heard of or seen before, perhaps through some kind of magic. Yet when the moment truly arrived, they still could not help but marvel.

Flight was the oldest dream of races born upon the ground. Everyone had looked to the sky and longed for the birds, and today, the apprentices experienced what it felt like to fly.

"Then, let us depart." The moment Black Mage finished speaking, everyone, along with the luggage beside them, floated into the air. They rose higher and higher, straight into the heavens, then shot southward like an arrow.

The people on the ground stared in stunned silence. After a brief stillness, they began shouting wildly. Even they themselves did not know what those cries meant, but no one cared. The clamor in their hearts needed release, because they had witnessed a miracle.

Within the Lord's Mansion, Earl Johnson listened quietly to the uproar in the streets. After a while, he instructed Knight Wyatt and Knight Wright, "Drive away the crowds and restore order."

The two knights accepted the order and left, calming the restless crowd. Afterwards, Knight Wright sighed. "Things are different now."

After the people in the manor learned that Ophelia and Adam had left, each felt differently. Marshall and Dennis were both relieved and fiercely jealous, while Bearded Man Joe collapsed to the ground at once, his mind completely blank.

In the stable, Black Cloud drove away batch after batch of Servants who came to feed it with its hooves. It repeatedly rammed the wooden fence with its horn. At last, it broke free of its reins and smashed through the wooden door. No one dared stop Ophelia's Warhorse. Black Cloud charged out through the manor gates, let out a mournful cry, and galloped madly southward, soon vanishing from sight.

In the sky, Black Mage looked calm. The four apprentices trembled with fear, staring down at the ground, which had already become a Black Dot beneath them. Their lips moved soundlessly, and they did not dare move at all.

Adam was the exception. He had no concept of fear and was the first to move. He discovered that beneath his apparently empty feet was actually a membrane. He reached out and felt around to either side, sensing the membrane there as well. It seemed this membrane supported them and blocked the raging winds created by their high-speed flight.

The other four apprentices watched Adam closely. Only after seeing that he had not fallen did they gather the courage to move. The joy of flight quickly overwhelmed their fear, and they curiously walked about within the membrane.

"Is this magic? It's amazing!" Krystal jumped once and spoke with both shock and admiration.

"You could say it is, and you could say it is not," Black Mage explained. "This is the power of knowledge, a derivative application of magic. There is no need to construct it with a special Rune Array."

The four were bewildered, but Adam instantly understood what Black Mage meant. In other words, this method of flight was merely a derivative effect of some spell procedure. Once the procedure had been constructed, such a thing could naturally be achieved.

Black Mage continued, "Mage World is vast, and it is expanding almost every moment. Formal Mages can travel through Teleportation Arrays established everywhere, but your bodies cannot withstand that kind of pressure. Moreover, you have never lived in a High-Magic Environment, so you must travel to Mage Continent by a slower method and gradually adapt to the High-Magic Environment."

Several People wore expressions that said they did not understand, but still thought it sounded impressive. Adam blinked. He could not understand what Black Mage meant by expanding. Could it be...

Adam looked down at the ground and discovered that this world was not a sphere! Mage World—or rather, Mage Plane—was actually flat!

Ophelia asked, "Respected Black Mage, what does expanding mean?"

This time, Black Mage did not mention any price and directly answered, "You will receive a detailed explanation of that question after you arrive at the academy. I will give you a simple explanation. You should have heard of Prometheus True Spirit Grandmaster and Anne Croft, World Guardian, correct?"

Everyone nodded. Even Adam had heard those two names from Ophelia.

"Approximately twenty thousand years ago, in Mage Plane time, Mage World was a narrow plane. Mages slaughtered one another over limited resources. Yet as resources steadily ran dry, Mage Plane moved toward decline and destruction. The Two True Spirits launched a revolution, changing the nature of the plane with great knowledge. By plundering the Outside World, they halted internal depletion, and with an unimaginable spell, they replenished themselves. Only then did Mage Plane Destroyers achieve the glory they possess today."

"Plane Sacrifice—that is the name of that great spell. As for its principles, let alone you, even I do not understand them," Black Mage said admiringly.

The apprentices were filled with longing. With their shallow knowledge and limited horizons, they could not begin to imagine what kind of Great Power that was. They could not help but look forward even more eagerly to their future lives. Mage was truly a name that captivated people.

After some time, when Black Mage saw that they had adapted to flying, he said, "I am going to accelerate. We need to reach the Southern Seaport City of this continent before dusk and meet up with the academy's other guides."

The instant he finished speaking, their speed suddenly surged. The violent booming sound was piercing even inside the membrane, while the fierce Airflow outside slammed against it, clearly visible to the Naked Eye.

"Breaking the Sound Barrier..." Black Mage's flight speed increased in an instant, without any preparation whatsoever. Yet strangely, the people inside the membrane felt no discomfort.

The acceleration did not stop. Adam spread out his Mental Power to observe and found that the membrane had changed from a hemisphere into a smooth, aerodynamic shape. Even more astonishingly, Black Mage had somehow gathered the Airflow striking the front into a single direction, transforming it into Kinetic Energy and accelerating them once again.

A few seconds later, their speed stabilized. Noisy sounds filled their ears, and they had to shout at the top of their lungs for one another to hear them. This made them fall silent.

"The current speed is approximately Mach Three." Adam's face remained expressionless, but inwardly he was full of admiration. The power of magic had utterly overturned his understanding. Someone could carry burdens, rely on no Artifacts, and push their speed to such a level through their own strength alone, all while making it seem effortless.

Time gradually passed. Because they were inside the rapidly flying membrane, they were not very sensitive to changes in temperature. Yet when they looked down, they could see the white fading from the land below, replaced by lush green that filled their vision. After nearly three hours of flight, they left the Northland.

It was hard to imagine just how vast Mage World was. From what Black Mage had said, the land where the Northland was located seemed to be an island, and one needed to travel by ship to reach Mage Continent. Limited by the abilities and Lifespan of an Ordinary Person, one could only remain trapped in a single place for an entire lifetime.

At noon, several people took food from their luggage. Adam remained wholly unprepared, but he was not hungry. The energy stored within his body was enough to sustain him for three days without practicing the Breathing Technique. Ophelia, meanwhile, did not need to eat.

Black Mage likewise showed no intention of eating. Adam even noticed that a mage did not need to breathe.

Even though they saw that Black Mage did not eat, none of them dared offer him their crude food. Krystal, however, saw Adam sitting alone nearby and gathered the courage to walk up to him. She pointed at him, then at her hamburger-like food.

Adam remained expressionless.

Krystal thought Adam did not understand her meaning. She stepped forward again and shouted, "If you don't mind, I can share my food with you. Mom specially prepared this for me this morning. It has meat."

Faced with the girl's kindness, Adam did not accept. As a knight, he naturally had a way to send his voice accurately through the noise. In his usual tone, he said, "Thank you, but there is no need. I am a knight. I do not need to eat for the time being."

Adam's words were appropriate. The girl's eyes had dimmed after hearing his refusal, but her spirits recovered. She was still somewhat ashamed of her commoner status and was very sensitive about it. She had thought Adam was looking down on her food.

"So you're a knight! That's amazing, just like Miss Ophelia." Krystal greatly admired Ophelia. She was not only a noble, but also powerful. Everyone in the Northland knew that, and she was courteous and carried herself with noble grace. She truly is a perfect person, Krystal had thought enviously more than once.

Having received her answer, Krystal ate by herself.

Ophelia, who stood motionless nearby, heard their conversation and recalled Earl Johnson's warning from the previous night. She could not help but become distracted.

She did not know what she truly felt. Love? Impossible. If she really loved him, she could not have ignored him for seven years. Then what was it?

Amid the biting roar of the wind, Ophelia examined herself and finally arrived at an answer she did not want to admit.

Perhaps it is the sense of loss from losing something that belonged to me. Like misplacing an object? Or perhaps a pet running away? Heh, I really am a noble. How despicable.

Adam did not know what Ophelia was thinking. Of course, even if he had known, he would not have cared.

Two hours later, Adam looked into the distance and could already see the deep blue ocean. City Walls flickered past beneath them, and this journey through the sky was about to end.

Half an hour later, Black Mage slowed down and gradually descended. Beneath them lay an enormous city, far more prosperous than Cold Maple City in the Northland. All kinds of ships stood row upon row in the harbor, and none of them had sails.

Not sailing ships. That makes sense. With the world so vast, how could outdated wind-powered vessels possibly cross the oceans? Adam thought to himself.

They landed on the ground. The surrounding crowd immediately stepped back and respectfully made way, but they were not panicked. It seemed that in Southern Seaport City, mages were not such a rare sight.

At that moment, Black Mage's voice rang out. "We will rest here and wait for the academy's other mages to gather. During this time, you may stay at the Duke's Mansion or move about freely, but you had best not go too far. If you miss the time of departure, no one will wait for you."