The next morning, many residents of Wushan Town gathered in the streets to see Lin Feng off. Wushan Town producing a mage from Ernst Academy was an incomparably glorious occasion.
Across all of Yulan, Ernst Academy accepted only a hundred students each year.
At that moment, Lin Feng was still at the Baruch Clan manor. Hillman and the other guards were waiting outside the manor, while only Hogg, Lin Feng, Wharton, and the steward, Hiri, were in the front courtyard.
"Lin Feng, once you go to Ernst Academy today, you'll officially be one of its students. When you graduate, you'll be a great, powerful mage! Before you leave, Father wants to tell you something..." On the eve of their parting, Hogg had so much he wanted to say.
But after a long silence, Hogg managed only a few simple words. "Lin Feng, remember the wish our Baruch Clan ancestors have held for hundreds of years. Remember the shame our clan has endured!"
Hogg's face had gone a little pale.
"After you graduate, you'll be at least a Level Six Mage. If you train diligently, becoming a Level Seven Mage won't be difficult. And you're a dual-element mage! A Level Seven dual-element mage would be a major figure in the Fenlai Kingdom. You'll have every chance to reclaim our clan's heirloom. If you fail, even after I'm dead, I won't forgive you." Hogg stared fixedly at Lin Feng.
"Even after I'm dead, I won't forgive you!"
Those words made Lin Feng's heart tremble. He had read them in the original story, but reading about something and experiencing it firsthand were two different things. Over the past year, Lin Feng had fully adapted to his role as Lin Feng Baruch. Sometimes, he even forgot that he had come from another world.
This was his father's final request before he left.
"Father, don't worry. I swear that I'll reclaim our Baruch Clan heirloom in my lifetime!" Lin Feng looked his father in the eye and promised solemnly. His clear gaze held nothing but resolve.
Hogg's eyes lit up, and he patted Lin Feng firmly on the shoulder with his strong hand.
"I believe you, son!"
On the road east of Wushan Town, Lin Feng looked back at the hundreds upon hundreds of people from his hometown who had come to see him off. At the front stood his father and his younger brother, Wharton.
"Goodbye, big brother!" Wharton waved vigorously.
Looking at his father and younger brother, Lin Feng waved back with equal force, his eyes reddening.
"Father, Wharton." Lin Feng's heart was full of reluctance.
Leaving home this time felt different from the last. He had been reluctant to leave before, but never this much. Though Hogg and Wharton still didn't mean as much to him as his parents and little sister back on Earth, the difference wasn't great. Perhaps that was what happened when people spent enough time together.
"Lin Feng, let's go," Hillman said. Bandits sometimes roamed the road, so Hillman was accompanying Lin Feng to protect him on the way to the academy.
Lin Feng gazed at his family, reluctant to part, but in the end he turned away resolutely and set off for Ernst Academy.
"Goodbye, my family. Goodbye, my hometown."
By then, Lin Feng, the transmigrator from Earth, had finally accepted his new identity as Lin Feng Baruch completely—not only in body, but in heart as well. Wushan Town had become his second home. At the same time, his spiritual force surged, breaking through the Level Four bottleneck in an instant and continuing to rise until it reached the peak of Level Five.
Lin Feng was startled to feel his spiritual force surge, but quickly understood. Perhaps this was what they called a moment of enlightenment.
Although Lin Feng's spiritual force had reached the peak of Level Five and was on the verge of breaking through to Level Six, his magical power remained at the peak of Level Four. Of course, he only needed to refine it to advance to Level Five.
In the Yulan Calendar year 9991, nine-year-old Lin Feng left his hometown of Wushan Town with Beibei, the God-Eater Rat, and Hillman, captain of the Baruch Clan's guard.
This was the beginning of Lin Feng's legendary life.
Ernst Academy—the greatest magic academy in all of Yulan.
Ernst Academy was located in the wooded hills more than twenty miles south of the Holy Capital, Fenlai City. The Radiant Church had funded its construction, so the academy had deep pockets and occupied a vast area of nearly ten miles in every direction. It was practically a city in its own right.
The land outside Ernst Academy was a sparsely inhabited stretch of open hills.
Restaurants, clothing stores, bars, and other services were all located inside the academy. In a sense, Ernst Academy's students lived entirely within its grounds.
"What a grand place." Standing at the entrance to Ernst Academy, Lin Feng couldn't help exclaiming. Now that he was seeing it with his own eyes, he realized that the university he had attended in his previous life couldn't compare at all. Five thousand years of history made for a world of difference compared with a university not even a century old!
The main entrance to Ernst Academy was a full fifty meters wide. Above the gate stood a huge, semicircular structure covered in intricate magical runes. From the complexity alone, it was clear that the magic array built into the entrance was a large-scale spell.
The entrance was bustling. A row of staff members was there, and a boy was already registering with his acceptance letter and identification. Lin Feng immediately took out his own documents and went to register as well.
"Classes officially start on February ninth, and today is February eighth. According to the notice, I have to arrive before the ninth. The boy in front of me is only registering today, too. He must live fairly close to Ernst Academy." Lin Feng thought to himself.
The boy in front of Lin Feng was really just a child, barely half a head shorter than Lin Feng. An old man was accompanying him.
"Hello, I'm Reynolds, from the O'Brien Empire." The boy registering ahead of Lin Feng suddenly turned around and greeted him warmly.
"The O'Brien Empire? Reynolds?" Lin Feng was quite surprised. He sized up the eight-year-old boy before him. So this was his roommate from Dormitory 1987, and the brother who would stand by him in the future!
Of course, Lin Feng only marveled at this inwardly. Though he knew that Reynolds and he would one day be brothers who shared life and death, right now they were still strangers meeting for the first time.
"Hello, I'm Lin Feng, from the Fenlai Kingdom." Lin Feng politely greeted the boy named Reynolds.
Reynolds blinked his big eyes and sighed. "The Fenlai Kingdom? Then you've had it easy. It took me a whole year to get here from home. It must've taken you hardly any time at all, right?"
"That's right. It took me half a day to get here from home," Lin Feng answered honestly.
"Uh..." Reynolds' expression was priceless.
"Reynolds, I have a feeling we're going to become very close friends—brothers, even," Lin Feng said confidently.
After completing their registration, the two of them were given dormitory keys. There was no doubt about it: their keys were identical, and both bore the number 1987.
"Lin Feng, my young master has the same dormitory key as you, so you should be roommates. I hope you'll look out for each other," the old man said amiably.
"Enough, Grandpa Loom. You can go back now. I've made it to Ernst Academy, anyway," Reynolds said unhappily.
"Uncle Hillman, you should head back, too. I'll take care of myself." Lin Feng smiled at Hillman.
Hillman nodded reassuringly. "Lin Feng, then I'll be on my way. Keep working hard," he encouraged him.
Lin Feng nodded with a grin.
Lin Feng and Reynolds entered Ernst Academy. The grounds were shaded by lush trees, with lakes, stone bridges, and ancient academy buildings exuding a sense of history. Just the trees, so large that seven or eight people could have joined hands around them, showed how old they were.
"We're roommates from now on, huh?" Lin Feng said with a smile as he looked at Reynolds.
"Yeah. You're from the Fenlai Kingdom, and I'm from the O'Brien Empire. I never imagined we'd end up as roommates at the same magic academy. Fate really is a strange thing," Reynolds said with a sigh.
"Come on. Four students share each dormitory, so let's hurry and meet our other two roommates." Lin Feng took Reynolds by the hand and headed for Dormitory 1987.
Before you continue