Volume 2: Chapter 1 – Arriving in the Capital

“Zhang Gong, you need to listen to Teacher Xiu, carefully take the test and strive to pass the exam to win honor for our family. If you truly are unable to pass the exam, then come home immediately. Don’t let mother and father feel anxious. Teacher Xiu, please take care of Zhang Gong.” Mother hugged me and cried for nearly half the day.

“Well then, don’t cry anymore mother of the child. It’s not like Zhang Gong isn’t coming back. Let’s stop delaying them and let them be on their way.”

After saying goodbye to mother, father, the academy’s teachers, and classmates (of course that fellow Ao De told me to learn magic well then come back and cover him), me and Teacher Xiu set foot on the road towards the capital.

“Teacher Xiu, how far are we from the capital?”

“We’re still very far. We need to pass through a province on a road roughly a thousand kilometers long.”

“That’s so far, ah.”

……

During the journey we typically traveled forty-five kilometers in eight hours, taking us over twenty days of endless trekking to finally reach the capital. Me and Teacher Xiu couldn’t use magic to fly, since only advanced wind mages are able to use wind soaring technique, Flight. The flight distance is naturally based on magic power. Originally I wanted to use teleportation, because one teleportation can move five hundred meters after all. But Teacher Xiu wouldn’t let me use it. During the whole journey he taught me a lot of exam tricks as well as some magic applications.

Because of mother, father and Teacher Xiu’s hopes, and of course, for filling up my wallet in the future, I put in an unusually great effort throughout the journey. This astonished Teacher Xiu greatly, to the point where he believed I had a change of character.

With these twenty some days of great effort in addition to the two months of meditation while Teacher Xiu was gone, right now my whole body is brimming with magic power. Teacher Xiu said that my magic power right now is at the very brink of a advanced mage’s.

Since my attack magic is awfully weak, Teacher Xiu taught me two more light spells during the journey. One of them is the Radiant Bind spell. This spell is mainly used for trapping the main enemy. It’s classified as an intermediate class magic. (Intermediate class light spells only have one attack spell.) There’s also the advanced class spell, Light Severing Sword. With my current magic power, I can only use this spell once. Teacher Xiu forbid me from using it before obtaining a significantly large amount of magic power, after all I can still just run away.

The capital truly is a great city, ah. The city walls are so tall and thick. Then there’s the city gate; it’s really wide with an endless stream of pedestrians entering and exiting. A merchant’s wagon speedily passed by. The sound of wheels never stops. There’s also a luxurious carriage with delicate engravings on it. (There should be a noble sitting within the carriage.) The carriage driver crossed between us. This truly deserves to be called the capital of my homeland, Aixia City.

Me and Teacher Xiu wandered within the city. Compared to Senke City, Aixia City is much bigger. On the side of the road there are many stores of various sorts and varieties. I really want to go looking for what kinds of new toys there are, but Teacher Xiu wouldn’t permit it. While pulling me like a lightweight carriage on a familiar road, we arrived at the Royal Intermediate Magic Academy which is located on the east side of the city.

“Zhang Gong, look at that grand building over there. That’s the Royal Intermediate Magic Academy. In three days it will begin it’s entrance exams. For now, let’s look for a place to rest.”

We found an inexpensive inn to stay at. Originally Teacher Xiu wanted to bring me to a better inn but the high class inns in the vicinity were all taken by the nobility who came from various regions of the country. So there was no alternative but to stay here. (Of course the nobility wishes for their children to be able to pass the entrance exam and enter the Royal Intermediate Magic Academy.)

“If it weren’t for us arriving early, I fear we wouldn’t have been able to stay here either.”

“That’s right. Nevertheless, teacher is wise. I only now comprehend why Teacher Xiu didn’t let me delay during our journey by wandering aimlessly.

“Zhang Gong, we’re going out. I’ll bring you out for a stroll.”

“Okay!”

Me and Teacher Xiu arrived at the main street. Because it’s the magic kingdom’s capital, magic products are being sold everywhere. We entered a magic goods store. Wow. Inside there are all kinds of magic products. There’s magic gowns, some low level magic crystals, magic staffs and there’s also some magical beast eggs. Every mage has a magical beast but one’s own magical beast needs to be incubated by themselves. All the magical beast eggs here have a seal on them. Blood is required to act as a medium to incubate them. When a magical beast hatches, it will attach the most importance to the first person it sees. In this kind of ordinary store, there are only a few lower level magical beast eggs since high level magical beast eggs are every expensive. High level magical beast eggs are too expensive for even the wealthy; in order to get a high level egg, luck is required.

“Zhang Gong, see if there’s any that you like. Teacher will buy it for you as a present.”

“Okay! Thank you teacher.” With no trace of politeness I jumped up. Finally, I picked a pearl white magical beast egg and a magic staff embed with a white crystal.

“Your son really knows how to choose. Of the magic staffs we have here, that one is the best. The magical beast egg is a first rank magical beast, I’ll give it as a present to you. The magic staff is fifty gold coins.” (That pearl white magical beast egg is of the light element. Of course nobody wants it.)

“That expensive?” Teacher Xiu scowled, however he promised me. To be a worthy teacher, he naturally bought it reluctantly.

Back at the inn, Teacher Xiu helped me appraise the magic staff. The magic staff is able to increase magic attack power. Indeed, it’s a pretty good staff. The pearl white magical beast egg is very ordinary, merely a rank one magical beast.

“You’ve accepted the gift. Three days from now you must put in great effort during the exam! Don’t disappoint teacher.”

This staff continuously accompanied me for a very long period of time. Until I received….

Also, the magical beast incubated from the egg became my most important partner.

Perhaps it was destined.  The magical beast the Child of Light obtained had a very important effect on the events leading to his rise to the rank of Grand Magister.

(The Child of Light will soon begin his intermediate magic academy life. What will his magical beast be?)