As Dane and company got closer to the central tower the amount of people also increased. What's more, most of them had one thing in common; they had dignified and imposing auras around them.
The magic class was not just the most sought-after class in all of Zeryann, it also had the highest standing because of the knowledge people in that class accumulated.
The most reputed historians, cartographers, and scholars in general were members of the magician class, albeit a very mediocre example.
As such, they were usually unperturbed by daily occurrences. Life, for them, was just their power and research. But don't get this wrong, they didn't want power just for the power itself, but because of its benefits. A powerful person had more ways of getting money and information, which could be useful for magicians to further finance their experiments or studies.
Of course, they were members of this class that just wanted power to have a comfortable secular life, but they were in the minority. And even if you started to study magic with that mindset, chances were you would eventually change your mind.
But, even so, there were strange events that could alter the state of mind of a magician and throw him into utter chaos.
A few examples include the appearance of a very powerful demon, the discovery of an ancient magic book, the sale of very rare gear and materials for magic, and the appearance of a very powerful magician.
This was the case for Rethos, the strongest magician in Enas.
He started his path as the youngest son of a very minor noble in a very small territory. His father gave him 100 gold coins and told him to get a job. Rethos was very frail and skinny, so the warrior class was evidently out of question. He was also very clumsy, which made any rogue class an impossible dream. But, he had a characteristic which he was very proud about, his intelligence.
He had always been smarter than his siblings and could've became a general strategist for any military if he so chose to, but he loathed wars. As such, he thought the best way to make a living would be becoming a scholar. Little did he know, in order to become a scholar one had to be at least a rank one magician.
Once he found out, he chose to enter an academy. But, of course, his funds were too low. He begged the academy for the opportunity to study under a scholarship, and he finally succeeded.
He signed a contract stating that the academy would provide the necessary funds for his studies until the moment he became an official rank 1 magician, but he needed to pay afterwards. In the case he didn't have enough funds, he would work for said academy for free until his debt was settled.
After he graduated, he worked for them for 7 years.
Once his time working for free was over, he no longer longed to become a scholar and decided to walk the path of the magician further. He became a guest teacher at the academy until he became a rank 4 elementalist and then got recruited by the Magician's Association. By this time, he was 26 years old.
He got stronger and got better positions until transcending, which was when he got sent as the head of the association in the city of Enas. After a few years, he managed to become a low level transcendent, a rank 11 individual.
This in itself was enough to make him a very feared and respected individual, since there were very few transcendents in the whole world. Most of them were rarely seen and almost never took any kind of action.
Years passed by and he dedicated most of his time to research, rarely handling any association's business and delegating the whole thing. It was a peaceful and fulfilling life, with not many unexpected scenarios.
That was until now, of course.
Earlier today, Rethos got a report stating the appearance of a magician transcendent of at least the mid rank. This was enough to drive him crazy.
Mind you, most of transcendents, especially magicians, didn't like to reveal themselves, much less mid rank.
What was even more fearsome, was that this specific one was a bodyguard. A bodyguard! And he was protecting a rank 0 kid. This filled his mind with questions.
Just who was this brat that even a transcendent could obediently guard him?
Inside his office, Rethos was sweating and even thought of giving notice to the association headquarters. As far as he knew, the strongest person in there was a mid-level transcendent too. This was a very delicate situation that he wasn't sure how to handle. As he was thinking about it, there was a knock on his door.
"Come in."
An aged man opened the door and walked into the office. He was his second in command, a high-rank magician. He was very close to transcending, so his clearance was very high. He was the man that received the information about that mid-rank transcendent.
"Breth, what is it now? A dragon appeared in the city? Wouldn't surprise me, though." Rethos sighed. It was at this moment that he realized his subordinate was sweating and looked pale. What just happened to make him look like this? "Is everything okay? You know I was just joking about the dragon, right?"
"B-Branch-master… the… the… inside… badge… test…"
"Just calm down. Take a deep breath and speak your mind." Even though he said this, he still felt uncomfortable. He felt danger incoming.
"Yes, branch-master." He took a deep breath. "That man, the mid-level transcendent, he came here."
"What?!" Rethos was aghast and stood up from his chair in a singular motion. This was a complete tragedy. "What is he doing here?"
"He came with a kid. He said that they were going to register with the association. They are here for a badge."
Rethos looked grave. Register? Why? He didn't get it. Not at all.
"Where are they?"
"I left them waiting in the vip room and came to get you as soon as I got notified. If he wants to register, you are the only one that can even remotely do it. Of course, if the kid is the one who wants it, it would be for the best."
"I don't think so. The report we received depicted him as a very arrogant brat. He might be even more troublesome than the old man…"
"Bran… Rethos, he is not with that kid." Rethos was dumbfounded.
"Then why did you say "they"? Who else is there?"
"He is with another kid, and the silver-eyed cat. But he most definitely is another kid."
"He must be using a disguising spell or something. Or maybe that is his real look."
"No, the energy signals are completely different. Not even close."
"…"
"…"
"*Sigh* Well, this is just too weird. Let's go and meet them."
"Yes, branch-master."
"Also, have the tower spirit prepare a report to be immediately sent to headquarters in case anything happens."
Without waiting for a response, Rethos exited the room.
----------
Meanwhile, Dane, Randwen, and Shera were waiting inside a very luxurious room. They were served a very nice tea, which Randwen left untouched, Dane was slowly sipping, and Shera was drinking. Yes, they even got a cup of tea for the cat.
"Master, are you sure this is the best course of action? It is too early to reveal our existence." Randwen was obviously very confused. Dane had not briefed him about his plan but based on the tasks he entrusted him to do, he had a vague idea.
"We are setting precedent. Just trust me on this one, Randwen. Nothing bad will happen. Besides, we are really short on currency…"
"My lord, we have tons of precious metal in the tower and the ruin you had me explore had a lot of money, I don't think it's necessary to…"
"Randwen, that is ancient looking money. It's okay to pay with some ancient coins, but what about if we spent 1000 of them in one go and all of them are old. That would be strange, and I want to avoid unnecessary attention."
"Master, then why are we here? This attention…"
"This is necessary, Randwen. You'll get it once we return to the tower. Believe me, it's for the best."
After saying that, Randwen went silent.
Once they entered the building, Dane knew Shera's plan had succeeded. The people in the portal had indeed reported their existence to the higher-ups. This was nothing strange, but they didn't expect to get such a treatment.
After waiting in silence in the room for a few minutes, a man walked in.
Once one transcends, it is very hard to prevent the aura from leaking, especially the newly-advanced or low-level ones. This is why Dane could determine the rank of the person receiving them.
He looked like a middle age man, but you never know with transcendents. They just age very slowly, about ten times slower than a normal person. As far as Dane knew, he was 200 years old. But still, transcending before 50 was a very big accomplishment. He was wearing expensive enchanted clothes and had his hand tightly gripping something inside his robe, presumably a wand. Apparently, he was weary of them.
"Good afternoon, esteemed guests. Welcome to the Central Tower of the Magician's Association. What can we do for you?"
After Rethos entered the room, he saw the old-looking transcendent. He wore a wooden mask, just as the reports stated and was escorting a kid. Once he looked at him, his eyes immediately fell on the silver-eyed cat. He couldn't help it. It was a very rare monster. As for the kid, he did indeed look different from the reports, but couldn't find anything remarkable about him. He had yellow hair, green eyes, and his presence was subpar, to say the least. His robes were expensive, though. Dane stood up to greet Rethos.
"Greetings, senior. We are here to get me assessed." Dane said with an honest face.
"Of course! Just you? Or is your companion coming too?" Rethos couldn't completely mask his nervousness. Dane smiled.
"Just me, senior. Randwen doesn't need to be assessed." This sentence confused Rethos even more. Doesn't need to? Well, it is difficult to believe he had not ever registered, so he should have a record somewhere. But still, why was he not famous? Most transcendents are. And he couldn't recall the name "Randwen" or the wooden mask.
"Of course, I am sure magician Randwen is a very renowned person, but I apologize, for I have never heard of him." Rethos made a wry smile.
"Oh, don't worry, senior. Randwen has never got assessed and the organization is in a very far away place, so he is likely unknown in these parts." Dane smiled apologetically. Following the previously established act, Randwen coughed and began walking forwards. Rethos got nervous seeing this.
"Young master, you should not talk more about this subject. Just do your thing and we shall leave. You are not allowed to talk about the organization with others, I believed I made myself clear about this."
"Ah! Right, I am really sorry Randwen, I just got a little too excited." Dane lowered his head.
Meanwhile, Rethos was panicking. An organization? This meant hell. An organization he had never heard about was here? In Rethos? That was just too much. Which organization? What was its purpose? There were just too many questions inside his head. The balance of power across Zeryann was perfect, but very fragile. An organization with a transcendent in it was more than enough to alter everything.
I'll have to report this, after all.
Randwen looked at Rethos and pretended to know what he was thinking. Well, he actually did, but not because he guessed it, but because Dane told him that was most likely what was going through his head.
"Mh-hm. I believe we hadn't got your name, mister…"
"Oh! Right. I am Rethos Valerius, the branch-master of the Magician's Association here in Enas."
"Very well, magician Rethos. I will answer three of your questions, but I reserve the right to choose them." Randwen glared at Dane, who lowered his head once again. "We were not supposed to reveal our existence for now, but it has already happened. We were planning on waiting for a bit, but it seems we are going to do this ahead of schedule."
Rethos panicked. He wanted answers, but never expected being granted three questions. What would he ask? What answers would he get?
"But first, please grant young master an apprentice innate badge. I examined him myself, so I hope there is no problem."
A chance!
Rethos smiled inwardly and slapped himself for being too daring. But still, he had to take advantage of it.
"Forgive me for saying this, magician Randwen, but as you are not a certified member of the association you have no right to examine anyone. The test should still be done and after that the results would be given." He smiled and bowed while saying this.
"Hmph!"
Randwen let his aura out and aimed it at Rethos. He took a step backwards and nearly collapsed on the ground. His face ghastly pale.
"If you wanted to know my rank, you could've just asked. But well, this way it saves you one question. It was a good move, but looking at your face, was it worth it?"
Randwen asked while looking at Rethos. There was only one thought in his mind.
He is stronger than me! Probably a rank 16, a peak mid-rank! Thank god, he is just slightly stronger than the chairman.
"I…"
"Still want to talk? Well, that's good. Guess you have a good backing."
Randwen said and loosened his aura a little. Rethos was starting to catch his breath, but Randwen's next words utterly stunned him.
"But, this is just me not restraining my aura, you know? Not exerting it." After that, an even more violent wave of energy aimed directly at Rethos exploded. This time, he fell to his knees and his mouth was wide open. He had never felt anything like this before, so there was only one conclusion he could arrive at.
"HIGH LEVEL TRANSCENDENT!!!" Rethos didn't notice, but it took him a lot of effort just to speak. He just had one thought, and he thought it to be very accurate.
I'm dead.