After Teacher Z left the mansion the rest just all looked at each other before Lucas walked towards Ray, seeing this Ria too walked with him.
"Ray, right?"
"That's me." Ray answered
"Which party are you with for the expedition?"
"Expedition?"
Seeing Ray not being aware of it, both Lucas and Ria had a flicker in their eyes, before Lucas could talk, Ria took the initiative.
"It is a dungeon expedition, it is a joint expedition for all major and minor powers to attend, even individuals with enough strength can participate. We beast tribe will be sending a party of our own, why don't you join us?" Lucas nodded in agreement, the tower is too hard to climb, descending it is equally as hard. the highest floor reached by man is the 76th in the tower and 72 in the dungeon. for there to be an expedition is no surprise.
"I don't think we achieve anything expect for our deaths if we join?"
"Yes." Elisa came forward with jake in tow "That would be true if it was now, but the expedition is in 6 years, in don't know about you, but the two of us will definitely become archmages before then."
"I still see no point but needles risk, us participating won't change the outcome."
"That would be the case, under normal circumstances" Erik also joined in into the conversation. "But this expedition is different, they found a hidden floor on the 70th floor of the dungeon and because of a restriction on it it does not allow anyone to enter that is above the age of 20. To find out what is there while also preventing conflict, there was a contract formed between all parties joining, many guilds, tribes, companies and even the royals formed a cooperative expedition to take us to the 70th floor."
Ray was quite surprised, but even more confused "Why don't they just hold it now? it is not like they lack people under 20, why in 6 years first?"
"Because the floor only reveals itself once every 10 years for 1 month before disappearing again, last time many factions sent people in but none came out, it is not known if they died or if they got stuck in the floor, because of the unknown danger, cooperation was necessary." It was Erik who answered his question this time
"Your life is yours and you can decide what to do with it, the expedition itself is safe, but the hidden floor contains unknown amount of danger, no one will and can force you to join."
Yuki, who has been silently watching also decided to chip in, but unlike the others, she warned Ray about the potential dangers.
'Are these really 10 year old kids? They sound older than me.' Ray was dumbstruck, he did not expect there to be other kids that he could converse with without him acting like one. Back in his home city, he rarely went out with other kids, he just could not adept to being with them, he was used of being with children, but not as one himself. Because of that he did not think it was worth using his time there.
These children however were different, they grew up in influential families and some are even royalties, Yuki, Ria and Lucas all being royals while the others are from big guilds or companies.
"I understand, thank you, I think I will decline on that offer. I see no purpose on taking unnecessary risks for the time being, but 6 years is a long time and right now it is not worth thinking about."
Afterwards they each introduced themselves, Yuki is the princess of the Snow Clan, known for their bloodline making their bodies absorb mana from snow beasts faster and also strengthens their own snow, ice and even water abilities. Their only weakness is their numbers, which are few. Elisa and Jake Laven are the children of the owner of Laven Guild, which mainly focuses on invention, they invent many magical items such as the mana cart, upgrades for the Mana Ring and many more. Erik Smith is the youngest son of master blacksmith Tyr Smith, current headmaster of the Blacksmith Guild. He himself however has no affinity with fire, so he decided to go into the tower instead of smithing.
Both Laven Guild and the Blacksmith Guild are very close partners, because of that Erik, Jake and Elisa were fairly close to each other, Yuki and Warren were both with special bloodlines, Yuki even had inherited the Snow BP, which will only benefit her more when her mana awakens further, truly a talent with few equal. All of them aside of Jake and Elisa had at least double attributes with a 5star affinity. Yuki having affinity with Snow and Water, snow being a BP and both having a 6star affinity, Jake and Elisa both had fire attribute, but each was different than the other. Jake had light blue flame, which had some healing capabilities while still very powerful in combat with a 6star affinity, while Elisa had a white flame with almost unparalleled destructive power, she too had a 6star affinity to fire. Both their fire attribute had some sort of mutation and each had their own uniqueness to it. Erik had a 6star wind affinity and a 5star water affinity, while they had individual mutation like Elisa and Jake, his Wind was similar to Ray and Ria's thunder, as his Wind attribute had a mix of water in it, as for its applications, that would have to wait for when he becomes and archmage.
Each and every person was unique in their own way, but one thing was the same for all, they were all very arrogant, each and every single one of them could get whatever they wanted. Ray could not understand why they would go the academy, but he did not dwell on rich people's problems. he had his own agenda, and that was to increase his strength as fast as possible. But before he could do that, he has to focus on gaining information, information is expensive though, so the school is his best bet and he will make use of these 6 years.
While they were practicing at the academy, Aaron arrived back in Rasber City after 3 days of travel.
"Honey am back" Aaron shouted as he went inside
"Come and eat, Lucy and Mary are here too."
Aaron went to was up before he came and took a seat.
"How was Ray?" Lucy asked, she was very curious about his results. She originally only intended to teach him until he got his Mana Ring, but after he repeatedly surprised her, she began to earnestly teach him as a teacher and even thought him her most prized skill.
Moon Dance was a highly ranked skill even in its incomplete state, it was because of her creation of such a skill that she was hailed as the genius even amongst geniuses themselves, teachers and students had very high opinion about her. Her goal was not to impart her skill completely to Ray, she wanted for him to have a the basics of it and improve on it in his own way and style. Just to be safe, she thought him a few techniques from the Moon Dance.
"4th place, later I did find out that his examination group had several powerhouses there, 2 which being royalties of the beast tribe. But something tells me he could have taking at least second if he wished to." Aaron had a bright smile on his face, showing the food in between his teeth.
"Eat first before speaking. Lucy, Mary, when are you going to the tower?"
"next year, we need to be as strong as possible. The tower is jot a place we can afford to go at our current strength, even the lower levels will endanger our lives." Mary answered in a serious tone, while she was lazy, she was jot stupid. She knew that they needed to be much stronger than they currently are.
"Our road as mages is just starting, we will climb until the expedition starts, something tells me that Ray will want to join in." Lucy said while eating.
"Yup, we gotta get even stronger to be of some help, the most dangerous part is not the descend, nor the hidden room. But the part where they come out, that is when it will be dangerous." Mary said before munching down on her piece of meat.
"Thank you girls, my Ray is blessed with such friends."
"He is my student, I naturally can't just ignore him."
"Yup, he is my future brother-in-law ... OUCH!"
"Hahahaha"
"hahaha"
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