After Alexis was bathed and dressed, he was informed of an unknown visitor that wanted to meet him.
'Weird... why would they even let someone unknown meet me in the first place? Probably father or... could it be?' He asked himself while walking towards the hall where the said person was waiting for him.
The maids were quite distressed while they walked toward him, they bowed once they saw him and quickly left the area.
The guards outside the door slowly opened the door once they saw Alexis nearing them.
He entered the hall and saw the person waiting for him...
'Yep it was him...' Alexis thought when he saw the person who was seated on the luxury sofa set...
"Grandnephew, how are you?" Philip asked Alexis with a tone of indifference, Alexis was a bit unnerved since this old man was always serious.
"I'm fine Grand uncle! by the way, why did you have to act so mysteriously?" He replied politely and asked a question from Philip whose face was overshadowed by his hooded yellow cloak.
"Brat, what did I say about addressing me?" He asked Alexis menacingly.
"...To call you Master..." he answered slowly and walked towards him respectfully and bowed, although he was a bit unwilling...
"Hn!" Philip scoffed and then looked at Alexis.
"Brat, get ready! We are leaving the capital... wear something comfortable and less suspicious and also bring some extra clothes, I've told your father already but he was quite sleepy since Annalise had gone to his room yesterday..." he quickly said and disappeared.
"(Meet me at the Northern gates of the Imperial residence, I'll be waiting there...)" He left a telepathic message while Alexis quickly ran to his room with a maid.
-●-●-●-
"Ugh... what time is it?" Aurelius asked at no one specific.
He felt as if something was amiss and dwelled deep into his memories... his face became pale. Aurelius quickly got up holding Annalise in his hands and went to take a bath.
"What the hell is going on?!" She shouted as Aurelius looked sideways.
"Alexis might be leaving today with Uncle Philip..." he said and winced, Annalise was getting ready to slap him so he closed his eyes.
*SLAP!*
"YOU IDIOT!" She shouted and quickly left after wearing her new clothes that she had brought last night.
"Annalise wait, you don't even know where they are!" He said as she begrudgingly came back and glared at him with red teary eyes.
After the two of them got ready, they prepared a carriage to go to the Northern Gates. This carriage was smaller and faster, the two were hoping to see Alexis before he left.
//Meanwhile at the Palace...//
"Your highness, everything is prepared!" The maid answered.
Alexis nodded and turned to her, "thank you", he said with a small smile and grabbed the bag. It wasn't necessarily heavy but the maid smiled and shook her head at him and lifted it up.
"Your highness, just enjoy these last moments of comfort..." she said and smiled sadly at him with pity.
He groaned, crying inwardly at his luxurious life which he would be missing later on...
The two got on to a simple carriage and left the palace, they too were heading towards the Northern Gates.
Alexis had never ventured this far out of the palace in his entire lifetime and he realised just how beautiful the place really was.
He noticed several gardens of flowers and neatly trimmed bushes and trees, and restored ruins of the Ancient buildings...
Since it was still daytime, some of the buildings did seem a little bland but many glistened since apparently the Imperial family has a thing for painting buildings with gold, It did look nice but there was no sense of individuality...
"Florestine, Can I ask you a question?" He turned to his maid, the same one who had emerald green eyes, she quickly turned to him.
"Yes your highness, please ask me anything!" She quickly said with a determined gaze and looked at him eagerly with her big green eyes.
"How long have you been working here?" He asked her.
"Hmm... about six months I guess?" She answered while doing a thinking pose.
"How old are you this year?" He again asked her.
"I'll be turning Seventeen this year your highness!" she said with a smile.
"I see..." Alexis muttered and turned away and stared at the massive mountain range that got smaller little by little...
-●-●-●-
'...Huge' that was Alexis thought once he arrived at the Northern gates... it had to be atleast thirty meters tall...
The stone walls were smoothed and gave a very picturesque look, eventhough it looked like an ordinary wall something about smoothed stone walls was different and Alexis was immediately captivated by this.
However he suddenly felt a presence behind him and quickly turned around and jumped away warily.
"nice reflexes... but not good enough..." Philip said with a smirk while Alexis' lip twitched hearing the comment.
"Here take this and wear it" Philip said as a small Green hooded cloak suddenly appeared on his hand, Alexis' eyes widened but then he calmed down.
"That was Space/time magic right?" He asked Philip who nodded his head, Alexis grabbed the cloak and put it on without the hood covering his face.
Just as he was about to grab the big bag containing all the necessities. He heard someone shout his name.
"ALEXIS!" his mother shouted from the window of the carriage, it was coming in fast and stopped next to his own...
He sweatdropped hearing the loud voice and turned to the carriage which opened with a bang.
"Annalise calm down!" Aurelius gently said while holding her in place.
"Mother" Alexis nodded and greeted her as Annalise turned to him and cried loudly, Aurelius sighed. Alexis noticed a red imprint of a palm on his face but stayed quiet.
"Alexis my baby! Why are you leaving me??" She cried out as everyone stayed silent. Aurelius smiled wryly at everyone who gave him sympathetic looks.
"I too was surprised when Master said that we were leaving the capital." Alexis said and looked at Annalise.
"The-" she tried to reason with him but was interrupted.
"But I can't stay locked up inside without knowing anything of the outside world... If I'm going to become the Emperor one day, how will I connect with the people without knowing how they live their lives? Without knowing their needs and wants? And besides, staying in the capital will restrict my potential..." Alexis stopped and smiled at her, Annalise was speechless while Aurelius smiled gently at his son.
"Master, for how long will we be away from the capital?" Alexis asked Philip.
"Around Six years I presume..." he said nonchalantly.
"Six years..." Aurelius was shocked, even he felt it was a bit too much but a deal was a deal and he already agreed to Philip about teaching Alexis.
"SIX YEARS?! I WON'T LET YOU GO!" Annalise shouted, her face was pale as she adamantly refused to let him go...
Philip who was silent throughout the whole conversation except for when Alexis asked him a question, glared at Annalise who glared back at him.
"SILENCE YOU INSOLENT CHILD! JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T WANT HIM TO LEAVE DOESN'T MEAN YOU GET TO SUPPRESS HIS POTENTIAL!" He roared at Annalise and glared at Aurelius who sighed and nodded in acceptance...
Philip huffed and calmed down and turned to Alexis.
"Let's go" He said and walked towards Alexis who nodded and held onto the big bag while struggling a bit.
"...Wait" Annalise said softly and motioned Alexis to come.
Alexis turned to Philip who sighed and spoke, "Make it quick", Alexis ran to his mother who kneeled and then hugged him as tightly as she could and cried silently on his shoulder, Aurelius too kneeled down and hugged him.
"Alexis, I know you are very smart... smarter than anyone but don't let it get it to your head... Overconfidence can kill a person and I dont want to lose my first son because of it..." Aurelius said while Annalise couldn't hold it anymore and wailed.
Alexis nodded at his father's words.
"We love you alot, please come back home safely..." Aurelius continued as he felt his eyes become a little watery but he held it in because he was the Emperor... he didn't want to be seen vulnerable infront of his son...
Alexis smiled at them both and finally decided to hug them out of his own volition.
He then left them, Philip looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Is there any problem Master?" Alexis asked since he felt his Master's gaze on him. Philip knocked him on the head and shook his head.
"Ouch!" Alexis glared at him but stayed quiet since he felt Philip's hand on his shoulder.
'He reminds me of myself... except for the fact that he is much smarter than i was at his age and less emotional... Truly a good seedling... I must nurture him well!' Philip thought to himself and spoke.
"I will be teleporting randomly, get ready..." Philip said as a blue magic circle appeared under them and engulfed the duo.
Aurelius and Annalise saw the circle appear beneath them and later on the bright light.
"They... are gone..." Aurelius said, he was shocked. Annalise was speechless, she couldn't even say her words to Alexis and now he was gone.
Aurelius saw her face and hugged her back gently as she once again cried.
-●-●-●-
Philip and Alexis suddenly appeared with a blinding flash of light, at the middle of nowhere. 'Trees...' Alexis thought, there were too many trees.
"Hmm... you don't feel sick?" Philip asked Alexis.
"Nope... !?" Alexis responded but immediately felt an intense headache, his stomach churned as he threw up his breakfast.
"Hn" Philip snorted in amusement and took out a pill from absolutely nowhere once again and threw it at Alexis who barely caught it.
"Swallow it." He commanded Alexis who then gulped the small pill, he immediately felt refreshed and looked at his Master gratefully.
"Well then... now that you are alright, let me explain your training regime!" He spoke up, Alexis nodded.
"Your first two years will be about the various subjects you were supposed to learn at the Academy, I will be speeding it so that the last four years will be only about Mana, it's various theories... and training you to fight, use spells and finally throw you into the Beast forest..." Philip explained.
"What is this "Beast forest" Master?" Alexis asked Philip who sighed and looked at him.
"Tell me Alexis, did you go to the library?" He asked him.
Alexis nodded, Philip then asked him another question, "Did you ever go to the Geography Section?", Alexis looked at him sheepishly.
He had indeed not gone to that section, the books he read were mostly related to Academic studies...
"...whatever, the Beast forest is a forest notorious for it's inhabitants, the tiered beasts! I'm sure you have no idea what these tiered beasts are, am I right?" He explained and asked Alexis who nodded in confirmation.
"Tiered beasts are a special type of animals that are able to use Mana, these animals have been systematically tiered into Nine tiers. Tier 1 to Tier 2 beasts are weak... for the four great nations that is, but that cannot be said for the rest of the other nations..." he stopped for a bit letting Alexis absorb all the knowledge and continued,
"The reason for this is because the lands where the Four Great nations rule have extremely high mana concentrations in the atmosphere therefore since the beginning of the four nations, we have been naturally stronger than everyone. That's we are the most powerful countries in the world. Smaller nations have average levels of mana concentrations in the atmosphere hence they are weaker than us, this means that low tier beasts can potentially ruin their nations!" He looked at Alexis who was listened eagerly and smiled inwardly.
"But, this does not mean we are safe from them, although they are low tiered beasts they can easily kill us if we are ambushed or injured... Since you now have a rough idea about the low tier beasts, let's moves onto the mid tier beasts, they range from Tier 3 to Tier 6 and are separated into two types. Tier 3 and Tier 4 beasts are called low mid tier beasts while Tier 5 to Tier 6 are called High mid tier beasts..." he said.
"So there is no inbetween?" Alexis asked him.
"None, it was always Low mid tier and High mid tier. These mid tier beasts can give us a challenge but we can easily defeat them, although for the small nations these beasts will be their demise! Tier 7 to Tier 9 are the high tier beasts, these beasts are the cream of the crop! I am sure I can defeat a high tier 7 beast quite easily but not tier 8 onwards..." he explained with a grave expression...
"Why are the tiers divided for the high tier beasts?" Alexis asked Philip who smirked at him.
'Atleast he is eager for knowledge... eventhough he talks a bit too much for my liking...' Philip thought inwardly and explained.
"Low tier 7 beasts the ordinary Tier 7 beasts, high tier 7 beasts are the evolved ones... these beasts are usually rare but you will definitely encounter some in your lifetime and they are very strong! Tier 8 beasts are usually called 'Nightmare beasts', they are usually born every one hundred years but they never come out of the Beast forest so they are not necessarily a threat unless ofcourse you meet one... during my time in the Beast forest I had the opportunity to meet one, we fought for one entire month and I finally killed it, it was only after absorbing it's Mana core that I became proficient in my Space/time magic!" Philip stated.
Alexis looked at him weirdly, "You want ME to enter a forest where even you had trouble staying alive? add to the fact that I'm still only four years old..." he complained.
"..." the two were silent and staring at each other.
"Anyway..." Philip ignored him and continued.
Alexis wanted to ask a question but Philip raised his hand and continued explaining,
"There is no low and high for Tier 8 beasts because Tier 9 is the evolved version of the tier 8 beasts! Do not underestimate them because they are unimaginably powerful and only stated about in a book written about eight hundred years ago... and according to the book, these beasts are born once every thousand years and mature in about eight years, they are very active and weirdly, always seek to destroy the human civilisation!" Philip said in a serious tone.
"I will now explain the tier levels for humans!" He said sternly as Alexis was stumped.
'This sounds like something from what the other world calls "cultivation"!' He thought until Philip gave a knock on his head.
"You were distracted... anyway, Human tier levels go from Mortal tier to Divine tier. Most mages start at Mortal mage, mages at this tier are the weakest and will definitely die facing a Tier 1 beast head on, after that is Mortal knight, Mortal Duke, Mortal Emperor.
Once you have entered the Earth tier, you can easily defeat a Tier 1 and Tier 2 beasts. Earth tier to has the same levels; Earth mage, Earth Knight, Earth Duke and Earth Emperor. Earth emperors can fight a Tier 3 beast equally.
Then comes the Heaven tier, mages in this tier can fight upto tier 4 beasts equally while a Heaven Emperor can kill a Tier 5 beast, from this tier onwards the Emperors of each tier have five steps to them. After Heaven tier is the Saint tier, Saint Emperor mages can fight Tier 6 beasts equally, a Saint knight can kill a Tier 6 head on while a Duke can fight a low Tier 7 equally and an Emperor can fight and kill a High Tier 7 beast, finally the Divine tier, which I'm in, I'm a half step Divine Duke hence why I could fight a Tier 8 beast equally although I did feel like I cheated... while your father is still a Divine Mage.", all this information was kept away from Alexis that shocked him...
"While mages are measured based on this tier, it does not mean that Mortal Mages cannot kill Saint Emperors... this tier system is just a measurement of the amount of Mana in a person's body! Breaking into each level makes you absorb more Mana, enhances your senses and increases strength..." he said.
"When you were about two months old, I checked how much Mana you had in your body and was shocked to find that your reserves were that of a third step Divine Emperor, which means that you have a thousand times more Mana than Aurelius, however it does not mean that you automatically became a Divine Emperor as your tier level is equivalent to that of a Mortal Emperor..." Philip said while looking at Alexis.
'must be because of "that" wish...' Alexis mused.
"My goal is to unlock atleast five percent of your Mana reserves, effectively making you a Divine Duke." He said.
Philip took a break then once again spoke, " a third step Divine Emperor has twenty times more mana than a Divine duke, a Divine duke has ten times more mana than a Divine knight, a Divine knight has five times more mana than a Divine mage if a Divine mage had a value of one. Which means that a third step Divine emperor has two hundred times more mana than a Divine knight... do the math and you get mana equivalent to a Divine duke by utilizing five percent of your reserves".
Alexis nodded, once he got the mana levels of the Divine levels, everything was clear.
Soon the duo camped close to a river and continued on with their study session...