The school day had ended later than intended as Daisy flew her students home. After explaining the situation to her she had quickly called for a unit of hunters to enter the caves at Zain's request.
"While I'm thankful to you for saving my village, you shouldn't have done something so dangerous! What merit was there in fighting a demonic beast like that?!"
Her worried voice echoed in Zain's mind as he walked home. What merit was there? Although it was small, this gave Zain more confidence in his strength against fighting demonic beasts. Eventually as the Masked Mage would gain more power, more and more chaotic mana zones would spring up, giving rise to powerful demonic beasts. With each city he conquered, more of those damned things would come out.
"I can handle anything like them that might show up…however I'm still lacking." His main threat without a doubt was still the Masked Mage. If he ever wanted to make progress on that front of defeating them, he needed to get more experience with fighting mages.
"Lightning, water, earth and fire.." Those were the elements he had used before killing Zain in the future. Obviously they had years of experience with using those elements. Powerful attacks in rapid succession that combined the most deadly traits of each element he wielded. Zain's head throbbed at the intense pain he felt when fighting them.
"Not only that, but clearly that bastard was a White Wage…" The next stage past Black Mage, a legendary power that very few have wielded in the world. If the current number of Black Mage's in the world was in the single digits, then the number of White Mages was practically non-existent.
"..." Zain thought that, but he already knew another White Mage besides his sworn enemy. The one person he could rely on in the future. The only person to stay by his side and fight along with him, suffering scars and losing blood while fighting for a better future. Chron Aeternus. Strength unparalleled, an unknown magic type, and a desire to fight knowing the risk of it all. Memories flashed in his mind as he entered his home before collapsing on his bed.
"The more I think about this, the more impossible it seems. A mage using not one, but four different elements, and a White Mage to boot…" It was unheard of. Mages in this world were born with one elemental affinity, and nothing could change that. You had to master what you were given, yet he was born with multiple elements to wield..? Who's to say he wasn't holding back in their fight? Did he have more tricks up his sleeve?
"...Fuck." The more he thought, the more he despaired. He needed to get stronger faster. In order to face a behemoth like that, he needed power that could rival anything put before him. The only problem with that was you don't find strong opponents like that everyday. It was rare enough to have a Black Mage in the world, so imagine how scarce White Mages were. The number of people he could use to train against that kind of strength were nowhere to be found in normal people. Royalty were the only ones who could somewhat mimic that level of strength, and even they couldn't hold a candle to a White Mage.
"If I am ever to fight a royal again, they need to have at least one of the elements that masked bastard has. But that's a fight to have later…" He could still grow stronger with studying magic theory and strengthening his core abilities. Just going out and fighting anyone and everyone would be a great way to be expelled.
"But before any of that, I need to take care of my body after today…" Although slight, his body was sore after going toe to toe with a high end C-class demonic beast. His body had sunk into his bed, letting the soft embrace of the mattress take him before closing his eyes. For the first time since he came back, Zain had actually slept in his bed.
It wasn't long before the next day came and the endless cycle that was school began once more. Classes went by in a flash, and the only ones that mattered to Zain either ended quickly, or he couldn't participate. The rest of the day to him was simply a bore, almost to the point where he thought of skipping for the rest of the day. With his mind in the clouds he continued to walk down the hallway and rounded a corner, before bumping shoulders with someone.
"Ow!" It was quite the heavy impact as a loud thud reached the ears of everyone present. "Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention." The calm voice of the man Zain bumped into spoke out to him while apologizing. Zain turned to do the same as a way to quickly end the conversation and go on his way, but his eyes were ripped open as he saw who he had bumped into. Blonde hair, perfect posture, deep voice and a handsome face looked towards Zain.
"I didn't bump into you too hard did I?" A wave of nostalgia washed over Zain and caused him to go silent. Words wouldn't come out as all he could do was stare. The other man in question picked up on his silence and grew slightly worried, and thinking he had done something wrong, asked another question.
"Are you alright? Did I say something weird..?"
"Chro-"
"Lord Chron!"
Before Zain could finish speaking a loud female's voice shouted out before latching herself onto Chron's arm. With her sudden appearance Chron turned his attention to her, giving the brightest smile he could.
"Hey, mind giving me a moment? I'm still talking with this gentleman over here." The girl in question looked over to Zain before scrunching up her face.
"Why are you wasting your precious time with some guy like this? Clearly your time would be better spent with people of greater status."
"While that might be true…there are still reasons I must-"
Chron was doing his best to steer the conversation to this girl leaving, but Zain turned around on his own and began walking off down the hallway. Chron tried reaching out to him, but his calls fell on deaf ears. Once again, Zain was deep in thought, but for a different reason now.
'No, don't get your hopes up Zain. That's not the Chron you once knew.' For a moment, Zain considered gaining an ally in his fight against the Masked Mage. The both of them were White Mages, and in their last battle together, Chron and Zain did have good synergy.
'But I can't trust someone who doesn't know true danger.' This version of Chron was much younger. All he's known so far is luxury and safety in that castle of his. Even now he thought that there were a multitude of other more important things than speaking with him. While Zain couldn't care less about his apology to him, the fact he even uttered those words already pissed him off.
'The only one who knows the future is me. Even if I were to tell him about it, he'd most likely laugh in my face about it. The only person I can rely on is me.' With his mind made up Zain continued onwards to one of the only classes he had been dying to partake in. The week-long grace period where he couldn't participate in this class had ended today. His heart was restless as he entered the training room and found Clive lining up his students already. Zain was quick to join the lineup and awaited orders.
"One week has gone by, and within that week I've found out what level each of you all are at. Today, I'm going to have you practice with someone who is on your level in order to get a better feel for combat between mages. Everyone else, I want you to head to the stands except for the two that I call out. Zain, and Chron."
Zain's eyes widened in shock as the crowd of students left from the field, leaving only him and his opponent. Chron looked over to Zain before smiling and holding out his hand.
"Hey. It seems we meet again."