"Valentine Carew!"
"Valentine Carew? How is he related to my father? My father was just a common military man, what has he got to do with a Primordial? Clifford asked with uttermost confusion.
The old man moved closer to Clifford, placed his hands on Clifford's shoulders and said. "Like I've told you before Clifford, there are a lot of things you don't know. It's best you don't know this things yet."
Clifford stared at the ground, a lot of questions going through his mind.
"You're not ordinary boy, you're more than what you think you are."
Clifford lifted his head up and looked at the old man, curiosity burning in his eyes.
"Do not tell your mother of the things I told you kid, never let it pass your lips." The old man warned.
"Why?" Clifford asked
"Everything will become clear when you complete the mission and ask him of your father. But for now, never let her know these things." The old man replied. "Hurry and leave here kid, they are very close now."
"Clifford wore his backpack, and started going away. After walking about five metres, he stopped and asked. "What is your name old man?"
"Edward Ron" the old man replied while casting fire spells and walking towards the darker part of alleyway.
"Edward Ron!" Clifford said softly and turned away.
"Be careful kid, trust no one, and never lose focus." The Old man warned.
Clifford shook his head softly as a sign of confirmation and ran out of the alleyway with determination burning in his eyes.
The old man faced the other end of the alleyway with fire balls burning fiercely on his palms. Prepared for what's to come.
A man with four men behind him entered the alleyway in the direction the old man was facing.
The man wore a blue robe, had silver hair and had a deep scar, the shape of a claw on the left side of the face.
The silver haired man looked at the old man with a hint of disgust on his face.
"You traitor bastard! You have nowhere to run to anymore. Surrender and tell me where you kept the orb and you shall live to see another day." The silver haired man spat furiously.
"You'll never find it." The old man grinned.
"You choose death then. Kill....him!" The silver haired man commanded the men behind him.
___________
Clifford made his way back home, there was no one at home. His mother has left for work and Lyla would probably be in school. He locked the door, made his way to his room and locked the door of his room as well. He dropped his backpack on the floor and collapsed on the bed, he was hurt from the beatings he received earlier and mentally exhausted too. He just laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Many thoughts going on in his mind
"The Orb, my father, Valentine Carew...!" He kept repeating these words in his mind trying to connect the dots between them.
"Steady my path as a mage, register and compete for the top thirty contestants in the upcoming mage academy recruitment competition, rise in to the top three mage student of the academy, rise into the top four mage students in all of Earth, choose Valentine Carew as mentor, deliver the Orb and ask him of my father." Clifford thought to himself. He knew he had a long way to go, and it was not going to be an easy mission either. He just had to do it for his father.
He sat up from the bed, took his backpack and brought out the scroll, orb and the spatial ring. He never had a scroll and spatial ring before as they were too expensive to afford.
Scrolls contains meditation laws that helped a mage to stabilize their magic path and helped to secure a solid mana condensation. He took the scroll, opened and observed it. After reading and having comprehend the first chapter of what was written in it, the scroll vanished in to nothingness. Clifford started panicking, he hadn't completely read what was written in the scroll and now it was gone. How could he afford another scroll? Even the lowest grade scroll was worth the price of a car. Where would he get such amount of money?
"Damn scroll! How could it vanish just like that? This is totally unfair!" He lamented.
Just when he was thinking of the solution to it, the scroll appeared in his mind. "Shit! This is crazy! Vanishing out of my hands only to appear in my mind? Awesome though!" He exclaimed.
He started to flip the pages of the scroll in his mind but he realized he couldn't understand the rest of the chapters.
"Maybe I have to make a breakthrough in to a basic mage first." He thought?
The basic mage rank is the first rank of a mage, Clifford was basically a mage apprentice.He still needed to make a breakthrough into a Basic rank mage. The Basic mage rank had three stages which are, first stage, second stage and the third stage. The next rank after the basic mage is the Intermediate rank which had six stages. After the Intermediate rank, the next rank was the Advanced mage rank which had 9 stages. The Super mage rank was the next rank and it had 12 stages. The Forbidden mage rank was the highest possible rank a mortal mage could achieve, it had 15 stages.
The higher a mage ranked up the more difficult it would be advance to the next rank. Each rank had a barrier preventing a mage from making it to the next rank. A mage had to make a breakthrough through each barrier to rank up and this wasn't an easy task without the help of magic tools or scrolls.
After ensuring that the scroll was still accessible, Clifford took the spatial ring and started to observe it. He knew what spatial rings are used for but he didn't understand how he could open and close it. The ring looked like every normal ring, silver colour but it had runes engraved on it. He couldn't understand what the runes meant but he was sure they surely had their uses.
"How do I open the space in it?" He asked himself. After thinking for a while, he infused his own mana into the spatial ring. A spatial rift opened and Clifford could see a space inside of it, it's almost the size of a room enough for five to six people to stay conveniently. He saw some items in the spatial rift but he didn't know how to reach them. After many failed attempts, he finally got it. A simple thought is all that was need to brought them out.
He took a careful look at the items, there was a bracelet there just like Edward said and there was a pair of boots there as well. A pair of gauntlet and a robe that had runes written on it.
"How are these things supposed to help me?" Clifford asked himself. He kept them back in the spatial space except the bracelet.
He wore the bracelet on his left wrist and immediately, mana from all the surroundings swept at him. He felt his little Mana whirlpool wanting to devour the mana from the surroundings. He quickly sat down, crossed his legs and began to take in the mana from the surroundings. The bracelet coupled with the meditation law helped him to absorb a lot of Mana which made his Mana whirlpool which was of small size to become much more larger. If anyone was there to witness it, they would be shocked at how an ordinary mage apprentice was able to possess such amount of Mana in his Mana Whirlpool.
After gathering more than enough Mana in to his Mana whirlpool, he decided to make his breakthrough right away. Clifford assaulted the barrier preventing him from being a First rank Basic mage with his Mana whirlpool. After assaulting it for about an hour, the barrier shattered and he was able to achieve a breakthrough in to a First rank Basic mage.
_________
In a sky tower, by the window at the highest floor. A man stood there looking at the busy city, his hands clasped behind him. He was dressed in a purple robe which indicated that he has attained the highest possible rank of a mortal mage. He was about fifty years of age but he still retained his handsome look of a youth.
A blonde woman entered in to the office. She wore a black blouse with a black leather jacket on it, tight black leather leggings and black thigh-high boots. She had a petite yet curvaceous body and an exquisite delicate face. She was around twenty five to thirty years of age. She walked up to the purple robed man, stopped about three metres from away and bowed to him.
"Master!" She said unto the purple robed man.
"Did he deliver it? The Purple robed man asked without turning away from the window.
"Yes Master!" The woman replied.
"And the boy?"
"He is safe for now." She replied.
"Keep a close eye on him always."
"Okay Master!" She said and made her way out of the office.