"Are you looking for me?" Clifford asked with a grin.
"Get off me!" John shrieked. He was clearly scared by Clifford.
"Hahaha...!" Clifford bursted in to laughter.
"Shut the hell up and let's test out your new powers."
"Man! It's late, I don't want Mom questioning me of where I've been."
"Let's make it quick bro." John said while gathering stones.
"What's with the stones, huh? Clifford asked.
John didn't answer, he just kept gathering the stones. When he's done gathering them, he said. "Now I'm going to throw this stones at you and you have to dodge them by using your absconding shadow spell."
"Bring it on man! Clifford said.
John picked some stones and started throwing them at Clifford. Clifford kept dodging the stones by absconding into the shadows around him.
"Hey little man, you can't even get a successful hit at an inexperienced basic ranked mage." Clifford teased with a mocking smile.
John didn't reply, he only grinned with a wicked smile which froze Clifford's mocking smile. Clifford has seen that smile before, it's whenever John has a trick up his sleeve or he has a trump card to play.
"Dodge this!" John said. He threw a stone at Clifford. The latter sank in to the shadow beneath his feet and the stone missed him.
Just when Clifford came out of another shadow not far John, he felt a stinging pain on his shoulder. "Ouch....! That was painful, I'm bleeding,".He groaned.
"Oops..! How has the mighty fallen. John said sarcastically.
"If it were to be in a life and death fight, you'd be dead meat by now mate. You can't even win against a weak person like me. You're pathetic mate." John said scornfully.
Clifford didn't reply to John's scornful comments, he went to the pond to wash his wound. John followed closely behind him while grinning mockingly.
"How did you know where I was to appear" Clifford asked clearly confused.
"Everytime you are in the shadows, I couldn't see you but I could feel your aura. That left me with a good clue of where you would appear." John answered.
"Damn! Other mages would always be aware of where I'm hiding in the shadows then." Clifford cursed.
"Not if you conceal your aura mate. Shadow mages are known for being stealthy, they give deadly attacks stealthily and they are the Masters of concealing their Mana and aura." John lectured Clifford.
"So I've got learn how to conceal my Mana and aura."
"Yes mate! Work on that." John said with a wink while he patted Clifford on the shoulder.
"Alright mate." Clifford looked at John, bitterness swelling inside of him. He knew he had to leave here soon and that would mean leaving his family and best friend here.
"John!"
"Yes?" He answered while throwing stones in to the pond.
"I'll be leaving this city soon mate." Clifford said while facing the pond.
John stopped throwing the stones and faced Clifford. "What? You leaving this city? He asked with a shocked expression.
"Yeah bro, I have to leave for Sun City in a few weeks. I've got to participate in the upcoming Stark College Mage Academy's recruitment competition.
"I see. You are a basic ranked mage now with higher ambitions. I'll miss you brother." John said with bitterness in his voice.
He knew he had no chance of following Clifford to the Sun City as he is just a mage apprentice and he had no money to sustain himself in the high tier city. Clifford doesn't have to worry about cost of living in Sun City because the Academy would provide his needs if he gets into the top thirty of the competitors.
"You haven't told your Mom, have you?" John asked.
"I haven't, but I'll tell her tonight." Clifford answered.
"So tell me mate, how did you breakthrough to the basic rank?" John asked.
Clifford explained how it happened but he left out the part of the Orb and his Father. The old man warned him not to tell anyone. He knew telling John would do him no harm but he had to keep it a secret.
"Whoa man! So Freddie's dead?"
"Yeah mate!" Clifford sighed.
"Damn! That's one hell of a way to die."
"You think he didn't deserve it?" Clifford asked with an eyebrow raised.
"To hell with him! He was too heartless." John answered.
"It's late, I've got to go home." Clifford said.
"Let me check out the equipments in the ring before you leave. Please....!" John pleaded.
"Urgh...! It's just a pair of gauntlets, a pair of boots and a robe."
"Please.....! Just lemme glance at them." John said with pleading expression.
"Fine, just a glance." Clifford said in a grunting manner.
He brought the equipments out of the spatial tool for John to see and the latter was shocked when he saw the equipments.
"Oh my goodness! This pair of gloves are basic tier equipments that will increase your attacks by fifteen percentage." John took the gauntlets, wore them and examined them, they were brown in colour, had metallic scales and they had a pair of blades each, the blades are the size of a knife but extremely sharp for melee combat.
Clifford was not amused at how John knew about the abilities in just a matter of seconds. John has read a lot of books about magic elements and magic equipments so he knew almost everything about elements and the equipments that suits them perfectly.
"How about the boots? Clifford asked.
John removed the gauntlets and started to examine the boots. They're knee high boots that are black in colour. The boots had the images of lightning engraved with golden colour at the rear and both sides.
"These are called the four league boots.They increase the speed of the user four times faster than before. Pretty awesome equipment of the intermediate tier." John explained carefully.
"Woah! An intermediate tier equipment! Clifford exclaimed.
John placed the boots carefully on the floor and he started to examine the robe too. The robe was black in colour and it had runes drawn on it.
"This is an intermediate tier defensive magic equipment that reduces the damage of an attack the user receives by forty percentage. It also increases the user's stealth by forty percent which is the perfect equipment for a shadow mage like you.John explained.
"What's with the runes on it?" Clifford asked.
"The runes on it signifies that the robe has been enchanted with spells, more likely to be a defensive spell because it's a defensive equipment. Any magic equipment with runes on it can be upgraded to higher tiers." John answered.
"Does that mean my spatial ring can be upgraded too?" Clifford asked.
"Yeah mate! John answered.
They discussed a bit more on the equipments and how Clifford would increase and get more used to his powers over the next few weeks before the competition day. After this, they bade farewell to each other and left for their houses.