After one hour of waiting, the children get antsy and nervous. But Alex on the other hand is observing many different things. The first thing that he noticed was the way that the knights were moving backward more and more.
It isn't anything too big, but he was able to tell that the knights were going to be out of sight once the mages arrived.
It is more of a principal thing to the knights, they don't like seeing the mages play mind games on the young and impressionable children.
The knights in here who have had so much contact with the mages... they have seen what their knowledge and intelligence has done to them. They don't even consider the mages to be something human anymore.
They have seen how a mage looks at the world, a human is a creature of emotion. Mages are different, they look at other humans with a trace of indifference, just like they will soon come and play mind games upon the children. They don't do it out of malicious intent, they do it because it is beneficial to them. It's like investing in the child, the Mage will reap countless benefits if it raises a strong future Mage. Also, they aren't above using some slave seals to get the kids to work for them for a couple of years even when they grow up.
The Mages, they were all like machines, working for goals and ambitions that even they themselves are unsure exist or are reachable. There are Mages who pray to gods, mostly when they want to study how the prayer system works.
Godhood... that is also another thing that bothers the Mages. There hasn't been a new god in thousands of years. The last/first Human Emperor was said to be as close as one can get to Godhood, but he was sadly killed prematurely before he surpassed the Legendary Rank.
....
Alex contemplates these things. But he is pulled out of his thoughts when Lily tugs on his shirt and points at the sky in front of them.
Alex narrowed his eyes, but he still couldn't see anything. He knows that Lily's eyesight is better than his because she has a Warrior Class. But it doesn't take long as ships, who should be sailing in water, are flying.
The children look at it in surprise, even some people, who are uninvolved in this matter, look at the giant ships flying towards the city.
Magic if this level is truly a wonder. It's like a normal guy seeing a Ferrari in real life. You are amazed by it, and at how much money the owner must-have. Of course, no one would ever think about how much hours of work the man had to put into his car.
But people look at mages as some unreachable and intelligent people. Of course, they know nothing of how mages were able to get this, how hard they had to work, and the dangerous situations they had to overcome.
...
Three minutes later and as the ships get closer towards the city, the closer they get to the sea until they land on the sea completely.
Splash!
Now it looks just like a normal, but very big and beautiful ship. Its sails looked strangely rigid and the ship's hull was decorated with different eccentric designs. It even had some paintings of mages on them.
These flying ships were a luxury, not even royal families get these. They are owned by the Magic Academy and only it can own them. It's not like countries haven't tried replicating the technology... sadly they failed. By 'strange' explosions on the facilities and the kings waking up with blood on his bedsheets with the head of a head horse under them. It absolutely terrified the kings, which put them under an absolute fear when it happened to only one of them.
Mage... the word who inspires so much wonder... and so much fear and terror.
...
The ships then get closer and landing strips are rolled out of the ship, creating a path to the ground.
That it is when an old man with a long beard comes out. He has a friendly smile on his face and is wearing a black robe.
As he walks, two middle-aged men in red robes follow him. The three of them all have calm looks on their faces.
The old man just looks at the children and his eyes twinkle for a split second as hell touches his beard and smiles. "Ah, you must be the new batch of students. I must first say, you are all special here, for you all have Mana. I hope that one day we will all be colleges."
As he says that, he has a strange tone to his voice that makes all of the children relaxed.
All of them except Alex and Lily, he can see straight through the old man and Lily can instinctively feel that something is wrong with the old man.
Alex narrows his eyes a little, he doesn't remember this old man in the game. But still, it doesn't make the old man any less dangerous.
'I can't sense how strong he is.' Ponders Alex, he can't even sense how much mana the old man has. This doesn't necessarily mean that the old man is strong or something, it just means that he knows a lot of power hiding spells and seems to be cautious and not show any information on himself.
The old man's gaze wanders until it lands on Alex, his eyes immediately shine with a dangerous light. Alex cringes internally a little, he knew that this would happen. But he was still as cautious as he could be, in the end though, the old man was no dummy and he had been checking every student and their mana.
...
'This kid... he is Rank 2 Mage.' Analyses the old man, his gaze staying on Alex only a split second longer than the others. 'How to make use of someone like him? Maybe I should kill him before he grows any stronger.'
The old man thought up of many scenarios, how he would kill Alex or many things like that. But at the moment he decided to wait and try to get the child as a test subject. He thought about sabotaging him and having Alex serve a punishment as a test subject.
'The child's growth seems beyond abnormal. He is only six years old.' Ponders the old man. 'Did the child's body maybe get taken over by some old wizard?'
As the old man contemplated all of this, his gaze kept wandering about and all that thought process lasted only a second. He has already figured out what he wants to do with Alex now.
...
Alex is nervous as hell at this. He knows that the old man saw through him. He also knows that even though he has calculated countless outcomes. He still isn't 100% sure what the old man has planned for him.
One of the middle-aged men wearing a red cloak also noticed Alex and how strong he was.
'He is only six years old, so he is either a possessed person or a reincarnated one.' Ponders the middle-aged man, his fingers twitch a little as he then looks at the back of the old man in front of him. 'This old bastard has probably noticed the kid's growth too. Then... he must get out of the picture.'
His eyes shine in a dangerous light, even though he is looking around at the children with a friendly smile on his face.
The other middle-aged man is wearing red, he has a ponytail and he is clueless about any of this situation that developed during that split second. He didn't even bother to look at Alex at all.
But he did look at the other kids and smile at them politely. 'Soo... which one of them is desperate enough to become my test subject. Need to look for the poor ones, I can give him false promises of sending money to his family. Probably should have his family killed and make it seem like an accident so the kid has nowhere else to go.'
....
AUTHOR NOTE:
Yep... fu*king beyond dangerous and smart. Every single one of them was dangerous beyond measure. Even the MC is scared of them and what they might be planning. He can't read any of their powers and at what levels they are. They might be weaker or stronger than him, but one thing is for sure though, they have more experience in fighting/spell casting than him.