"I didn't expect you to make it this far Tony!"
"Well, I failed anyway"
"No, Tony. I'm talking about the selection. I expected you to stand out but I never thought that you'd end up the strongest rookie in history.
You are only 18. Boy, your father must really take his time shaping you up"
We both laughed at this.
"So, Tony, the reason I stayed behind is to bid you goodbye. Since you decided to join the Southern legion, I suspect we won't be meeting for a long time. I hope you make it safely. I know you will make it to the Southern legion. I also know that someday, you will surpass both me and your father. Here's a little secret."
He bent and whispered in my ear.
"Your father ended up a D rank in his selection."
This was a very shocking fact. As the strongest human one would expect him to have been at least a C rank in his selection. I decided to tease my dad about this when I met him.
"We cannot waste too much time, Tony. Nicola already left through the portal."
The master pointed at the river of stars. That was a portal? I always thought that portals would be round in shape or something similar.
"Master, h-how exactly am I supposed to use this portal?"
"Oh, that's easy. All you have to do is jump into it and you will land in the next star. Listen, Tony. I owe your father a lot of gratitude. So I shall do you a little favor."
He took up his hands. A faint light accumulated around his hand then appeared an Astromix. It looked different from the ones we all had. It seemed much more elegant.
"This Astromix has a map of the galaxy. Once you set foot on the next star, this will help you know where you are. I also took the liberty to prepare some galaxy currency tokens for you."
He took a pouch out of his pocket.
He gave it to me.
I looked inside. Oh my god! At first, I didn't think it had much since it was so tiny. This is full of golden tokens! One golden token is equal to several thousand normal tokens. This is more than enough for me to spend a fairly luxurious life for the next three years! The master was truly generous. I bowed down.
"Thank you very much, Master!"
"You don't have to bow down to me, Tony. Sooner or later, I believe it will be the other way around."
What did that mean? Is the master bowing down to me? That was bizarre!
"Alright Tony, it's time for us to part now. Again, I hope you have a safe journey."