Flying high, Vega felt the wind hitting his face. It wasn't a nice feeling. His spell creating a barrier to keep the wind from hitting his face wasn't successful. He failed to even create a wind barrier around him because the pressure from the wind around him was higher. So instead of enjoying his flight on top of a decorated flying boat, he covered his face with his robe.
It wasn't a problem for his mentor. She sat straight before him, driving the boat while her fingers plucked the strings on her zither playing a sad melody. The melody didn't have any magic. It was a heart-wrenching melody played unhurriedly. Even though she didn't infuse her magic with the melody, Vega could feel his heart twisted a little, feeling sad. Vega didn't like what he felt and countered the melody by humming a more upbeat song. Sometimes he wished his mentor had expressed herself, but sadness was not what he liked to see. The problem was his mentor didn't hear him at all. Her heart of illusion was too strong for someone like him, an apprentice, to even disturb the mind of a second-level adept.
Pouting, not getting what he wanted, he closed his eyes and focused on his mental exercise. Vega made a maze around his mind and hid his thoughts deep inside the complicated maze. It wasn't hard to build a mental barrier, but keeping it intact while being conscious of his surroundings was not simple. He failed keeping his concentration several times. Focusing harder, he tried to rebuild it again from the ground up, feeling the wind blasting on his robe. Sometimes the wind was too hard to manage, and he felt suffocated from the strong wind hitting his face. The good thing is that the wind increased his understanding of his air elements and how they could be used.
With his hand stretched wide, he activated several air slashes behind him that went further each try. At first, the air blade only lasted for a meter behind him before dissipating. After a while, Vega could make it intact further and further. The maximum distance his spell could travel was at least three meters. With it, he could hide from somewhere before attacking his enemy without them noticing by adding an illusion to his air blade.
Vega peeked outside of his robe, feeling that the boat had slowed down. Because the wind wasn't as strong as before, he could finally see where he was. The water surrounded him. The darkness seemed scary, like they kept something hidden under the surface. An edge of an island slowly showed itself on the horizon. At first, he thought it was only a huge ship, but when he paid more attention, the land grew larger and larger.
Squinting his eyes, he could even see some silhouettes of mountains standing on top of the islands. The mist hid the mountains' top from all the commoners' eyes who glanced toward them.
"That's where one of the sects lives. They chose to sharpen their swords, building their residence near the mountains. Unlike us, the practitioners prefer to live on higher ground." Professor Addilyn pointed at the tallest mountain in the islands. "We have to be careful. Here, get changed." She threw something behind.
Vega caught the cloth and spread it wide. A trace of recognition appeared on his eyes. He knew the materials and the design. It was a cloth he had seen worn by one of the practitioners caught by the mentor.
Tracing his fingers on the materials, it fell soft like it could rip easily. But from his tests, he could tell that the material used to create the robe was sturdy. When he wore it on, he fumbled upon the robe looking for places for his arms. After putting it on, he looked around making sure that he didn't put the robe wrongly, shaking his arms, he observed the wide sleeves. These are too wide! He was afraid that people would see his pits clearly when he lifted his hand. But after tying the robe on his waist, he felt it fit him perfectly. Even though the materials felt thin, he didn't feel cold wearing the robe.
"Look inside the cuffs," his mentor told him, sensing his question. "Do you feel the symbol traced on the robe?"
Vega nodded.
"They call it 'Fu'. A traditional character used to make charms on the robe to keep it clean. We have similar methods, but most practitioners had better focus and control to fine-tune their spirit to create intricate designs on their clothing. If you're interested, I'll teach you how to create one. It's easier for us who deal with soul more often than the other adepts."
"Thank you, mentor!" Vega was interested in the design to make his own clothes. Living on the streets, he felt envious of the people walking by who could wear beautiful clothing. "Can we stop by to a place where they sell more beautiful things?" He asked, looking at the bangles on her mentor's wrist.
She nodded and smiled. Her mentor tied her hand around her into a high bun. She wore her own robe with several layers of clothing inside. The way she tied the clothes around, Vega could tell that her mentor used the robe often. Her mentor slowly landed on a huge square where Vega looked around observing the strange-looking buildings around him. Some were painted colorful with useless decorations all over the place. It wasn't that the building looked ugly, it actually looked beautiful. He wished to live in one.
People spoke around him in a melodic voice like they were singing. The language felt strange to his ears, and it felt exotic. His mentor led him to huge buildings decorated with two statues of a lion holding a ball in its mouth. Vega paid attention to the creature but couldn't recall a similar creature with his many times copying knowledge from the library.
Professor Addilyn talked rapidly to the beautiful clerk wearing her pink robe. Vega didn't catch all the words at all and waited patiently. "Choose one," his mentor tilted her head, looking at Vega.
He saw many accessories on the tray being presented by the clerk. She smiled at him and said something in broken English, "You look beautiful wit' this. Jades are favoulite here, ah" She pointed at the green crystals that filled almost all the tray's surface.
"They're beautiful!" Vega said, touching the cold jade.
"If you do'n wan' it, we can offer you more beautiful jade lah.
Vega nodded and chose one jade bracelet, one necklace that seemed to be made from pure silver, and one ring where it fit on his index finger. He paid only one magic crystal for it and smiled wildly.
Professor Addilyn pulled him away from the store after he paid. She led him quickly toward an inn, purchased the cheapest room, glared at Vega, and said, "You're lucky that the clerk was too focused on observing the magic crystals. Here apprentices didn't use magic crystals. Most of them can only use golden taels. No one was crazy enough to pay with one whole magic crystal. Some of the practitioners even paid in crystals fragments."
Before at the store, she felt a slight vibration touching her soul. She grabbed her apprentice's hand and scrutinized the new ring gleaming under the yellow light inside the inn's room.
She smiled and said, "You're lucky, kid. Your ring is supposed to cost around five magic crystals here. They didn't know that this one is a spatial ring."
"What's a spatial ring?"
"Used your blood to make it yours first, and then I will explain."
Vega did what he was told. Pricking his fingers with a tiny air blade around him, and dropped his blood onto the ring. The ring glowed, and he felt an instant connection with the ring.
"You feel the space inside your mind and connect with the ring. It only contains two square meters of space. Some of the glyphs inside the ring were quite powerful. It would take the mind of a core formation elder to break through. Luckily the store was only managed by a foundation establishment practitioner who couldn't see through the ring."
Vega gaped when touching the connection around him. He felt his mind divided into two. A simple dark room as big as his room in The Academy appeared on the edge of his mind.
"Put your pouch inside the ring," his mentor whispered.
With a slight thought and will, his pouch vanished, occupying the ring's space. Vega gaped at the whole thing and tried it several times. He looked at his mentor and said, "So that's where you keep your zither all this time. I wonder where you hid huge instruments like that."
Professor Addilyn smiled, "Yes, now you know. Let's rest here. Tomorrow we will visit the sect. When I give you the sign, hide about fifteen meters behind me. The apprentices won't sense you that far."
Vega observed the tense situation behind a huge stone, afraid it would escalate further. His mentor stood quietly with her hand behind, ready to take out her zither. Three practitioners stood with a strange posture floating their swords aimed at her. Their sword spun fast in the air and hummed creating several vibrations around them.
"That sword formation you have is useless. You know I can take down all of them as soon as I take my zither out, right, Yichen?"
The black-haired man stood behind three adepts and chuckled, closing his mouth with a paper fan. "Of course, I'm just testing you, you know. We heard the dragon of the east, and I'd like to know if the rumors are true. I can also feel that you have reached the core formation already. These three won't stand a chance laying their hands on you."
"What core formation? Second-level adept. I can see that Lian has reached the adept level too. Congratulation!" Addilyn said with a little mocking sound.
Both of them ensured that the other party used the correct names for their level.
"Thank you, thank you. As his aunt, don't you better give him something to reach the foundation level? Like, for example, that qin you're really proud of!"
Vega only saw a blur, and the man called Yichen instantly stood behind his mentor. Professor Addilyn moved her hands and plucked a note of her zither that suddenly appeared from thin air. Several air shields surrounded her while Yichen closed his fan, and several iced appeared around him, hitting the shield close in and breaking three of them.
His mentor jumped, and her hand moved fast, playing a melody making the three adepts from Yichen's side close their ears. Vega also felt the vibration coming to him, but he didn't feel the effect touching him because he stayed further from the group.
Yichen pouted and opened his paper fan, summoning several water columns around him vibrating together and blasting the vibration in the air stopping the melody. He then flipped over his fan, and the water columns changed into a long snake aiming at Addilyn.
Addilyn finally took her opponent seriously, summoning several illusionary flowers blooming around her and summoning a couple of air blades attacking Yichen. Yichen didn't want to give up and summoned himself a strong gale severing the blade. Addilyn smiled and twirled her finger, condensing the wind created by Yichen and trapping Yichen inside.
Yichen gasped for air while his mouth mouthing something. Addilyn stopped her spell and put her zither back. "I win, brother."
Vega saw the whole fight, feeling awed by many magical means appearing between his mentor and the elder that looked similar to her. He had his own thoughts about it, but after hearing the confirmation from his mentor, he was surprised.
Yichen dusted his robe and stood gracefully unfaced with the whole situation. "Of course, I know that you're more powerful. But I can already sense your apprentice grew worried behind you."
"Don't you dare!"
"Relax, I won't do anything to him. But you better call him out or my disciples will think he was a spy from your academy."
"Vega, come out!"