"Forget what exactly?", Zagan asked.
His voice was imbued with mana, so it sounded louder than usual. Zagan was also emitting a pretty strong bloodlust, as he had already conquered some dungeons and already killed a lot of monsters and humans alike.
'How dare you try and hijack MY tool...', Leon was fuming on the inside.
'This idiot will throw a wrench in my plans if he gets in the way... what a moron.', Leon concluded.
Both Leon and Zagan were angry at Julius, making the bloodlust even more palpable.
"Z-Zagan! Enough! I-I'm fine! Let's go and practice magic, like you asked me to!", Annabelle spoke up, sensing the tremendous bloodlust from Zagan.
'Its not even directed at me, and yet I feel sick to the stomach...', Annabelle thought as she freed herself from Julius and walked over to Zagan.
"Zagan! um... Lets go...", Annabelle said to Zagan when she reached Zagan's position.
Zagan slowly contracted his bloodlust and calmed down.
"Yeah... Lets go and do something fruitful.", Zagan said to Annabelle while walking towards a section of the training halls.
Julius almost threw up his breakfast under the huge pressure. He knew Zagan was strong, but he still severely underestimated Zagan's strength.
'UGH! How dare he?! That pathetic 'Mistake'?! How dare he humiliate me like this in front of Annabelle?!', Julius cursed inside.
'I'll pay you back for this, Zagan!', Julius vowed.
Julius always hated Zagan. It was because even though Zagan was a 'Mistake', he still surpassed Julius in many different ways. At the age of 15, Zagan had already conquered a dungeon, while Julius was still having a hard time trying to break through the beginner stages of swordsmanship.
It was simple jealousy.
Zagan didn't care though.
-----------------------Annabelle's POV----------------------
'I'm still a bit shaken about what just happened...', Annabelle recalled what Zagan had done.
'By the way... Zagan's mage armor... it looks ancient... the runes on it are quite old, but they are top-tier!', Annabelle admired Zagan's armor.
"Sorry about that.", Zagan apologized to Annabelle about the incident before.
'h-huh?! He apologized?! he's never done that before though?!', Annabelle was bewildered by this suddenly.
"I-It's completely fine!", Annabelle replied
"No, its not fine. If that moron does anything like that to you again, you have to fight back. I give you full permission to. If anyone tries to get in the way, tell them that Zagan has given you special permission.", Zagan said, still looking away from Annabelle and walking towards the special magic training area.
"O-okay... um... by the way... your armor... may I ask where you got it from? It looks quite good...", Annabelle could no longer control her curiosity, so she asked Zagan.
"I got it from a dead mage I found inside a dungeon. The armor is at least 300 years old.", Zagan replied in a monotonous tone.
"3-300?! Then! That armor set is from the 'Golden Age'!!, Right?!", Annabelle was awestruck at the armor's age.
"Yeah, it is. It apparently belonged to an 8th circle mage before he died.", Zagan replied.
"wow! Even though it belonged to an 8th circle, it's quality is magnificent!", Annabelle commented.
"Hmm.", Zagan nodded.
-------------------Narrator/Author's Explanation--------------------
The 'Golden Age' is was an era of prosperity and innovation. It was the era where mages and swordsmen were at their pinnacle. Amazing spells that could make the impossible possible, Heaven-splitting swordsmanship that could cut down mountains, and so on.
But unfortunately, right when everything was going smoothly, the demons had attacked. They opened rifts in space and poured in from them in the millions. No one knew where the demons came from, but one thing everyone knew, was that 'Demons = Calamity'. After a very long war, and a lot of sacrifices, the 3 races, humans, elves and dwarfs managed to seal off the demons and rebuild. But half of the entire continent was already devastated and the demons had made the lands uninhabitable.
Even now, some rifts suddenly open out of nowhere and demons flood the world, but fortunately, everyone stays prepared and subjugates the rifts as soon as possible. This had created a new profession in the world, called as, 'Slayer'. The slayers were exceptionally skilled and powerful adventurers who had the duty of protecting the civilians from demon outbreaks.
In the game, the player progresses from an adventurer, and becomes a high-level slayer, and later discovers the cause of the rifts and the home of the demons. The final boss, Demonic Dragonlord 'Asmodeus', or the Demon King is actually the one opening the rifts, and sending his army of demons to attack and invade the continent.
The player kills the final boss in an epic boss-fight and becomes a hero that saved the world.
By the way, these 'Rifts' are not dungeons. Dungeons are created by high-level demons as a type of 'base of operations'.
The mages and swordsmen of the current era are by no means weak, but they have lost the amazing spells and techniques that the old ones used.
Spells like, 'Caster's Blessing' and the 'Demilich Summon' are lost spells, which are almost impossible to get.
A mage's strength didn't just depend on their circles or talent. It mainly depended on the quality of spells the mage used. Zagan was only a 4th circle mage, but he could defeat a 5th circle mage with just Caster's blessing activated. He wouldn't even need the demilich summon.
An 8th circle mage from 300 years ago, could easily defeat a 9th circle mage of current times, because the ancient mage would be using spells much more advanced and superior to the current mage's spells.
The number of circles only meant how much MP you had, and how complex of a spell you could use. If the mage didn't have good spells, he would be worthless even if he was a 9th circle and had a tremendous amount of mana.
-----------------------------------Explanation End------------------------------