As soon as he took to the skies, Kayden found himself being lifted at an absurd speed towards the forest. It didn't even take 10 seconds before he couldn't tell where he was anymore. Everywhere he looked, there were trees and more trees.
His body was trapped by an invisible force that prevented him from making any movement or even manipulating the mana in or around his body.
"The test has begun," the voice resounded as soon as a few minutes had passed. Kayden got his moves back and started looking around. Silently, he decided to approach one of the biggest trees.
Before he could even start climbing, he heard the sound of magic being fired in the distance. From the height of the sound, they appeared to be strong explosive spells. And as quickly as it started, the sounds stopped.
In the meantime, Kayden began climbing the tree, and once he reached the top, he had a commanding view of the surrounding area. At some points, he saw teenagers fighting and some simply running, appearing to try to gain time.
The boy debated what he should do: fight or try to get a better classification? Before he could make a decision, he saw Linus fighting a knight a few dozen meters away from him.
Without even thinking twice, Kayden got down from the tree he was in and ran as silently as he could to the boy. Luckily, he wasn't noticed and managed to get closer without facing any other opponents.
As soon as he got closer, he saw Linus talking to himself while releasing small explosions of fire at his opponent. It didn't seem like he was doing very well, as he was just running backwards and trying to stay away from his opponent.
"Stop running, boy," his opponent began to lose his patience. They were in this game since the test started.
"Leave me alone," Linus' voice was shaky. It was obvious that he was scared of the situation. This surprised Kayden. The boy thought that nobles should all receive the necessary education about combat.
After watching for a few seconds to find the ideal moment to make a lunge, Kayden heard babbling and then an explosion of a completely different magnitude erupted. This time, the knight had to move far away.
Unfortunately for him, his retreat was towards Kayden's position.
" Ugh !" he groaned in pain as a concentrated beam lodged itself in the middle of his back, and then his entire vision went black as Kayden slammed the wooden tip of the katana into his head.
"Kayden!" Linus almost cried with happiness at seeing himself saved. "Thank you so much. I don't know what I would do if it weren't for you." His attitudes also did not match that of a nobleman. He was very insecure.
"Don't worry, that's what friends do, isn't it?" Kayden actually said it sincerely. Even though they had barely known each other for more than a day, Linus treated him very well, almost as if he were a brother from another mother.
And, for some reason he didn't know, he found himself linked to the two twin brothers. Even with his old team and Astolfo, with whom he spent months together, he didn't feel that small connection.
"Come on, let's hide," again Kayden chose the biggest tree nearby and started climbing. Not even one person bothered the two during this period. But the biggest problem was... well... Linus was able to climb the tree. The boy was practically a sedentary class S+.
"What's your rank and abilities? We need to come up with a plan," Kayden activated his captain mode and tried to gather all the information he could about his new teammate. His sentence caught Linus by surprise.
"Do you... want to form a team?" Linus expressed fear in his voice.
"Yes, there's nothing in the rules that doesn't allow that, right?" A small plan began to form in Kayden's head.
"Well... I'm a fourth rank wizard and I don't have any special skills. I only know how to do some offensive and defensive spells, I also don't have any combat experience."
The boy's sentence left Kayden blank. He never expected a high-ranking noble to be so... mediocre, to say the least.
"Because you didn't specialize in anything?" Kayden unconsciously blurted out his doubt. This made Linus' eyes cloud over for a few seconds.
"When I was younger, I was born with the ability to utilize mana. My only hobby was studying ancient science, things like physics and chemistry were my favorite pastimes." Kayden didn't know how a kid got interested in this. "When I was 7, my father got the healing god to help me, but since then I've had to give up my hobbies."
It was now clear to Kayden what happened. The boy probably never managed to find anything else that really interested him, but 4 ranks in 1 year? This was bizarre. Indeed, the nobility had its ways of pushing someone up the steps of magic.
"But why didn't you just introduce your hobbies to magic?" Kayden wasn't 100% sure, but he believed it should be possible. Dynamite was nothing more than pure chemistry, wasn't it?
"My father said it would only get in the way and forbade me to continue studying. I can still do things like that." The boy reached out and whispered "nitrogen." Then a small explosion erupted.
Kayden was really impressed, as he knew that if the boy studied more and perhaps managed to get his hands on the theory of nuclear fission, he would become a one-man army.
"Linus, you shouldn't let other people dictate your path," Kayden said with a touch of bitterness that wasn't felt by the boy.
"But it's my father, Kayden. You don't understand the strictness of a noble family." He was right, but Kayden still had something to add on this subject.
"Linus, have you ever imagined living your entire life, enjoying everything you could, achieving impressive levels of magic, but when you're on your deathbed regretting everything you did? Simply because it wasn't the path you chose? Or because it was something drawn up by other people and you just followed that plan?"
Kayden's voice seemed full of emotions and his sentence caught the boy by surprise. For a few minutes, the two simply sat quietly, with Kayden mulling over his past memories and Linus thinking about his life.
Before any of them could say anything, they noticed the sound of metal hitting wood, getting louder and louder. The sound was coming from below...
"Shit," that's what Kayden thought before looking down and seeing a knight holding a large ax and simply chopping down the tree. As soon as Linus saw this, he started to panic.
They didn't have time to get down. The tree was down to its last strands of wood. Quickly coming up with a plan, Kayden took Linus' arm.
"Hold my neck and don't let go for anything in the world", the boy who had been saved by Kayden developed a certain trust in him and didn't even think twice before following his orders.
Author's note: sorry for the delay, yesterday wasn't a very good day for me