When did everything start to change?
Damian didn't have an answer to that. Even for a while now, he hadn't had the chance to accept that he was in a completely strange world. It was said that demons were at war with humans, and preparations were underway for those who would fight against the Demon King to bring peace to the world.
If there was no peace in this world, how long would Damian remain alive?
Better yet, when could he break free from the deathly chains that tightly surrounded him?
"I want to be a mage!"
"Eh!!!"
Damian opened his eyes and sat up suddenly.
"Oh, he's finally moving. Is he awake now?" A boy who was kneeling on the floor stood up and approached Damian.
"Zack?" Damian recognized that it was Zack calling him the boy who slept in the bed on the right.
Among all the boys' roommates, only Zack was friendly to Damian.
Damian hadn't been in this world for a week, so he only had sporadic memories of who the original owner of this body was. But he still remembered Zack frequently telling him many things about what was happening in the tower, especially secrets that very few knew about.
Out of fear of being bullied by other kids, Zack never dared to speak with Damian in front of others.
Now, Zack showed a flattering smile and picked up a plate of soup from the side.
"Sir, are you hungry? Shall I serve you some food?"
Damian pushed away the soup Zack had handed him and asked instead, confused, "No, I'm not hungry. What time is it now? How long have I been unconscious?"
"Sir, you've been unconscious for about an hour. It's eight in the morning now... Well, a little past eight, not exactly eight, but still eight." Zack glanced at the clock on the wall and got confused with the two eights, barely able to tell the correct time.
Damian followed Zack's line of sight and realized he was in an individual room.
A 1.5-meter-wide wooden bed, two long desks, two high-backed chairs, and an empty bookshelf that took up an entire wall were all the major furnishings in the room.
There's also a blue clock hanging on the wall.
There's a scale on the blue clock: right now, the hands were right in between eight and nine.
"Is this... the mage apprentice's room? Did I pass the test?" Damian felt a warm current rising from the bottom of his heart and slowly spreading throughout his body.
Excited, anxious, and surviving the catastrophe, he showed a silly smile.
"Hehehe..." Seeing Damian smile, Zack quickly did the same: "Congratulations, sir!"
Damian realized his mistake, quickly calmed his expression, and cleared his throat twice to clarify his tone. "Zack, why are you here?"
Zack quickly knelt on the floor, raised his head, and said, "Sir, the butler asked me to take care of you."
It turned out that after Damian became unconscious, he was sent to the butler, who found an empty room on the sixth floor and asked Zack, who volunteered, to take care of him until he regained consciousness.
After hearing Zack's words, Damian pondered deeply: "Since I was sent to the mage apprentice's room, my identity should have been recognized. But at least my magic talent should be low. If I can't find a way to improve it, I'm afraid I'll just be a miserable mage apprentice for the rest of my life."
He escaped the magic test because he fainted, but Damian also didn't know what his magic talent was due to this.
He still needs to find time to secretly test it.
The excitement of becoming a mage apprentice and concern about the upcoming challenges made Damian feel extremely conflicted.
Was it really so bad or good?
He didn't know; he didn't even remember what happened after falling to the ground. But what was true is that Damian had very strong mental defenses, something that had surpassed mage apprentices in the past ten years, but he didn't know that, so he wasn't excited about it.
Plus, he didn't know if the elements he was or could be talented in were cool or just complicated. For a while now, he felt a current inside him, vaguely remembering that the previous owner of this body completely suppressed that aura and continued to do so until now.
After a while, he exhaled and noticed Zack was still kneeling on the floor, looking at him nostalgically.
"Uh, Zack, get up."
"Sir!" Zack dared to speak after seeing Zack regain his senses: "Sir, please let me be your exclusive servant!"
"Exclusive servant?" Damian didn't have these memories in his mind.
Zack carefully looked at Damian's left hand and then quickly averted his gaze.
"Yes, sir, I've seen other mage apprentices appoint servants to serve in daily life. Sir, accept me, and I will definitely serve you well."
Seeing Damian's hesitation, Zack kneeled beside the bed and lowered his voice. "Sir, I can do whatever you want. If you wish, I can even watch over people who bother you."
"Like Marcus?" The boy who has been harassing you for a long time?
"My lord, I found out that Marcus did not attend to his duties as you had asked. After that, he became even more annoying than before, and many say he became an assistant to an apprentice mage. He deliberately asked everyone to join in taking care of cleaning the floors as he had been doing before."
Damian didn't react to this; he supposed that maybe Marcus was his annoying thorn in this world and understood that he not only had to worry about future issues but also about small annoyances in the present.
Looking at the skeletal hand holding the black bandage, Damian tied it over his eyes without saying a word.
Seeing this, Zack knew that his information was very useful to Damian, and he quickly continued:
"My lord, I can help you find out who is behind Marcus."
Damian shook his head and rejected Zack without much hesitation. "Don't intervene in this."
Not only could Zack die, but there would also be many more problems. "For now, just make sure to observe Marcus's movements every day, but never take the initiative to follow them. As for becoming a servant of mine, I will inquire about this with the butler when everything is calmer, and I will call for you."
Zack felt a little disappointed but quickly cheered up. He kneeled down and said, "I understand, my lord! If you need me, you can call me anytime. I am willing to do anything to serve you."
As he had discovered before, everyone is trying to survive; even a boy of no more than twelve years old like Zack could become someone willing to give enthusiastic loyalty.
But Damian, coming from a modern era where at least you are not consciously a slave to someone else, did not take these false words seriously. He gestured for Zack to stand up and asked him again, "Do you know what usually happens after becoming an apprentice?"
This time, Zack shook his head without understanding. Besides, he was not an apprentice mage, and knowing things about magic without being one is simply impossible.
But Damian didn't want Zack to attract too much attention, so he asked him to return first while he wandered around to see if he could find any useful information.
After all, during the mage apprentice test, he fainted, and he might have missed a lot of information.
The room Damian was in was just a small individual room, incomparable to Syndra's room. Except for daily necessities, everything else was empty.
Damian found a blank book and a drying pen under the long table.
This would probably be part of the learning process.
He held these two things in his arms, pursed his lips, and started laughing again.
The life of a precarious servant had finally ended.
He no longer had to worry every day about how he would die.
A bright future seems to be within his reach.
He knew his talent was not good, and he was lucky to be alive and become an apprentice mage.
"No matter if I can't advance, I am willing to be a simple apprentice until I die of old age."
Knock! Knock!
At this moment, someone knocked on the door.
Damian straightened his expression and quickly went to open the door.
He had seen the person outside the door, and it was one of the two people who had been examined before him.
She was a freckled girl with red hair in braids, a simple blue dress, and a hard cloth bag on her back. "Watch your servant leave. I thought you were awake, so I came to greet you."
The freckled girl spoke expressionlessly, her head throbbed in response to the sound, "My name is Adda, and I live in room 603 right next to yours."
Taking the initiative to greet should be a warm gesture, but Adda's expression was too cold and emotionless.
"Hello, my name is Damian."
Adda looked at Damian's bandaged eyes, then lowered her gaze and looked at the pen in his hand, nodding slightly. "I came to you this time, firstly because you have a lot of talent in mental power, and I have a lot of talent in magical power. In such a dangerous world as the one we live in, excellent people should live next to even more excellent people."
Damian moved the corner of his mouth, trying not to say anything inappropriate in response to this girl's tone.
"The second reason is that you are the only one among the servants who survived the test."
After hearing Adda's words, Damian's heart tightened from the impression.
Indeed, all the servants who did not pass the test died.
So if you don't have enough talent, opportunities will turn into disasters.
"Don't misunderstand me; I saw that your clothes were the same as the servants' in the tower, so I assumed that a group of servants was taking the test. Since you were able to overcome that gap from servant to apprentice mage, you must be more than just talented."
Although Adda was complimenting Damian, he was not feeling better hearing these words.
"That's why I knocked on your door, and it's to be your friend."
Damian wanted to ask, "So why should I be your friend?"
But knowing that he should be a meek servant before being a dragon among men if he could, he restrained himself and showed a sweet smile.