Mike remained silent for a long time, processing all the new information he had received. The questions about what had happened to his brother only grew louder in his mind, but Mike knew that the only way to uncover the truth was to join the royal academy and become an elite. And for that, he needed to pass the final test.
"Sir, what is the final test to be admitted into the royal academy?" Mike asked the large man, hoping to gather information and prepare for the challenge ahead.
"Final test? Aren't you jumping the gun a little?" The large man responded with another question and a mysterious smile. The moment Mike saw that smile, he felt a bad premonition.
"What do you mean?"
"Haha, don't worry about that. You should focus on your next test." The man replied, once again avoiding a direct answer. However, as the man laughed and spoke of Mike's "next test" rather than the "final test", Mike quickly realized he had more than one trial to complete before entering the royal academy.
"And what is my next test?" Mike asked cautiously, suspicion creeping into his voice.
"Getting to the nation's capital." The man replied quickly and straightforwardly, leaving Mike stunned by his directness. But as Mike mulled over the man's words, a significant doubt emerged in his mind.
"What do you mean, 'getting to the nation's capital'? Where are we going, then?" Mike asked, confused. He was in a magical car flying through the air at high speed, but if his next test was to reach the capital, it made no sense for the magical car to take him there. Unfortunately, the large man before him didn't seem too interested in clearing up all his doubts.
"Hahaha, it's been a pleasure meeting you, kid! You can call me Rock. I hope we meet again!" The large man laughed heartily, ignoring Mike's question. He extended his hand toward the boy, waiting for a handshake. Mike reflexively shook the man's hand, but Rock's words only left him even more bewildered.
"It's time." Before Mike could say anything else, the ugly purple-haired woman spoke coldly, drawing his attention. As soon as Mike looked at her, he felt Rock release his hand. A moment later, he felt the comfortable seat he was sitting on vanish. Mike quickly looked down, confused by the sudden lack of sensation beneath him. But when his eyes registered what was, or more precisely, what wasn't, beneath him, panic gripped his heart.
"Help me—Ahhhhh!" Mike tried to extend his hand toward Rock and cry for help, but all he could do was see the man's smile before gravity took hold of his body. All Mike could do was scream in terror as he plummeted through the air.
As soon as Mike fell, the hole in the magical car quickly sealed itself, and the comfortable seat reappeared as though nothing had happened.
"Why did you answer so many of that kid's questions? He's just a nobody with no surname, he's probably going to die before he reaches the capital." The ugly purple-haired woman said, looking at Rock as the magical car returned to its previous state.
"Huh? And why shouldn't I answer? Even if he doesn't have a surname, he's still a potential academy student. Professor, you haven't forgotten about that surname-less guy from three years ago, have you? I'm sure if you had the chance to receive him when he joined the academy, you would've answered any question he asked..." Rock replied with a smile, though his gaze was serious.
"Hmph! That kid only has a mana core purity of seventy-seven percent. Don't compare trash like him to a genius like that guy!" The purple-haired woman snapped irritably.
"Alright, alright, I apologize..." Rock quickly backed down, not wanting to cause an unnecessary argument. However, as he gazed out the window and thought about young Mike, who was likely in free fall at that moment, a mysterious smile appeared on his face.
---
"Aahhhhhhhhhhh!" Meanwhile, Mike was screaming desperately as he plummeted rapidly. He was so high up that he could barely see the ground, but this problem was quickly solved as he got closer and closer with each passing second.
At that moment, panic overtook Mike's mind. He flailed his arms like wings in an attempt to fly but failed miserably. He tried to learn wind magic on the spot to control his descent, but again, he failed. Desperate, he even attempted to summon a giant beast, making hand signs and biting his finger to use his blood for the ritual, but once more, he failed. After all his alternatives ended in failure, Mike gave up and closed his eyes, resigning himself to his fate.
"Damn liability form..." Mike muttered in regret. Even though he had known something was off about the liability form he signed, he hadn't expected to be thrown out of a magical car mid-air just hours later. But unfortunately, there was nothing else he could do now.
When Mike finally stopped falling, he was shocked that he didn't feel the painful impact of hitting the ground. "Huh?" Mike opened his eyes in confusion, unable to understand how he had survived. But when he realized he was magically suspended in the air, just a few centimeters above the ground, his confusion only deepened.
POFT!
"Ow!" Mike cried out in pain as the strange energy holding him up vanished, causing him to land face-first in the dirt. Surprisingly, apart from the pain of hitting his nose, Mike felt fine. After a quick check, he realized he didn't have a single injury on his body.
"I guess they didn't want to kill me after all..." Mike murmured in relief, glancing at the sky in search of the magical car. But all he could see was a tiny black dot quickly disappearing from his view.
Now that he was in the middle of nowhere, his next test finally made sense. But... "How the hell am I supposed to get to the capital?" Mike asked aloud, even though there was no one around to answer. Only now did Mike realize he had no idea where he was, or worse, where the nation's capital was located.
WOOSH!
Before Mike could dwell further on his location problem, he heard a sound cutting through the air above him. He quickly looked up and saw a golden point flying at the same height as the magical car that had dropped him. Mike followed the golden point with his eyes as it traveled rapidly across the sky, eventually disappearing in the same direction as the magical car. "They're going to the same place as the car..." Mike murmured as he noticed the golden point vanish in the same direction as the car.
"That's it!" Mike shouted as a brilliant idea struck him. He would walk in the same direction as the magical car and the golden point. Even if they weren't heading to the capital, they had to be going somewhere where he could get information. Although there was a risk that the destination was too far to reach on foot, it was still a better plan than wandering in a random direction hoping to find the capital.
Mike looked around. He noticed that he was surrounded by a vast grassy field with no signs of dangerous magical beasts or other threats. However, a few kilometers ahead, in the direction the two points had disappeared, Mike could see the beginning of a dark forest with towering trees, a place that didn't look so safe. Taking a deep breath and swallowing hard, Mike began walking toward the forest. Even if it was dangerous, he wouldn't give up here. Then again, even if he wanted to give up, there wasn't anyone around to hear his surrender and send him home.
---
Meanwhile, back in the magical car that had dropped Mike, Rock and the purple-haired woman sat silently facing each other. Although Rock treated the woman with respect, even calling her "professor", it was clear he wasn't in a subordinate position to her.
"Professor! An unidentified magical object is approaching us rapidly!" A panicked voice echoed through the cabin as the wall behind the purple-haired woman transformed into a window, revealing the face of a young man, the source of the voice.
"What kind of object?" The purple-haired woman asked calmly. Unlike the young man, she was far too powerful to worry about just any object. After all, this wasn't her first time in a magical car, and she knew that sometimes small flying magical beasts evaded detection until they were very close. But such beasts almost never posed a real threat to the car, much less to her.
"It's gold, and... it looks like a human!" The young man replied, his panic escalating as the object drew closer.
"What?!" This time, the woman was genuinely surprised. But before she could say or do anything else, a loud explosion rocked the magical car, followed by a violent tremor.
BOOM!