It took him about two hours before Adyah could even feel anything in his body 'As ruthless as always hmm, fortunately she avoided all the organs else it would be hard for me to recover from this even in a month. Guess I shouldn't have tested the demon.' With a rueful smile he gets up on his feet and slowly made his way through the field limply, the sun starts to set with the passing time fortunately for Adyah he was able to reach the village outskirt before nightfall.
Maple village, his birthplace was a small, habited area consisting of about two to three hundred people mostly farmers, he never gets to know his parents even in his past he was unable to find single kin and yet all villagers treated him with utmost care and love it was also because of these peoples that he never felt truly alone.
As he closes the distance numerous houses came into view, small lamp was hanging at every door of each houses seeing them his eyes lit up as he immediately recognized them. Low level artifact Luminous lamp unlike traditional lamp the luminous lamp emits a constant stream of light without slightest fluctuation providing constant brightness it also acts as a protective dome against wild animals thus despite being at the vicinity of the wild the villagers could be seen enjoying their time without any worry even in the dark.
Seeing them enjoying a smile gradually formed on Adyah's face, in his former life he was always burdened with many things as such even when the huge place was filled to the brim with servants. It appeared totally desolate at times. yet he couldn't welcome such liveness as this small group of peoples.
Thinking about it he become surer that whatever happened to him it was truly for the best, he can still acquire the power in the future but even with all the prowess in his hand. He can't be able to experience the same thing again and yet here he was. Filled with thoughts his figure slowly walked out from the shadows.
A middle-aged woman notices Adyah sorry state and hurried to support him, "Adyah what happened who did this to you?!" her concerned voice grabbed everyone's attention almost instantly. A moment later he become everybody focus. Seeing his pitiful state a hint of anger rose within them their happy faces suddenly turned unpleasant.
"It was that demoness again, right? Who does she think she is just because she is the lord's daughter she can do anything. Come with me, I will not let this matter rest today until she gave me a proper explanation!!" the middle-aged women face become furious by the passing second, the more she observer the young kid pitiful state the angrier she become.
Even before Adyah could say anything a heavy voice resounded the area.
"She is seriously going overboard now, not only she never thanked our child for helping her but now she is also beating him to such a state. Did she really think our maple village don't have enough prowess to retaliate against the lord even slightly." The one who talked was an elderly man, he slowly walks to Adyah side and stopped at a meter distance from him. He then examined Adyah figure carefully he didn't make any physical contact, but his eyes seem to turn a little different from normal by the seconds until they were milky white.
Although it looked normal at first glance only Adyah understood that the elderly guy in front of him was trying to look for any hidden or serious injuries. Being a peak ninth rank apprentice, despite not able to advance to a mage the elder was still the most powerful figure of the maple village, The village head.
After a minute the village head let out a reliving sigh. His eyes also returned to that of a normal person though this time he looked particularly surprised by something that he had inevitably come across a moment ago "You seems to have advanced again?" his voice was filled with confusion; curiosity got the best of him.
There were nine levels to a mage apprentice a necessary hurdle everyone must overcome to advance to become a true magus. The first five levels were considered rather easy as they primarily focused on body advancement. For instance, every adult of maple village here were a level five mage apprentice or so and yet it can't be predicated whether anyone of them would have an opportunity to become a Mage in their lifetime.
After the perfection of body comes the understanding of mind. This was also the step where numerous apprentices failed to prevail due to their shallow knowledge and a lack of a master. The advancement after level five solely depends upon one's understanding of mana's fundamental and how magic is conjured through spells. The more familiar they become with these two concepts the easier it was to breakthrough.
Unfortunately, only a true mage can possibly depict the complexity of magic spells. It would take him years to educate a young apprentice about the basic formulation of a spell and even then, it couldn't be guaranteed whether or not one would hopefully breakthrough. Because the last step before advancing to a true mage was to construct a rudimentary magic spell model.
The magic spell model does not have to be perfected one, if it can invoke mana and affect your surroundings to the will it could be counted as pass, this was also the major difference between a mage apprentice and a true magus. A mage apprentice was only capable of understanding basic of the mana and its applications whereas a true magus can use these understanding to perform magic. Hence being referred as mage.
Being stuck at the level nine mage apprentice for years now, the village head was most experienced about how hard it was to advance from body to mind. It took him five years before advancing to level six mage apprentice in the past. He was almost twenty by then and yet the youngling before him seems to overcome that hurdle at the mere age of thirteen to say he was shocked would be an understatement.
"Is he a genius or something? Or was it me who mistook his irregular mana flow as an advancement?" he could not say for sure after all he was not a true mage and his understanding toward mana spell, he just performed were basic.
Adyah on the other hand was totally caught off guard by the sudden question. He was pretty sure that he took necessary major to hide his advancement. As such if he did not want to not even a true mage would be unable to discern his current realm and yet he was exposed by a mage apprentice now.
He didn't know whether to praise the old man for this or slap himself for such a blunder ' It might have been due to my overuse of mana when sparring against Sophie which made my mana flow irregular which the village head mistook as advancement not that he is in the wrong.' a thought then struck him which made him smile " As expected of village you sure are extraordinary even after all my preparation I still failed to hide it." He smiled cheekily praising the elder before him.
'He did advance.' This sudden acceptance left the village head bewildered but the very next second, he acted annoyed and scolded Adyah "of course just because you advanced to level six mage apprentice does not make you invincible. You are still too young to compete with this old man." Though he acted annoyed he was secretly pleased by this sudden news.
Adyah just smiled to this he was sure that he was not just a level six but that was something he does not have to disclose to the other party.
"Good good good." The village head joy was evident. He lightly patted Adyah shoulder and announced happily "this is a blessing for the maple village." He then turned to the woman next to the kid and said merrily "Sana you truly fostered a bright child if its him I am sure he can probably advance to a true mage in the next ten years." Finished with his words he walked away laughing this sudden turn of event left many people confused but they were relieved that at least the young child wasn't seriously injured and from the conversation earlier it seems he had achieved something which made their mood even better.
"What happened, why did the village head acted so?" like many other the women named Sana was also confused but she was not overly concerned about the advancement. The only thing she cared about was the wellbeing of her child.
"Auntie it is just as the village head said my sudden predicament was due to me advancing into further realm. forget that I have not eaten for all day, I am afraid if I did not get to eat something in few minutes I might truly die from hunger." He acted pitiful as he rubbed his tiny hands over the stomach which seems to have shrink considerably.
"Oh, how bad of me don't worry I have prepared plenty of food for you I promise you won't be leaving until your belly is full to the brim, haha!! Come! come." He was thus brought to the food table where he devoured the food like a hungry wolf his action left Sana speechless as all her prepared food was already eaten by Adyah in minutes. Despite that she still prepared some extra food for him.
After twenty minutes Adyah finally went to bed satisfied although his stomach was about to burst due to overeating. somehow, he still craves for more of Auntie sana food as it was just that delicious.
"Now all that's left is to advance to level nine in a week. It should be enough for me to advance to a true mage." He didn't overthink about the matter as not long after he fall asleep.