Grey was currently in a carriage that was fully out of town and was heading towards the capital where the academy assessment would be taken.
They had left Kiten ten minutes ago and now, they were crossing a nearby town's border so they could take another route to the capital. Throughout the journey, Grey was silent and reminiscing his time back in Kiten, all he went through, did and still doing.
How his dad died and him meeting the first mage who helped him unlock his locked affinities.
"How long till we get there?" Grey asked after deciding to stop thinking about the past.
"About an hour and thirty minutes sir." The man said.
"Can you please stop addressing me respectfully like that? You are older than me and probably the same age with my dad so please." Grey said.
"How can I stop? You are practically like another son to the house of Valtos and also a respectful mage of the Kiten town." The driver replied.
"You know if you don't stop, I would report you to lord Cedric so kindly stop addressing me so respectfully. Who knows, I might even be the same age as your son." Grey said and then silence befell the carriage as the driver smiled slightly.
'Even though he has this much power, he isn't misusing it nor is he disrespectful. The world need people like him because if it was another person and I didn't address them respectfully, I would have my head rolling now.' the driver thought.
"Noted." The driver replied with a smile when Grey noticed the carriage passing through a forest.
"Why are we going through the forest?" Grey asked.
"This is the route to getting to the capital. After passing through the forest, we would cross about two more borders before we finally get to the capital." The driver replied.
"Oh! So how long till we fully cross the forest?" Grey asked.
"About thirty minutes or so." The driver replied.
"Good! It should be enough time for me to cultivate more. I couldn't do that this morning since I was in a hurry." Grey mumbled as he sat down cross legged and began his breathing technique moving the mana around his body and getting the feel of it.
He further used the mana around him to extend his senses as he kept feeling the wind hit his face gently and the rustling of the trees from the gentle breeze. This further put him in the meditative trance as he was getting the feel of his surroundings while shutting his mind.
'I can feel it, I'm about 95 percent away from reaching the next star.' Grey thought. 'In order to advance to the next star, mages need to cultivate their core, go through tough challenges that will break and rebuild their core while also refining their magical affinities.
Normally it takes years to advance to the next star unless you were talented. That was why to see a 2 star mage in towns are rare because no tough challenge to break them but I heard they were many in the capital as much as a 1 star mage in the village. I wonder what star the emperor is.' Grey thought as he kept on cultivating when he felt the rustling of the leaves grew more consistent.
It was not following the rhythm of the wind. Normally Grey would have ignored it, but then he decided to leave the meditative zone and expanded his mana sensing the area around him when he felt it.
Snapping his eyes open, he barked an order and the driver hurriedly executed it. "Stop the carriage now!"
Without asking any questions, the carriage was stopped. "What's wrong?" The driver asked.
"Whatever happens, don't step out of the carriage, don't even think of coming down." Grey ordered and then he swiftly stepped out and using his wind magic, he climbed up to the roof of the carriage.
"Are you going to come out or should I burn the forest down so as to draw you all out?" Grey asked looking in front of him at the trees which was eerie quiet until, branches began breaking and dropping down from the trees, were six men dressed in black with black scarves covering their faces.
"Wow! It is surprising how you managed to spot us. Your senses must be keen then." A man was seen stepping forward.
'Bandits!' Grey thought when he sighed. 'I really didn't want to deal with any stress on my journey but I could tell that they were following me constantly and were looking for a way to stop the carriage even if it meant destroying it. Which I can't allow because if the carriage gets destroyed or the driver is harmed, I won't be able to get to the capital.'
"It's actually brave of you to step forward and all, so I would love to make this quick. Hand over any valuable things with you so you won't be hurt and you can go your way in peace." The man said.
"What if I don't give up anything?" Grey asked with his hands folded across his chest.
"Then we are sorry, we would have to kill you considering you are young and we will take anything valuable off your corpse." Another bandit said as they all lifted their hands unleashing different spells.
Some with water, ice and some with wind magic as they prepared to unleash them all to Grey but surprisingly, they saw a smirk on his face.
"Not if I kill you all first." Grey smirked as he looked up and so did the others and then they could see a dozen Earth spikes hanging over their heads with fire blazing around the spikes.
'When did he do that? How fast is his casting speed? I knew it! I f*cking knew it that we shouldn't have messed with this fellow but greed got the better of me.' the supposed leader of the bandit thought when he looked forward at Grey.
"Well if we are going down, then so will you!" The leader shouted and the spells from all of them were launched at Grey who smiled and snapped his fingers raising an Earth wall that blocked the attacks at once and not even moving a bit not even a crack.
'Tch! They are just one star mages.' Grey scoffed and then he flicked his hands at the stunned bandits that saw how easily he blocked their spells and when they looked up, the spikes all crashed into them at once hitting them in their legs, arms and shoulders causing immense pain to run through their very being as the fire on the spikes were blazing hot.
And they all fell down screaming their lungs out in pain.
"You are lucky that I still I'm not comfortable with killing humans yet unless I feel like my life is really being threatened so I will leave you all with scars. So go and sin no more." Grey smirked before he jumped back into the carriage.
"Let's go!" He said and the driver who had been watching from the carriage felt his heart thumping loudly in fear.
'Truly, he is the hope of Kiten town and I can't believe he is this fearsome.' the driver thought and then, the carriage was seen speeding off leaving the six men still screaming in pain.