Ryad POV:

  I woke up the next day before the sun could rise.

  I was accustomed to sleeping light thanks to my time in the nds between. However, ever since I arrived here, I had been feeling like I needed more and more sleep as days passed. Last evening I ended up passing out immediately after I bathed, and even now, I still felt a little bit groggy.

  I did a bit of stretching before I stepped out. The new clothes I had gotten from Madison were fitting quite comfortable on me. I stepped out with a bck sweater and khaki pants. The lobby was quite empty; stepping out, I opened the door before walking into the town.

  The city was still quiet, occasionally interrupted by the walkings of people who had to attend their jobs at an early time. Though it was partially dark, my eyes were still able to see clearly through the slowly fleeting darkness. I explored the town for a while before dawn.

  Coming back, the once quiet lobby had taken a complete opposite shift compared to how I had left it. A receptionist had been counting money from their previous day's earnings. I could already hear the cooks in the kitchen cooking. The waiters were bustling down tables in preparations for the morning rush, and Madison was sitting where I had left her.

  "Good morning, did you have a good night's rest?" Madison asked kindly.

  "Yes, but I couldn't help but notice that you had left your doors open, isn't that dangerous?" I nodded before asking.

  "We have an artifact that alerts the soldiers and us whenever someone who doesn't possess a key card or identification steps into the premises without permission. So we leave them open in case one of our customers wants to step out a little bit early like you did," Madison expined calmly.

  "I see."

  "By the way, are you ready for the Farrington Academy? If I'm not wrong, you should be finishing your registration in the Academy...right?" Madison asked curiously.

  "I will, I'm just curious as to what I should be expecting out of it," I replied.

  "Well, I won't spoil the details for you, but the only advice I will give you is to be weary of the nobility there. Blood lineage is valued within the Empire, and the Academy isn't too different from it," Madison expined worriedly.

  "I understand," I replied.

  Madison soon sent over a waiter to serve me breakfast. I had just finished eating when Professor Houghton opened the door with his trademark smile on his face. Looking at his appearance, he was dressed a bit more formally than he had been yesterday.

  "Good morning, Ryad. I take it that you had a good night's rest?" Professor Houghton greeted kindly.

  I nodded as he turned to face Madison, who had already walked over to where we were.

  "Good morning, Professor! Did you have a good night as well?" Madison asked cheerfully.

  "Indeed, now I'm reenergized and ready to tackle the hustles of the day!" Professor Houghton remarked cheerfully, "Now, off we go, Ryad. There's much to do!"

  The Professor paid off the tab that I made during my night stay in the hotel and soon, we were off to the Farrington Academy. The Professor wanted to prioritize my registration before even thinking about clothes or other necessities. So our first stop ended up being at the Academy.

  The Academy was even more grandiose compared to the one in Stoneshire. The scale of the school was almost twice as big as the Stoneshire Academy, and it was decorated with even more gold and silver.

  In front of us was a rge gate, and instead of showing our IDs, we just entered the Academy without even needing to wait for a guard.

  Like the Stoneshire Academy, I saw countless students rushing about to csses; they all wore different uniform colors.

  We passed through the oncoming traffic of students as we maneuvered through the hallways. Some of the students even greeted Professor Houghton along their way to css.

  Eventually, we stopped in front of a rge double door before the Professor knocked on it. The doors opened themselves, inviting us into a spacious room that had been decorated with two couches, a mp, and a table that had a small teapot on top of it.

  Sitting behind a desk, a man with salt and pepper hair looked up from his work before he greeted us with a smile.

  "Ah, Professor Houghton, I take it that this is the young man that you were talking about?" The man said.

  "Indeed, Headmaster, this is Ryad. He's the boy I had been telling you about from the incident in the forest," Professor Houghton replied.

  The Headmaster looked at me, his eyes fshing with bits of magic as he scanned my figure.

  "Hmm....I've never seen anything like it. I can't tell what the properties are for his mana signature to begin with, but the mana is still integrating perfectly with the World's mana; more particurly with Dark Magic. Fascinating," The Headmaster remarked. "I've been told that you know how to use this magic. Care to show me?"

  My mind froze momentarily.

  "You don't have to if you don't want to, but I'd rather have a good scope of what I'm going to be dealing with in advanced before something terrible happens," The headmaster expined.

  I relented, seeing the reason behind his words. The Headmaster directed us to a private training room that was inside of his office. I hadn't even noticed it because it was probably hidden with magic.

  Once we got in, the entrance that we had just used immediately closed behind us.

  Professor Houghton and the Headmaster stood across on the other side of the training room.

  "Now, Ryad, I want you to attack with all of your strength. There's no need to worry about my safety, I'm quite strong, you see," the Headmaster expined politely, a smile appearing on his face.

  "Don't worry too much about him, Ryad, he's pretty strong. Stronger than me, even," Professor Houghton remarked.

  I nodded before drawing out my dagger. The bde glinted with a dull light, it looked like it needed to be sharpened.

  I focused on my swirling mana as I tried to circute it across my body. Recalling the sensation I had felt during the first time I had summoned the Bck Bde.

  Looking at the back of my hand, the wound I had given myself when I had previously used the bde had long since healed. I didn't even feel the pain of the stab during the st time.

  'Oh Death, become my bde once more.'

  I stabbed my hand once again with the dagger. I could feel the curious gazes of the two individuals standing across from me.

  Once again, a bck and red aura poured out of my hand instead of blood. I lost my grip of the dagger and grabbed the hilt of something else instead; I slowly began to pull the bde out of my hand, the intensity of the aura slowly strengthening as I kept pulling it out more and more.

  The intensity of the aura reached its peak when I completely pulled out the bde from my hand. The bde's weight this time was considerably lighter compared to the way it had been feeling st time, allowing me to assume the stance I normally would take whenever I held my weapon.

  Looking at the Professor and the Headmaster, their eyes had widened slightly in surprise, but they both quickly recovered.

  "Are you all set? Now, I want you to attack me as hard as you can. You can use your strongest attack if you want to," the Headmaster instructed.

  I nodded calmly before lowering the bde slightly as I put my left foot forward. The ground under my feet cracked as I immediately accelerated myself right at the headmaster.

  Bck Bde Cleave

  I appeared right in front of the Headmaster before raising my bde and delivering a wide horizontal ssh at the chest of the man. However, the bde immediately halted right before I could touch the man. It froze, and it didn't seem to budge any deeper than I could make it.

  The headmaster looked on calmly before swiping his index finger across my face.

  Before I could even react, a rge piece of the floor suddenly rose and unched me backwards like a rocket.

  I plunged the bde to the ground and used it to help me come to a stop.

  "Interesting, your magic is rather destructive.....but it isn't chaotic at all. Rather the flow is smoother than most types of magic.....intriguing," the Headmaster remarked.

  Destined Death Wave

  I sent two rge arcs of bck and red aura towards the headmaster. The Headmaster merely flicked his finger upwards and created a barrier to block the attacks. However, the ground barrier that the Headmaster had erected was immediately sliced in two. The attacks never reached the Headmaster, rather they simply dissolved before they could even make contact with his clothes.

  "Well, I think I've seen enough. Thank you for your co-operation," the Headmaster remarked.

  I sighed before releasing the bck bde. The colossal sword dissolved back into a dagger before I sheathed it back.

  The duo approached me.

  "Ryad, you have a rather destructive magic that I wouldn't like to have known within the Academy," the Headmaster remarked, "You'll be enrolled here as a Dark Mage, and I'll have you study up on it as a cover for it as well."

  "I understand," I remarked.

  The entrance appeared once again, and the Headmaster beckoned me to leave.

  Once I left, the entrance disappeared momentarily before the Professor and the Headmaster stepped out together.

  "Welcome to the Academy, Ryad. I have high hopes for you to excel," The Headmaster smiled.

  I bowed my head lightly in appreciation.

  Third Person POV:

  A few minutes Prior.......

  Right as Ryad left the training room and Headmaster Eastwood had closed the entrance, the headmaster immediately took out a handkerchief from his pocket before wiping the blood from his nose.

  "Headmaster Eastwood, are you alright?"

  "Don't worry, I'm doing just fine. Just a little shocked, is all," Headmaster Eastwood replied, "the boy's magic is much more dangerous and ancient than I had presumed it to be. It's best we keep it a secret for now."

  "Even for you headmaster?" Professor Houghton inquired.

  "The boy is still a Novice Initiate, he's got a long way before he can deal any significant damage to me," the Headmaster remarked, "Some of the mana had somehow managed to integrate itself within me, when I tried to expel it, it caused a bit of a backsh within my body."

  "Is it still within your body?" The Professor inquired.

  The Headmaster froze as he tried scanning his body for it. However, he was surprised to notice that the aura had vanished into thin air, almost as if he had never experienced it to begin with.

  'That's interesting.'

  "I can't seem to spot it for now, but I'll keep an eye on it ter. For now, I'll have the boy enter Lay's css so we can keep track of all the special cases all at once," Headmaster Eastwood decred.

  "That's fine with me, it's unfortunate that I won't be able to converse with the boy anymore," Professor Houghton remarked, "his quiet nature is refreshing compared to the rest of the students within the Academy."

  The headmaster ughed for a bit before opening the entrance.