The journey went smoothly while they flew for three days, crossing a vast area of the forest. Throughout flight, everyone was having fun getting to know more about each other, and Arthur remained calm, always trying to think about the next step he was going to face soon.
According to the info Noura was generous to share, the competition would last for one whole month, where a huge number of mages would take part in it.
She commended on the fact they came in as one group, as clans and private guilds were always moving in large numbers, making the chances of individuals hard to succeed in the competition.
She also gave them some famous names of some clans and groups out there, who had easily secured a huge number of mages to win the competition every year. These clans and groups acted as mercenaries, looking for outstanding mages all over the place, adopting them peacefully or by force.
Their main children would already be part of the academy from the age of nine, while those newcomers would act as their bodyguards, doing all the dirty stuff for these lucky ones.
Life wasn't fair, and inside the academy the reality wasn't any different though. Arthur didn't feel any surprise when he heard how hard it was to live inside the walls of the academy, as talent and strength alone weren't enough to secure anything there.
One had to have his or her own backing, if not, then mages were doomed either to fall underneath the children of large clans and guilds, or be ruined by them.
One thing was repeated over and over again, there was no tolerance by these golden mages to any uprising star! Anyone who shone alone, not paying tribute to them, would be put as a public enemy, targeted by everyone.
Arthur didn't plan to act mediocre there, or planned to lower his head to anyone. He wanted to be a powerhouse, like he always used to be, and so he planned to resist with all his might.
The main problem here remained in the masters inside the academy, as many of them already belonged to these golden clans and guilds. The rules of the academy forbid any inside trifle, or carrying the outside grudges inside its walls, but Arthur knew how easily it was to turn someone's life into hell.
So, planning to reign supreme with only the handful of mages under his order, and one promising master, Iman, wasn't a realistic plan at all! If he wanted to succeed, he had to enlarge his company, making more friends than enemies, and try to find a way to grab the attention, later loyalty, of those masters.
On the early morning of the fourth day, with only three days remaining till reaching the academy, they had bumped into their first challenge.
The Nystic clan!
This clan was considered one of the golden clans, one of the oldest in this part of the world, with many mages in it that went beyond the imagination of anyone. Noura described them as being cruel, savage, heartless, and only cared about their benefits and nothing else.
The main problem lay in their territory, it was so huge that it was enough to cut their path to the academy for days! if they wanted to evade it, they had to move for four days at least to bypass it.
And the worst news wasn't in this clan, but in the rest of the golden clan and guilds which laid a siege-like arrangement of their forces, surrounding the whole academy, making it nearly impossible to reach there without crossing their path!
One way or another, Arthur and his group would have to face them, so he decided to go directly through their lands, hoping to reach a compromise with them.
In the few hours of their intrusion, and guided with the common route that mages would take, provided by Noura, they managed to fly without anything to stop their path.
However after the third hour passed, a sudden attack came from the ground, aiming at their group. Many ball-like ores were thrown from the ground towards their group, which might be enough to make the ores reach higher altitudes easily.
The momentum of these ores wasn't something they could easily evade, and Arthur knew this wasn't the full capacity of these weird attacks.
"Halt, and let's go to the ground to check things out," he gave the order, calmly leading everyone away from these ores, heading to the ground. The moment his group headed to the ground, these attacks halted, as Arthur guessed correctly, they were the guarding patrols of the Nystic clan.
Arthur went to the ground first, where he jumped on the grassy land with a firm step, before moving towards the distant group of mages.
They were numbered one hundred, a classic patrol group of the great clans as Noura described. They had strange monsters, with flat back and long broad tails, where many ores were present on their backs, and one was there on the tip of their tails.
'So they were using these monsters to throw these ores, interesting mechanism.'
Arthur thought to himself, marveling this simple, yet effective use of these monsters. He knew he had seen only the tip of the iceberg of this clan, and he realized a whole new world would present itself to him inside the academy.
"Hello friend, why attacking us?" he simply greeted the vigilant looking guards, faking his ignorance about the purpose of their attack.
One of them, a middle aged mage, with great physique, moved to the front to meet him, while replying in his harsh tone:
"This is a private land belonging to the Nystic clan. Trespassers like you can't pass here without paying the necessary price."
Arthur had a warm smile over his face, as he said:
"My friend, we are peacefully passing, no need to violence or threats.. Just tell me what's the price you need, and I will gladly comply."
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