Aiden bent forward a bit to peer through the little gap that Tyler had left at the front of the carriage while sitting in the driver’s seat.

A single thought appeared in his head making him forget all his previous deliberations, “What the hell?!”. The largest building he had ever seen in his life was the three-storey wood house in the town of Whittens. But Trimshire…….The Academy of Trimshire was like the grandest structure he had ever seen.

The first thing that could be seen from afar was a group of four towers that rose to about 400 feet in height. Their roofs were cone-shaped and made from blue tiles. On the top of each tower was a blue flag with the symbol of a golden eagle embedded into it. These four towers surrounded a middle tower that rose to 600 to 650 feet in height. And looking from afar, Aiden felt pretty sure that this tower was at least 80 to 100 feet in diameter.

However, this tower didn’t have a conical roof. Instead, the top of the tower opened up into spikes that pointed outwards to the four surrounding towers. Hovering just above the opening of the centre tower, was a massive blue ball of light that radiated intense amounts of energy. Aiden felt that if he came close to the ball, there was nothing that could stop him from becoming dust.

“That’s the Academy’s most prized treasure. It’s a 4th-grade mana stone that powers the academy’s defence barrier.”,  Nilger explained with a tinge of pride in his voice when he saw Aiden looking at the top of the middle tower.

“Defence Barrier?”, Aiden looked confused.

“The Trimshire Academy relies on a mana barrier for protection from most external forces such as wild mana beasts. This barrier needs a continuous supply of mana to maintain and is powered by the huge blue mana stone you see on the top of the tower.” added Ethan.

“Sigh, a mana stone,” Denzel started speaking when he felt that Aiden still didn’t understand it all properly, “ is a stone that has been formed naturally due to abnormal concentration of mana in a single place beneath the earth. The immense amount of mana, forces the stone to take on mana-retaining properties. It is usually used as a form of power source for various types of machinery that require a lot of mana to function, and sometimes, is also used as a cultivation resource when you get to higher realms in cultivation.”

Aiden nodded his head as he continued looking forward as more and more buildings came into view. Most of the other buildings paled in comparison to the central towers but were still humongous structures that Aiden had never seen before. 

Suddenly he felt a pulse of mana wash over him as the cart slowed down a bit. Alerted he looked around through the back to see if anything was wrong.

“That was the mana barrier that you felt.”, Stacey told Aiden.

“Oh…”, Aiden wished to ask how it differentiated between friend and foe, but he decided against it. Asking too many questions here would make others suspicious of if he truly had a master or not.

As they went deeper into woods that were enclosed within the barrier, a huge wall, as high as 15 metres appeared to stretch and surround the entirety of the academy.

There was a huge opening in the wall showing a long and empty street on the other side. Through this gap, Aiden could see houses lining either side of the street.

Just outside this opening, two adult men stood guard. They were wearing a deep blue, unbuttoned, full-sleeved jacket over a clean white shirt. Their pants were white with stripped blue lining on the sides.

Stopping before the opening in the wall, Tyler spoke with the guard on the right, “We’re turning in the fidialatus for the mission commissioned by Professor Dalmer.”

The guard nodded and came to the back of the carriage to take a look.

“Who’s this kid?”, he asked pointing at Aiden.

Before Aiden could open his mouth he saw Nilger motioning with his eyes to keep quiet. Nilger then responded, “He’s a talented mana user whom I think, the professor would like to meet.”

“Oh a potential future freshman huh?”, the guard said, “But he looks so young, how strong could he possibly be.”, chuckling he walked ahead.

“They can go”, he told the other guard.

PLOP!

The sound of a water droplet falling on the surface of still water resounded from the opening.

To Aiden’s shock, concentric ripples spread across the opening, as if he was looking at the surface of a water body.

As the ripples intensified, the sound of roaring waves came from the opening.A huge wall of water that had been covering the entire opening fell crashing down, disappearing into the earth.

Suddenly Aiden saw that the streets that he once thought were empty, were actually filled with countless people in blue and white uniforms of different designs. Most of them were young, ranging from 11 to 18 years of age, while he could only spot a few bearded and older men among the crowd.

“Hiyaah”, Tyler shouted, urging the fortiseros forward.

Once they had passed through the gate, Aiden could see the wall of water, reforming behind them as it became transparent again.

Tyler drove the carriage to take a left turn and stopped before the stables.

Unlike regular horse stables, however, these stables were created out of reinforced metal and housed fortiseros instead.

Nilger got off and Aiden and the rest followed.

“Evan and Emma, find Rictove and have him arrange to transport the fidialatus at short notice. Stacey, go and submit the report for the mission completion. Ethan and Tyler, please see to it that the fortiseros are turned in and inform the stable master so that he may log the details in. You know the drill. I’ll take Aiden to meet Professor Balmer and also inform him of the mission's success.”

Nilger walked ahead and Aiden followed, “So who’s professor Balmer?”

“Well, for starters, he is the vice-head of the Department of Mana beasts and Magical creatures and also the one who issued the mission for the capture of the young Fidialatus.”, Nilger looked back.

“I see.”, Aiden looked back, “Will the fidialatus be alright?”

Nilger let out a chuckle, “No one will dare to mess with the creature, knowing that it was a vice-head of a department who issued its capture.”

“Oh?”, Aiden looked interested as Nilger continued.

“The academy divides the teaching divisions of its outer sector into 7 primary departments, namely, The Core Development Department, The Blacksmithing Department, The Mana beasts and Magical creatures Department, the Alchemy department, The Formations Department, The Seals Department and the Physical Arts Department. The outer sector is for all the average students and any freshmen who join the academy. The inner sector, however, has two additional departments, namely, The Department of Manifestation and The Soul Department. But the inner sector is reserved for geniuses and talented students of the academy who excel in specific fields. They are given more resources for practising their mana arts and are taught by the elders of the academy directly.”

Aiden looked like he wanted to ask something but held back.

Reading Aiden’s line of thought Nilger laughed again, “It’s alright. There’s no problem in asking. I’m from the outer sector.”

“I see”, Aiden replied.

“Well all that aside, each Department is led by a Department Head, followed by the vice-Head. Every one of them holds a significant amount of power and influence over the academy. One would be crazy to even think of getting on their bad side.”, Nilger finished his introduction.

After a series of twists and turns through the streets, the two of them stopped in front of a huge 10-storey building. A wooden board above the 8-foot tall gate read “Outer Elders Residence”

Walking up to the female receptionist on the counter to the left, Nilger asked, “Hello Sophie; is professor Dalmer in?”

“Why hello there, Nil. Yes, he is. I’ll assume the mission went well since you look fine…….hmm? Who is the handsome little kid next to you?”

“Oh, this is Aiden. Someone I met while out. I think the professor would want to meet him.”, Nilger said as a tint of concern appeared on Sohpie’s face.

“Are you sure? The professor doesn’t like visi…….”

“Yes, Sophie! It won’t be a problem. I assure you.”, He cut her off midway.

“Well go right ahead,” she sighed, “You know his roo…..”

Suddenly a loud boom resounded throughout the entire building and one of the walls of a far-off room on that floor burst outwards. A man in a tattered blue uniform came crashing through the wall and landed on the floor in front of Aiden and Nilger.

His clothes were smouldered with fire and also looked as if they had been corroded by acid. Further, there was not a single inch of his face that wasn’t covered in soot. “Ah, another failure”, he said, sitting back up as he scratched the back of his head.

“What the hell!!???”, Aiden cried out as he jumped back to move away, “Who’s this crazy weirdo?”

“Cough cough!”, Nilger cleared his throat.

“Aiden, meet Professor Dalmer, Vice-Head of the Department of Mana Beasts and Magical Creatures.”