The five apprentices wondered how the Black Mage would take them to the academy, perhaps using some mysterious tool none of them have heard of, or maybe he would be using some kind of transportation magic; they couldn't help but be amazed when their feet started to lift off the ground.
Flying is one of the many dreams of mankind. Today, the apprentices get to live that dream.
"Let's go then," the Black Mage said, and everyone, alongside their luggage, levitated off the ground then shot off towards the South in an instant.
The bystanders were stunned -- they were speechless, then screamed frantically. They weren't exposed to the world of magic, and needed to vent out their confusion.
The Earl could hear the commotion outside, and instructed Knight Wynn and Knight Wright, "Disperse the crowd and restore order among them."
The two knights left to appease the crowd, but Knight Wright sighed, "It's different this time."
The people in the manor felt weird after hearing about Adam and Ophelia's departure. Marshall and Dennis were jealous, but relieved; Joe, the Bearded Man, sat on the ground with a blank expression.
Meanwhile in the stables, Ophelia's horse, Dark Cloud, drove off every single servant that tried to feed it and kept slamming its hoof on the wooden fence. Eventually, it broke free from the reins and smashed through the wooden door. Nobody dared to stop it, and the horse rushed out the gate and disappeared, neighing towards the South.
In the sky, the Black Mage was expressionless. All the apprentices except for Adam were trembling, for fear they might fall to their deaths.
Adam didn't have the concept of fear in him, and swept his hand below him. He felt a layer of a strange membrane under their feet. He concluded that this membrane not only supported their flight but also shielded them from the strong winds.
The other apprentices stared at Adam. They gathered their courage upon seeing him move about freely. The joy of flight quickly overshadowed their initial fear and they studied the membrane curiously.
"Is this magic? This is amazing!" Crystal exclaimed in excitement.
"I guess," the Black Mage answered. "This is simply my knowledge of magic so it comes naturally. There isn't a need to conjure a rune for something trivial like flying."
His explanation fell on deaf ears, though Adam listened closely. He understood that flying was like a derivative of a program -- as long as the program was constructed it would come naturally to him.
The Black Mage muttered, "The world of mages is vast, it gets bigger day by day. Official mages can communicate and travel through portals, but your feeble bodies won't be able to withstand that kind of magical pressure, so I'm bringing all of you to the South in a slower way so all of you can adapt to the high magic environment."
Many couldn't understand what he was saying, but nodded anyway. Adam blinked. When he said that the mage world `gets bigger', could it be...
Adam looked at the ground and found that the world here wasn't spherical! The world of mages is actually flat!
Ophelia asked, "Dear Black Mage, what do you mean when you said the mage world is getting bigger?"
The Black Mage answered it for free, "You'll get a detailed explanation when you arrive at the academy. I assume all of you have heard of Prometheus, the True Spirit Archmage and the Guardian of our world?"
Everyone nodded.
"About 20,000 years ago, the Mage World was just a small plane. The mages fought each other for limited resources, but even then the resources were still too scarce and the Mage World declined rapidly. Then came Prometheus, who changed the essence of our world by blessing it with great knowledge stopping the internal consumption via external plunder, and supplemented the plane with an incredible spell, which is the glory of the destroyers of the planes today."
"[Planar Sacrifice]... that is the forbidden spell that was used. Even I can't grasp the principles of that spell," the Black Mage said with admiration.
The apprentices were fascinated, and they couldn't imagine the power that mages command. They couldn't help looking forward to becoming a mage.
The Black Mage saw that they were used to the feeling of flight, and said "I'm going to speed up now, we need to get to the South before the sun sets to meet with the other guides of the academy."
They suddenly shot forward, breaking the sound barrier.
Adam used his mental strength to observe the membrane, and found that it turned from a hemisphere to a smooth and aerodynamic shape to aid in flight which amazed Adam. Some things remain constant even in different worlds.
They eventually moved at a constant speed, and the rapid winds deafened them.
"Seems like it's about Mach 3 now..." Adam muttered to himself, amazed. Magic left his entire system in awe, and he couldn't help but think how all of this was possible without relying on tools or technology to reach this level of speed with ease.
After nearly three hours of flying, the pastures beneath them gradually changed from blankets of snow to a lush green and magnificent blue.
It's hard to imagine how big the world of mages is. Listening to the Black Mage, the Northern lands seemed to be an island -- to get to the Mage continent, you needed to take a boat, but due to the limitations of ordinary people and their miniscule lifespan, they would be trapped in one place all their lives.
At noon, several people took food out from their baggage. Adam didn't bring any, but he wasn't hungry either. The energy he stored in his body was enough to sustain him for three days if he remained motionless. Ophelia, on the other hand, didn't require food.
The Black Mage didn't need to eat, or even breathe, to live.
Even if they didn't know that the Black Mage didn't need food, they wouldn't offer their food to the Black Mage either. Crystal saw Adam alone with no food, so she floated to Adam and pointed at her burger.
Adam stared at her.
Crystal thought that Adam didn't know what she meant, and shouted, "I can share my food with you! This is what my mother prepared for me this morning -- there's meat inside!"
Adam didn't accept, "Thank you, but there's no need. I am a knight, after all. I don't really need to eat."
Adam's tone was gentle, so Crystal wasn't offended, but she still thought that Adam looked down upon her, thinking that commoner food was disgusting.
"So, you're a knight! Just like Miss Ophelia," she said, looking at Ophelia with admiration. Polite and noble! "Must be nice being perfect," she muttered with envy.
Crystal then ate alone.
Ophelia heard the conversation between the two, and remembered what the Earl had said to her last night.
She can't possibly ignore Adam.
Ophelia distracted herself with the wind, and came to a revelation.
"I feel like I'm losing something, like a pet. Perhaps it is my status as a noble that makes me angry whenever I lose something," Ophelia laughed to herself sarcastically.
Even if Adam could hear Ophelia's thoughts, she knew that he wouldn't care.
About two hours later while staring at the blue ocean beneath him Adam could see glimpses of a city.
After another half an hour, the Black Mage slowed down and gradually landed. This city was huge; it was far more prosperous than Cold Maple -- all kinds of ships lined up in the harbour, and none of them had any sails.
"That's for sure," Adam studied, "This world is too huge, so it wouldn't be possible for them to travel using sails anyways."
Some apprentices fell upon landing, and the surrounding crowd backed away to give them space.
The Black Mage announced to his apprentices, "Let us rest here and wait for the other mages of the academy. During this time, you're free to stay in the Duke's Mansion or just explore, but don't go too far -- if you're late, nobody will wait for you."
