A skinny noble took the chance to approach Tom and introduced himself. "My name is Helid Ninel, nice to meet you, Tom. Since we are going to the same place, can go along with you?"
Tom scanned the aristocrats youngsters with a glance. A glint flashed past his eyes. "Sure, since we are going to the same place, then why not."
The Withokere University had strict rules on who could enter and who could not. Since they were able to become a student there, it meant that they had met the requirement which was to be wealthy, influential, and well-connected enough.
Also, these people had to be talented enough to be a Diamond Rank at such a young age. Basically, they had to be better than 99% of magicians before they could even dream of entering.
As the other nobles began to gather around him, he began to look a little out of place since he looked younger than them all. But that was fine since he would be the center of attention.
The younger he was, the better his talent looked. Though he wasn't sure if getting such attention was good or bad. If someone was jealous, they might be out to kill him.
Not that it was a problem anyway, since Tom was a clone. Even if he died, Aldred could summon another Tom to replace him.
Anyone that wanted to assassinate Aldred's son would be surprised that they could not kill Tom.
Helid Ninel then introduced the other nobles to Tom. Apparently, they were the sons and daughters of the nearby territory. Their fief were quite close to Aldred's. That was a good thing, this way, he could establish a future alliance with them. It was always better making friends than enemies.
Tom then looked at the magical dragon. "Return to the shadow."
"Yes, master." Zastor vanished into Tom's shadow.
"Wow, did it just… did the dragon just entered your shadow?" Helid could not but he shocked as he asked the question.
If they knew that Aldred had a high Diamond Rank as one of his undead, how would they react?
Aldred currently had one high Diamond Rank magician. And that was the Count of Waralia, Heled. Aldred had managed to kill him with Corduul's mechanical legion and of course a bunch CS-Armageddon-57.
"Don't think too much about it, it's just magic," Tom said with a smile.
"Magic…"
The youngsters were talented magicians, so they knew magic than most people, but Tom made them look like they were new to this field.
In front of Tom, they were like babies who just born into this world.
"Let's go. There are still a long road ahead of us," Tom said.
They all nodded and entered their carriage. Tom invited them to his carriage however, he was bored, and wanted to know some information about these youngsters.
Entering the steel carriages, the youngsters looked around and saw that it was very spacious inside and lavishly decorated. There were kitchen, spa, pools, bedroom, living room, dining room, and so much more!
It was like a moving castle!
Tom smiled when he saw their reaction and invited them to sit down in the living room. As the maids prepared some snacks and drinks for them, Tom received a notification from the drones.
"Hostile camp detected. 3 KM South East. Proceed with caution." The mechanical voice came directly into his head. Corduul had installed a chip inside Tom's head where he could receive and even send information to the Mechanicum directly.
Aldred's real body did not have that. He trusted no one to put something in his head.
Tom smiled after receiving that information before he talked to the youngsters.
…
3KM South East from Tom's position, an enormous camp that extended for kilometers hid behind the mountains.
A fast moving cloud moved in the opposite direction of the wind suddenly turned into a white dragon before descending and headed towards the camp.
Landing in front of the largest tent, the cloud dragon bowed. "Helid Ninel and his friends is 3 KM away from here. They meet a boy named Tom, the son of the Conquerer of the West."
A brawny man came out of the tent. His clothes were the largest he could find, and yet his muscle threatened to rip them off his body. His gaze exuded a brutal aura, which made the cloud dragon bowed once again in fear. His thick forearm made it look like he could rip the dragon in half with his strength alone.
He was Jazad Busta, a mid Diamond Rank warrior. He was an assassin, secretly groomed by a noble of this kingdom. But this noble was so secretive that even Jazad did not know who his employer was. For years, he had killed so many magicians and nobles for the man, but still, he could not figure out who his boss was.
Jazad Busta was a rare warrior. As warrior had a hard time breaking through low Diamond Rank, it was even harder to reach mid Diamond Rank strength.
At this point, even High Diamond Rank magician needed to be wary of him. That was why he often hid his true strength when assassinating a target.
This time, Helid Ninel was his target. A prodigy among prodigy, his father managed to earn him a spot in Withokere University after a terribly hard work with great hope that his son would grow into a powerful magician.
Jazad Busta was assigned to destroy that hope.
"How many?" Jazad asked.
The cloud dragon spoke: "More than 5,000 golems with the strength of low Diamond Rank."
Jazad laughed. "Those golems may have the durability of a low Diamond Rank, but they cannot match against a true warrior."
"So it seems, thousands of them are destroyed during the battle against a magical dragon."
"Magical dragon?"
"Indeed, it seems Tom defeated the dragon and turned it into his undead."
Jazad frowned. "Magical dragon cannot be revived much less turned into an undead. It could be a fake magical dragon used to impress the young nobles. Tom is a new kid in town, he needed that much to impress his peers to be accepted in the elite-circle."
"What if they are true?" the cloud dragon asked.
"Then we kill them all. I don't obtain this strength because I cower in fear. A warrior must push forward no matter what!"
Turning around, Jazad shouted: "Prepare for battle!"
