Tom looked around and saw mechanical drones flying all over his mansion. They were actively-scanning for any magical objects, living entity, and possibly anything that would let his enemies spy or even harm him.
Tom was a clone, so his death would mean nothing, but he did not like the feeling of death, so this much protection was necessary. Any organization that wanted to kill him had to expend a significant amount of resources from personnels to planning and information gathering.
This was also done to let others knew that Aldred would protect his son. And also to confirm their suspicion that Tom was really his son.
The relationship between the nobles and Aldred was still vague. Aldred killed a noble of the Withokere Kingdom, and it was a major crime, and he should even be punished with death.
But weirdly, the nobles not only let him live, but he even got a fief of his own. At first, they thought nothing of it, but the when the nobles went home and began to think, they realized that something must have went wrong.
All of this was possible because of Ruhnan. His performance was perfect in its execution that even these old, and supposedly wise nobles did not realize what happened until they organize their mind.
Activating his godly eyes, Tom peered outside his mansion and spied on other students. Indeed, most of them were meditating, training, consuming pills, or reading books. And according to the information the godly eyes gave him, they had been training for a full week non-stop.
Sad truth about becoming powerful magician was that their progressive growth require boring and constant training of studying and meditation.
Luckily, Aldred had a better system. All he needed to do was kill something strong, and he would get experience which would let him level up. Though it was significantly getting harder to level up.
Tom sighed. "Let's get to sleep."
Tom went into his bedroom and slept for the night.
The next day.
Tom opened his eyes, sunlight came through the window from his left while a mechanical drone floated right above him.
"Master," it let out a mechanical voice. "Miss Elfie is waiting for you outside. She said that she will escort you to campus."
"Hmmm, I already know the location, but whatever."
Tom stood up from his bed, snapped his finger, and clothes magically appeared out of thin air before wrapping all around him.
Tom looked at himself in the mirror. There was a sense of nostalgic inside his heart. Back on earth, his life wasn't as amazing or magical as this. It was constant battle against depression and mental suffering.
He had no money, no love from his families, and no friends. The world seemed so bitter back then.
But looking at himself now, he felt like he was in heaven. He wore the best clothes anyone could possibly have, had the power nobody could even dare to imagine, and garnering the wealth that he could never ever run out of.
It was as if all of this adventure was a blessing from the gods.
Tom let out a breath and smiled. For some reason, his mood became better and his anxious heart dropped down a bit.
When he left his room and met with Elfie, Tom immediately gave her the brightest smile he could give.
Elfie was slightly taken aback. Yesterday, it felt like Tom did not even want her to be around him, and he even mentioned her true name which was some sort of threat in itself.
Now, Tom looked like a gentleman, with a big loving heart. That made Elfie blushed a bit.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Elfie. It is my pleasure to be escorted by you."
"… it is my pleasure as well, Master Tom. If you are ready, please follow me."
"Of course, please guide the way."
When they walked out of the mansion, a luxurious carriage was waiting for him, pulled by two 30 meter-long lightning beast.
"This is the carriage that was prepared for us, but if Master Tom wanted to, we can change it."
"It's looking good. I am satisfied with this."
"… That's… good."
They both entered the carriage and Tom made himself comfortable. "So how is your day, miss Elfie?"
"I am doing fine, master," Elfie replied with slight hesitation because people of Tom's status would rarely asked someone like her a question like this.
Tom then proceeded to talk with her as if they were on a date. During the journey, Tom asked all kinds of question about her as if he was truly interested in her. He even made some jokes that made her laugh.
Miss Elfie was drowned in all kinds of emotions. She felt like she was truly cared, and that Tom genuinely wanted to know her.
Tom was glad that he could make someone's day. When he was in a good mood, he would try to spread and share this mood to others. Doesn't matter if he did not know the other person very well.
Happiness should be shared after all.
After three hours, they arrived in front of the gate of the campus.
Hundreds of students entered the campus with all kinds of luxurious carriages or exotic magic beast.
"There's surprisingly a lot of students."
"Of course there are. Most students have been enrolled in the campus for hundreds of years. As new generation came, the numbers of students increase."
"Ohh… so… most students are hundreds of years???"
"Master Tom, the path to become an Adamantite Rank is very long. I am sure you know that."
"Right…"
That meant that his peers would be older than him.
"But new students had to be young?"
"Of course, that's one of the requirement. A new student has to be at least a Diamond Rank at the age of 16-24. You can say it's a filter for those who truly have talent."
After they entered the campus, Elfie and Tom stepped out of the carriage.
Four 10-meter tall mechanical golems with four arms followed from behind him.
Most students brought their own guards or guardian pets, so it was fine for Tom to bring his golems.
However, when they saw the golems, the students were immediately interested. They had never seen a golem made out of metallic materials before. Most golems were made out of magical wood or clay.
And when they used their powerful sense to spy on the golems, they were shocked to know that it had no mana at all!
"Is that the one named Tom? The son of Aldred?"
"The Conquerer of the West? The one who killed Count Heled and got away with it. Yes, I think he's the son."
"But is his golems really that powerful? It was said that because of these golems Count Heled was defeated."
"I am not sure. I cannot sense any mana at all coming from the golems."
"Is it possible that these golems are too strong that even we cannot detect the quality of their mana?"
The students were shocked at that revelation. Powerful magicians could block others from peering their power. If they could not see the mana quality of a magician, then that could only meant that the magician in question was far stronger.
But it could also be secret treasures, or pills that allow them to hide their quality of mana temporarily.
"I even heard that Duke Hushum made a deal with Aldred."
"Duke Hushum is one of the most powerful noble of this kingdom. If someone like him made a friend with Aldred, then that could only mean one thing… he is just that powerful."
"Haven't you see the floating warships that the Duke been showing off all over the kingdom? They said that the Duke received it from Aldred himself."
"Everyone wanted that thing, but apparently Aldred refused to sell it."
Tom was walking in the campus with Elfie beside him, and he heard all of this conversation loud and clear. He simply smiled about it.
It was better to be feared rather than ignored. In school, Tom had learned that being ignored was the worst thing because it was usually followed by isolation, and isolation signify weakness, and weakness attract predators.
Reputation was highly important in school. If you had a lot of friends, socially active, and had status, no one would bother you.
But sometimes, there were always those who wanted to test your reputation.
A young lord by the name Zerdar Nastun also heard this conversation and was interested by the new kid called Tom.
"Hey, Hemur," Zerdar called.
Hemur was his loyal subordinate that Zerdar's father picked up when he was a child. They were the same age, and out of pure chance, Hemur was apparently talented enough to enter the university.
Though Hemur was not as talented as Zerdar, but he still could get in because of Zerdar's influence.
Since they were close, and Hemur always followed his order, they became some sort of big shot around school.
And one of Zerdar's favorite activities was bringing down newcomer.
Hemur looked at Zerdar and smiled. "You want me to test the new kid?"
"Of course, what else do I want you to do to him? Kiss him?"
Hemur laughed. "Alright, let me see what he got."
