"Wait!" A cold voice came from inside.
Then, a black-haired middle-aged man opened the door and looked at him up and down. He had a round face, deep blue eyes, elongated, thick eyebrows, and olive skin. He wore a red robe and almost looks exhausted.
"Good evening, Teacher." Abium bowed respectfully as he saw Zivior.
"Come in. I have something to discuss-" Zivior was about to invite Abium inside, but suddenly stopped. He stood there with a blank expression on his face and only regained his senses after a few seconds.
Finally, he looked at Abium with a strange expression on his face. At first, he showed a startling expression; then he changed his face into a stunned one, and finally, into disbelief.
Although Zivior couldn't pinpoint Abium's strength accurately, he somehow sensed Abium had already become a peak First-Tier Mage without even scanning!
His body was radiating a strong aura that was already on the verge of transforming into the next phase.
"Kid, you are my student, so I won't ask you anything about your secrets." Zivior quickly said while inviting him in and continued with a serious tone as he locked the door.
"But you are progressing too fast. If someone from Holy See or other organizations finds out about you, they will definitely come for your head. I had already erased a few records about you, including your real age. But all that was possible because you didn't appear often in public. But once you showed your true power level to the public, they will definitely monitor your progression level from then onwards." He paused for a moment and soon added.
"First, show your full ability to the public and make them believe that you were already a peak first-tier mage when joining the academy. I will take care of the rest."
Abium got stunned for a bit and soon nodded at his teacher's words.
"What should I do after that, teacher?" Abium asked directly.
"The best option is, you will have to stay low for a few years and then continue your progression at a normal speed. That will definitely lower others' suspicion about you having some artifact which could increase one's spirit power." Zivior said after some deliberation but soon noticed Abium was shaking his head at that idea.
"The second option is, you have to find your family members and ask for protection from the elven royal family. If I'm not wrong, you will also get Elves' Sunrise Shackle potion from them, which could help you rank up to a second-tier mage easily." Zivior made another suggestion, which caused Abium to smile bitterly.
"Teacher, I know nothing about my parents except my mom's name, which is Thea. Even I found out about that information only two months ago." Abium said with a sad tone.
Meanwhile, Zivior also noticed Abium's emotional change and quickly made another suggestion.
"The last option is, you can go to Arcane Empire like I told you earlier and live under their protection. With your progression speed, you will also be able to attract some big shots' attention and get recognition over there. Hmm, wait a minute! I will give you a letter along with a family badge. I never intend to use this badge after I escaped from my home, but fate seems to be playing tricks on me. With that badge, you can even able to enter the Tower of Sun." Zivior said solemnly and then took out a scroll to write a letter.
After he wrote a long letter that almost looked like an apology letter, he handed it to Abium along with an opal-shaped Crimson badge.
"Once you use this Crimson Badge somewhere in the Arcane Empire, some people will definitely come and look for you. They may even hold hostile intentions towards you if you said you have some ties with me. Don't get killed by those fools. Search for a man named Thomas Holmes in the Tower of Sun or Crimson family and give this letter to him." Zivior gave him a detailed explanation and quickly changed the topic as he remembered something.
"The reason I asked you to meet me was because of these two people. Do you know them? Our only clue about them is that they also walked out along with the necromancers." Zivior asked while waving his hand. Soon, two illusionary faces appeared in front of him, causing him to widen his eyes in surprise. One was a short deep blue-haired girl while the other one was a short auburn haired male. The girl had black eyes, low-arched thick eyebrows, and a high nose bridge. And that male had hooded brown eyes, bronze skin, and triangular eyebrows.
"Yes, teacher. That girl's name is Aliza, and she also has a bounty of around 50,000 white gold coins on her head in Light Church's wanted list. I even found out that she stayed in Alastall woodlands for the past two years. As for that guy, I don't know anything about him except his name, race, and origin. His name is Ulzez, and he is a Dragonkin from another plane, most probably Abyss. I found out about him through one of my secrets, but I'm pretty sure that he is much stronger than any of us." After pondering for a bit, Abium chose to reveal all the information.
As Zivior heard Abium's words, he became shocked. Soon, his shocked expression turned into grim as he nodded in understanding.
"That explains everything. So, he must have shared some of the Abyssal knowledge with our teacher." Zivior said with a solemn tone and continued as he noticed Abium's puzzlement.
"Haa! I will tell you the reason why I asked about these two. After these two separated from the necromancers, they contacted Tabitha and asked Headmaster Alius to meet them. This Dragonkin also revealed a bit of his strength and convinced Tabitha that he has the equal strength of a peak second-tier mage. Then, our headmaster and this Dragonkin discussed for almost 12 hours and formed an agreement. It seems some Abyssal demon is after his heart, which is why this Dragonkin asked for Headmaster's help. If we help this Dragonkin Ulzez defeat the Abyssal demon, he said that he will work as a teacher for one hundred years in our institute. He also told us that he would share some of his knowledge with others, but we didn't take his words seriously. Now, I'm more curious about his knowledge." Zivior said with little excitement.
Meanwhile, Abium fell into deep thoughts. No Dragonkin appeared in the past, which made him think that he had already messed up the timeline.
'I think these changes occurred mostly due to me interfering with the Watcher's plan.' He furrowed his brows. Thinking carefully, he slowly began to connect the dots.
'First, I somehow got a vision of that Abyssal Syreni child, and then I bumped into Aliza's teacher Murius. At that time, I also hold some hostility towards Aliza. Then, I heard that she already got captured by some bandits and was taken to the pirate town.'
'By the time we went to rescue her, those pirates had already left the Pirate town along with her to the Wadel kingdom. But somehow, she escaped from them and met with this Dragonkin as if it was destined. It was like she was met with both misfortune and fate.' Abium suddenly stopped thinking and shifted his gaze toward the Miracle Star bracelet.
An understanding expression appeared on his face.
'Heh, it seems that Watcher actually had some plans for her, but somehow I interfered with his plan again. Then, he must have already been aware of this Miracle Star artifact. But why didn't he take it back using force instead of manipulating things.' Abium's eyes sharpened as he thought of a possibility and made a bold guess.
'He doesn't have an actual body? Nah, maybe he must be just a wandering soul? No, that's almost nonsense... Wait, what if he has an actual body, but he is too weak to take action against me?' Abium instantly smiles as he thought of that guess.
'For now, the arrival of this Dragonkin is a good thing indeed. The final seal is already broken, and the demons and devils must be manipulating humans to hold sacrificial rituals to open gates to the Abyss and Hell. Hmm, now, with him being on our side, our academy can use his knowledge to strengthen our defense.' Abium quickly organized his thoughts and asked his teacher about that Abyssal demon.
"Teacher, where is that Abyssal demon? Did he tell you about what it looks like?"