I started getting pulled into the black void created by lady Isabella.
For a second I thought she was a really kind and caring person but I guess I was wrong. She didn’t even bat an eyelid when she cast this black void portal under me.

I didn’t expect things to escalate to such a state.
The next second the void that appeared under my feet started pulling me from within. I couldn’t even fight back as there was a formidable force.

“And for the love of God, not another black void,” I shouted to myself as I descended deep in the pitch-black void.

Having experienced roaming in the black void for hundreds of years, such pitch-black environments aren't really my favorite place to be.

Where the heck am I heading to?
To a jail cellar? Slaughterhouse? Or am I just sent to some black void yet again?
Is this the end?

As I was pondering what to do next, suddenly a light emerged below my feet.
The next thing I knew I was standing on some concrete ground.

“What the hell-” I said to myself as I saw the ceremony train in front of me.

“Wait, am I outside the train?” I asked myself.

I was standing on a sturdy platform made of concrete.
In front stood the enormous wagon brown in color with the sign engraved with the word B5- 7 engraved on it. That was our wagon.

I looked around to see that the train had halted here for some reason.
And I even saw a few rail guards standing at the platform not far from where I was.

For some reason, these rail guards were giving me this nasty stare.

At first, I was puzzled but then I noticed Moses and his friends also beside me sitting on the floor. They still had those soiled pants on them. No wonder they were looking at me with a weird stare.

I quickly backed away from this bunch and closed my nose,
“You guys really need to get your shit together… and I mean it in a literal sense.”

But not to my surprise Moses and the bunch didn’t even react.
The boys were all shaken to the core.
Some had lifeless eyes while some shook like a trembling leaf.
At least all of them were awake now.

Before I could check where I was, I heard a cry.

“Henry!”
“Roswald, what happened.”
“Mark, is that you?”
“Moses!”

A sudden cry attracted my attention.
What I saw was a couple of grown-ups hurrying to our position.

They were all a couple of grown-up pairs who hurried towards these terrified kids.
They were none other than the parents of these kids as per my guess. Seeing their kids in such a state had given them a fright.

“Moses! What the hell happened to you? Did you pee yourself again.” shouted Mose’s mom.

Moses father glanced at me for a second before turning his attention to his son again,
“He looks just fine. On your feet, Moses. We need to grab a change of new clothes, then I want a detailed report of what happened.”

Moses seeing his parents burst into tears,
“Mother!”

“Hey! Don’t come closer, or you might stain my clothes. I don’t know what happened but I am still glad you are okay.”

“Mom! Dad! Waah!” wailed out loud Moses.

It wasn’t just Moses the rest of the brats were also tearing up.
Only I was the only brat that wasn’t weeping with the rest of them.

I just quietly backed away before their parents started questioning me about what happened.
“Benji!” suddenly a familiar voice filled with concern called out to me.

I surprisingly turned around to see both my parents rushing to me in panic mode. They were sweating like crazy and seemed to look tired.

I was really happy and relieved to see them doing fine.

I quickly rushed to their side.
Only to be greeted by my mother’s embrace followed by my father’s head pat. Only after then, the two feel relieved.

“Benji! Are you alright?” my father asked with a concerned look.

“I am just fine,” I replied with a wry smile.
Explaining to them what happened would really traumatize this pair. They already had a lot of emotional drama back when the 2nd trial, it’s better to not tell them.

My mother finally let go of me but this time her eyes were filled with rage,
“Young man! Just because you recovered a bit doesn’t allow you to sneak out of your bed. Why didn’t you tell me when you woke up! How could you go outside when you were just seriously injured by a maniac mage instructor. You know how worried sick the two of us were.”

If that instructor mage was a maniac, then the lightning noble mage was the definition of insanity. It’s better to just not tell them anything, at least until they recover from the previous trauma.

“I am sorry! I just went to take a stroll, not a big deal.” I replied with a smile.

“You could have said so, we would have accompanied you. But now that you are fine, that’s all that matters.” said my dad with a smile.

Nice going dad.
Sometimes I love his carefree attitude.

But my mother wasn’t ready to let go.
Her eyebrows knitted.

“Why didn’t that Miss healer inform us when you were awake? I had specifically instructed her to inform me the first thing my son wakes up to.” she then gritted her teeth angrily, “Don’t tell me she just walked away from her duties to heal my son when I fell asleep unknowingly! She was slacking at her duty, wasn’t she! Are you really alright son? Did she really heal you? If you want I can talk with the manager-”

“I am alright mom! She healed me well and left afterward because she needed to attend to an urgent matter.” I replied.

Miss Urza was really kind, I must save her face.

My mother started looking around,
“We were woken up by a loud rumbling that shook our room like an earthquake. That’s when we noticed you were missing. We then headed out of the room to search for you all over but to no luck. That’s when we were suddenly pulled into a black portal only to be reunited together with our son outside the train. I wonder what’s this all about.”

“Oh wow. The same thing happened to me as well. Isn’t that just weird, Haha.” I replied, “Now the only thing that matters is that we all are safe, right.”

My father nodded in sync,
“Yes, that’s exactly right!”

But my mother was still suspicious as she glared at me with hawkeyes.
She first glanced at me than a lot of candidates who were balling out their eyes in the arms of their parents. She even noticed they soiled their pants.

She then looked at me once again,
“I hope the loud rumbling and us suddenly getting booted out of the train has nothing to do with you, right Benjamin?”

Whenever my mother switches in using my full name, that’s when my mother turns into serious mode. The air just stuck in my throat as I try to collect words,
“Hah, what! Why do you think like that! Of course not!”

I just evaded her eyes and looked away.

“Why were we the only ones kicked out of the train then, huh?” asked my mother as she looked around curiously.

I need to quickly change the subject somehow!

I quickly looked around, just to notice a billboard named Delven city written on it.
“We are already here! This is the Delven city station,” I said out loud.

“Oh, that’s nice. I guess reaching the destination safely is what matters.” chimed in my father, “By the way, what’s the matter with those kids? Why are they all crying?”

Father should really need to return back to his carefree attitude.
Why is he being so nosy now!

Sweat started forming on my brows,
“Who knows? Maybe they are not used to the teleportation method and were frightened by it. Haha, they are just a bunch of weaklings. Just ignore them.” I quickly tried to cover up.

My mother was still suspicious,
“Well, where are the rest of the candidates then-”

But before I could answer with more lies.

Suddenly there was a hissing sound coming from the wagon.
The next second the door of our wagon opened up and a platform descended and joined down to our platform creating a mini bridge.

Out of the wagon stepped out candidates dressed up in the iconic white jumpsuit. Their parents also stood beside them who were all proud and smiled as they stood alongside their children who managed to clear the trials. There were also the former candidates who were no longer wearing the jumpsuits. Probably the ones who had failed to clear the trials and were comforted by their parents.

All the candidates and their parents walked out of the wagon with mixed feelings as the journey had finally ended. It wasn’t long before the empty Delven station platform was suddenly crowded by people.

“Hey let’s get moving. We must book an inn before all of the rooms get booked.” my father said as he unveiled a map of Delven city, “There is an inn I have booked ahead of time. Need to reach them on time or they might pass our booked room to other people.”

“I still don’t get why these folks are able to leave through the door and why we were the only ones who were forcibly teleported.” my mother said out loud as she glared at me.

I just pretended to be clueless and just picked up our luggage,
“No point in crying over spilled milk. Let’s go.”

“Hey! You cheeky brat reply with the proverbs that I taught you.”

Thankfully our luggage was also teleported along with my parents. At least lady Isabella was kind enough to give our luggage back. But kicking us out of the train was a little too extreme nevertheless.

We then quickly marched to head towards the exit to enter the city.

Right at this moment, there was a cool breeze and a beautiful view of the city was visible to us.
The Delven station was built on high ground similar to every other station.

The city of Delven was one of the seven biggest cities in the Zephinya kingdom.
As I walked towards the exit with my family I was mesmerized by the beauty of the view the city had to offer.

The sun shone brightly over the sky and the blue sea in the background gave Delven city a beautiful look that pleased one’s eye. There were hundreds of ships sailing in and out at the harbor line. The city was lively as we could hear the noise of the hustling people from so far away despite looking like the size of the ants.

The city was protected by fortified walls towering from the three sides and the other side was protected by the sea.

Meanwhile, the city itself was beautifully designed with beautiful houses and buildings made out of beautiful white stones. The city almost glistened under the sun.

On the edge of the city stood a gorgeous palace that was built at the cliffside near the sea. The city lord and his family who overlook the Delven city should be residing there, no surprise there.

This city was nothing like the Merrian town back at home.
This was an actual civilized city.

“This place is wonderful.” my mother said as she smiled,
“It won’t be long before we move into such a city.”

Well now that I am a mage candidate and not to brag, potentially a genius who managed to use mana at the age of 12 despite no noble background. It won’t be long before our family might get promoted to the high-class rank soon enough. So getting citizenship to live in this city won’t be just a pipe dream.

We continued to move forward towards the exit that was at the edge of the platform.
The station was crowded with people as all the candidates came out of all the wagons at the same time.

It wasn’t long everyone was squeezed tight shoulder to shoulder moving at a turtle speed.
It seemed forever to get down this crappy station.

Just when I was just getting frustrated with all the people-
“Yo! Beanjam, you are still alive.” another familiar voice.

When I turned around to see, no one was beside me.

“I am here.”

That’s when I turned down to see none other than shortie Tracker Welch.
Luckily he was still wearing the white jumpsuit, so even he managed to clear the trial.

“Oh, so there you are. Hello there.” I greeted him.

“Hey! Where were you? You missed all the events hosted for the candidates! From the awesome presents to the amazing duels hosted by the elite mages. There was even a ritual where we traveled back in memories to relive past events! The week passed in a blink of an eye. Sadly it seems you were recuperating from the 2nd trial event. Don’t worry, I shall share all my experiences.” informed Tracker with a smug smile.

“Is that so?” I replied a bit confused.

I was booted from the train not long ago.
As I remember, it was only our 2nd day aboard the ceremony train before getting the boot. It's hardly been a minute and the other candidates have already left the train. On top of that, we already reached Delven city, which according to the itinerary should take another 5 days.

“I see,” I muttered to myself.

Listening to all the events Tracker described, the events proceeded without any delays.

We were inside a time chamber all this time.
For me, it’s been only 2 days since I boarded the ceremony train but for Tracker and the others, it’s been a week already.

I wonder how many days it actually took for the ceremony train to reach here on Delven port.
Maybe only hours, who knows.

But then what was the view out of the window that I saw through our dorm room?
Was it all a fabrication?

The ceremony train is all but a big hunk of mystery dungeon.
There are said to be only 3 such ceremony trains that function during the ascension test conducted in the major cities. I guess even the other two trains have the time chamber ability.

Now, this clears how big of an asset this ceremony train is.
No wonder the other kingdoms eye the Zephinya kingdom’s technology.

I later introduced Tracker to my parents.
It is not that I wanted to, it’s just my mother caught me talking with the pipsqueak. She was a little too dramatic as I never held a polite conversation with other kids of my age. The only one I was ever tolerant enough of was Heather. So she was all but dramatically happy going so far as to declare Tracker as my friend.
He was just a fellow candidate that I met, nothing more or less. But I had no energy to argue with my mother anyway.

Tracker for some reason got along well with my parents pretty well.
Tracker also introduced his father to me and my family, who was also an adventurer. The uncanny appearance of his father’s matching spiky hair was a dead giveaway that where did Tracker get his hairstyle from.

Tracker’s dad was quite friendly and got along with my parents right away. I also learned Tracker’s mother passed away when he was young; his father was the one who looked after him.

After a long walk, we finally descended down from the station platform to only be met with the other rail guards. It was there that the rail guards reexamined our bracelets carefully.

We were then handed three visas each which allowed us to enter Delven city.
I really hope this will be the last time seeing the rail guards and I hope to never see them ever again.