"Grand Elder, is there something wrong?" the remaining elder in the room asked out loud even though it was not completely necessary to. Between the two elders and Timothy, the only other person present was that elder's assistant who was also not in a position to speak up when she saw Timothy's test results.

"Timothy, tell me one thing, did you know about your high affinity for the fire element? And if so, why would you come to our academy when you could have easily been accepted into a first rate power such as the Yellow Flames Sect? They would have groomed you to become a potential pillar and you would have received an endless supply of resources and connections of your choosing."

Hearing the Grand Elder and seeing the veins popping out in his hands after asking him directly about this, Timothy could only take a deep breath and try to play it off slightly since he did want to join the academy instead of a local hegemon, but there was no way he could disclose right now how the Iron Will Sect had treated him and his family until the very end which caused him to relocate as he had.

"If I were to remain in this region, my future would be extremely limited compared to anywhere else. If I can be accepted into your academy here, even if it is a very small chance, at least it would be possible for me to obtain a position working under the Imperial Family. Truth be told, I am too young to join the military and my aspirations are very high, enough to even want to surpass your current power Grand Elder."

Hearing Timothy's answer made the Grand Elder ponder for some time silently. Timothy was in fact still a child, but where did such a child learn to talk like a sage who spent decades seeking immortality? There was nothing the Grand Elder could do except to test Timothy's bones to verify he was as old as he claimed he was. Once he finished verifying using the bone marrow test, the Grand Elder excused the elder and his assistant by stating that he wanted to speak to Timothy alone now.

"Remain here for an hour, I will have one of our teachers bring you a meal and some fresh clothes. I have something that I must attend to right away but will be back as soon as I can." the Grand Elder told him before standing up and disappearing out of the room leaving not a single trace that he was ever there in the first place.

"Do not be surprised my disciple, that Grand Elder figure is of the Lightning element and at the fifth rank, by pouring mana into his feet, he could move very quickly. Just remember that by the time you are around that rank whether as a mage or warrior, you will still be able to visually keep up with movements like that!" the artifact told Timothy while chuckling. With such a weak disciple, it was clear that the artifact was mocking Timothy for being so weak as to not be able to keep up with the movements of a simple rank 5 mage.

As expected, five minutes later a male teacher walked in and gave Timothy a pair of fresh clothes that looked rather nice for a commoner as well as a nice meal which was a beef stew and three rolls of bread. Exactly one hour later, the Grand Elder walked into the room with an expert and some guards that were wearing very shiny silver armor that looked to be extremely high quality compared to anything Timothy was able to see in this world.

"Little one, this is a representative of the Imperial Palace and his five guards. After making my report to the Imperial Palace which is a branch of the Imperial Family that's role is to oversee our region among several other ones near us, they had sent this expert over. It has been roughly twenty five years since our region has produced a youth willing to join our academy who has a high elemental affinity and because of this, you will be treated very well in the future if you decide to return to settle down."

The Grand Elder gestured for the expert to sit down across from Timothy but the expert shook his head while still smiling. "What this Grand Elder said is true, but we must begin to make our way to your academy which will be your new home as soon as possible and it looks like you do not have much right now which is even better so we can head out immediately. Our goal is to make it to the Wind region and to get you settled into the Grey Imperial Academy!"

This was an absolute shock to Timothy and even with all of his years of experience within his past life, there was no way that he could compose himself. Along with his meal, the same teacher returned shortly after with a small booklet of information that was generally known to every academy student. Within the booklet it explained that there were five different Imperial Academies within the empire that stood out and would actually bring in all of the top prospects of four regions. Students of these academies were regarded as only one step away from total freedom because even some nobles would send their children to these academies due to the benefits of even flunking out.

Each student of Grey Imperial Academy would have much better resources given to them on a monthly basis and would even allow them to network with individuals in different sectors of the empire as a whole such as military officers, one of the major merchant groups, a handful of ancient clans that worked directly under the Imperial Family and supported them completely, among others.

Therefore, if one were to even attend for a single year and was deemed to have a high enough potential, a student could drop out of the academy but bank on the connections they had made over that single year in order to as simply as flipping their hands, achieve a level of success that would take decades for any other expert to achieve. This example could be having a very stable work foundation, being accepted into a very powerful faction, receiving an officer level rank or close in the military, among other avenues one could pursue.

"What you have guessed is true, I no longer have a family and no place to turn to so we can leave as soon as this peerless elder is ready to." kowtowing and using his sharp tongue, Timothy chose to not spend any time delaying, especially since the artifact was yelling nonstop at him, causing a big migraine to begin surfacing. Plus, he was now dressed in a very nice wardrobe that was on the conservative side but went very well with his face since it was a blue outfit with little white clouds all around it.

"Very good, then let us head out because I would like to get back to my home at a decent hour tonight." the expert said with a little laugh. Due to it being twenty five years since the last youth in this region was accepted into Grey Imperial Academy, this expert had spent his days mostly training since he was in charge of the region. It was a rather sad existence because although he had a large home and everything was taken care of including receiving a nice salary, he would not receive any bonuses year after year due to the region being so weak.

The Imperial Family was always more than happy to pay it forward to those in their ranks doing a lot of the grunt work. If Timothy were to graduate from the Grey Imperial Academy, this expert would receive an additional bonus from the Imperial Family. However, this went to show how poor he was compared to his peers who held the other three positions. With roughly five students with commoner backgrounds graduating every ten years from the Grey Imperial Academy, bonuses for those chosen for the positions his peers held would stack up very quickly!

Before long, the group escorting Timothy and himself arrived in the city center where the teleportation array was located. Due to the five guards in armor that made even the top five powers within the city jealous, it was clear to everyone they passed by, that whoever Timothy was, he should not be given any trouble in the future if they were to run into him at any point. The guards were simple guards but the armor they were wearing was better than most elders in cities like the one they were in, and if the expert who was their leader were to enter into a battle for whatever reason, there was no telling what kind of powerful armor he would have!