“Father! Why won’t you let me become an adventurer?” Alexis quickly dodged his magic, before chanting his own magic. “【Electric Pulse】”. Tens of small purple balls quickly surrounded Elijah before rapidly closing in. “Father, can’t you see how strong I am?” They all burst at the same time, trapping and stunning their target. He kneeled down, placing his palms on the ground before chanting out, 【Black Lotus】”. On the ground where Elijah was standing, a large black lotus sprouted in full bloom.

The flower quickly closed up, Elijah’s figure couldn’t be seen anymore. It was a unique spell that worked passively, taking the victim’s mana and disabling them from using any more spells. “It seems like you are still naive Alex.” The lotus shattered into pieces, purple lightning bolts erupted from it, revealing Elijah who didn’t have a single scratch on him. “The fact that you had to rely on dark magic and were still not able to finish me off, tells me how naive you are.”

“Guh, how?” Alexis barely managed to dodge the lightning lance coming his way. “Watch and learn well son.” Dozens of purple lilies of different sizes began to appear, floating around Elijah. If it weren’t for the fact that they were in a battle now, Alexis would’ve stopped and appreciated how skilful his father was at magic. “Father, you can’t be serious, using that on me?”

“Who said I wouldn’t? Plus, didn’t you want show off to me?.” The lilies burst into petals, reminding Shin of the cherry blossoms that came every spring.

“Now’s not the time to get distracted.” Alexis quickly put distance between, before concentrating on his own spell.

It was the first time he was trying it out in a battle so he wasn’t sure if it would work out fine. “As the night falls and the clouds hover, the darkness covers as the lightning strikes, for those who stay behind, 【Eternal Storm】”. Alexis tried to combine both magic together to create a unique spell only he could use. It trapped the victim in a small bubble, shrouded in darkness. Then by slowly corrupting their minds, it left their body in a soulless condition, while Alexis’s lightning magic mercilessly tortured their physical body, leaving with them depleted mana and a weakened body.

However, it had a major flaw; it only worked well against weak-minded people. Those with a strong will could resist the corruption, forcefully escaping his first layer of attack. This rendered the second attack weaker as it heavily relied on the mind to be weakened in order to fully defeat the victim physically.

Alexis saw that the petals quickly moved towards him, his father’s magic could be described as beautifully sharp. If any one of those petals manage to scrape across his skin, his body would begin to slow down under their paralysing effect, making him more vulnerable to the next attack. As much as Alexis hated to sweat, he had to dodge them in order to stay alive. Seeing how 【Eternal Storm】was reaching its final stage, Alexis gambled and cast one last spell with his remaining mana, “The past, present and future, as the taiko drums sound so does the thunder, please protect me...”

Just as Alexis was about to finish casting his spell, he got cut down by his father’s many petals; his legs lagged behind and his arms trembled as Alexis commanded them to move. “Fuah~, that one took me a while to get out of.” Elijah broke apart the lotus flower, waving his hand. The surrounding petals streamlined towards Alexis, cutting him in multiple areas, letting his bright red blood trickle slowly trickle down from the wounds. “Guah!”

It stings! Aside from the paralysis, the petals gave him thousands of small paper-like cuts. Although it appeared to only cut the surface, it actually cut deeper than he thought. “Alex, where did you get the idea to combine both of your magic together? I’ll have to ask you in the future to cast it again.” Elijah casually muttered out his analysis of 【Eternal Storm】, giving its pros and cons. He leisurely walked up to Alexis who was crouching over in pain, “You were so close. Just a bit more and maybe you would've placed a scratch on me.”

Alexis weakly lifted his head, “It’s not over yet Father,” meekly refuting his words. Deep breath in, deep breath out, “【Raijin’s Reign】”.

Numerous lightning bolts were cast from the sky, aiming for Elijah as soon as Alexis finished. Elijah barely managed to dodge the sudden attack spell, fleeing his spot. He moved fluidly, avoiding it as it chased him down relentlessly. A thin barrier began forming around Elijah as he simultaneously began to chant another spell.

What was different about【Raijin’s Reign】was that the lightning strikes were similar to homing arrows, where they followed their target as they tried to escape. A single contact with it would render the target weak at their knees and unable to maintain their posture. “Marvellous Alex. You manage to enhance your skills more than I thought. I shall retract my statement about you being naive towards magic.”

He finally stopped, allowing for the lightning bolts to be absorbed into his barrier, “However, you must think outside of the box in order to truly master your magic.” The barrier shattered into flower petals once more before gathering at his right hand, morphing into a rapier, “But, I do look forward to your progress Alex. I have high hopes for you.”

Elijah fully relaxed his body with a single breath, “【Scattering Petals】”. He dashed forward, easily closing the distance between them. It took a single swing to completely overwhelm Alexis, throwing him across the field. “Hack!” Alexis coughed out a handful of blood, laying defeatedly on the ground.

He was about to stand up again until he heard familiar voices ringing in his ears. “LEX!” Hurried footsteps sounded along the ground. Alexis wanted to greet them when a hand gently pressed him down.

A gentle, cool-touch began spreading along his body, slowly healing his wounds. “Lex, don’t be so reckless next time. What if you got severely hurt?” Lucius worriedly scolded Alexis. His ice-blue almond eyes still remained crystal clear, his silver, wavy hair now neatly trimmed, framing his maturing, youthful face. Lucius’s healing magic reminded Shin of the ocean breeze, putting him at ease. His tense body finally relaxing after going against his father.

Darcel, who was holding him down, used his wind magic to blow away the dust gathered on his clothes. He didn’t say anything but his red phoenix eyes narrowed in displeasure. He lowered his head, allowing his black hair to cover his eyes. As soon as Lucius was finished with his treatment, Darcel effortlessly lifted Alexis into his arms, shifting his body weight to rest on his shoulders. “There’s no need to be so upset. I just need to rest for a day and I’ll be back to normal.” Alexis patted his head as if he was pacifying a sulking child.

Alexis tried to brush off the battle as nothing serious. If he showed any signs of discomfort, the two would unhesitantly lock him at home, unable to move from the bed until they were certain he wasn't in danger.

“That’s not why I’m upset.” Alexis slightly twitched at his response, he knew very well that Darcel wasn’t easy to calm down. “Lex, just because I can heal your injuries, doesn’t mean I want to see you hurt.” Lucius interrupted his thoughts, his pleading eyes begging for Alexis to stop being so impulsive.

“Nnngh…” Alexis glanced at their faces; who told them to grow up so handsome? Everywhere they went, heads would be turning, it didn’t even matter which gender it was. No one could refuse a good looking face. “Haa… You guys win. I owe you a favour each plus one outing with me. Deal?”

“Deal.” Lucius happily clasped his hand in response while Darcel coyly rubbed his head against Alexis, pleased at his compromise. “But I had a good reason for fighting against my father. Didn’t we say we would become adventurers in the future?” Alexis tried to rationalise his battle against his father, in order to hopefully soften their thoughts.

“Yes we did but we’re seventeen now and they only allow for those at least eighteen to register.” Lucius blocked out his reasoning, with Darcel backing him up, “If anything we still have to wait for you since your birthday is mid-year.”

"But it's not my fault that I was born in the second half of the year."

"Yeah but that doesn't excuse you going off and fighting against your dad. What if you got so severely injured that Lu can't even heal you? And on top of that, your body is about to undergo major changes and yet you still choose to behave recklessly!"

Darcel unexpectedly exploded in frustration. Why couldn't he understand how important he is to me? He was willing to do anything to stay by his side even if it only meant as friends. Alexis flinched at his words, he couldn't fault them but it made him feel a little unbearable to breathe.

"Now, now. Darc, calm down. Let's get Lex to his room first then you can lecture him. And Lex, don't try to be smart with me. I don't want to hurt you at all so don't provoke me." Alexis was about to snap back at Darcel when Lucius jumped in and mediated the situation. Now given a warning from both of them, Alexis meekly behaved, shutting his mouth while they supported him to his bedroom.

“Boys, I know that you’ll be returning back to the dormitories this weekend but make sure you come see both me and Felix before returning,” Elijah called out to them before they left. Alexis sent a small zap towards his father as a response. Pleased with his response, Elijah gave them a gentle reminder, “Make sure you talk it out. I don’t want to send you off to school unhappy with each other.” Elijah turned away to discuss some things with Felix.

I feel bad for leaving my readers dry for almost three weeks so as a thank you for the patience, I'll post this chapter earlier than planned! Hopefully I would be able to get up another chapter on Thursday just so we can return to normal schedules! Once again, thank you for your patience!

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