Southwestern part of the Southern Continent.

The formation was located on a high hill. Not far behind us was a cliff, and ahead of us was a gradual descent partially filled with vegetation. There was also a small town on this side, and local acolytes were moving towards us.

Beyond were endless forests. From here it seemed that there was no end to them. I was rather surprised by such a sight, assuming that here, like in the kingdom of Arun, most of the territory had long been inhabited by people. It seemed that it was not.

Kyle asked if the acolytes on this side had a map, and after paying the magic crystal, he handed it to me. We continued our way from the top. Two hooded Magicians moved along with us escorting Kyle. In the meantime, Kyle answered my question.

- Two Millennia ago, there was a great war in the Mage World. I don’t know what exactly was the reason, but those Mages created a disaster and divided the continent. There was barely any signs of civilization and mostly remains of humans on this continent were living as scattered tribes. Gradually, the central part of the Southern Continent began to recover and spread. The territories are more habitable there, although there are also many unsafe zones. Eventually 2nd rank Mages recreated ancient teleportation formations and passed through some anomaly zones to other sides of the continent connecting them with those formations.

There are many kingdoms and empires here, at the same time, vast territories are still wild. Some organizations settled next to the soulless, while others decided to choose hard-to-reach places. In general, the situation is rather chaotic.

I'd like to take you straight to the academy, but I'm afraid I've taken too long with this trip. Here is my teacher's sign, it will be active for another two months and will scare away creatures and Mages below rank 2. Then it will lose power. Just give Nocturne a letter from me, I'm sure he will try to help you.

Farewell father. - said Kyle and jumped on the wolf walking beside him.

- Goodbye Kyle. Thanks for the help.

I watched as Kyle and the three Magicians gradually galloped off into the distance.

Surely he did not believe that we would see each other ever again and that was reasonable. Even I didn't really believed it. The chances of me becoming a True Mage were extremely vague. There was no point in asking him to get me something extremely valuable like an Ascension potion. If every Magician asked for such resources for his relatives, then they would not be enough for anyone, especially for a relative who is already one foot in the grave.

But I was happy with my son. Surely Isabelle would be happy to see what he has become. That's all I needed. I hoped that Kyle also got what he needed from our meeting and would be able to move forward without looking back.

We moved to the west side and a month later, human territories began to appear. We once met a group of acolytes along the way, but they just passed by deciding not to mess with such a crowd of Knights. The beasts weren't that crazy either, and usually bypassed us.

Soon we were already moving along the highway and we were all glad to see the signs of civilization. We saw outlines of large cities along the way. Even a large bird flew by in the sky above us, apparently with a Magician on its back.

I nurtured the Tarrister Guild for 26 years, yet I was practically nobody back then. Now I had a lot of qualified people and tons of gold. But on the other hand, I did not want to leave my group in the middle of one of the densely populated cities. Sellinger was the only True Knight with me, so I was afraid there might be problems that my people couldn't handle without me.

I myself was going to spend some time at Garrow Academy filling in the gaps in my knowledge. Might have to go on an adventure. I had no idea how long this would take.

Looking at the map, I was looking for an area away from all other organizations, but not too far from the nearest cities so that there was a possibility of trade. I would not want acolytes of various stripes to regularly pass through my territory.

Soon such a territory was found. We moved from a small town along one of the country paths for almost a month and finally reached the borders of the High Forest. The trees here gradually became thicker and larger, many were 3-5 meters wide and towered many tens of meters.

There was a small settlement, more like a village. The main activity of the locals was a kind of sawmill. In addition, the land was gradually ennobled in the territory freed from forests. Water, food, building materials, trade route, insulation. That's really all I needed. Many of those who went with me probably dreamed of something more grandiose, but I did not give any guarantees of a happy and carefree life.

Although local trees were not of particular value, they were still stronger than ordinary trees and had some fire resistance. Therefore, locals sometimes sent processed wood to the city for sale. From the faces of the local residents and their hard work, it became clear that they did not come here from a good life. I dumped a lot of gold on the local True Knight and his family, and they happily agreed to leave this place. There were various slaves and workers who brought my people up to date.

This is how the settlement of Tarrister appeared on the Southern Continent.

Although sometimes there were various dangerous living creatures, but since the previous family somehow coped, then my fighters should have coped without problems.

I myself spent some time in the settlement to partially hide the gold, and leave the other part of the gold with Rock. He will be hidden in one of the basements where he can bathe in gold coins to his heart's content.

Kyle taught me how to create a mental imprint for communication, which I left with my people, slightly modifying them to reproduce the actual sound. The runes in the imprint not only allowed to maintain communication over a long distance, but also retained mental energy for a while. Unfortunately Nocturne's imprint was inactive for a long time so Kyle could not contact him.

Leaving Sellinger in charge, I took Lawrence and Murphy's children with me to the academy. Their names were Joe and Nissa respectively. Joe was 12 and Nissa was only 10. Along the way, we visited various cities and towns. I explored the local sights and continued to meditate and experiment with runes. Now I've focused primarily on my sound element and the interaction of sound waves with each other to enhance the effect.

For the most part, the local kingdoms weren't too different from those in Outland. More mixed people, Knights and Mages, that's essentially the whole difference.

One day 3rd rank acolyte drove by us on the road. When we almost caught up I felt his mental wave. Both children lost consciousness.

- Do not get me wrong. I am not very accurate with my mental energy ... - acolyte said, showing his hands in a gesture of reconciliation.

At the same moment, I turned in his direction, the runes on my back glowed and the power of the directed shock wave carried me forward like a cannon shot. My sword almost instantly pierced the acolyte, his eyes did not even have time to widen in surprise. But I just could not stop myself so I crashed into an acolyte at full speed. His body was literally flattened and torn to pieces like an overripe watermelon. I also got some damage from such a maneuver. Will have to work on this formation more.

Fortunately, the children were able to recover eventually.

Checking everyone with mental energy was a bad idea. Of course a strong or self-confident Magician could well check those who is weaker than himself, but the opposite could end in failure. It was considered aggression and was a kind of risky business. At least a sign of disrespect.

As expected, this acolyte was from Garrow Academy, probably moving on a mission somewhere in the city. Apparently my appearance as a Knight in dark gold armor did not cause the acolyte a single drop of anxiety, only greed. I threw the belongings of another idiot into my chest and moved on.

It took us about 6 months to finally reach Garrow Academy. This despite the fact that the academy was the closest organization to my settlement in this part of the continent.

There was a multi-storey black building or a variation of the castle occupied a huge area in the middle of academy. Two other academy buildings was nearby that castle and also looked quite impressive. Further there were various secondary outbuildings and polygons.

There were acolytes of various ranks, humanoid puppets, golems of various types and forms scattered around. At the entrance to the gates of the academy, there were two acolytes of the 3rd rank with golems in the form of statues behind their backs.

- Purpose of the visit? - one of them asked impassively.

I took out the letter and explained the purpose of the visit.

The acolyte sent a message through the imprint.

- Lord Nocturne. Kyle Tarrister's father is here with a letter from his son.

After receiving the answer, he turned to me again.

- Here's a temporary pass. Follow this soulless puppet.

We followed emotionless body in an unpretentious working uniform, passing along the alley past the buildings straight to the central castle. There was a rather bleak atmosphere around. Sometimes tired acolytes in gray cloaks passed by as if they were late for something. Soulless puppets with same facial expression here and there created an eerie contrast.

I looked at the frightened children and cheered them up a little. I wondered about myself if this was really an academy or a camp for the mentally ill. The puppet led us to a fairly spacious and well-furnished office where we waited Nocturne arrival for an hour.

Finally Nocturne himself entered the office. A middle-aged man resembling a teacher in appearance. Only fiery pupils and overwhelming presence stood out. The children and I bowed in greeting. Meanwhile Nocturne sat down at his desk and looked at us with interest, after which he began to read the letter. Unlike the acolytes earlier, Nocturne's mental wave passed me almost imperceptibly. Shortly after he finally spoke.

- Sam Tarrister?

- Yes sir. - I replied.

- What kind of material is this? - he asked about my armor.

- I found some of this gold in Outland, sir. Is there no such material around here? - I clarified.

I asked my own question hoping that Nocturn will change the subject. Seems like he was not interested enough to bother about it so he ignored my question and continued.

- In any case, you shouldn't be wearing armor at the academy.

- But your acolytes are quite aggressive sir.

I took out three academy acolyte badges, two tattered robes, and a couple of other trinkets from the chest.

Nocturne only took the badges.

- So you were attacked by three academy acolytes at once?

- No sir, I killed them individually. They tried to test me with their mental energy.

Now Nocturne was slightly annoyed.

- And you killed them just for that? Even I was interested to know what material your armor is made of, no wonder they were also interested. Kyle said that his father is a rather unpleasant person, now I understand what he meant.

Either way, consider yourself lucky. None of those killed were disciples of the True Mage. Otherwise, you wouldn't have made it here.

Nothing threatens you on the territory of the academy. You will receive your own room and a special pass to all areas for acolytes as well as unlimited access to the library. Why you brought those children with you? - asked Nocturne.

- These are the children of some of my Outland friends. I am ready to pay for the transfer of meditation techniques to them. Of course it will be even better if you are ready to accept them into the academy sir.

To test the talent, a special formation was needed, the use of which cost about 50 magic crystals. No one will install it for the sake of two people.

Nocturne summoned a small fire elemental. He went to the depths of the office and brought two small black spheres.

- There is no place for the soulless around. Let them try right now. If they survive and can become acolytes they will be accepted into the academy.

Both children did as instructed. Joe died soon after, unable to survive the mental transmission. Nissa seemed to be fine, although she had lost consciousness. The corpse of Joe was carried away by a puppet, Nissa will first have to successfully become an acolyte, only then will she be accepted into the academy.

Before I left Nocturne still decided to give me his fingerprint for communication and said not to kill anyone but to inform him if something happened.