Ascension: Strongest Fateless Mage

The flying ship was even faster than planes, and they arrived at the Lankrena region in four hours. Soon, they saw a magnificent palace and other buildings on a large scale, all made of exotic stones and woods. The whole area of Skyward Academy was on high ground on an island that was surrounded by water.

Zevien and others also saw a nearby town and an even larger place than the Skyward Academy behind the academy several kilometers away: Magic Guild Headquarters!

After Baishi docked the ship on the island, they rode on an open mini flying boat towards the abode area that had a beautiful river flowing from a mountain behind it. There were abodes on the ground, then abodes on slightly elevated parts behind the river, and then abodes on hills.

There were already some students whose ages ranged from 18 to 20. They were talking and pointing at the abodes.

"There are three ranks of abodes in this area," Baishi said as she turned to Zevien and the others and explained, "the lowest rank of abodes are Trash-rank abodes. You see these abodes on the ground, their sizes are small, and they also have a small backyard, although enough for two people. The second rank is Decent-rank, and they are those abodes on the other side of this river."

Zevien and the others followed Baishi's hand and saw bigger abodes on the other side of the river. The environment and spacing were also better, with a small garden and a decent backyard.

"The first rank is Elite-rank," Baishi continued as she pointed at the hills lined up in a row before the giant mountain range and behind the decent rank abodes, "there are only ten of such abodes on a total of ten hills. The entire hill belongs to the students living on those abodes, and the soil there is also better than Decent-rank abodes, so you can grow whatever you want there."

"Next, I'll tell you other benefits of living in these abodes," Baishi smiled as she took out a gold badge, "Bronze badges in Trash-rank abodes, Silver badges in Decent-rank abodes, and gold badges in Elite-rank abodes. You can wear the badge of your abode after entering one, and depending on the badge, you will get different treatment everywhere on this island and in our special region in Astral Land."

"Astral land?" Roman squinted his eyes, "we can go to Astral land?"

"You will go to Astral land for some tasks, yes. But only if you managed to pass the 1st year elimination exam," Baishi smiled and gestured to the students with her hands to leave, "now leave this ship and get your abode by fighting with other students. On this island, anything, and everything, is allowed except for killing and crippling your fellows' magic cores. Even if you are almost beaten to death, we will heal you."

"How barbaric," Henil gulped before speaking in worry, "it seems that I will have to beat them to a near death-state before they do it to me."

"So no more protective armors, huh? Hehe, fine by me," Dan grinned as he turned to Zevien, "it's more fun that way, right?"

Zevien also grinned and cracked his knuckles, "let's go and take the Elite-rank abode. We are not living in anything below that."

Suddenly, another mini-ship boat arrived with a beautiful red-haired busty woman and seven students.

"Baishi, you are here! So these are the students from Lopax country?" the woman looked at Zevien and the group as if sizing them up.

"Oh, Rufina? Yes, I went to pick up students from Starlight city," Baishi raised her eyebrows and looked at the students behind her, three girls and four boys, "what about you?"

"These are students from Uman country's capital state, the cream of the crop," Rufina smiled.

"Senior Baishin, sorry to interrupt you, but we will be moving to take our abodes now," Zevien said with a polite smile.

"Good luck," Baishin nodded with a faint smile, "since you said that you will not take anything below Elite rank, I want to see you with a gold badge after four days. Oh. You get full freedom here; you can do whatever you want, even leave this island and roam anywhere. But if you lose your life outside, we are not to blame."

Zevien, Vernisia, Erica, Dan, Henil, Roman, and Leena nodded with a somber expression before turning around and leaving.

…

The Starlight city group stopped at the riverbank as Zevien, Vernisia, Erica, and Dan were looking at the abodes on the hills and were deciding on which one they should choose.

"Umm, so do we stay in our group for a while? After all, we are familiar with each other," Leena said.

"We can do that, but before that…," Roman said before turning to Henil. "I'll ask you one last time. Do you want to pair up with me?" Roman asked.

"Eh, no thanks," Henil shook his head, "I want a female partner."

After saying that, he left the group and went towards a small group of three girls standing twenty meters away.

"Why do you want to pair with him?" Leena asked doubtfully.

"Why? Obviously, because he is powerful," Roman sighed. "He is the most powerful in our academy, not me."

"Eh? No way, right?" Leena was startled. She was also a 3rd-year student and in the same class as Roman. She knew Roman was a genius in the academy with the highest performance, but she had never heard about Henil.

"No joke," Roman shook his head, "he acts idiotically, and it's his nature. But he is more powerful than me."

"Alright, we have decided," Erica said as she pointed at the 3rd hill, "we are going to live in that abode. Let's go, Dan."

"What about you, bro?" Dan asked Zevien.

"We'll take the 4th one. These two abodes have this river separating them, and I feel those two hills are nicer. I also want to check out the large mountain range behind those hills," Zevien said.

"Yep. Those two are the best-looking hills," Vernisia nodded with slight excitement filling her eyes, "that large waterfall coming from the mountain should be a beautiful place as well."

However, what awaited them on those hills was something they never expected.