"Tired," he replied. And it was true. He felt as if every muscle in his body had been overworked.

"It’s a surprise you even survived," Elena said. Was that meant to lift his spirit? Definitely not! "The magic you casted can only be endured by a class three mage, the least!" She explained.

"What about this private sect of students?" Parish asked.

"It was established to identify talented students and keep them away from the prying eyes of the world. No one, not even the president knows about this, only the masters of this academy."

"Not even your son?" Could Kael fail to know of such a thing?

"Not even him. If he knew, everyone in the academy would be talking about it."

She walked to the bedside and poured herself a glass of water. "The masters are fighting for you," she said after taking a sip and turned to look at him.

"You know I’ll choose you," Parish replied.

"It’s a honor you’ve been granted and you should choose wisely. All the masters are special in their own way and that’s why students fight for them. Master Dawn, for example, is the master of the young strongest member of our pavilion."

Was she trying to dissuade Parish from picking her? He had already made that decision in his mind and there was no turning back. She was the headmistress for a reason.

"How many disciples do you have under you?" Parish asked. He wondered how many she was willing to take in.

Elena placed the now empty glass on the table and walked near the window that was open to let in light. "One," she answered.

"What class is he?" Parish enquired.

"She," Elena corrected, surprising Parish further. "She’s a class four mage, second division."

Parish tried to believe her but he simply couldn’t. The headmistress had only one disciple, a lady at that, and she was a class four mage!

"That makes us two then," he said after a while of silence. Elena looked at him and walked closer with the same smile on her face.

"Get some rest," she said, drawing the blanket closer to Parish before she walked out.

Parish came to learn that the academy had five masters in total plus the headmistress, making the count to six. Most of the students were raging between classes two to four, with only a few number making it to five. The rest who were over class six were sons and daughters of great pavilions in humbria.

The masters were each well versed in either two or three elements, and those who had three were weak in one of them. Now he had four! He had to consider the elements that each master would control better. The headmistress, for example, was a full attribute wind mage. Rumors had it that she also specialized water but no one had ever seen her using the attribute.

Master Dawn, Kael’s master, was best in wind and fire attributes, a combination that was deadly if used well. Most of the other masters specialized in one greater attribute and martial arts to back them up. Master Dao was said to use fire attributes in martial arts with his famous flaming sword.

Parish slowly drifted off to sleep and when he woke up again, he found Lin in the room. She was serving food to him, and it smelled good yet strange to Parish.

"I didn’t know you were awake." Lin was surprised to see him looking at her. When she had earlier walked in, his eyes were closed. "I brought you some food."

Parish tried to sit up and surprisingly, he felt energetic unlike the last time. He could lift his arm with no pain.

He sat by the bed and took the bowl of soup placed on the table while Lin stood nervously watching him by the side. He gently placed it on his lips and took a sip, his eyes dilating at how delicious the soup was. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"How is it?" Lin asked. She held her hands on her back like a little girl waiting for a compliment from her father.

"Mouth watering," Parish said and took another sip, quicker this time.

"I cooked it for you," she said grinning all the while. "Here," she took the other bowl of rice and gave it to him. "It’s eaten together with the soup."

Lin was glad he liked her cooking. Everyone in the private sect did so he’d be no exception. She watched as he ravishly ate the rice with his bare hands though she had provided him with a spoon. The scene was disgusting but she thought he might be starving. Little did she know he had never held a spoon before.

"The masters are waiting for you," she informed him when he was close to finishing. He paused midway and nodded at her before running his fingers through the bowl to finalize the meal.

"Wear these clothes. You are now one of us," she said pointing at the set of clothes she had brought in before and left.

Parish scrubbed off the dirt as he had seen the others do in the bathroom earlier and splashed water on his skin. He noticed the golden scales had long disappeared and the scar he had gotten from the stab was healing super fast. The wound that was fresh earlier looked like one inflicted an year ago!

He covered it with the robes he was given. These ones had no Gretia’s label on them. They were somehow lighter and comfortable than the other one. After dressing he made for the room where he had been yesterday and found all the masters seated. An empty chair was placed in front, and the atmosphere tense. Parish walked in before Elena gestured him to sit on the chair.

"Do you know why you are here?" Master Dawn took the initiative to ask.

"Yes," Parish replied. "To select a master amongst yourselves," he added.

"You’re the first person to perceive all the four elements at once and in such a low class. You’re a great student in our academy and therefore deserves special treatment. That’s why we saw the need of you selecting a master for yourself unlike the other students."

"Thank you for the honor, masters," Parish said and slightly bowed as he had seen Lin do before.

"If you choose me, I’ll help you master my technique. It’s called Flaming sword mastery and enables you to combine martial arts with your manna. And since you summoned a sword earlier, I believe I’m the perfect master you need," Master Dao stated.

"I’m the master of the greatest student in the whole of Gretia and beyond. Some call me The master of greatness because the president actually passed in my hands as well. If you choose me, I’ll lead you to greatness as I have to all my disciples," Master Dawn boasted. But he had the right to.

The grand master coughed lightly catching the attention of everyone. He was the oldest of the masters and his techniques usually relied on texts and scrolls. He was the guardian of the library.

"Parish?" He called, his voice slightly wavering in the wind. "I currently have no disciple as most of them run to martial arts and cultivation nowadays. The texts our forefathers left for us are rotting in the shelves with these fools out there ignorant of the power in these words. You might be my last disciple if you choose me."

The room turned silent after the grand master’s words. Parish looked at Elena hoping she’d say something but she just stared back at him with no words. The other masters looked at him, all hoping to be chosen by the special lad.

"I am indeed honored to have this opportunity, masters. I had each one of you and your great contributions in the academy and beyond."

He looked at the grand master and said,"Everyone of you is equally important to me as I am to you. You are all a true manifestation of the four elements, but I never heard any master say they specialized in the water element."

All the masters looked at Elena. Water element mages were limited in Gretia. In fact, only a few were present in the capital and they all came from higher pavilions that specified in this element from the beginning of time. House Black Rose was one such family.

"The headmistress is the only Water mage we have in Gretia," Master Dawn said. "I u