I Will Be the Greatest Knight

The knights could not understand the anxiety that rose in Siverly's chest as his boat was pushed away from the shore, seemingly effortlessly, but using much of the mage's focus to direct his mana backwards.

He knew that the knights he spent most of his time with thought he was strange. He was studious, a bit standoffish, and not the friendliest person alive, but where he was going, the mages there were far worse. It was a big reason why he left in the first place, unable to stand the rule-following, quill-pushers who would never bend rules or be a bit more curious than what was acceptable.

A mage's entire purpose was to learn how to master their mana and seek knowledge, but none of the ones who remained on the island were willing to experiment with their environment or those around them. They let their physical forms waste away while completely relying on mana since enrichment of the mind was more important than enrichment of the body, at least to them.

Yet he found a band of knights who accepted his rebelliousness. His favorite branch of mana practice had to do with herbs and healing. The knighthood was his to experiment with, and they knew that his experiments weren't perfect all the time, but that his healing mana would fix any problems that arose.

Not only could he work with and study his favorite branch, but they also didn't mind if he took all the mana stones they came across and tested the bounds of the rocks until they broke from overuse, and each bit of mana was no longer. Namely, Duke Mattson was ever supportive of his experimentation because it benefited the knighthood.

Now here Siverly was, floating towards the very island that kicked him out in the first place. However, unlike Stanley, he wasn't forbidden from returning because he had a certain connection within the island that gave him a bit of privilege over anyone else there.

As his boat neared the shore, he heard unrest from inside despite how late it was. He had a mana pool sizable enough to alarm the mana traps in the area of his impending arrival. They were always on guard that the secrets of Nickron would be exposed if someone found a way to outsmart everything they had set up to protect.

The boat froze in the water before it could move into the intake bay, and he watched as ice crystallized the water and the space around him. It was too thin to walk on but thick enough to stop his boat. He merely waited for the arrival of guard mages with a disinterested look on his face.

After coming and going as he pleased whilst living with the knights, it seemed a bit excessive.

"Who dares disturb the mage sanctuary?" a voice boomed on the other side of the wall.

"Ingon, is this how you will greet your cousin every time he returns home?" Siverly asked, annoyed.

At that, a head peered out over the wall and a man looking much like Siverly but with yellow eyes appeared.

"No cousin of mine would prance around with humans when mages are dying at the hands of that world's ruler." The response came quickly and snidely. Mages were known for their quick wit and these ones certainly didn't approve of Siverly's lifestyle choices.

"And no cousin of mine would give up the true pursuit of knowledge simply because they are afraid of what humans of lower intelligence have done to those in the past," Siverly retorted. "If you saw the way the Duke lines my pockets with gold and mana stones, you would change your mind."

"I suppose you will be permitted entry, but it's only because grandfather is still alive," Ingon insisted, and raised his hand to allow the ice to melt away and the boat to keep going onward. "But you must sit in the pit and pass a few tests before you will be permitted to move freely through the island."

"I expected as much," Siverly responded with a sigh and tossed his robes downward in irritation, unable to say the words he truly wanted to.

Fools. All of them were fools. There was a lot the world had to offer if they weren't so afraid. People would warm up to them more if they weren't so peculiar.

However, the average person needed to meet them somewhere in the middle, as most of the knighthood had. He couldn't guarantee that every person would be so open as the knights had been, but there were others out there.

By the time Siverly made it to the shore, his boat had sunk into soft dirt and finally stopped. He then walked towards the rocky path that greeted him—it would have to be the only thing to greet him considering no one else would dare.

Just as he figured, as he walked through the likely once crowded streets covered with the night owl mages, they were devoid of life. At times, he would see something out of the corner of his eye but it would quickly disappear or retreat and he was left entirely on his own.

The street he walked was covered on either side by buildings boasting thousands of mana stones, magical tool contraptions, fires that never went out in the sconces, and many other colorful things that the average person would have no description for.

It looked as he remembered but there were various improvements here and there, likely the safe inventions of those who had created something convenient enough to not be considered rebellious.

Before he would make it to the largest building in the heart of Nickron, he took a sharp right and walked down a ramp that went to a pit waiting for him with a desk, chair, and one lamp.

Strangely enough, a black, perfectly polished stone sat waiting for him. He only grabbed it when he sat in the chair.

A familiar feeling struck his hand as the onyx mana stone activated and began pulling out nearly all the mana in his body. It was painful, almost like bleeding to death. When he thought he was going to pass out as he leaned into the top of the desk with his arms outstretched and his forehead pressed against the wood, the onyx stone had had enough and dropped from his hands. By that point, he wasn't holding onto it anyway, but it had been stuck onto him like a leech before that.

They were testing his mana. Not only to see if it had gotten better or worse but to see if he was stained with black magic which was something only the human world possessed. It could kill a real mage if subjected to it. He of course wouldn't be able to meet the oldest mage if he possessed something that could kill him at his age of over 150 years old.

A few moments later, as Siverly caught his breath while he sat at the desk and tried to restore himself enough to face the head mage and inform him about why he was there, a woman with long, white hair came down the walkway and tapped on his shoulder.

"Congratulations, Siverly. Your mana pool has gotten deeper," the woman stated. "However, Aurium will not greet you now. He has watched you and your party of travelers since you left Idona and went along Polona. The magical devices on the gates were activated because of the high concentration of mana and revealed to us a dragon. These knights you walk with… Something is wrong. A dragon should not be attracted to those without mana."

Siverly could hardly lift his head. He felt dizzy, as if merely existing was hard for him at that moment.

"Do you think I haven't sensed unexplainable mana while I travel with the knights?" he snapped, his voice weak but no less full of venom. "I am trying to get to the bottom of it myself, mother."

"That doesn't change the fact that your grandfather will not see you now," she responded, heartlessly despite the state of her own son. "Return to the men."

"There's a woman amongst them," Siverly snapped, ever insistent on being a contrarian.

"Good for her," his mother responded.

"Then what will I say to the travelers who seek a response to the monsters in the area?" Siverly asked.

There was no other verbal response from his mother. She merely dropped a scroll on the desk containing his grandfather, Aurum's, written response.