Chương 273: Graduation

Of course there was one enormous drawback with Exile. Anything he used it on would be banished from his reality. If he wanted to collect the magic core from a Demonic Beast, he would be unable to. While this spell could potentially let him kill a creature stronger than him, it came at a cost, and he was hesitant to use it. Materials from Ferocious Beasts and Demonic Beasts were the best way to make money, not only that, but he wanted the cores to trade for credits to the Magic System Shop.

Using Exile could save his life, but it also could cost him a lot of resources. Damion ran through scenarios of when the spell would be the most useful, unfortunately, all the situations he could think of involved him having no choice but to use it. Given his understanding of the spell, the stronger an opponent was, the harder it would be for him to use the spell on them. If that target was faster than Damion, it could simply move out of the attack area and avoid being banished.

A target might not be able to dodge though, if, for instance, the target was unaware of what the spell did. Ferocious Beasts and Demonic Beasts that were observing him, waiting to strike would be the most vulnerable, but people, that was a different matter. They were more likely to be able to dodge the spell. The other spells Damion acquired from Arica were more readily useful, even if he had yet to practice them. Blink for instance, would let him dodge almost any attack and move around a battlefield.

Portal on the other hand was a real game changer. As long as he has been somewhere, he could open a portal to that location and instantly arrive there. With this ability, the more he traveled around Nerotath, the more he would be able to get to places quickly. He could return to Galen's farm, Saung, Bufort, even return to Silver Spire instantly from anywhere else. The spell was quite versatile, and he had no doubt in the future it would be a core method of travel for him.

'Saung first,' Damion thought to himself. He decided he would return there after graduation. Visit old friends, maybe even trade some of his 'services' to Leland in exchange for magic cores. He was sure the artificer would be happy to have some of his artifacts upgraded. After that he would figure out where he wanted to go, what he wanted to do. The day of the graduation ceremony came and while Damion knew he should be happy, he could not help but feel the hole in his life.

Other students, even those from Green and Yellow Zones could be seen celebrating with their families. Throughout the ceremony, he could not help but let his thoughts drift first to his family and then to Elicia. He was missing them all and it was all he could do to keep focused on the processions. Each student was called in turn and walked across the stage to shake the Headmaster's hand.

There was no mention of grades and, thankfully, Nerotath did not have something like a valedictorian and no speeches were given by the students. If they did, Damion was afraid he would end up being the one forced to speak. After shaking the Headmaster's hand, a student would cross to the other side of the stage where they had their magic power tested and from that test, their adventurer license was issued. Most people in Silver Spire's great hall were more focused on the test results than on anything else.

Especially when students like Yuri Martes, Thomas Sorin and Geoffrey Thorn were tested and shown to have mid D Rank magic power. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Since the students were called in alphabetical order, Damion's name was called last. As he walked across the stage the great hall became silent. Everyone present was aware of who he was.

Students from Green Zones and Yellow Zones had long since sent messages to their families about the amazing prodigy. Those families of the White Zone were of course aware as well, though their eyes on him were more akin to hungry wolves than admiration. After shaking the Headmaster's hand, Damion walked to the testing crystal and let it measure his magic power so his adventurer license could be updated. When the number 10, 508 appeared, there was a collective gasp. B Rank.

Even Damion was a bit surprised by the number, but he quickly realized the testing crystal was reading his magic power as boosted by his System artifacts. Even though the artifacts could not truly boost him up a Rank, apparently the testing crystal could not tell the difference. It did not matter, for Damion, the more magic power he showed, the less likely anyone would be willing to openly move against him, for fear of public backlash.

"Congratulation to our newest mages," Headmaster Sorin announced, breaking the silence Damion's testing had caused.

"Many of you here today will return to your hometowns and work in service of your local guilds and associations. Others are joining Orders to help grow the stability of our world.

"To each of you, I say this; You have reached this milestone, but life does not always turn out the way we think it should. Many of you never believed you could be mages. For others, it was never in doubt. Hard work and determination can turn this world into a wonderful place, but it starts with each individual.

"I see in each of you the potential for greatness. And I believe all of you can achieve that, so long as you follow the path that inspires you to become the best version of yourself.

"When you leave here, and go out into the world, do not let your fear determine your actions. Instead use it, harness it. Overcome it and you will overcome the barriers that keep you from greatness.

"As mages, you are the future leaders of this world. But leadership is not your identity. Leadership requires action and it takes continuous growth to pursue. I have confidence that as each of you go out into the world and find your place, that as long as you continue to move forward, continue to grow, that the future is in good hands under your future leadership." There was a round of applause from the crowd. Damion felt the speech was rather generic.

The type of pseudo motivational crap he had heard from dozens of politicians and CEOs on Earth. Those people had always given nice sounding speeches, but the moment they were out of the limelight, their true colors showed. With the speech done and much of the crowd going wild. Damion slipped out of his seat and made his way to one of the exits from the great hall. Once out of the environment, he headed to his dormitory.

He stripped off his school uniform, leaving it on the bed and dressed in one of his traveling outfits. After hefting his new adventurer backpack onto his shoulders, Phil flapped over to his shoulder and the pair left their home for the last year for the final time and started walking towards the entrance to Silver Spire Magic Academy. He did not know if he would ever return here, but if he did it would probably be a long time from now.