Chương 300: Planning Ahead

"No!" Damion and Elicia said at the same time.

"The device the Association use to determine affinity and talent, lock them in," Damion explained after seeing the shocked look on his mother's face.

"If we test Bethany before she is fully developed, then it will prevent her from reaching her full potential."

"Then what should we do? Won't she be tested in a few years at school when they come around? Helga visited when she did the testing a few months ago. I thought it was normal for kids to be tested."

"I don't think the Mage Association is aware that their device, if used too soon, limits potential and I did not figure it out until after Mage Teft was off doing her testing."

"Are you sure? Because this doesn't seem like a mistake those powerful people would make," Sharon said. She wanted to believe in her son, but she did understand how he could know something, that everyone had been going through for generations, was harmful.

"I have seen the same research and helped Damion do the tests on numerous people. He is right," Elicia told Sharon.

"It is best if Bethany is not tested."

"Then how will she get trained as a mage?"

"I was hoping, since Bethany has a Wind affinity, that Elicia could teach her the basics, but no spells until she is 18. I think casting spells before then can be harmful to the core."

"So, what? Just sensing mana?" Elicia asked.

"That and how to manipulate mana. How to channel it into artifacts and use artifacts. And physical training. The stronger the body is, the more mana it can contain outside the core and that means it is easier to pull mana into the core to expand it."

"Well, I'm sure we can work on some of it," Elicia said.

"But your little sister is just a little girl. She isn't going to want to sit still and meditate or go for five-mile runs."

"I'm not saying train her like I train every day. Make a game of it. Start small and slowly add more parts. She is even younger than I was when I started my training with Mage Teft, and I don't expect you to teach her all the things she taught me. But, if I'm right, and she is able to grow her core before it fully develops, she might be able to go from B Rank to S Rank."

"I'll do my best, but you do know we have a baby on the way," Elicia pointed to her belly that was just barely showing a baby bump.

"I'm not going to be able to do a lot in the coming months."

"Sensing and absorbing mana is the key. Even with a baby on the way, you should be able to get her to meditate for a few minutes every day."

"Damion is right," Sharon told Elicia.

"If all she needs to do is start small and slowly do more as she grows, then all she needs to do now is the basics. Once she gets older, you can start adding more and more things and I'm sure my son will be around more by then too."

"Absolutely!" Damion told them.

"I'm just wanting you to get things started. I have no intention of not coming around and helping out. But I can't be here every day. This is why I need to make sure she works on the basics and slowly teach her more as she grows. Maybe by the time she is old enough for school, Mage Teft and I will be able to open the school we want."

"You are going to open a school?" Sharon questioned. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"It is our long-term goal, we want to start our own school, that trains all the children to be mages from an early age, but they won't actually start learning magic until they are adults. If we can show the world that the way things are currently done is hurting people, then we can get everyone to change. But we have to show them proof, or they won't listen."

"I am so proud of you son," Sharon said, stroking her son's cheek. Damion had grown up so fast as a child and now here he was, trying to change the world for the better. What more could a mother ask for in a son.

"I'm home," a voice announced as the door to the apartment opened.

"Why did you want me to come home for lunch to… day…" Caleb Wells stuttered as he finished his question. There in his living room was his son. With a big smile on his face, he walked over and gave the young man a tight hug, before holding him by the shoulders and looking him over.

"It is good to see you son."

"It is good to see you too dad."

"Is it alright for you to be here though?"

"I have an artifact that can disguise me, so no one followed me. You all are still safe. But all in all, I think most of the danger has passed. I'm not in school anymore and I'm a B Rank mage. Once I find a good place for us, I think I can move the whole family there."

"What kind of place?" Caleb questioned.

"A new place," Damion answered.

"Our son and Helga are planning on opening a new magic school, but they still have a lot of work to do," Sharon explained.

"A new magic school! That is amazing. Do you have plans for the school yet? I can make some notes on them, maybe give the plans a bit of flare."

"We haven't even begun that yet," Damion smiled.

"But how about this, dad, I want you to design it."

"Really!"

"Of course. But we don't have a location yet, nor do we even know if it will be in an existing town or if we will have to build a whole city."

"Leave that to me. I will layout the whole plan with multiple options for a school in a city and outside a city and one for it being integrating into an existing town."

"That is great. But won't this take up a lot of your time? What about your other work?"

"Huh? Oh right. I'm just working on little projects for the city here. Nothing special. They won't even notice if I don't work on them for a while."

"How about this dad, I will hire you to design my new school and city."

"I can't accept my son's money," Caleb refused.

"I'll pay you a platinum a year."

"What?" Both Sharon and Caleb cried out. The amount of money Damion was offering was ten times Caleb's current salary.

"Think of it as me supporting the family and you can think of it as pay for your new job. You can quit your current job and when asked, just tell them you got hired for a private project."

"Yes. I think I can do that," Caleb said, still trying to wrap his head around the amount of money his son was offering him. For normal people, earning a few gold coins a year was living well, but for mages and knights, that amount of money came and went as easily as breathing. Even though Damion had turned all his recent gains into cores for credits, he still had plenty of money saved up.

"Here, let me get you your first payment and a hiring bonus," Damion said pulling out his payment card. Once his father pulled out his own, Damion transferred 5 platinum over.

"Son, this is…"

"You can think of it as an advance if you want, or for expenses for the baby when it gets here," Damion told him.

"Just don't go spending it all in one place."

"What about you son? Don't you need money?"

"I'll be fine. I cleared an A Rank mission yesterday with a group and my share was 37 platinum." He could not tell his parents the 'mission' was a dungeon run, but he was sure Elicia understood what he meant. No mission from the Adventurer Association or any guild or Order would pay that much to one team member. The only way to earn that much in one go was through Realm Breaches.

"Also, I've been working at Leland's shop recently and been earning a bit of money making artifacts. So, don't worry about me."

"My son, you are doing so well."

"It has been a lot of hard work. And there is more work to be…." Damion cut off as he suddenly felt a chilling sense of pain and fear through his bond with his familiar.

"Damion, are you okay?" His family rushed over to check on him as he fell to his knees from the sensation and held his head.

"Something happened to Phil. I have to get back," Damion told them.

"Who is Phil?" Sharon and Caleb asked.

"Go," Elicia told him.

"I will fill your parents in about Phil." Damion did not hesitate and, in a hurry, did not even bother leaving the apartment. He simply cast portal and stepped through it, returning himself to the Benault Forest.