“You are not going to sleep Eric?” Ronn asked me while he was setting his mat to sleep besides the fire.

“I will, but not right now”

“Just sleep when you want to *Yawn* I am sleepy” saying this he laid down and after barely a minute the sound of his breath deepened.

Everyone was asleep now.

I started preparing to sneak out. As for why I was sneaking out and not just telling the adults about my destination? Attending the academy was compulsory.

My parents might have approved of my decision but they or me couldn’t and can’t ask these 2 men to let me go half way through as the responsibility and fine would fall on them.

I picked up the almost 5kg jerky bag and put it in my backpack along with my clothes and my water bottle.

I slide a letter that explained I was leaving the caravan for a destination planned by me.

Looking at all the sleeping members again I took out my compass, checked what direction was east and left the path carved by countless carriages, finally entering the jungle.

There were no creatures in this jungle that a fireball couldn’t handle. Mostly it was filled with small animals like rabbits, insects, birds etc.

The only hostile creature in this jungle according to the teacher that taught geography in the elementary school are goblins and they too are only sometimes seen in the center of the forest. The last time a human encountered a goblin in this forest while being outside the center was more than a decade ago so I think the goblins are safe for now

It’s not as if the goblins can hurt me. I was a veteran mage who mastered a spell by the system’s standard by now.

I continued to check my compass every once in a while and continued walking for about 3 hours.

After making sure that I was sufficiently far from the caravan I climbed a suitable tree and using my backpack as a pillow I slept.

I was lucky that there weren’t any tree climbing monsters in this jungle.

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It had been 3 days since I started walking. My legs were hurting by now from all the walking and climbing.

Thankfully the season was quite warm so I didn’t need to start a fire till now and water and food were sufficiently available in the form of the jerky I carried and the many rivers.

I took out my map and the compass.

Judging by the amount of time I walked since my last encounter with a river I should find the city nearest to the eastern ranges, named “The vale town” after walking for maybe another half an hour.

Despite the many-many differences between earth and this world, the jungles were quite similar except the creatures they carried.

Even the creatures were pretty much the same for the small animals. It’s just the bigger animals that got magical and new creatures that are extra in this world.

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There weren’t any floating island or glowing rocks in this jungle, nor was anything like this mentioned in any of the books in the village libraries.

I jungle started becoming sparse and I soon saw the city in the distance.

Unlike my village, this city had 3 meter high walls and a big gate to match. It was nowhere near as tall as the 30 meter high wall of the royal capital of this country but it was enough for this place I guess.

As I neared the city gates I noticed that there were barely 5 people in front of the gate. Out of which 2 were guards. They were checking the bags and identification of all the people entering.

Because of the lack of people by the time I reached the door the last man had entered already.

“And where are you going kiddo?” The female guard asked while the male guard took my bag and started checking it.

“To my uncle’s place”

“And who is your uncle lad?”

“Mr. Aubrey from House no.83, near the old well”

“To think he had a cousin and he never told us. You heard that dear? He is the cousin of Aubrey”

“Heard it loud and clear. I think he himself might not know that he has a cousin. Give me your id card kid”

I handed him my id

“Eric Evelyn, 12 years old and… this is valid. Here you go Eric” He handed me back the id along with my bag.

I put the id back in my pocket and slung the bag on my shoulder, another visitor had arrived by now so they started checking his stuff.

I entered through the gates and was greeted by the same old looking medieval houses as my village. But the roads were wider and made of stone and the materials used for making the houses was stone and wood instead of just woods.

What I don’t understand is why no one has made concrete and phones and stuff if people like Ignia, who have full knowledge of earth exists.

“Excuse me, where is the house of Mr. Aubrey, house no.83” I asked an old lady passing by the road.

“See the sign with the hammer lad? Go to that shop and take a left. The second last house in that street should be House no. 83”

“Thank you”

I started walking according to the direction she gave. Funny enough that I was probably older than the old lady that gave directions right now.

Soon I reached the house. The white stone used to made the house had turned yellow form age.

*Knock**Knock*

“who is it?” A rough voice asked from the inside.

“I have come here to meet Mr. Aubrey Evelyn”

“Coming” I heard the footsteps arriving closer to the door and the door soon opened.

“What do you want bo… you certainly seem similar to family, are you someone related to me?”

“I am your nephew. Son of Ashley Evelyn.”

Hearing the name of dad his eyes turned a lot warmer. He examined me from head to toe and removed himself from the front of the door.

“So he decided to send his son to see me after a whole 12 years of not contacting me. Enter kiddo, what was your name again?”

“Name’s Eric” I said while entering his house.

There was a small rack made of wood with some shoes already on it on the right side and on the left was a bucket full of water.

The house was just one big room with no walls in between. Directly in front was a huge painting with 2 adults and 3 children. One of them, I presumed, was dad.

Seeing me notice the painting, he stood next to me and said

“This is your father, me, and our sister, along with our parents. This was painted by your great grandfather when he felt his time had come, so he had decided to leave something that will bring smiles to the future generations of his family.”

“And where is aunt?”

“You didn’t see the female and male guard pair at the door? Those are your aunt and her husband”

… Seriously, why was I not surprised. She kind of did look like dad.

Might have been sarcastic when she told her husband that I was the cousin of Aubrey.

“And what class did you awaken? I don’t think Ashley would have let you come all the way here without you awakening first.

“The legendary class Sun mage”

Hearing this his jaw hung in air, I might have decided to not walk the system’s path but seeing the expression of people when I say that I have awakened a legendary class is still interesting.

“You jest?” He looked at me expecting me to be joking but seeing my expression, his jaw tightened once more and his slight smile widened into a huge grin.

“We are going to have a powerhouse come from our family! Your father is going to have to give a huge party kiddo! What are you doing here anyways? Why aren’t you going to the academies”

“I will be going to a academy in the mountains”

“I don’t remember there being a academy in the mountains, Is it new or something?”

“Yup”

“Good good”

He took out a jar from a cupboard, a cookie jar, and handed it to me.

“How long are you staying here?”

“About a day or 2, the time it takes for me to gather the supplies for about a 2 month long journey”