"Who are you calling a weirdo!?" Retorted a woman in her 20s dawning leather armor, parting the bushes as she makes herself known

"That's how you greet a woman?" she stated with a look of disapproval and a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry, but my mother always told me not to talk to strangers," Luz replied as he continued to hold his knife.

"Understandable. But you are aware that you are on a private hunting ground of a noble family," the woman said sighing.

"I'm sorry but do you happen to have a map and could you please tell me where I am?" Luz said with a smile.

"I'd be happy to. We are in the west, a day's walk from Bridgescar. If you need a map, follow me. I left it at my camp," the woman said before turning her back on Luz. Luz complied and followed her.

On the way back, he heard an occasional rustling sound that did not come from animals, and at the same time, he felt as if he was being watched. The situation became no better with the regular stopping of the lady, as well as shorthand movements in some directions. But only when he saw a person on a branch 5m above him did he realize that something was wrong with the situation.

He grabbed the wrist of the woman, who cried out, and pressed his knife against her throat.

"What are you doing?" the woman asked in panic.

"Shut up. I know for a fact that something is wrong here. Just for your information I am a mage and if you don't come out I will kill your companion," Luz threatened, while sweat was running down his back.

"Alright," he heard a voice and the person jumped down from the branch before slowly moving in his direction.

The woman wasn't too pleased with her situation and struggled slightly. Luz's knife cut into her skin slightly as she did so.

"If you don't stop now, you're going to get yourself killed," Luz cursed before saying "and you there stay right where you are."

Luz realized far too late that his hostage and the person from the tree were mainly trying to distract him from the person behind him. Suddenly a giant emerged from the bushes behind Luz and swung a huge bat at Luz. He felt a large club smashing against his skull before toppling over.

"That almost went wrong," the woman cursed.

"It didn't. Instead, we even caught another mage. Hehehe." replied a broadly built man carrying a wooden club.

"But Elon, if that's a real mage, then we have a damn problem," answered the slender man who jumped down from the tree earlier.

"Oh, Dylan. I know someone who likes to buy people like that. But it will be better if we tie his eyes, his mouth, and his hands before we depart," Elon returned.

"Yes, that would be the wisest decision;" replied Dylan who was already getting to it and bound his hand.

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Luz was a mage apprentice in the mid-18 from a village deep in the coniferous forest and far from any civilization. The village was On the border of the kingdom of Raneian, to which they regularly pay taxes once a year.

The world is big but not well connected. People who live in settlements far away from cities sometimes have a hard time. Tron, a small settlement deep in the coniferous forest is one of them. The ancestors of this 200-man settlement were family members of followers of a prince who ended up on the losing side in the struggle for the throne.

Now more than 500 years have passed. The inhabitants of these villages do not know the name of the prince for whom they once were, nor exactly in which district their village belongs. They barely know that the settlement is on the border of the kingdom of Raneian, to which they regularly pay taxes once a year.

Likewise, they consider the existence of cities a myth. Their vocabulary has degenerated due to isolation. The alphabet they still learn is also degraded. A large number of letters have disappeared, making the ancient books of their ancestors difficult to understand. At least they still learn to read. Members of such settlements see mages as children of God or as God's blessed ones.

What these settlers do not know, however, is that every human possesses at least one unawakened magic talent, some even several. But in order to awaken one's magic talent, one should know the concepts of the respective magic branches, for example, the creation of fire due to heat and the oxidation of wood, for example, are important to awaken the talent of fire if one possesses a fire talent. Most people possess one to even all four elements to some degree.

More complex talents such as Space Control or Swarm Control are more difficult to awaken on your own, as the concepts are harder to understand. Now, it can also happen that someone's understanding is similar to reality, which allows them to awaken their talent by chance.

The four elements are easier to detect by any master mage, but a more complex talent can only be detected by a master mage who has the same talent or by a grandmaster mage. However, machines that recognize magic talents, as well as medicines that allow one to better understand the concepts, exist only in cities.

A few days ago was the day when he and his siblings should have been transported by a mage to one of the cities. Due to his old age, Luz was not the cream of the crop and would probably have ended up in the army.

Unfortunately, the village discovered a dragon and while trying to chase it away with the help of mercenaries, the whole village was reduced to rubble. Luz, who with his siblings ran deep into the forest hunted by a dragon, was forced to use a spell so that Luz and his siblings could survive.

Luz is now forced to reunite his siblings somehow. Whether he will be able to do it at all, let alone if they are still alive is unbeknownst to us. But enough background information it's time to continue with the story.

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Luz awoke in a horse-drawn cart. His head was still aching and throbbing, but Luz could neither see nor speak because of his blindfolded eyes and tied mouth. The fact that his hands were behind his back and that his legs were also chained together did not make the situation any better.

At least he could hear what was going on and it seemed that the cart was being driven by two men who were talking loudly. Luz decided to rub his head slowly against the floor of the cart hoping to see something.

The floor was dirty, but that didn't stop him in such a situation and with great effort, he was able to slightly move the ribbon from his mouth and his eyes, so that he could say and see something.

'Wait and see. I'm going to kill all of you! Ok, how am I going to escape from them?'

Luz was lying on the ground and his bulging veins could be seen as he gripped the chains on his hands. The cart was stopped and Luz heard one of the two men get out.

"Ey Elon I'll bring the merchant here. You keep an eye on him until then," Dylan said.

"Will do," Luz heard, as he paid attention and after 2 minutes he grabbed the opportunity.