The old man leaned closer towards Grey, "Are you really my grandson?", Jurgen repeated the question with narrowed eyes. 'Did he just flew and landed here using magic? I can sense the mana in the air.'

Grey blinked a few times with curious eyes and answered, "That's right!", while proudly smiling.

"Really?!..." The old man suddenly changed his tone, jumping in while smiling from ear to ear. "That's good to hear, let's head inside!" He insisted, pulling the young man by his hand and signalling the other two visitors with his hand to go in.

The old man's house is located at the edge of the Hotstone village, near the Mt. Vermont. It was a fine wooden house, large enough to fit twenty horses inside and also has a wide backyard that the old man frequently use for training purposes.

Once entering inside, Jurgen looked around and said, "Reynold, prepare some lamb meat." pointing at the kitchen.

Reynold went to the kitchen and looked at the old man. "But we don't have a lamb uncle!" He uttered, panicking.

"Then go ahead and find one." The stubborn old man said, pushing Reynold towards the door before going back to the living room and then sitting down together with the Crossford family. "Ahem..." He cleared his throat and asked, "... So, how was your trip?", with a seriously concerned expression.

"Nothing out of ordinary." Emily replied as her eyes wandered around.

"Long journey as usual." Edward added and chuckled.

Meanwhile, Grey was busy looking around to even hear the conversation. So this is grandpa's house? He thought while staring at the old furnitures and some old books in a wide shelves. This looks like an ordinary human's house. Does he have some magic books about high level magics? He wondered in his thought while unconsciously grinning.

"What's wrong Grey?" Jurgen asked him with worry, dragging him out of his thoughts.

"A-Ahhh... No, sorry, I'm fine." He politely replied, letting out a sharp sigh and wiping out the sweat building up on his forehead.

Jurgen suddenly smiled at him and said, "Are you interested in magic and fighting magical beasts?" He eagerly asked the you man, bringing his face closer to the kid with a smile, and stars on his eyes.

Emily quickly made an intense eye contact with her son, Don't you dare answer yes. She hoping that Grey would refuse.

However, It seems like Grey failed to read the hidden message, "Yes, I like learning." He simply replied.

Emily and Edward to put their faces onto their palm, He didn't understand... They thought as they stared at the old fart smiling ear to ear with a colorful aura enveloping him.

Jurgen looks very contented after hearing the words he wanted to hear. "Well, that is the whole purpose of traveling all the way to this place... Hahaha." He said, throwing his head as he laughed hysterically.

The last statement wrote a puzzle on the young grandson's face, "What?", He asked with furrowed brows.

"Ahh, you haven't told him?" Jurgen asked, gazing at the parents.

The two adults nodded their response.

"Tell me what?" Grey eagerly asked, once again, his face was filled with confusion.

The grandfather let out long sigh before he said, "The reason I invited you here is because... I wanted test your talent and see for myself how strong you really are.", with a serious look.

The air inside the room suddenly changed. Grey straighten his posture and said, "And for what reason?", with a cold glare, matching the atmosphere.

The room was suddenly filled with awkward silence as they waited for the old man's response. While the tension increased and Grey was eagerly waiting to hear his Grandpa's reasons, suddenly, the backdoor flipped open with a creaking sound.

The silence was shattered, everyone looked at the backdoor and saw Reynold carrying a large meat with all blood dripping to his long white clothing.

"Well, I think this isn't really a job for me." He joked before putting the meat on the table and grasped the butcher's knife. He glanced at the people in the living room and realized their cold stares directly piercing towards him. "What's wrong with you people?" He asked and smiled with discomfort.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

All of them shook their head in response before getting back to thier own conversation with a serious face.

"Ahem..." Grandfather Jurgen cleared his throat and said, "Now back to the your question." He looked at Grey with calm eyes. "The reason I wanted to test your capabilities is because I want to know if your body and mind is prepared for some intensive training." He stated, before innocently looking at Emily.

Grey was speechless for a moment before he said, "I see, so basically, if I pass this 'testing', you're going to personally train me, gramps... am I right?", looking at the old man with narrowed gaze. That's also explains why we brought everything from our house. To stay in this place of course.

"That's right," Jurgen nodded, before getting up on his feet to take out a glassy black orb from an old wooden box near the shelves. ", Although your mom and dad guaranteed that you'll pass the standards, I wanted to see it for myself." His eyes are locked at Grey's body, checking every angle before suddenly approaching him and lifting his shirt.

Grey was caught off guard. What's he doing? He asked himself with a puzzled look.

After a moment of checking his body, Jurgen straightened his posture and said, "That's strange, all clean, you really doesn't possess any mark." as he stares at him in awe. Moreover, how the hell can he cast such a powerful magic to lift himself into the air without even possessing an insignia? He suddenly recalled the scene that happened earlier in front of him. He looked at the young child's parents and said, "How is this possible? Did he awaken by accident?", with confused expression.

Emily and Edward shook their heads in response and said, "We don't exactly know.", with both of them knowing that they shouldn't share the information about Grey's past to anyone, even to his grandfather as they don't even know the exact details of how Grey awakened his magic.

Jurgen believed the statement and said, "Well this is the first time I encountered something like this. Let's just see how much magic you possess." He place the glassy orb onto the table with it's flat stand at the bottom. "Quick, lay your hand onto this orb." He uttered with excitement.

Grey hesitated for a moment. He looked at his parent's and asked, "Ummm, sorry but what is this?", hoping for a good response.

"That's a magical frequency reader." Edward answered, putting his han onto his son's shoulder. "Wizards use that to determine your magical rank based on the mana frequency that you possess." He added.

"This is just a replica though, the original one in the Alexus wizard academy's research facility is much larger." The old man proudly stated.

"I see, then..." Grey slowly lay his fingers onto the spherical object, feeling his own magic being slowly sucked by it.

Upon touching the orb, numbers suddenly appeared in it's surface and started raising every seconds.

40.... 56.... 89... 100....

The numbers surprised the adults in that room as it keeps on getting higher while Grey was still busy figuring out what's happening.

178.... 234.... 476.... 643.... 900.... Suddenly, the number stopped at 1380.

"It's a B-rank!" Jurgen almost screamed in amazement. His eyes are widened and jaw is dropping.

The wizard ranking system or simply the ranks are categorized into seven ranks: S+, S, A, B, C, D, and E from strongest to weakest frequency . Magical ranks are determined by their corresponding magical frequency numbers:

S+: 10,000–50,000

S: 5000-9999

A: 2000-4999

B: 1000-1999

C: 500-999

D: 200-499

E: 50-199

"B-rank? Does that mean I'm strong?" Grey proudly asked with his head tilting in confusion.

"Just for comparison, at your age, I'm at D-rank which is considered as the second from weakest." Edward stated, rubbing the young man's head before laughing, putting his palm on his face in embarrassment.

"Eh? Seriously?" Grey blurted in surprise.

Edward just nodded his response before Grey shifted his gaze to his grandpa.

"B-rank is already quite high for a child like you. I must admit, that's quite surprising." Jurgen said before putting back the orb into the old box. "That's it, you passed." He blissfully stated with a contented smile.

'What? is that it?' Grey wondered, unconsciously grinning.

Immediately after, Grey's nose twitched upon smelling the juicy aroma that originated from the kitchen. 'What's that?' He asked himself while sniffing the flavorful smell. He quickly turned his head towards the kitchen and gazed at the middle aged man pouring some golden-yellow liquid that he recognized the scent as honey into the lamb meat that he was roasting.

"Wait a moment everyone, this'll be finished soon." Reynold stated as he blows the smolder to increase the heat.

"Well, I guess your next test will be... after we eat." Jurgen said with a mischievous smile.

"There's a next... one?" Grey hesitantly asked.

The old man then replied, "Of course, you're not going to pass that easy without fighting me." The smile on his face was suddenly replaced by a serious expression. "Oh, and by the way, all of you are going to stay in this place if ever you managed to pass in order to train." He suddenly brought up.

"Well..." The statement robbed Grey of speech and looked at her parents with anxious eyes.

"This is troublesome." Emily whispered to her husband who's sitting next to her, crossing her small arms.

Then he whispered back, "There's really nothing to expect from your old man, basically an old fart.", his cheeks are inflated from trying to hold his laughter.

"Right." Emily responded before letting out a long sigh.

"Excuse me for barging in but the food is ready, let's eat." Reynold suddenly spoke behind Jurgen, startling him.

Jurgen immediately regained his composure, "O-Ohh, then what are we waiting for?", he said, looking at the three, "Let's eat."

Edward was the first to stand up, "All right.", he uttered while stretching his arms.

The wife also got up and helped Grey to get on his feet, "Hurry up Grey, It's time to eat.", she said, guiding her son all the way to the dining table.

I know, you don't have to do this. Grey whispered in his thoughts. Moreover, I'm more worried about my upcoming fight against this old man. He cautiously glanced at Jurgen. Well, it's not that I'm afraid of anything. In fact, I like fighting stronger opponents and this is my chance to show off the product of my training. He held in his thought as he stuffed his mouth with the sweet juicy meat that melts his tongue every bite.

This taste awesome. Grey commented in his thoughts. "I didn't know that food can be tasty like this."