"Hah... hah... hah..."

Grey collapsed on his knees and panted heavily as his mana was almost depleted after repetitively destroying the ice pillars that Jurgen recreates everytime it was destroyed and almost 20 minutes has passed since then.

"Hmmm..." Jurgen pondered intensely and whispered, "Was it 43— no I think it's 53. He managed to cast the 6th form 53 times continuously," He watched and analyzed his grandson based on how he destroyed those ice pillars that he had created. "Considering his lack of spirit mark and his inability to draw power from the spirit domain, he has an impressive mana efficiency compared to regular humans that possesses a spirit mark. And aside from the fatigue, it seems like he has no limit on how much he could use magic which is impressive and a good feature for a dual-caster." Jurgen made sure to take note and wrote it on a small notebook he's always carrying on his pocket.

Suddenly, while writing down some pointers, a fleeting thought crossed his mind. 'But... where did his mana exactly came from?' It was a question in his mind that he has been ignoring for a long time, and the more he observes Grey, the more the question will pile up in his head. 'Could it be that he has some kind of unknown source?' But he violently shook his head, trying to shake off the questions in his mind. He then shouted, "Alright, take a rest."

But Grey didn't even bother sitting down. He stubbornly stood on his feet as he knew that he wouldn't be able to come back up if he sit down because of how much his body was tired. Instead, he closed his eyes and immediately entered the complete state of focus. He then began gathering mana from the surroundings, something that he has been trying to master lately.

After training himself to enter this state of focus regardless of how he was and where he's at, he now could absorb mana from the atmosphere in any kind of environment and in any position without getting into lotus stance. And it was quite convenient for him, especially in a combat type of environment.

On the meantime, Jurgen just stared at him hopelessly while drinking water from a glass bottle. 'I told him to rest. What the heck is he doing? Sleeping while standing?' he asked himself and shook his head while clicking his tongue. 'Maybe I should keep him away from Ryner. He's starting to become a cocky and overly confidence child.'

After a short absorbing enough amount of mana, Grey tried supporting his muscles and bones with mana to lessen the pressure that he was carelessly putting everytime he swing his sword. He then slowly, stretched his body to remove all the tension from his arm muscles and legs.

"Hey, I told you to rest." Jurgen loudly shouted. He has an annoyed expression painted on his face as he signalled his grandson to sit down. It seems like his pride wouldn't let his grandson do what he wanted and continued glaring at him until Grey couldn't help but obey.

Grey slowly walked towards him as Jurgen handed over a bread that he quickly grabbed and slowly sat down while biting it. 'I guess stubborn gramps wouldn't let me push my body to the brink of death.' he thought, slightly and unconsciously chuckling. The thought was rather laughable since Ryner told him that Jurgen might kill him during training, and it was such a relief that it might not happen.

"Tomorrow will he a rest day. There's no training. I have to take care of something regarding about the upcoming raid." Jurgen tried hard to start a conversation while awkwardly staring at the blue sky with fairly amount of clouds.

Grey's ears twitched after hearing him. "Ahh, about that," He quickly looked at Jurgen and asked, "When it'll start?", curiously narrowing his gaze.

Jurgen took his time to answer and said, "Well, it was scheduled next week." He was scratching his face while awkwardly gazing away from Grey.

His answer brought a lot of questions to the young boy, causing him to have a puzzled expression. "Next week? That long?" he asked with a seemingly surprised expression.

Jurgen let out a long sigh and said, "We're still short in men, considering that you and Ryner are not coming. And with Johan still passed out, I can't help but to wait." His expression changed to a rather anxious expression that causes Grey's heart to melt.

But Grey resisted the persuasion and looked at Jurgen confusedly. "Uncle Ryner isn't coming?" An obvious question got out of his mouth before he could even think about it. He was honestly surprised on how a man who loves fighting like Ryner wouldn't come along and he wanted an immediate answer.

"I told him not to come." Jurgen replied before silence filled the air. His attention and thought are seemingly being directed elsewhere and Grey couldn't help but be curious.

Grey slowly tilted his head and calmly asked the old man, "But why would you do that?" He made sure to not over react to avoid any negative response from the stubborn old fart.

"Well, you see, Ryner is a man full of ambitions and towering dreams." Jurgen replied, staring at the sky with a smile. "The more I think about bringing him to a battle, the more I worry about me accidentally robbing him of those dreams." He then stood up and stretched his arm upward.

"He said he wanted to enter the Royal military when he was younger and was still continuing to pursue that path even now. Protecting people instead of fighting monsters, that's what he always wanted. And I feel bad for pushing him to be an adventurer wizard for the sake of my beliefs and without considering his feelings." Jurgen eyes was full of regrets and Grey could feel them resonating in the air. Such a negative feeling that causes his eyes to water.

That was the first time Grey heard of such a thing. 'So uncle Ryner wanted to be a royal wizard huh?' grey thought and smiled. "So you think taking him out of the battle field, would result to achieving his dreams?" Grey replied a rather blunt question that Jurgen hasn't expected.

"No, but atleast, I know that keeping him safe for now would give me assurance that someday, he will." Jurgen straightforwardly answered. "As long as he's alive, he could continue walking the path that he wanted to. If he dies in that dungeon, I don't think that I could ever forgive myself."

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Looking at his grandpa, Jurgen couldn't simply understand what he feels. 'Do people always acts like this when it comes to someone important to them? 'cuz right now, I don't know, because I can't remember when was the last time I cared for someone.' His heart was screaming from inside after hearing Jurgen's words and remembered a few scenarios from his past life that are engraved in his memories. 'All I know is that death is an unpleasant feeling that I don't ever want to experience again.'

Grey was so absorbed in his thoughts when Jurgen suddenly swung his sword towards him, snapping him back to reality and jumping away from him by instinct, grabbing his sword in the process.

"Now, now, rest is over. Use your blade's abilities without using emitting mana externally and just use it to channel to that sword of yours. Let's see what your physical body got." Jurgen stated before dashing towards Grey at full speed, swinging his sword unsheathed.

"What we're not using a wooden sword?—" Before could even complain about the set up, his body already moved instinctively to block the attack with his sword.

"Enemies won't be using wooden sticks aren't they?" Jurgen sarcastically said before withdrawing his sword and then hitting the boy's blade again with a swing, trying to bring his guard down by forcefully pushing his weight into every swing.

"Guh!" Grey grunted and stepped back to breath in. Even though he's hesitating, he channeled mana through his sword and chanted, "extend, Greed!", pointing it towards Jurgen.

His sword quickly sprang and extended a few feet and barely hit Jurgen's blade as he dodged it swiftly. After seeing the old man slip away from his attack, he quickly reverted back the sword's length and dashed towards him, fiercely swinging his sword.

Jurgen caught his attack with his blade, but the next thing Grey did caught him off guard. His grandson threw a right kick that hit his right elbow, causing his guard to be brought down, followed by Grey doing another swing that left a shallow cut on the old man's lower chin.

Jurgen immediately stepped away after feeling the sting on his lower chin. "Hmm..." He wonderingly touched his chin and saw a drop of blood on his finger the moment he looked at it. "Not bad!" He said, before laughing with excitement and rushing towards Grey.

They continue to clash their blade without a care to the world until all their energy was depleted and both dropped their blades, collapsing on all fours while panting. Jurgen was still laughing as he was so worked up and was really looking forward for more but his old body seemed to have given up to fight any longer against the young boy.

"Let's go home," Jurgen said, lying on the grass while looking at the sunless and slightly dark sky. ", it's getting dark."

"Carry me gramps," Grey humbly requested. "I don't think I could even stand." he added.

"Don't push your luck, I highly doubt that I could even carry you with this aching back." Jurgen said, laughing. He slowly struggled to got on his feet and straightened his back for a moment.

"I'm just kidding," Grey quickly rose to his feet and let out a sigh before stretching his arms and legs.

After resting for a while, both of them walked their way home, carrying nothing but their swords. Their clothes are torn apart and their body are covered with dust and soil. After almost 30 minutes of walking, they both reached the town and immediately headed to their way home.

"It's getting dark, I guess it's already dinner time." Grey whispered, hearing his roaring stomach and felt his hunger slowly escalating.

When they both stood near their home, they saw a couple of people standing next to their doorway. Some of them are sitting and drinking tea or doing something that they couldn't see from far away. They are wearing some sort of pointy hat and was carrying backpacks. Their red eyes are also visible because of the slightly dark surroundings.

The old man and Grey kept walking towards them with a lot of questions in mind before they saw Grey's mother, Emily, handing over a bottle of yellow potion to one of them.

"Who are those guys?" Grey asked confusedly, looking at Jurgen and then right back at them.

After taking a closer look, Jurgen just came into realization and recognized the people on his doorway. "They're from... the Black serpent guild." he said, causing Grey to look at him with surprise. "But why the heck is everyone keeps visiting my house lately?" He shook his head before they reached near their doorway and greeted them.

"It's pleasant evening, people from the black serpent guild." Jurgen politely said, bowing his head.

Meanwhile, Grey was in his deep thoughts and his eyes are directed elsewhere. 'Black serpent? Isn't that the guild protecting the village at the southern side of Avaron kingdom. The Nirvana village where witches originated from.' he pondered intensely.

Witches are wizards that are skilled in creating potions and other medicines. Most of them are found in the Royal capital of Avaron kingdom because of their skills in creating magic elixirs that could improve a wizards overall battle stats. Witches are said to have originated from the human race and evolved because of long spiritual mana exposure caused by too much usage of high frequency magic. Just like humans, they also possess their own spirit marks, but their appearance are slightly different as witches often possess red colored eyes and long black nails as a result of their evolution.

"... May I ask why you are here?" Jurgen politely spoke, looking at the oddly dressed mana who seemed to be their guildmaster based on how he looks.

The man looks furious at first glance but immediately smiled after hearing Jurgen's question. "A pleasant evening, great wizard, Jurgen. My name is Claude Virritra, I'm the guildmaster of black serpent and was the leader of this current strike squad." His voice was surprisingly soft and shaky than he appears. It was also surprising how polite he talks.

'A strike squad?' Jurgen suspiciously looked at them before narrowing his gaze and directed his gaze at the man named Claude. "Why did the Black serpent guild organized a strike squad and headed to our village?" His eyes are full of suspicion as he asked the man.

"The kingdom ordered us to stabilize and stop the monsters' movements near the border of Beast continent." Claude explained, giving Jurgen a serious look. "It seems like they've began moving irregularly and headed this way." he added.

Jurgen found the man's statement believable since he recently heard some rumors about missing guild members near the border. He also knew how dangerous those monsters are, so for a second, he felt threatened. "Moving this way?" he asked.

"Although they're still a hundred kilometers away, the kingdom wanted us to neutralize them." Claude let out a sigh after saying that. "And also... Ava Naustus was also heading the same way as us, so going through Hotstone village is a good choice since your guild's members are all away inspecting the Beast continent." he explained.

'Well, I can't say anything. We're also busy with the current dungeon incident and taking care of another monster invasion would be a bother for all of us.' Jurgen whispered in his thoughts. 'I'm also too old for all of this.' he chuckled.

"Well, then," Claude slowly stood up and gather all his things, lifting his backpack. "I guess we should head to our mission." He said, bowing his head in front of Jurgen before looking at Emily who's watching over the doorway. "Thank you for treating us Mrs. Crossford." He waved his hand as he and his comrades headed to the other side at the opposite direction where the Mt. Vermont was located.

Jurgen and Grey also waved their hand to say goodbye. "Take care." They said in synchrony and then looked at each other before gazing away.

Grey held a thought in mind as he stared at the Black Serpent guild's members moving away. 'It must be thought, fighting against monsters and leaving their lives behind... for the sake of other people.' A vague memory just suddenly popped into his mind out of nowhere. 'They're just like me... a hero.'