Irene got up from her seat in excitement and made her way to the exit of the main stage. Gerald who was sitting beside her was worried for a moment due to her sudden action of leaving her seat. But upon seeing her face, he smiled and returned to his seat.

Her eyes were filled with tears her face was smiling so brightly that some people could have mistaken her for a psychopath.

She was crying tears of joy.

The Adhiras have always been a respected name in the magic world. In every generation of the family, proud and impressive achievements must be within the family to keep the Adhira family as one of the elites in the magical society.

Take the current generations of the Adhiras.

Matthew Adhira, the grandfather of Irene and Desmond, has been bestowed the rank of Arch-Mage (Red-robed) and is the current headmaster of the Elderwinn, Academy of Sorcery.

Albert Adhira, the father of Desmond and Irene, is bestowed the rank of Wiseman (Silver-robed) and is working in the ministry of magic.

Among Irene's siblings, she had 2 brothers. Her older brother, the age of 27, her being the middle child, at the age of 24, and the youngest at the age of 17.

Edward Adhira, the oldest sibling among Irene and Desmond, was given the rank of Sage (Purple-robed) and is currently working as one of the enforcers of Mundi magicae.

Irene herself achieved great achievements for the family as well. She was already able to use magic at the age of 2 and managed to attain her 2nd Magic Circle at merely 12 years old. She also broke the record for being the youngest to be awarded the rank of Sage at the age of 22 years old and is currently a professor at Elderwinn Academy.

While Desmond...

Desmond was essentially the black sheep of the Adhira family.

Born 7 years younger than Irene, Desmond was only able to manifest his magic at the age of 9. Being thought of as a late bloomer, the family thought much and continued to encourage him to improve his magic daily. The boy tried his best daily, trying to catch up to the close-to-unrealistic achievements that his sister and brother made when they were his age.

Hours went by to days.

Days went by, slowly stacking up to months.

Months passed by, slowly adding up to a year.

Then the years add up, until now.

In the end, after trying for more than 5 years, he was only able to achieve his 2nd Magic Circle at the age of 17.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Among his cousins who were around the same age as him, he was picked on and make fun of daily by them. Among his family, they were always belittling and comparing him with the likes of his sister and brother.

Even his sister, who tried her best to help in any way gave up halfway, stopped speaking to him and left him alone. Leaving him in isolation, he grew a timid nature, being scared of everything and everyone. Especially the gaze of his family. The only thing he could remember was their eyes filled with looks of disappointment and detest. Especially the eyes of his dearest older sister.

Though that wasn't the case for the rest of their family. All they wanted was for Desmond to achieve and do his best. They understand not everyone could be as talented as Irene and Edward. So the family decided that it was best not to involve Desmond with any of the family's events for fear that it might affect his mentality negatively.

Irene decided to avoid much contact with Desmond hoping that the talks that compared Demond's talents to the rest of the other siblings would lessen.

The irony that the family faced when the only way to help the youngest son is to abandon him.

Alas, this was before encountering Mr Jenkins AKA the masked demon.

Irene made her way to the exit from the main stage. From there she took the stairs that led to the contestant's room and bee-line her way towards Desmond's room before stopping herself.

'Hold on. I can't just barge into his room as if nothing had happened. The last conversation I had with him was half a year ago!"

Irene started walking in circles in the empty hallways, trying to find means to rekindle her relationship with her dearest brother. However, every scenario planned out in her head seemed to have a negative result with her brother hating her more.

Worried, she started walking in circles more frantically finding another solution for her reunion with her brother, but... to no avail.

Until it hit her.

'Why do I have to be the one to initiate when I can have someone else do it for me?'

The answer came to her naturally.

'Red could be the bridge between me and Desmond! Since I'm good friends with him and Desmond being his student, naturally he would have to listen to him, right?'

Irene was so proud of her plan that she even started praising herself.

'Clearly, my IQ has not failed me at all!'

Irene monologued her entire plan in her head while doing various actions without being aware. She ended up looking triumphant at the end of her thought process as without warning she started running back to where she originally came from, to Gerald, screaming to him,

"GERALD, TIME TO FIND WHERE RED IS NOW!"

The question was where was Red when his student was competing in the festival?

The answer lies within the enchanted forest.

**

Lying deep within a certain forest, Red sat still as he meditates and continued his mana breathing training. It hasn't been long since his student was here training diligently for the competition. Due to the majority of the space occupied by the students suddenly being vacant, the training ground used in the enchanted forest felt lonelier than usual.

As Red is reminiscent of the times his students spent training here, something was hiding in the corners of the forest.

Rustling noise could be heard from the bushes and the creature ran from bush to bush, still attending to ambush Red even when his hiding spot has been discovered rather obvious.

With one last shake from its buttocks, the creature exits the bush, attempting to scare Red, whose back was still exposed to him.

With speed as how a blurry image looks, a quick dash from the creature depicts a silver blur with the creature dashing towards Red at an extraordinary speed!

*Whack*

... Just for it to be whacked in the head by his Master.

"KNOCK IT OFF SILVER, I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!" Red warns as the dejected creature scurries away hiding behind one of the rocks, peering at him.

"Really, what is that stupid master of mine trying to do, handing me another magical creature." Red grumbles while he got up from his sitting position to a squatting position, appealing to the creature to come back to him.

[It is a rare creature regardless. No one has seen one of them in years.]

[*Kinda looks like you, doesn't it master?*]

"Shut it."

Leaving its hiding spot, the moonlight slowly reveals the creature.

With big large eyes, a pair of prick ears, and silver feathers. It was a creature to be marvelled at even from afar due to how beautiful and majestic it looks. It walks on four legs and had wings attached to its back.

"Come here, I'll give you some extra monster meat here." Red urged the creature on as he dangles the marinated meat in front of him, flaunting it around.

The creature watched with delight and dashed straight into Red's arm before attempting to bite the meat off of Red's hand.

"Jesus, was it this heavy a few days ago?"

[They do grow at a rather fast pace.]

The moonlight revealed the creature in full display.

It was an Owl Griffin.

"Silver. For once, please behave yourself when I train ok?"

The Owl Griffin chirps in delight as if agreeing with what he was saying before continue munching down the meat.

Sighing a breath of worry, Red stood up and stretched his own body before checking his current progress in the system.

[Magic Circle Progress: 6th Magic Circle almost breakthrough.]

"Looks like I'll have to medidate a little more before I return."