Shannon handed the graduation certificate to Baldwin and said quietly. "Baldwin, are you going back to the south after your graduation ceremony?"

The young light mage looked at the elementary academic girl in front of him with keen eyes, deep in thought. Although Shannon was only fourteen years old, she was slimmer and taller than most girls of her age.

In the past two years, the two sisters, Shannon and Shania, had been expressing their admiration for him in different ways, and Baldwin was aware of it all.

He looked at Shannon's drooping head, her dark hair fluttering gently in the breeze, every strand of it pulled his heartstrings. To be honest, he was full of affection for Shannon. But the relationship between the two had never been an open one. Maybe with a slight touch, this thin layer of barrier would be pierced like paper. What the two of them lacked was an opportunity to overcome this obstacle on their paths.

The young mage raised his head, looked at the deep blue sky, and couldn't help thinking of his hometown that he had been away from, for nearly ten years. His family was fairing quite good economically. They were merchants in a big city in the southern part of the country, owning many trade stores.

Baldwin, and his two older brothers, all followed the footsteps of their parents in the trade business, with each managing a storefront. According to the arrangement of his parents, Baldwin was to choose a business path for himself when he grew up.

But Baldwin was a freeborn by nature, and did not want to be bound by this rich and well-off life for the rest of his life. Every time his parents arranged for him to learn the ways of the merchants, Baldwin would always sneak out to spar with his friends. For this reason, he and his parents had quarreled many times.

When he reached the age of eight, he secretly went to enroll in an academy in the city without telling his parents. Surprisingly, his power value was as high as sixty five. Just as the academy was happily preparing to admit this gifted child into their school, he disappeared.

Baldwin knew that with his high essence power value, even the most famous academy in the mainland would not reject his application for admission. So, in order to avoid the entanglement of his parents, he left a farewell letter for them and sneaked away in a caravan to the north.

Three months later, he found Profound Academy, all by himself. At that time, not to mention that the registration time into the school had already passed, and the first section was about to finish, he was admitted after they discovered the depth of his power base. He passed the trials for the admission, and became a student of the Profound Academy.

During the following nine years, Baldwin only sent a few letters to his family. He never went home to see them, but spent every day in hard training. Although his parents seemed to be angry as seen in the letters they sent to him, after knowing that their son was safe, they also supported him.

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Now, after his academic graduation, he knew he could go home with honor.

Holding the academic crest, Baldwin remained silent. Faced with Shannon's question, he didn't know what to say in response. He knew that after leaving the academy, he would not be able to see her again, and the two would be separated from each other from then on.

But what was really troubling his mind was what he would do after he went back. Would he start a trade business of his own, just like his parents? Baldwin was deep I'm thought, struggling with his inner self. Should he go back or stay here?

"Baldwin, if I marry you, will you stay?" Shannon raised her head and finally summoned up the courage to pierce this layer of obstacle.

"Really?" Baldwin stared at Shannon's twinkling eyes, and finally, gently embraced her in his arms, making a decision in his heart. He whispered into her ears. "Yes, I promise you, I'll stay."

From then on, Baldwin established a loving and open relationship with Shannon and stayed in the academy to continue developing his power base.

Soon, it was time for a new school session, and the academy welcomed several new students. Considering the speed of Baldwin's advancement, the academy thought that it would be beneficial for the new students, especially the light and fire mages. They would be taught directly by Baldwin himself, while he would see to the teaching of the other students in his care. definitely achieve good results.

Since then, Baldwin had transformed himself from a student to a teacher, while advancing his own essence level. Due to this, he was very strict in his supervision. He always taught them to practice together, for the sake of the future.

Because of this, the name Hardwin was popular among the students. First, because of the homophonic sound; secondly, because the mage master rarely laughed day, and was always in a state of skills recitation.

And the student who gave him this nickname was none other than Lynn's father, Kaiya. The reason why Kaiya entered the Profound Academy was mainly because of Baldwin's fame as a mage. With his essence power value of sixty eight, he could have gone to any school, but he had decided to join Profound Academy due to Baldwin's reputation.

In regards to the standard of entry into the Profound Academy, Kaiya's essence power value exceeded it by nearly twenty points. The magical attribute of Kaiya was the same as Baldwin, who was mainly a light mage, but with minor affinity to fire. So he was deeply loved by Baldwin.

Baldwin didn't care about the nickname Hardwin that Kaiya gave himself, and Shannon often used this nickname to make fun of him, though it was a flirtatious kind of tease. Hence, Baldwin accepted the nickname.

There were a total of six students supervised by Baldwin, all of whom had the highest essence power value among the same batch of freshmen recruited by the academy.

Although Kaiya had the highest power value among these new students, there was another female student who had the same essence power as him at sixty eight, and this person was Lynn's mother, Kiara.

Maybe it was because of their similar power level, or due to their nature, after a couple of years, Kaiya and Kiara finally got together. Because the two had a harmonious relationship, they encouraged each other to be diligent in harnessing ether, and practicing their magical skills. As far as the entire Profound Academy was concerned, their improved power bases were also among the best in the school history.

Being the good and kindhearted teachers they were, Baldwin and Shannon also discussed with the two students about holding their weddings together, but in a joking tone. After all, Kaiya and Kiara were still young, but Baldwin and Shannon were both in their advanced ages.