Nick looked up away from his meal to see a red haired, white young man standing opposite of him on the other side of his table:

"Huh, why would I spar with you?"

The red haired young man looked excited despite Nick's reply and said confidently:

"My name is Merick Asher from the Asher family. You've heard of us, right?"

Nick replied flatly:

"No, I haven't heard of your family and you still haven't answered my question."

Nick had only become associated with Magicians a year ago and there are hundreds of famous Magician families so he would not know of every one of them. Merick replied fervently:

"Well, we are the family with two of the top ranked Magicians in the country. Besides that, we are always looking for great talent and after seeing you use that spell, I assumed that you have an affinity for space magic. Am I correct?"

Nick had no need to hide it since he had already performed a spell in front of so many people, he would have to reveal it eventually anyways so answering honestly now is akin to ripping a band-aid off.

"Yeah, sure."

Merick looked pleased that he guessed correctly.

"In that case, let's have a spar so that I can see your skills. If they are up to par, I'll give my family a call right away and have you recruited. How does that sound?"

Nick scoffed:

"Hmph. I don't want to be recruited. Now leave so that I can finish my meal."

Nick ignored Merick and started eating his meal. Merrick looked as if a bug was caught in his throat.

(Why wouldn't he want to be recruited by my family. Is he stupid? A future licensed Space Magician is a powerhouse that some companies would pay billions to support. Although this person looks a little rough, there's no mistaking the quality of the apprentice grade spell that he just used. No one without a powerful inheritance just uses teleportation spells like that.)

Merick composed himself and took a seat at Nick's table.

"Hey, I think that we got off on the wrong foot. Come to think of it, I never asked what your name was. My bad. Mind letting me know what it is?"

Nick was annoyed but answered just to be polite:

"It's Nick Capitol."

Merick's eyes shone with uncertainty when he heard Nick's answer.

"Nick Capitol...that name. Wait, aren't you ranked 9th in our first year. Well, I heard that you were in this dorm but I never really checked because I'm usually busy during the day. It looks like I have even more reason to try to recruit you."

Nick's right eye twitched.

(Can't this guy just shut up.)

Merick continued speaking:

"You know, for a future Space Magician, the Asher family would be willing to pay you a few million in allowances and might even engage you to one of my sisters. Arranged marriages sound old fashion but who would not want to be engaged to a wealthy heiress..."

Merick went on with his futile attempt to convince Nick until Nick had had enough.

"What exactly do you get out of convincing me that you are going through this must trouble so late at night?"

Merick stared blankly for a second as if the answer was supposed to be obvious and then replied:

"Well, I'm competing with my siblings over the highest positions in the family and recruiting capable people into the family would be a big help to me."

Nick nodded his head in understanding.

"Well then, that does make sense but I'm not interested so you should stop right now or else you and I might have a real problem."

Merick noticed that the look in Nick's eye became sharp and knew that if he continued trying to convince Nick, it would only backfire so he stopped, saying:

"Fine for now, I'll leave you alone to eat your meal but we will speak again Nick Capitol."

Merick got up and left the cafeteria. The other students were curious about Nick and Merick's conversation as some of them were able to recognize the identity of the two but as soon as Merick left the cafeteria and Nick started eating again, they turned their attention towards their own meals and conversations.

Nick continued eating for the next twenty minutes, at the same time, thinking:

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

(Being recruited by some family sounds like becoming their employee. Whatever resources they give me would definitely not be without requirements. I don't need that right now when I've just started my path; I need freedom to develop my own methodologies and ways of doing things so joining a Magicians' family is not ideal.)

Nick finished his food and left the cafeteria. By the time he got back to his dorm room, the stench that was lingering in his room had already been filtered out. Nick closed his window and started making plans.

(In the next two months before my second year starts, I need to sort through all of the space magic related information that I have gained, increase my proficiency with soul magic, push toward rank 2 Apprentice Magician and create a new rule spell that I have in mind.)

Nick smiled.

(This grind is going to be fun.)

Nick sat at his desk and meditated for three hours before going to bed.

.............................................

The next morning, Nick woke up at 6 am and did a few reps of pushups which he hadn't done in a while due to all of the strenuous activities that he participated in recently. After showering, getting some food at the cafeteria and returning to his dorm room, Nick spent the next four hours going through math questions in one of his textbooks stored on his laptop. When he was done studying math, he started going through the information on space magic that was stored in his mind.

(Space magic involves the manipulating of the dimensions of reality, including the first dimension, second dimension, third dimension and so on. It is one of the oldest and most obscure areas of specialty in magic and is feared for its ability to allow its skilled users to cross distances effortlessly and to make attacks discreetly as well as other amazing feats...)

As Nick went through the information, he couldn't help but lick his lips as he started to realize all the advantages of space magic. He began to feel that his sacrifice of his other insignificant affinities was worth it. He may not be able to use magic besides rule, soul and space magic but he felt assured that as long as he worked hard, that fact should not be much of a handicap.

Nick stopped going through the information at around six and went to the cafeteria for a meal. When he returned to his dorm room, he asked Slade:

(Uncle Slade, since I'm a soul magic scholar, my understanding is good but my real experience is lacking. You promised me a soul path inheritance, I need to have it now to make use of my attainment.)

[You sure are greedy, kid, not being satisfied with your space magic gains. Ha, ha, but if that weren't the case you would not be worthy of my, Slade Terrence's, methods. A deals a deal, I will give you the entire inheritance now. I did not give it to you during the exam so as not to tempt you into doing anything wild within that realm and to keep you focused on my instructions.]

[Give me a moment, I'll imprint the inheritance in your mind so that you won't ever forget it using a wisdom path method.]

Nick frowned.

(I thought you said that you couldn't use magic to affect things easily. You're now saying that you can cast magic on my mind?)

[Don't get the wrong idea, kid, my will has many laws infused in it to allow me to use various methods by making use of the natural magic energy around us but it is difficult without a good set up like some kind of formation or the current bond that I have with you. With that in mind, I will need your cooperation to imprint my inheritance in your mind, if you resist at all, I won't be able to perform my method, do you understand?]

Nick squinted his eyes in suspicion but quickly got over it since Slade had not hurt him thus far.

(Do your best Uncle Slade.)

Slade spoke with a flat tone.

[Remember, don't resist.]

Within the next minute, Nick felt a large volume of information flooding into his mind and in a few moments he knew that he had obtained a wealth of information that he had not known a minute earlier. The process felt similar to what he went through when Andre Reigns passed on the space magic 'inheritance' to him, but different somehow.

Slade chimed in after reading Nick's thoughts.

[It feels slightly different to you because my method is pure wisdom magic while that rank 8 magician's method was not pure wisdom magic. It was probably magic that had the effect of imitating wisdom magic.]

(That's possible?)

[Not only is it possible, it is extremely common among high level Magicians. It is something that you will be able to do once you have a high enough attainment with a certain type of magic. Since you are a scholar in soul magic, it shouldn't be that difficult so long as you get enough experience and practice.]

Nick nodded his head in understanding.

Nick spent some time sorting through the inheritance that he had just received and eventually, Nick thought:

(Soul magic methods are really effective in combat situations and work best with a strong soul, I need a method to strengthen my soul.)

Soon after having this thought, Nick came upon such a method in his mind.

('Eat Soul'. This method would allow me to strengthen my soul by consuming the souls of other living beings. Hmmm...it seems that this method would work best on non-human targets because it does not have the capability to filter out the extreme emotions that human souls would possess.)

Nick understood that because he was a soul magic scholar.

"Interesting."

Nick spent some time practicing forming the laws for Eat Soul in his mind and after an hour, he felt that he knew enough about the spell to use it. Nick went into his backpack and took out his beast capture scroll, intending to use it.

(What I'm about to do could end very badly but no risk, no reward.)

Nick unfurled the scroll and willed its activation. The magic in the air around Nick flowed into the scroll and the markings written on it vanished.

In a moment, five meters from Nick appeared a vicious looking adult leopard standing in his bedroom/living room. This was the dangerous animal that he had bought from the General Beast Store right before the exam. Nick had intended to use it as some kind of distraction or aid if he fought a tough magic beast but he never actually needed to use the leopard.

The leopard looked at Nick menacingly and seemed like it was about to lunge at him.

(Soul Pressure.)

The leopard froze in place because of Nick's spell. Nick smiled and thought:

(Soul Pressure is really useful. Eat soul needs a live target to be effective and since that leopard will die if it attacks me because of the General Beast Store's methods, I needed to use Soul Pressure to immobilize it while I cast the spell.)

Nick didn't waste any time, he opened his mouth and cast the spell with his finger pointed at the leopard.

(Eat Soul.)

In a moment, an almost translucent miasma was exuded by the leopard's body and flew straight into Nick's mouth. After that happened, the leopard fell to the ground, lifeless.

Nick closed his mouth and wiped it with the back of his right hand.

(That wasn't so bad but know I feel a little agitated.)

Slade clarified at this moment:

[That is natural. When the soul becomes stronger suddenly, there will be some agitation depending on the method used. Since Eat Soul is an apprentice level spell, that is the case. You need to deal with the agitation or it will subtly affect your mental state. You can most effectively do this by going to sleep.]

Nick nodded in agreement; he was a soul magic scholar so he already understood this. He couldn't sense the improvement but he knew that the spell worked and improved his soul by a little.

Nick looked at the lifeless leopard carcass and had an idea.

(I think I can strengthen my soul greatly in a short amount of time.)