The Golem Mage

Chapter 952: Brackets of Blood and Pride

The reason for Kaelus’ knowledge about the War God Mage Academy was all because of Lucas.

Due to being one of the few members of the Blade clan sent to a lesser academy meant the Ancient Blade clan didn’t expect much from a mage like Lucas, the clan elders would have been happy so long as descendants like him grew well and returned to support the clan in whatever way they deemed fit, even if it was a mediocre job like serving in the clan guard forces.

They don’t hire mages from outside their bloodline or without a connection to them, so clan members with lesser achievements or those who they claim had “mediocre” talents end up with these kinds of jobs.

The act of sending these descendants to lesser academies is meant to manage and maximize resources they would allocate to the core talents they see as future pillars, and to build a sense of indebtedness in those descendants who they sent out to lesser academies.

Lucas was one such descendant, someone who wasn’t supposed to be flashy or amount to much; just an average mage who, even with clan support, would have been lucky to reach the peak of the Tier-6 mage realm and contribute to the clan’s bloodline.

He was one of those the elders didn’t look too fondly upon or believe would enter the High Rank realm. However, when he returned home for his holiday from the academy with a peak Tier-5 realm, it had caused an uproar in the whole clan, because a mage of their bloodline who had awakened one weapon specialty now not only had two weapon specialties,

but his elemental affinity also seemed to have grown stronger, to the point he could manifest it much more freely during attacks.

(Blade clansmen typically have low elemental affinity due to their superior gift for mastering weapons, so they rarely focus on it, unless the descendant awakens a high affinity or they obtain a power crystal to boost it, which is costly and reserved for core talents they plan to cultivate.)

And he was at the peak of the Tier-5 realm after just one year of being at the War God Mage Academy, such an improvement they had never expected, as he was now on par with the other Ten Blade Stars, which included Cassandra Blade, another clanswoman sent to the Holy Grail Academy due to her light affinity.

So when he came back, they tried to move him to a better academy or have him stay in the clan and learn from their best instructors about the ways of his specialised weapons since the War God Mage Academy had its support cut off by the Northern Kingdom.

They promised him a lot; however, a few days after he told them he’d think about it, he refused their offer, saying he still wanted to go back to the War God Mage Academy.

They really weren’t happy about his decision then. However, Lucas had entered the Tier-6 mage realm when he refused them , and after his beautiful display during the Blood Moon at Curved Edge City, they were forced to prioritize his wishes as they would the ten Blade stars.

They only allowed him to return to the academy if he accepted that the clan would try its very best to support him to their capacity, which he accepted, as he didn’t have any problem with such a move on their part.

The Blade clan made this move to bind him more closely to the clan.

For a boy who hadn’t been well supported to suddenly become something special, they wanted to ensure he retained a lingering loyalty to the clan, which he just saw as a drag as he had no intentions of leaving the clan.

However, if only they knew that the cultivation pills they gave him , because they felt it was meant to make him more devoted to the clan , weren’t even worth mentioning to him they would faint.

And that was because the amount of pills he had gained simply by being on Alec’s team was so much that the clan couldn’t even compete, unless they intended to place him on the same pedestal as their Blade Prince, Kaelus.

–

So, to Kaelus, he had been hearing of a new Blade star in the clan, though not crowned or celebrated like the other groomed Ten, Kaelus knew there was a new mage in the clan who could challenge him for his position when the time came.

That was what the Ten Stars were really meant for, they could challenge the Blade Prince when the succession reached, and the one who won it all among all eleven of them would be the one to succeed the Patriarch when the time came for him to step down.

Basically, the Blades Patriarch of each generation always led their Ten Blade Stars, who would later become the new-generation elders with a huge gap in status.

This was the same effort Kaelus was heading for, and he had the confidence to face any of the Ten currently Blade stars present, his problems just began when an unplanned mage popped up.

And even if he hadn’t gotten Lucas’s name yet, he at least learned that Lucas’s transformation started when he went to the War God Mage Academy, so Kaelus believed whatever caused his progress had to be from there too.

And considering how Lucas didn’t care about getting into a top academy and was adamant about returning, it stuck in Kaelus’s head; as he pictured the War God Mage Academy as an academy working against his interests instead, so he’d carried unresolved feelings about the War God Mage Academy since then.

It didn’t matter if it wasn’t that big a deal in the first place; all he knew was that he hated them since then, for a while he seemed to forget about his clansman who attends the War God Mage Academy due to the fact that Lucas had returned back, only for someone bearing the academy’s insignia to take first place,

making him remember his hatred for the academy again.

Meanwhile, on the side, Alec could feel the look of bloodlust directed toward him; because of how sensitive he was to such intent, he quickly noticed it and turned to see Kaelus and Raizo staring at him with daggered gazes.

The bloodlust came directly from Raizo, but as usual Alec acted like he didn’t feel a thing, not long after, the War God Mage Academy team also came out from a portal of their own, as the second trails came to an end and with it the second round of elimination happened instantly, as those who couldn’t last the third round and were killed were eliminated directly.

And many of them just happened to be the younger-generation teams of Ancient clans, though the Ancient clans have great prestige, it doesn’t mean every generation always produces a crazily strong genius.

And even if they did, they were all representing academies and other types of organizations currently; the Blade Clan team and the Northern Royal Clan were the only clan groups that made it to the third round.

The Ancient Clans of the Northern Kingdom that had been given special quotas , dropped out easily in the second round; in fact, many of the elders of those clans had been expecting this.

They felt the envoys and organizers of the competition had been slowly taking their time to weed out the mages they didn’t feel were worthy.

“Congratulations to you all who have made it this far. I want to tell you that you have proven yourselves worthy; now there are 20 teams that have made it past to the third round,” the coordinating mage said, as many mages just snickered as if they had been expecting that all from the beginning.

“Settle down, as the third round will begin immediately, and it’s an all-team battle between academies,” the coordinator continued, before clicking his fingers as a screen popped up showing who was facing whom.

¹. School of Silent Night vs Witches and Wizard Academy

². Crimson Dawn Academy vs Vajra Academy

³. The Argent Guild vs Onyx Academy

⁴. Holy Grail Academy vs Solarium Sanctum

⁵. Battle Mage Academy vs Arcanis Dominion Academy

⁶. War God Mage Academy vs Ashmaw Academy

⁷. Bloodline Academy vs Axis Arcanum

⁸. Gate Academy vs Shinsei Academy

⁹. Shaolin Temple Academy vs Blades Clan

¹⁰. Northern Royal Team vs Ember Citadel.