Grand Magus 8 Departing to the Howling Abyss

Handing a paper to Fraser the man suggested with a hand gesture that Fraser should leave the tent.

Obediently Fraser stepped out of the train only to look upon a paper in which the number of his waiting house was written. It was number 459.

After a quick walk around the waiting house section Fraser could see a normal sized house with the number 459.

As soon as Fraser stepped into the house he could see groups of people looking at him. Most were in groups of four or five, however there were also a few solo persons sizing him up. Though the latter was rarer as the people who sat alone mostly ignored him.

Something to mention was that most people in the house were children at the age of 12-15. At least that's the age Fraser would guessed them.

Compared to the train size in which Fraser arrived in he could only see a small group of people in the house, probably around thirty children.

'Why are there so little students in this waiting house? Is it because the Howling Abyss Academy is a small magus organization? Then did I choose to early and should have walked around for other magus organization with a black flag or symbol?'

"What Talent Grade are you?"

An older teen, probably 15 or older stepped forwards. He wore noble clothes with a rapier hanging from his waist.

Processing the question for few moments Fraser saw the reaction from the others in the room. Especially as he could see that most people faintly looked at him, even the people who at first ignored him.

"I am a grade 3 talent." replied Fraser in a steady tone.

This resulted in different reactions, the older boy who had a rapier hanging from his waist smiled.

"I am a grade 3 talent as well, do you want me to show you around in this camp? Food and the bed are free but it isn't the best treatment you could get. My name is Mark."

"My name is Fraser, and yes I would like you to show me around the camp."

Fraser registered the reactions from the other children in the room. The group with the most people in it sighed visible and then continued to talk in hushed voices.

The lonely persons without a group glanced at Fraser with disdain for a short moment before doing what they did when he stepped in.

'So the talent grade is important.'

The group of Mark quickly surrounded him which consisted of two boys and one girl.

While the group of four people stepped out of the house in order to show Fraser the camp, Fraser began asking a few questions. Nothing too personal but questions which should be necessary for him.

"What is the talent grade?"

"You don't know the talent grades? They are really important for being able to use magic. If you only have talent grade 1 then you probably need a few years to even do the simplest spell. We as talent grade 3 are better, we will probably be able to use magic in a few months. However we are nothing compared to the talent grade 5 who can use magic after a few days already." replied one of the boys with a smile.

"How was your journey towards the Border city? It was pretty comfortable wasn't it?" asked Mark as he somehow wanted to change the topic.

"No it wasn't really comfortable, we have to cross the wildlands in order to arrive at this encampment." replied Fraser.

"Oh, so you are from the kingdom outside of the usual recruiting range. We had a few female knights protecting us and you know their tightness and their skins weren't that rough as you may think they were." giggled the other boy.

The only girl in the group rolled her eyes and moved back to the house. As if it's normal neither of the three boys said anything.

Thus Fraser didn't mentioned the girl leaving, instead he excused himself after Mark and his group showed him the canteen, a few shops and a training field which got used by the children in order to increase their body strength.

Though he couldn't see a single person training in a Knight Technique.

Now alone, Fraser immediately sat down at the canteen and started to eat the free food. The free canteen meal consisted of a potato stew and a piece of bread. Naturally it didn't mattered how much you took.

So Fraser devoured one portion after another and didn't limited his metabolism with his AI.

In order not to draw attention Fraser would always search a quiet corner and then eat his portion.

Naturally Fraser devoured the stew and the bread and savored each and every bite after all he needed to save energy in the wildlands and the amount of food available to him in the wildlands wasn't enough.

After his eating spree Fraser moved back to the waiting house to find that most children were hiding in their rooms. So he choose a small room with a single bed and closed the door.

Thus started Frasers training routing as he completely ignored most children in the house, only occasionally greeting Mark.

Else the time was spend eating and training in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique in one of the many rooms of the waiting house.

As the man which received Fraser in the tent appeared at the house there was a strong improvement in Frasers body stats.

"We will depart with the other magus organization in an airship, you will all have to share a room with other people until we will arrive at the howling abyss." explained the man for a short moment before walking away.

'AI show me my body stats.'

[4.34 strength, 4.77 agility, 4.28 vitality]

Fraser somehow received an odd feeling whenever he looked at the numbers increasing. It somehow let him feel proud or even satisfied.

It was odd feeling, however as there were no harm done Fraser quickly ignored it.

The morning of the following day soon arrived. Fraser equipped his meagre possession which mostly included his weapons and walked outside.

After the entire Howling Abyss Academy group gathered the man guided the group towards the back of the encampment where other magus organization groups already waited. There were a few with more than triple the amount of numbers of the Howling Abyss academy, however most groups had almost the same number.

But there was one question which let Fraser think for a while.

'Why are there only so few students, shouldn't there be more? In my wooden carriage block train there were at least 8 thousand children if not more. Where are they?'

Thinking for a while the only explanation was that the normal peasants had no "magic stone" and thus they needed to work for the organization before they were able to learn magic.

A few huge Airships descended from the sky as they broke through the clouds and steered towards the encampment.

Ohs and Ahs appeared from the childrens.

As soon as the Airships landed the man quickly drove the Howling Abyss Academy group towards one of the ships.

Stepping onto the Airship the man quickly lead the group towards a section with the emblem of the Howling Abyss Academy.

Apparently Frasers group wasn't the sole group as there were five more. The children quickly mingled and socialized as the groups met.

Fraser didn't socialized, instead he went towards the bed after acquiring the information where the canteen on the airship was located. He listened to a short conversation in which the man which recruited him reported to his superior.

Laying in bed Fraser ignored the other three children who tried to contain their excitement but failed miserably.

Instead he smiled inwardly and closed his eyes. As he was a silent weirdo, at least in the eyes of the other three members they quickly ignored Fraser and even game him nicknames like silent weirdo, mute rat or ugly fellow.

'The cruelty of little children. It doesn't matter, I could beat the crap out of every children in the room but it won't give me any advantage.'

Chapter end