After the ceremony concluded, John was quickly taken by his father into his office. "Sit," said his father before a chair made of wind suddenly materialized before his father's desk.
"Son, I'm sure you have lots of questions. I'm also sure that you know that I still haven't given you a name." said his father in a sad tone.
"Yes, father, can you tell me why?" said John. He already knew the reason but pretended not to know anything in order to avoid suspicion.
"Well, it's a long story, so do you want to hear it?" said his father. "Of course," John replied, pretending to be a curious child who wanted to know why his father hadn't given him a name.
"A long time ago, I had another son who I named Octavian," said John's father. "He was my one and only child and I loved him very much. He was…."
For the next half an hour John's father proceeded to explain the history regarding John's brother. It turned out that John's deceased brother had also been a brilliant core mage, and was one of the top tier brilliant core mages.
However the Crown had been afraid of him reaching the Ascended Core stage and proceeded to kill him off in a freak accident, where John's brother had suddenly ran out of aether and fell off a cliff which was impossible.
"Father, what is an Ascended Core I thought you said that the highest core was refined core," asked John excitedly, this was a critical piece of knowledge that he had heard so many times and was itching to know.
"That's.. complicated," replied his father, "You see I didn't want to tell you about the Ascended Core because I planned for you to live a normal life as a Refined Core Mage, but now that your being sent to the Academy, you're bound to touch upon knowledge regarding it. In short, the Ascended Core is a stage that only Kings are allowed to reach due to its overwhelming strength. I won't say much now but you will know in due time.
"Alright, but father, you and the King mentioned an academy that I need to join?" said John.
"Yes, soon in a few days you will be sent to the central academy in the center of the continent. However there are multiple things you have to be careful of." said John's father in a grave tone.
"Firstly, don't use any aether technique that the academy provides, I will give you an aether technique while you're leaving discreetly, use that one. The ones at the academy are all designed to stunt your growth and leave you trapped at the Refined Core stage. "
"Secondly, be wary at the Academy as there may be assassination attempts from the Ignis Kingdom. Always stay vigilant and trust no one there. Lay low and come back safely."
"Finally, don't trust any of the instructors. They're all lackeys of the King's and will try to stump any potential Ascended Core mage's growth."
"I understand father," said John gravely. It appeared that he was going to have a hard time at the Academy, but that was for the best. After all he wasn't never liked engaging in social affairs anyways. He'll just lay low and learn knowledge. Something he had done for the majority of his life.
"Now, before I send you back to prepare, it's time for me to give you a name… Do you have any suggestions?" said John's father.
"Perhaps John," replied John. "Sure, from now on, your name will be John Verrien. Alright now go off."
With that, John's conversation with his father concluded and he quickly headed back to his own room. Laying on his bed John contemplated his future. At the academy he would have to just lay low. However that would be hard as he was a Brilliant Core mage but John believed he could manage.
Slowly dozing off, John thought about all the knowledge in the academy that was waiting for him. Arrays, magic spells, techniques, all the goodies. Dozing off with happy thoughts John quickly fell asleep.
The next few days, John did nothing but prepare for his imminent departure to the Academy. His father had mentioned that there might be assassins that would attempt to kill him, so John decided to speed up the tempering of his body.
Now that he was awakened, John's aether circulation as well as quality was much better than before, meaning that he was able to circulate much more higher quality aether, increasing the speed of his tempering. In fact, in order to be safe, John even over absorbed aether and forced it onto the layer below his skin acting as an insulator.
Although, before his skin absorbed the copious amount of aether, he wouldn't be able to temper it, it would still act as a shield protecting him from any sudden attempts at his life. Of course, this was only for Awakened Core level assassins, but the higher leveled assassins would have a hard time getting in the academy, and John couldn't do anything much about them anyways.
Soon, the day for departure came and John was quickly escorted out into the courtyard. He saw his father, his mother, as well as some other mages standing beside a carriage. Seeing him, John's father quickly walked up and patted him, "Good luck son."
John felt something engrave itself onto where his father patted him and knew that this was the aether technique his father had promised him. Although quite excited that he would soon be able to learn new knowledge, John, showing no anomalies, quickly got into the carriage.
"Start the carriage," said his father, before John suddenly felt the carriage be lifted off the ground. Looking out the carriage John could see the endless clouds at the bottom, as well as the quickly shrinking dot that was the family's mansion. Vroooom, soon the sound of wind whooshing filled the carriage, and John was on his way to the unknown academy.