On his way, he found many corpses scattered on the ground. He went full speed down the stairs; he was at the training grounds floor and wanted to force his way through the floor blockades, but he found out his way was clear of anything stopping him. This made him alert.
"Could it be somebody else forced his way inside before me? Is he still there?" thought Alonzo as he proceeded with caution. He found the same huge hall he saw when he entered to claim his prize, but was surprised by the sight of his fellow new class students. He didn't even bat an eye at them.
All of a sudden, he was approached by a girl he unfortunately recognized — it was Clare.
"You dare show yourself before me, scum!" she said.
Alonzo didn't say anything, just backhanded her, throwing her away. The other students were stunned at this behavior, but none intervened.
Alonzo started sprinting down the hall very fast. He wanted to reach the end of the hall to see what it hid there — who knew what kind of treasure awaited him there! After several minutes, he reached the end. There were many spell books, each in the color of its affinity. Because of his limited space, he could only choose a few. He brought all the space-related spell books he could fit in his backpack. He was most interested in those spells; they would help him deliver his revenge soon!
Abruptly, from behind, he was touched on the shoulder by none other than Hansel, the principal of the academy.
"I guess there's no point in stopping a thief. This place is going down. I will transport the rest of you students to a random place across this plain. Now pay attention!" said Hansel from behind.
Before Alonzo could say anything, he was spatially transferred to another place — a forest. But something was different: the trees weren't the giant mushrooms he knew; they were actual trees. This greatly shocked Alonzo.
"Could I not be inside the closed Luminari space?" he thought.
He started looking around, making sure he still wasn't inside the closed space. First, there wasn't the giant donut-shaped moon in the sky — there was an actual sun shining light. Second, there were actual trees instead of giant mushrooms. Alonzo was confused; he thought he would be teleported inside the closed space, not outside of it.
He needed to be careful. He didn't know what the outside world looked like, and he had no powerful backer to guarantee his safety here. He needed to hide his appearance — his pointed ears were exposing his race to others. Luminari people weren't seen very well on the outside; he at least knew that.
He started striding through the forest, trying to look for a small settlement. He needed some information and some clothes to hide his appearance, but he could not afford to leave witnesses behind.
After 30 minutes of blindly going through the forest, he suddenly saw smoke in the distance from his current position. He didn't go there directly; he approached slowly, trying not to be detected, and climbed a tree to scout ahead. As he expected, there was a small village nearby. He jumped down the tree and slowly stepped toward it.
As soon as he got close, he was surprised by three humans coming near him.
"Hello, gue—! A Luminari! Stay away from our village, devil!" said one villager.
Another female villager made signs for the other to shut up and said, "Sorry, our esteemed guest, forgive my friend's rudeness. I am Ana, the chief of this small village. We'll happily give the lord anything he needs!"
Alonzo sneered at her and said, "I would gladly take your life as a gift!"
Alonzo took out his sword from his ring and slashed at the three villagers, taking their heads off. The villagers watching panicked and barricaded themselves inside their homes, hiding their kids. Alonzo couldn't allow them to live after seeing him, so he went from house to house, slaughtering anything hiding or running. After many deaths, he finished the job. He neither felt joy nor pleasure — yet he had to do this.
He went inside the biggest house in the village, which he assumed was Ana's house. There he heard cries coming from the closet. Alonzo kicked the closet, making it fall, and from inside fell a human boy, probably the same age as Alonzo's new body.
"Please don't kill me!" said the child while sobbing.
His plea fell on deaf ears as Alonzo took his life with a painless slash. He didn't want to kill unnecessarily, but he would kill in order to survive. He would do anything necessary to achieve his goals.
After this, Alonzo went to search for human-like clothes — and most importantly, a cloak. He found some old, ragged clothes, but he still wore them. Despite their look, he chose them because they would attract less attention.
After that, he needed a map, so he started looking for one. He didn't find any in the big house, so he searched the other houses. He found some survivors hiding, so he began questioning them.
"Where am I, and where can I find a map?"
The poor woman he questioned was shaking out of fear.
"Please don't kill me! I'll tell you everything you want! I can become your woma—"
Before she could finish, her hand was sliced off.
"You didn't answer my questions!" said Alonzo.
The woman screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground.
"We are in the Talon Empire, situated somewhere in the south, and I don't know anything about any map! Please spare me, I promise I know nothing about it!" she said, struggling to breathe.
Alonzo sliced her in half.
"Seems like I can't find any maps. Whatever — at least I know where I am!" he thought.
"The Talon Empire is home to many races, so I shouldn't face much discrimination — but I still need to be discreet," he whispered to himself.
He found, on the other side of the village, a paved road, so he made the most logical decision: to follow it. He didn't run; he just walked on the road. As he was walking, he came across a carriage. When the carriage saw him, it stopped, and a few knights got out and drew their swords to check if he was a thief.
"Who are you? Identify yourself before I cut your head off!"
Alonzo realized those were actual knights — weak ones, but knights nonetheless. Knights have a different power system than mages and could be called the bastion of humanity, since they were the ones who established human supremacy in the world.
For example, the weakest of the knights are called Bronze Knights – Foundation Tier, those knights are at the beginning and haven't reached enlightenment. The second weakest are called Iron Knights – Adaptive Tier, who partially reached enlightenment. At the lowest of the middle tier stand the Steel Knights – Elite Tier, who reached enlightenment and can use aura. At the middle of the middle tier stand Silver Knights – Noble Tier, who can manifest aura outside their bodies. At the end of the middle tier stand Gold Knights – Royal Tier, who can affect luck itself. As for the high rank, he didn't know; in the book he read about knights, the pages describing them were torn off.
"I am a simple traveler. I am searching for the nearest city," said Alonzo, hiding his face.
"Clear out of the way! Don't you know in whose presence you stand?" yelled one of the knights at the front.
"Stop!" said a suave voice from the carriage. "Let him inside the carriage!" the voice continued, as a middle-aged lady got down.
"But my lady, that's—" babbled the guard before being interrupted.
"I said enough. Hello, kid, are you lost from your parents?" she said as she got closer to him. She had a black hat on her head, a pipe she was smoking from, a black fluffy coat covering her body, and bright red lips.
"I am an orphan. I am lost and I am looking for a city," said Alonzo with a shy voice. He was trying to imitate a cute kid.
"Don't worry, little one, I will take you with me and make sure you're safe. My name is Seraphine — Seraphine Valemont. What's your name?"
Alonzo thought about it and said, gripping his arm: "My name is Tony — just Tony."
"Here!" she said as she took Alonzo in her arms, transporting him back to her carriage.
Alonzo didn't fight back; he needed to reach the city. Also, there were many knights surrounding the carriage, so he needed to comply for now. Alonzo kept being talked to by this noble lady. Looking at her from a close distance, he realized she was incredibly pale — not that it would matter.
"So, Tony, what do you like to do?" said Seraphine as she supported her chin on her fist.
"I don't have any hobbies, but I like to stare at the stars and dream," said Alonzo. That was actually the truth — this was one of the only things he liked.
"You must be a visionary. You seem very interesting. Would you like to join my family and stay with me?" said Seraphine, anticipating his answer.
"I am sorry, my lady, but I want to become a knight. That's why I need to go to a city," said Alonzo, shrugging.
"Such disappointment… Consider this an invitation. If your plan doesn't work, I still want to give you something — so come for a bit to my place," said Seraphine, no longer smiling.
The rest of the trip was quiet. Seraphine just stared out the window, not saying anything, so Alonzo followed her example. Finally, after around two hours, they arrived at their destination — a city. It looked very lively, with giant gray walls and towers at each corner. Here Alonzo could gain more information. He was very interested in the process of becoming a knight, since he thought if it was possible to become both a knight and a mage at the same time, there wasn't anything — to his knowledge — that would stop it from becoming reality. He wanted to put this plan into action, but he would take it step by step; he didn't want to rush.
"Now I still need to give you something. Come with me!" said Seraphine mysteriously.
Alonzo nodded, got off the carriage, and followed her and her guards. He wanted to see what she could offer him — maybe it was something of importance. He saw many people from many races, but he didn't see any Luminari, which was normal considering they were sealed off from the world.
Alonzo followed Seraphine. They arrived in front of a mansion with many statues — abstract ones, but for some reason, headless. Seraphine led him to a bedroom — her bedroom, presumably. Inside was a king-sized bed and expensive furniture.
She stood still with her back turned to him and said, "Right where I wanted you to be, Luminari kid!" Those words shocked Alonzo. She lunged at him and tried to bite him — her teeth were long and sharp.
"She's a vampire!" he thought, before trying to dodge her. But to no avail — she managed to grab him in her embrace and prepared to bite him. Before she could do that, Alonzo's shadow jumped, took a random knife from her table, and penetrated her skull with it, making her drop dead on the floor.
Alonzo heard footsteps coming from behind the doors — the knights were coming after him! He needed to make a run for it. He jumped out the window and landed on one of the headless statues. He jumped from one to another as he tried to escape his pursuers. Alonzo was close to the fence when a spear thrown at him by a knight barely hit him — it only managed to scratch his cheek.
He made his jump and exited the mansion grounds. He ran into a dark corridor, put his hood back on, chanted the short teleportation spell and made himself unseen , disappearing.