Arriving at the Northern part of Ireland.
They were on a cliff, and below them was the ocean. It was a green scenery, however despite this, it was desolate to the point even Levy caught on.
'This is where the meeting is supposed to be held?' Levy asked inwardly.
'I'm positive it's hidden by spatial isolation but I don't remember there being anything in here...' Lin Feng pondered deeply.
Vladimir seeing Levy's confusion smirked.
He grabbed Levy's hand and walked towards the edge of the cliff.
Levy looked at the edge, and seeing the rocks embedded at the bottom of the ocean.
"Uh? Grandpa Vlad?" He glanced at Vladimir with shaky eyes. 'Surely not?'
Before he knew it, Vladimir pushed him off.
Levy closed his eyes.
Then just a second later, opening his eyes, as if nothing happened.
Vladimir was walking through the air, Levy was also sitting in the air instead of falling to his death.
'An illusion huh? Neat.' Lin Feng praised.
"Follow along now~" Vladimir signalled for Levy.
They walked for quite a while until they reached atop the clouds.
Before them stood a huge castle, dwarfing the Morozov estate in comparison.
"Woah!" Levy voiced out in amazement.
'I don't remember this in my 99 cycles of reincarnation... wait 99? Where di 99 come from, wasn't it 97?' Lin Feng thought deeply.
A while later walking through the castle.
There were two guards in front of the huge door, both were wearing knight armors with a crest of a red dragon embedded at the front.
Vladimir merely glanced at them and they opened the door immediately.
Both knights looked at Levy with wonder, but decided to stay shut.
"Look sharp Levy. These are people you'll soon associate with after a few years. These are the strongest there is in the world." Vladimir said.
"Don't let them look down at you. Stand strong." He added, "Just do whatever, I'll handle it."
Vladimir smirked.
Entering the room, it was a circular hall, with tall open arches that the sky and clouds could be seen. In the middle was a circular table where 7 seats were placed around, and most seats had already been occupied.
'Hmm?'
'Who's the kid?'
'There's nothing that says we aren't allowed to bring anyone...'
'...that's interesting, seeing that old man holding a kid's hand.'
The people inside gazed at the two with interest.
'This is uncomfortable...' Levy a bit ticked off from their peering, "what's with those looks?"
'Hoh?' Vladimir smiled inwardly, unaware that Levy had this side of him.
There were about 50 people inside the hall, but 4 people sitting in the round table, all of whom were shocked by the kid's reply, one of which was an old man with white long hair and beard to pair, wearing a loose violet robe. 'How gutsy...'
Another was a young woman with a busty appearance, wearing a black witch's hat, while smoking tobacco with a pipe.
Next to her was a black middle-aged man with a huge scar on his right eye, and a burly build who just smirked.
And to his right, was a young man with a calm demeanor, long green hair with blonde highlights, green eyes, a tall nose bridge, and he was wearing eyeglasses with chains. he was handsome to say objectively.
"What's with the brat?" The old man asked Vladimir while eyeing Levy.
"None of your business, Edwin." Vladimir plainly stated.
Edwin, the old man, just scoffed as if knowing this was exactly what he'd reply.
Levy looked around the place, amazed by the structures.
Vladimir sat down, while he put Levy on his lap.
"Tsk! So? Where's the one who organized this meeting?" Vladimir spoke.
Edwin replied, "who knows?"
Just then, the door opened and who came in was a young man, pale skin, long red hair, red eyes, and tattoos on his neck to his jaw, and a red dragon marking on his right arm.
"Thank you for taking up my call!" He said as he flashed a huge grin on his face.
Everyone in seated had a displeased look on their face, even Vladimir was popping a vein on his forehead.
'He's really hated huh?' Levy concluded.
"Hang on, we're missing someone! Where's the Ice Lord?" The young man asked.
No one really answered.
Releasing his mana for a bit, "I asked where is he?" He repeated.
"Just get to the point of the meeting. Red Dragon." The black middle-aged man retorted.
"Tsk!" Red Dragon was obviously a man of short temper.
'Man! This guy is too full of himself!' Levy thought to himself.
The red-haired man clicked his tongue but finally walked toward the remaining empty seat.
He sat down casually, clasping his hands together, propped against the table's edge.
"Fine. I'll begin."
The atmosphere subtly tightened.
Red Dragon leaned forward, fingers interlocked.
"Over the past three years, the Red Magic Tower detected multiple regions across the globe where mana density has risen abnormally."
He tapped the table.
And a servant of his from the crowd went near and gave each of the 7-stars the compiled reports.
A projection of the world map manifested mid-air.
Several glowing points pulsed ominously.
"The mana density didn't just elevate," he continued. "It's become dangerously dense. Enough to destabilize environmental balance."
The old man, Edwin, narrowed his eyes.
"Have we found out the source?"
Red Dragon simply shook his head.
"The fact of the matter is..." He trailed off, "We went to investigate the source but there was none."
Murmurs around the people present.
Vladimir's eyes narrowed. "None you say?"
"Yes. None. It's as if it suddenly appeared out of thin air, it defies every laws of magic and modern magic theory in existence."
'This defies the Second Law of Mana — The Law of Conservation andDisplacement' Levy thought to himself, 'What was it again? Mana—'
'Mana cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred, transformed, or displaced.' Lin Feng continued Levy's thoughts.
Red Dragon continued, "Another thing is that the mana is dense enough that ordinary Casters entering the area would experience mana poisoning within hours."
Silence ensued.
'Mana poisoning affecting casters?' Lin Feng's thoughts sharpened. 'That level of concentration should require a medium, or a catalyst of some kind...'
'Hang on... I don't remember any type of incident like this that brewed in the past!' Lin Feng fell into a trance.
The woman in the witch's hat exhaled a slow stream of smoke.
"That explains it," she said lazily.
All eyes shifted to her.
She crossed her legs.
"Reports coming in through the Blue Magic Tower showed that the manabeast activity has spiked, not just in a few regions but in a global scale."
She tapped ash from her pipe.
"We're having a hard time, deploying mages to maintain spacial isolation for the manabeasts that have grown restless."
The burly, scarred man folded his arms.
"So it's not juust the Green Magic Tower huh?" the handsome man with glasses added calmly.
"We've reviewed reports from the past decade."
He adjusted his glasses by the chain lightly.
"The population increase is exponential."
He paused.
"And so is their ranks."
Even Levy felt the weight of that statement.
'Manabeasts by nature produces A-ranks 1 in 100,000 and an increase in population would inevitably increase their ranks.' Levy remembered the lectures from Theodore.
"Lower-tier beasts are even evolving into mid-tier at abnormal rates," the man continued. "A-rank manabeasts have tripled. A few anomalous signatures even resemble pre-cataclysm classifications."
'That's not natural,' Lin Feng analyzed. 'Either mana is condensing toward something… or something is drawing it.'
Red Dragon exhaled sharply.
"That's why I called this meeting."
His red eyes swept across the room.
"I need everyone's cooperation. Whatever this is… something's coming. Something big."
He clenched his fist.
"And when it arrives, I doubt any single faction can handle it alone."
The hall fell into contemplative silence.
Even Vladimir's smirk faded into obscurity.
Finally, Edwin stood.
"Very well. Continue the surveillance. Let's gather again in half a year for information dissemination."
The witch nodded.
The scarred man grunted in agreement.
The handsome man adjusted his glasses.
Red Dragon leaned back.
"Then we're adjourned."
Chairs shifted.
"What a shame... I thought this would turn into another scuffle." Vladimir expressed his dissapointment, "Let's go Levy, I thought this would be a good experience for you."
"He came here to fight?"
"Surely that was a joke right?"
"I wouldn't put it past The Paragon Wind"
One by one, the presences in the room began dissipating.
But Red Dragon's gaze lingered.
On Levy.
He turned toward Vladimir.
"Lord Vladimir," he said with formal courtesy now, "may I ask who the child is?"
The honorific did not go unnoticed.
Vladimir didn't answer.
He simply stood.
Silence stretched.
Red Dragon's eyes flickered faintly.
Mana surged subtly.
He attempted to peer.
[System Notification]
External Inspection Detected.Countermeasures Available. [Yes] [No]
Levy's brows slowly furrowed.
[Yes]
'Oh?' Lin Feng's tone sharpened instantly.
Levy didn't look away.
He lifted his chin slightly.
His purplish eyes locked onto Red Dragon's.
"You."
The room went still.
"How vulgar. Get your filthy mana off of me."
It wasn't a request.
But rather, a statement.
"Huh?" Red Dragon obviously taken aback.
Not just him, but every one of the 7-stars was.
Being ordered by a kid who's not even half his age. Moreso, someone who he couuld obliterate with a flick of a hand.
His eyes furrowed, but besides Levy was Vladimir who was watching the situation intently.
He met Vladimir's eyes as if saying 'go ahead, try me.' Vladimir smirked "You heard em."
Red Dragon's killing intent dissipated.
------------------------------
Flying through the clouds, Levy asked "How did I do?"
Vladimir looked at him and scruffled his hair, "This kid! I had no idea you were that gutsy! HAHAHAHAHA you shouldv'e seen their faces!"
He was ecstatic. Given the fact that all of his descendants heeded him completely, also meant that none exceeded his expectations was a bore to him.
'This kid... with his one in a billion talent and his mentality. He's bound to topple the magic world with his feet!' Vladimir thought so.
But contrary to his thoughts, he'd already started making waves.
------------------------------
Inside the now-empty hall, only one presence remained.
Red Dragon stood motionless at the center of the circular chamber.
The clouds beyond the arches drifted lazily, indifferent.
His smile was gone.
Completely.
He stared at the seat where Vladimir had been.
Silence pressed against the walls.
His jaw tightened.
Slowly, deliberately, his fingers curled inward.
The leather of his gloves creaked.
Then tore.
A thin line of red traced down from his palm.
"Vladimir…" he muttered softly.
The honorific was gone.
"And that child…"
His eyes darkened slightly.
"…Levy."
The name lingered.
He replayed the moment in his mind.
'That gaze. That tone of his! How dare he—'
Red Dragon exhaled slowly through his nose.
The mana around him flickered once, violently—the air cracking faintly before stabilizing again.
"So that's how it is."
His bleeding palm clenched tighter.
Clouds outside the castle twisted subtly in response to his agitation.
"Very well."
His voice lowered into something colder.
"Let's see how long that arrogance lasts."
He turned toward the open sky.
The beginning of a resentment that would not fade easily.
And far above the clouds—
The wind shifted.
As if it had just witnessed the birth of something inevitable.
------------------------------
[Magic Mastery System]
Name: Levy Tobias Morozov
Physique: 9.49
Mana: 23.179
Elemental Nature: Wind (S-rank), Lightning (C-rank)
Magic Skills:
Active Skills:
> Wind Gale Palm (E-rank)⁺
Passive Skills:
> One With The Wind (S-rank)⁺
------------------------------
[Quest - in progress (60.11%)]
Practice Asha Circulation Method for 1 hour daily
Duration: 5 years
Reward: +20 Mana
Failure Penalty: -10 Mana