Flester walked towards the gates of Frosthold, unlike everyone else who stayed in the city, he was among the few who left it...and even among them, he was leaving at the very day of his registration.
Truly an insufferable bastard but again the boy was never loved...at least even if he was, he never remembered it.
'How ridiculous.'
Flester stood before the gates of Frosthold, the towering metal doors rising high above him, cold and unmoving. From this side, they felt even heavier—less like protection, more like a boundary that could not be crossed so easily.
Behind him, the city stretched outward.
The outer districts were filled with commoner homes, packed tightly in uneven rows, their rooftops buried beneath layers of snow. Narrow streets cut through them, worn and familiar, carrying the quiet weight of everyday survival. Smoke drifted weakly into the cold air, only to vanish moments later.
To the left, set apart from the crowded homes, stood the academy. Its structure was large and orderly, its presence firm without needing to be imposing. It didn't belong to the chaos of the outer city—it stood above it, distant in its own way.
A few streets away, half-hidden among the clustered buildings, lay the orphanage. Smaller, worn, and quieter than everything around it.
At the right side was a magnificent round dome like structure, it was large and loved by all, it was the library. Who would hate a library? Well if someone did, then they would be Flester's enemy.
At the heart of Frosthold rose the castle.
If Flester would use one word to describe the castle. It would be... Perfect.
And yet the city was not done.
Behind the castle lay the noble compound, where space replaced crowding. Large estates stood in careful order, their grounds maintained despite the cold. Guards moved through the area with quiet vigilance, their watch never truly easing.
And beyond that, further still, were the nobles' training grounds—wide, open, and untouched by the cramped limitations of the outer city.
The commoners had their own training grounds, scattered sparsely among the districts. Small, rough patches of land, worn by use but lacking the care and scale of those beyond the castle.
Encircling all of it were the walls of Frosthold—massive, unbroken, and ever-present. From where Flester stood, they felt closer than the sky itself.
The city endured within them.
And so did he.
He sighed, there was no real difference between the commoners and the nobles of Frosthold. The nobles in Frosthold were the Frost noble clan.
There was no dispute between the two parties of the city, the nobles just received more training, more ground to train and looked different.
There was a common trait to all the members of the frost noble clan.
Their hair was a shade of silver. Rarely light sky blue and their eyes were of the colour of steel silver, sky blue.
Today was the day he would leave this place behind-and he felt nothing. Not an ounce of sadness or hesitation. Nothing.
Staring at the magnificent castle with disdain one last time, he turned back with his usual aloof expression and approached the guards, he did not have to speak.
He was quite famous in the city after all, well not for the right reason but still he was, and that was all that mattered. The scornful brat was leaving the city, and who would stop him...No one, hell they would instead help him leave.
He pulled out a card, a normal but hard paper, pouring his magic into it, it glowed with a faint blue and then the card finally became his ID.
There was his picture, and beside that was his name, element, family, city and position. The guard saw it and opened a narrow door in the huge gate and finally the boy hated by the city was finally free...of them.
And yet, he had a long way, and he in particular had a hard way in this world.
He walked out and a faint but sincere smile touched his lips, and immediately vanished...as if it was never there.
He glanced at his ID.
Name: Flester.
Element: Flame.
Family: Orphan.
City: Frosthold.
Position: Graduate.
He pulled out a small ring from the pocket of his pant. The ring was gold and black, it was a ring he created himself. From the library books, he learnt how to make a ring.
This was sorcery magic, and a storage sorcery was its basic.
The ring was a storage ring, and inside the ring were a few coins, food which would mostly last a day, and another pair of even more battered looking clothes, and now a new collection added to his storage ring. A card, his ID.
He then slid the ring into his index finger of his right hand...If any of the people in the city knew that he could do sorcery magic, then he would be in great trouble.
The sorcery magic was limited to only nobles and students of the academy, normally it would not be a problem someone learning sorcery magic without being a noble or an academy student, but Flester....
Flester was hated by the city, because of the baseless accusation of his connection with the Mist Beings, but again they might not be wrong either.
If the city knew that he learnt sorcery magic, then there would be a turmoil, and again he had stolen the book of the sorcery magic from the noble section of the library. No commoner was allowed there, he would really be in serious trouble.
Nevertheless, now no one could question him, even if they did. These type of storage rings were on sale, and were quite affordable too.
But still, he was still not out of the Frost domain.
He was only outside of the Frost city but the Frost domain only ended in the north when one crossed the Frost forest. The Frost domain consisted of the Frost city, and several other small towns under its protection.
After an hour of walking, he finally ventured into the wilderness, this was not the Frost forest, no...it was just the normal forests and other terrain.
This wilderness was under the protection of the Frost domain but still, he was on guard and prepared if any shades attacked.
Shades are magical beasts.
They are creatures born from magic, not normal animals. Each Shade carried power within its body, often tied to an element like fire, wind, or darkness. Some were simple and weak, while others were far more dangerous.
They existed beyond the safety of the city walls—and were the reason the outside world was feared.
This close to the Frost city, there would normally be no shades but again there were shades known for their stealth, and just as he thought a shade appeared.
The shade burst out of the stone without warning. It looked in the exact colour of the stone, it was pure luck he stumbled upon it in the evening.
Flester reacted instantly, flames flaring around him and shooting forward. They struck its head, but the creature only staggered, still standing. It lunged.
He sidestepped, sending a burst of fire into its side. It slowed—but didn't fall.
"Tch."
'That rocky shell...' It came again, dragging itself forward, faster this time. A jagged limb swung at him.
Flester ducked, feeling it pass just above him. Then it opened its mouth. For a moment, he didn't move, and then his eyes narrowed.
Flames surged from his hand and shot straight into its mouth. The creature trembled, cracks spreading across its body—then it collapsed.
Flester exhaled softly, lowering his hand. The fight only took ten seconds and still, he had to take some breaths to compose himself. Looking around for danger, and finding none-he sighed with relief and looked at the dead shade at his feet.
The rocky exterior of the shade was resilient, so he forced the beast to open its mouth, and with no shell protecting it, it withstood the scorching flames and perished.
He manipulated the flames to form a flame knife, of course it was not physical but good enough to cut the hard shell with a few strikes, and then he could cut its meat for food. It took some time to gather enough meat and store it in his ring, the shell was indeed resilient and durable but keeping the flames active for long time was draining his magic energy.
His magic energy was large, and keeping his flames active would not seriously damage his reserves but for a matter of fact, he knew that this shade was just the first in his harrowing journey to the next town.
Sighing, he turned back and willed the runes of the dead shade to appear in front of him. This was why the Essence Runes were so reliable, he could summon the details of any creatures he killed as long as he was somewhere near it.
The runes read.
[You have slain: Stonecrawler]
[Rank: Lesser.]
[Type: Beast.]
[Essence acquired.]
He let out a small breath, just like he had thought, the Stonecrawler was a lesser shade and of the beast type-he was truly lucky to have encountered such weak shade.
Now, it was time to check his own runes.