You have to wear a hooded cloak if you’re a mage

Esdras emerged from the purple vortex outside of the collapsed cave, he was shirtless, sweaty, and smelled like shit.

"I did it!"

Nonetheless, he threw his hands in the air and celebrated, this was the first time in both lives that he experienced such a tense situation.

His life was constantly in danger for two days, the sun was going down now.

Esdras felt his heart beating and his body pumping with power, this, this is what it means to be alive.

On Earth Esdras lived a stable but monotonous life, this is why he was obsessed with the ancient stone slate because he wanted more from life.

And he got his wish. To be honest, since he came to this world there were times when he regretted his past actions and desire.

'What's wrong with a normal life?'

'Just grow up, stop daydreaming.'

'Life is not a game, don't be ridiculous.'

He heard these words many times and variations of them too. These words hung over him like mountains. He often shrugged them off, or at least he pretended to, maybe he convinced himself.

But since he came to this world he thought of them more and more, maybe this all happened because of his unrealistic views. But, but…

Right at this moment, he did not regret anything. On Earth, he was just surviving not living! There was a difference between those two concepts.

But every time he survived a deadly encounter, every time he leveled up and felt that power flowing through him he felt alive, truly alive, and not just a walking corpse.

Perhaps there will come a time when he regretted these thoughts and wanted to turn back but it was already too late, he was here and he was here to stay.

He was being schemed against since the moment he opened his eyes, he didn't know why exactly they were going so far just to kill him but he didn't care about their reasons very much.

All that mattered was that they were after him, and he obviously wasn't going to let them get away with it.

Since they chose to make him their enemy they should be prepared to die.

But first, he had to find out what happened. That day when the cave collapsed, to him it was no accident.

He should have paid attention, when he first walked into the camp, there were two soldiers instead of the four assigned to each team by senior Ron.

What happened to the other two? He remembered the deadpan expressions on the two soldiers…

He should have guessed, they must have been used in a 'plan' by Bran the day before. He had a clue as to what kind of person Bran was.

But even then what could he have done? Refused orders? Make a run for it?

The mage's tower was not a social club that can be joined and quit as one liked. Leaving like that would be considered treason and he would become a fugitive wanted all over the continent.

That is if he wasn't directly crippled and taken to senior Ron by Bran. After all, back then Esdras was not even a Vigor knight.

In any case, he wasn't going to take this attempt on his life lying down, but he also couldn't directly kill any apprentice.

He had to find a suitable method to dispose of those bastards.

Hmm, Esdras cleaned himself up in a nearby stream and hunted a rabbit, and roasted it at sunset. During that time he spotted a goblin in the forest.

This gave him an idea. It's not like they were the only ones who can scheme.

He didn't kill the goblin even though he didn't want to lose out on the EXP but he wasn't in a rush. Then until very late at night, he focused on engraving the Planeswalker symbol and the Fire elemental sigil.

His progress was going very smoothly, better than expected, after all even when he was not meditating his subconscious mind kept working on it, although it was much slower than directly doing it.

But it also saved him some time and effort.

The next day, Esdras woke up, and he slept hugging his precious bag. It contained an insane amount of wealth, mana stones, and many magic items.

It had to be known that even a True mage is likely to not have a single magic item. They were that rare.

The elves were exterminated four thousand five hundred years ago, the remaining magic items were so few that a conflict might occur over ownership of a magic item.

So he was extremely careful and decided to keep it with him at all times just in case some busybody tried looking inside.

After getting out of the forest and back to the supply route he just followed the path while admiring the scenery.

His hand caressed the sword in regret, it was already out of shape, he was too strong and the monsters too tough, it was just a normal sword.

He had hoped to get some sort of magic sword after clearing the first floor of the dungeon but he wasn't that lucky.

It was time to replace it with a better one. Maybe he should get a mace since these kinds of weapons were very durable.

Three hours later, just when he was about to take a break he saw fort Kizdin after the hill. He observed carefully before getting closer, it wasn't under attack currently.

"Identify yourself, vagrant?!"

From the ramparts, a bellowing voice reached him when he was close to the gate.

"Vagrant my ass!" Esdras shot back, "look carefully, I am a mage apprentice from the Octarine tower! My seniors should be in here."

"You have too long a tongue for a sellsword, I'll give you that, this is your last warning get out of here before I turn you into a pincushion."

Esdras realized that he currently looked like a sellsword without a shirt and hanging a sword by his waist, a wild and unclean look about him.

'Do I have to wear a hooded cloak everywhere I go?!'

"… my friend don't be hasty. I have a few gold coins for you, and also I have my tower badge please take a look at it."

He had to take a step back.