It wasn’t until morning that Azar finally came out of the room.

Opening the door, he saw a tray of food placed on the ground. He bent down and picked it up.

"How thoughtful..." Azar smiled as he began eating.

After all, he had not eaten for an entire day. He was exhausted, but Azar felt it had all been worth it since he had successfully learned some of the spells from the books.

Now, Azar felt confident.

Even among Tier 3 magi, he was no longer weak.

Soon, after finishing the meal, Azar went outside to look for Tofan, but when he reached the door, he saw a guard blocking the entrance.

"Sorry, is Teacher Tofan around?" Azar asked as the guard shook his head.

"Sorry, no," the guard replied.

"He left with the others for the war front."

Azar’s eyes widened in shock.

The war front?

But why hadn’t Teacher Tofan told him?

Soon after, Azar was summoned to the meeting hall alongside the younger generation of the Kiluwat family.

There, they were directly informed to prepare for war.

The situation at the war front was terrible—far worse than expected. They had hoped it would not come to this, but Tier 3 magi might soon be sent into battle.

Everyone was shocked.

But more than that, the horrifying reality of the war finally became clear to them.

Only now did they realize how serious the situation truly was.

---

In the following days, Azar devoted himself entirely to mastering spells.

And he was not the only one.

The younger generation did the same.

"Sigh... I didn’t expect this," the family head sighed as an old man bowed slightly beside him.

"Sir, no one did. It simply happened," the old man replied.

He was the head butler of the Kiluwat family and also the childhood friend of the family head. At this point, he was practically considered part of the Kiluwat family himself.

Now, he shared the burden alongside his old friend.

" many will die in this war. Especially because of that new organization that suddenly appeared out of nowhere," the family head sighed.

But the butler did not fully agree.

"I believe an organization like this has likely existed for far longer. They simply chose not to reveal themselves until now," the butler said.

The family head remained silent for a moment before nodding.

"You may be right..."

"Either way, the situation is extremely serious now," the family head muttered.

---

And across the outside world, the effects became even more noticeable.

The ten continents were shaken.

Prices of resources skyrocketed exponentially.

Youngsters were being recruited batch after batch.

Ancestors and veterans followed afterward.

And news of death spread every single day.

Then, what everyone feared finally happened.

"So... it’s time," Azar muttered as he opened his eyes while listening to the guard’s announcement.

All magi at Tier 3 and above had been summoned to the war front.

Thankfully, Azar knew Teacher Tofan, so at least he would not immediately be thrown into the most dangerous battlefield.

But what about those who had no connections?

His mind drifted back to the words of the red-robed man.

If Azar was truly going to survive this, then he had to become strong.

Very strong.

Strong enough to protect people from the mana-devouring beasts.

But who was he?

Just a Tier 3 magi...

Still...

Maybe, just maybe, his life could change during this war.

---

That morning, Azar and the others stood outside as a gigantic moving fortress appeared in the sky.

Its sheer size dwarfed the entire city.

Everyone stared in overwhelming shock.

"Hm? Where are they?" a group of magi clad in battle-enhanced armor appeared as their leader stepped forward and spoke.

"Here," the family head greeted respectfully.

After all, the man before him was a Tier 6 magi.

"Good."

The magi waved his hand casually, and instantly Azar and the others disappeared.

After nodding once toward the family head, he also vanished back into the fortress.

Slowly, the massive fortress began moving before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

After they were gone, the butler placed a hand on the family head’s shoulder.

"It will be alright. At least some of them will return... and they will come back stronger," the butler said softly.

The family head continued gazing at the sky.

"Old friend... we should be grateful and hold a feast if even a few of them return alive," the family head replied quietly.

---

Inside the massive fortress, Azar and the others reappeared.

The interior resembled a gigantic hive-like structure.

"Take a room and prepare yourselves," a voice echoed throughout the fortress.

"We will not stop you from exploring or taking walks. In fact, we encourage it."

"No lies will be told... this may be the last time many of you ever see beautiful structures like these... or even the sky itself."

Azar’s mouth slowly opened in disbelief.

What?

And they were not alone.

Every few moments, dozens to hundreds of young magi appeared one after another.

At least several thousand people were already gathered within this single section alone.

Yet compared to the size of the fortress, this was less than one percent of its total capacity.

And more terrifying still...

Thousands of these fortresses were traveling across the entire continent.

"This journey will take approximately one month. We still need to visit other regions."

"And upon reaching the battlefield, this fortress itself may be destroyed."

"So do not expect a safe landing..."

"Or even a landing at all." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Prepare yourselves and enjoy these remaining days of rest."

Silence filled the area.

Pure silence.

Without saying a word, Azar turned around, entered a room, and collapsed onto the bed.

He did not even bother observing the room itself.

He felt completely drained.

Was this war?

No care for life. No care for growth.

Why did the generations before them have stable paths? Why were they allowed to progress slowly?

From all the other continents, people would travel to Continent A, build a life there, grow stronger, and once they reached Tier 5 magi before the age of thirty, they could apply to the Genius Academy.

From there, they would either graduate as stronger Tier 5 magi or even advance into Tier 6.

But his path...

His was completely different.

He had nearly died during his trial, but that was not all.

The moment he arrived at Continent A, they were immediately thrown into war.

All of this had not even taken up to three months.

What was this?

What kind of path was this?

Azar could not help but think about home.

Then his old colleagues.

He wondered how they were doing.

Alas, he no longer had friends anymore.

They had all separated after he came to Continent A. It was as though he had left everything behind.

And now...

He had nothing.

Yet he still had to survive.

"Isn’t this too much...?" Azar muttered to no one in particular.

It almost felt as though all of this had been planned.

Not just for him, but for his entire generation to experience the worst era possible.

"War..." Azar muttered as he clenched his fists.

He had not forgotten that Teacher Tofan had already gone to the battlefield a week earlier than them.

But amidst all these thoughts, he could not help but wonder...

How was that annoying girl, Veya, doing?