The Smith family is the strictest when it comes to protecting the honor of their family. In the past, they started a war because the king of a certain kingdom failed to recognize their presence. They won the war, but they did not take that kingdom, stating that it was just trash when compared to theirs. 

 

Jack Smith is the ninety-ninth patriarch of the Smith family. He started his reign at a pretty early age after his father was killed, and since then he has been managing the kingdom in his own way. 

 

His second brother took care of the seat when he went to the grand magic academy; after graduating from the magic academy, he was sent to the Aqua Tower and reached tower master rank before coming back to take over his seat. 

 

His magic might make it impossible for those who have thoughts of taking over his seat to take over the seat.

 

Ken was inside a room reading the history of the Smith family; he gained more information from it and was even able to find out why the family hates the element he awakened so much. 

 

It was because the kingdom back then had a lot of mage who had pyromagic and dark magic as their elements of affinity. 

 

Ken sighed and tore the book. Mia was mediating when she heard the sound of the book being torn apart, and her eyes could not believe that Ken was so bold to do that. 

 

The Smith family treasures those books; if they find any piece of it anywhere, they will burn down that horse. 

 

After tearing the book, Ken lit a fire and put the paper on it. 

 

He woke up this morning with a very bad feeling; he decided to leave this place and go somewhere else. 

 

As a mage, the best place for him to be was a magic academy, but it was currently impossible because the magic academy's next recruiting exam will take place four months from now; the last one was two months ago, and a lot of the Smith family were recruited; some were lucky enough to be recruited into a magic tower because of their talents.

 

He already made his intention known to Mia, who was glad that he was going to leave but also sad because she would return to being lonely again. 

 

"Please be careful; the Smith family has placed a bounty on your head; there will be many people after your head now." 

 

"Don't worry." Ken stated briefly that before leaving the place through the back door, he wrapped his face in dark clothes that covered part of his face; only his eyes and nose were exposed. 

 

He traveled through the crowd and along the lonely path until he reached the transportation unit of the great Chinese kingdom. 

 

The cost of traveling was very high; it cost ten coppers to travel to the next kingdom using a horse carriage and about twenty to use ships. 

 

The only aircraft here was powered by mana crystals, which are very expensive. It is the fastest means of travel and also the most expensive; just one hour on it cost 1 silver, which is equivalent to 100 copper. 

 

Ken sighed; all he has right now is five copper coins. 

 

"I have to get at least ninety more copper coins, unless it would be quite difficult to survive." Not everyone is as kind as Mia. Ken thought to himself, his sharp eyes moving through the crowd. 

 

His eyes caught a place with a sign indicating that the shop was looking for workers. 

 

It was a two-minute walk down there; however, when he got there, he discovered there were more than ten people applying for that job, which does not require anything other than your physical presence, so it will be hard for him. 

 

He sighed and left the place. He reached a place where the construction of a house was going on, and fortunately he was hired to work. 

 

For each ten bricks he transported, he would be paid one copper. There were a lot of bricks; all that mattered was how much he would be able to transport at once because it's a one-minute walk from the place the brick was to the point where the construction was taking place.

 

Ken agreed, then he took off his shirt and placed it somewhere where it would not be stained. 

 

He lifted one of the bricks to check how heavy it was, and after testing the heaviness and everything, he discovered that he would be able to move two to three at once, so he started working. 

 

At the end of the day, he ended up moving three hundred and fifty bricks, which earned him a total of 35 copper and a 5 copper tip. 

 

"I think it's better to own my own horse; it will save me from going to the transportation unit in the future."

 

He wore his shirt; it was a thirty-minute walk to the transportation unit from where he was, but he was in a hurry, so he ended up rushing there, which only took him about twenty minutes. 

 

Nighttime was slowly approaching. When he reached the transportation unit, he went to the horse stable and picked one of the horses; he paid thirty copper coins for it. Now he was only left with fifteen cooper coins, which would be enough for him to buy something to eat throughout his journey. 

 

He collected a map from a friendly middle-aged security man; the app contained the route from the great citadel to the three neighboring kingdoms. 

 

He chose the Hunched Flame kingdom as his destination and set out on his journey. The Hunched Flame kingdom is the best training place for flame attribute mage, and they have the highest number of flame attribute mage in this empire. 

 

And also, they cherished a flame-attributed mage more than anything; they protected them like their honor, even cherishing them more than their reputation.