When William opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar place.

"Where am I?" William frowned. Although the place was dark, his Night Vision activated and it helped him scan his surroundings. With a glance, his intuition told him that he should be somewhere underground.

When he tried to move his body, he was surprised to discover that his arms and feet were bound by metallic chains. He tried to free himself from the bindings, but his current strength was not enough to break free.

"Meeeeeeh!"

A familiar sound reached his ears and William hurriedly looked to his right.

"Mama, are you alright?"

"Meeeeeeh!"

Ella's feet and neck were held by chains making it impossible for her to break free. Ella was stronger than William, so if she wasn't able to break her bindings, it would be more impossible for him to do so.

"Finally, you're awake," Celine's voice reverberated in the room and William could hear the tinge of amusement in them. "Don't bother to free yourself from those bindings. Those chains were made from Adamantium and runic languages were set in place so that you couldn't use magic."

"Master, I don't care if you imprison me, but please, let Mama Ella go!" William pleaded. "You can do anything you want with me, but don't hurt her!"

"Meeeeeh!" Ella bleated in disapproval. She wouldn't leave William no matter what even if Celine freed her from her shackles.

"How touching," Celine replied. "This is the first time I've seen a human… no, a Half-Elf calls a goat his mother. As for your request? Sorry, I have no intention of freeing the two of you. As your Master, it is necessary for me to educate you properly. Oliver, I'll leave Little Will's basic training to you."

The Parrot Monkey appeared inside the room from who knows where. It then hovered in the air and gave William and Ella a sinister grin.

"Good day, I, Oliver, will be your trainer for today," Oliver said. "Your first training is gaining resistance to curses. Without further adieu, enjoy your first taste of suffering."

"Confuse Ray!" Oliver shouted and two beams of red light shot out from its eyes.

The beam hit William's body and the boy's expression immediately slackened. A few seconds later, he screamed and struggled within his bindings. The Confuse Ray was one of the skills of a Dark Magician that could make its target enter a berserked state.

William was currently in a berserk state as he growled and shouted like a crazy person who had lost his mind.

"Meeeeeeh!"

Ella screamed in anger when she saw William's current state. Her baby was in a deranged state of mind and bruises were starting to appear on his skin as he tried to break free from the metallic chains that bound him.

"Don't worry, you will also suffer the same fate," Oliver commented. "Confuse Ray!"

Ella wasn't spared and a red beam of light hit her, dead center.

"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"

Ella's berserk state was more wild compared to William. Ella rattled her chains without caring whether she bled or not. She tossed, turned, kicked, and screamed as she transformed into an Angorian War Ibex.

Oliver and Celine watched all of this with indifference. As Dark Magicians, there was a time when they, too, were subjected to harsh training.

"Oliver, continue to use Confuse Ray on them once they snap out of their daze. You already know how to gauge their limit, right?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Good." Celine nodded her head. "I'll leave the first phase of their training to you. Call me when it's over."

"By your will, My Lady," Oliver bowed his head in acknowledgement.

That day, William had entered the berserk state more than fifty times. He collapsed on his bindings with his saliva dripping at the side of his lips. Ella, too, was in a similar state, if not worse.

Their wrists, and ankles were bleeding due to their excessive movement, but the pain was not enough to bring them out of their unconscious state.

Owen entered the room with a sigh. He checked William's and Ella's current condition before healing the injuries in their body. He fed them a special potion that was filled with nutrients. With this potion, they did not need to eat for three days for it was potent enough to supply their body with the necessary sustenance they needed to survive.

It was a potion made from the heart, liver, and blood, of the Golden-Scaled Crocodile. Owen had already been briefed by Celine of the training regimen that she had prepared for William. His task was to heal the injuries they would sustain from the training, and ensure that they would not die from hunger and starvation.

'The training for Dark Magicians is too harsh, compared to Life Magicians,' Owen sighed as he finished his task. 'I just hope that Celine wouldn't break the boy with her training.'

A week passed by in a blur, and finally a group of people made their way towards the town of Lont.

"We're finally back," James said as he breathed in the air of his territory. "Home sweet home."

James was currently seated on the left shoulder of the Ourobro (Golden Ape) and admiring the town of Lont from its vantage point.

"I'll inform the others of our arrival," John declared. His Beast Companion, Blitz, let out a shriek as it flew ahead of the group.

"I'll go as well," Marcus said as he urged Thunder to increase its speed. James, along with the eight people that were left behind took their time to arrive in Lont.

When the giant Golden Ape appeared outside of town, everyone went into an uproar. The mighty beast looked so imposing that everyone looked at it with awe and admiration.

Dwayne, who succeeded in taming it as his Beast Companion grinned with pride. Among the Milllennial Beast, the Golden Ape was considered to be in the middle of the SS-Class Spirit Tier because of its well rounded battle prowess.

It was also the only Beast who was capable of using the Frenzy Skill without losing its rationality.

The Frenzy Skill is the upgraded version of Berserk. The Berserk skill would strip the user of its rationality in return for multiplying its strength threefold. Similar to Berserk, the Frenzy Skill, on the other hand, would increase the Beast's strength fivefold.

Ourobro was the only Spirit Beast in existence that was immune to the effect of the Frenzy state, which made it a lean-mean-killing machine on steroids. Few monsters would be able to face it and survive its beating with an intact body.

This was why Dwayne begged everyone to help him secure it when the all out battle was taking place.

James and the rest went back to their own lodgings to rest after arriving in Lont. The battle that they had experienced was quite intense, but the rewards were worth it. The old man was in a good mood and he walked towards the Ainsworth Residence while humming a tune.

Mordred followed him to the battlefield because he was worried that his father might get carried away if no one restrained him. They had left Owen in charge of Lont while they were away, for they knew that they could count on him to handle everything even if they were not around.

When the two men arrived at their home, the one who greeted them at the entrance was Helen.

"Welcome Back, Sir, and Young Lord," Helen said with a smile.

"Ah, Helen, how is everything?" James asked. "Is my stupid grandson doing well?"

"Little Will hasn't returned home for a week," Helen said with a worried expression. "He's currently staying at Celine's house. When I went there to check on him, the only one I saw was Celine. She explained that Little Will was undergoing training at the moment and couldn't be disturbed by anyone."

"Oh? Training, is it?" James smiled. "Wait, why is Celine training William?"

"Ah, didn't you know about it, Sir?" Helen tilted her head in confusion. "I thought Sir was aware that Celine had taken William as her disciple."

"Hoh~" James played with his beard as he gazed at his son, Mordred.

"Is it true that William hadn't been home for a week?" Mordred frowned.

"Yes," Helen replied. "Young Lord, to tell you the truth, I'm worried about him."

James chuckled and patted Helen's shoulder. "Alright, I'll check up on William for a while. Make sure to cook my favorite dishes for lunch. I'm starving, Helen."

"Understood." Helen smiled. "I'll prepare a feast for Sir's triumphant return."

"I'll look forward to it!" James winked. He then made his way towards the South where Celine's house was located.

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