Queen had already long made it clear to him that the best place for a mage to grow was the mage academy. Even though she could train him herself using her dreamscape and though he would grow faster, she had still recommended that he join a mage academy. He himself also thought it was a good idea.
All this time, he had no freedom to do anything he wanted in the open, because if he did someone from the Black clan would antagonize him, and since his age did not allow him to do a lot of things. But since he had finally turned sixteen, he finally had freedom to do a lot of things.
At least now if he left the clan and did not return, he wouldn't be forced to return by imperial law. At this age, he could get a job and fend for himself if he felt like it.
As he walked through the bustling streets, he kept using his magic vision to look at things, sometimes he wondered whether as he got stronger this ability would ever get to a stage where he could see through things.
He had learned that he controlled two types of energy. Energy from his seal had a violet color, but if he moved all that violet energy into the seal and let his body replenish itself with energy it naturally absorbed from nature or food, then the energy produced would be a light blue. These two energies had different levels of potency, with the violet energy being stronger.
When he used the violet energy for anything the effect would be several times better than the bluish energy.
This had really come as a great surprise to him, and after he had reported this finding to Queen, she had said the light bluish energy was the energy he was supposed to be able to control normally as a one star mage, while the energy from the seal was a much more condensed energy.
Thanks to this, he was capable of bringing forth power several times greater than any regular mage at the same level, and the best part was that the violet energy could be replenished. All he had to do was send more energy into the seal, and the violet energy would devour the weaker energy and produce the stronger more condensed violet energy.
Also he realized when he moved all his magic energy into the seal it would become almost impossible for anyone to know he was a mage since they couldn't sense his magical energy fluctuations. This means he could pass off as a regular human when he wanted to and also be a mage whenever he felt like it.
As he walked up the bustling streets of Black city with his magic eyes active something caught his attention. A few meters away from his current position, there was a group of people roaming among the crowd. When he paid closer attention to them, he realized these guys were actually thieves, pickpockets to be exact. But, what truly caught his attention wasn't what they were doing, no it was how they did it.
It was like watching a movie, it was something that embodied dedication, skill, persistence, resilience, to call this magnificent piece of work beautiful would be an understatement; it was seraphic. The four horsemen could only ever dream of achieving such greatness. Their performance would bring a tear to the eye of anyone who watched, there was only two words that Drake could use to describe it and that was because it was the only thing that came to mind.
Very Good!!!
As Drake watched the masters of misdirection perform, he marveled at the beauty of their art. However, he also knew that what they were doing wasn't right. "But then again I'm no saint myself so we'll do it like this. In this life a guy has to make a living somehow, so I understand and normally I won't make things hard on you, but you guys are doing something wrong. However, you've also entertained me with your trade, so we'll do the math. Using elimination method of one minus one, entertainment cancels wrong which equals zero. Good, now that my conscience is clear as long as you guys don't offend me, I have nothing against you." He thought and nodded in satisfaction before continuing on his way.
He had decided he would ignore them and treat them as he would other normal people as long as they didn't do anything to him.
"Thief! He took my purse!"
However, just as he was about turning his attention away from them, one of them was noticed when he picked a young lady who immediately raised the alarm, which attracted the attention of a city guard. Sensing the incoming danger, the pick pockets immediately bolted as the surrounding people erupted into chaos at the alarm.
They hastily made their way through the crowd, using them as cover while they made their escape in the chaos. Seeing them come in his direction, the pickpocket that had taken the young lady's purse got really close to Drake who had already decided he would ignore them so he stepped aside. But just as he was moving the man bumped into Drake.
If he had just bumped into Drake then it would be ignored. But in that instant when he bumped into him, Drake felt the man's had reach into his pocket.
This motherfucker did not appreciate Drake's grace and magnanimity for not exposing them, instead the ungrateful bastard dared to try and pick his pocket? This transgression would not go unpunished. He immediately reached for the intruding hand, pinching the back of the man's palm he twisted the mans wrist.
"Ahh! Help!" he yelped and his face covering came off revealing his face. The man hadn't expected to be caught red handed and the sudden sharp pain from his wrist being twisted outwards made him scream out.
"Let me go!" He yelled with a grimace.
In the time it would take to blink, the area around Drake was instantly cleared giving them ample space. But not everyone ran. Maybe it was because they had heard their colleagues scream, but the other pickpockets all changed the direction they were fleeing in and started heading towards Drake's position. Of course this didn't escape Drake's sight
"Huh! Your friends are coming to your rescue. Looks like there is such a thing as loyalty among thieves, I guess that can be called a virtue. Since you've already received a light punishment and nobody got hurt, I'll use the elimination method of one cancels one, your wrongs will be tolerated. Alright, consider this pain your penance, now go forth and sin no more." Drake chided like a reverend father after confession.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Let him go!" They weren't really that far from Drake, and by now one of the other pickpockets had already reached his position.
"Sure! Here catch." Drake snorted and shoved the man he was holding captive forward.
The exposed man felt humiliated when he raised his head and saw that he had actually been caught, subdued and held captive by a kid when he raised his head and saw Drake's face.
"You little punk! I'll fucking kill you" The enraged pickpocket roared and stepping forward threw a fist at Drake's face.
Drake stepped to the side grasped his arm as it came down and let the man's forward momentum do the work. The result was the man ending up on his back in the street. It also cleared the street as the other three dark faced pickpockets started for Drake. They were all carrying steel batons, spears and even a few knives.
These days everybody trained in one martial art or another, so cold weapons were very popular. Also it was legal to carry a cold weapon on you outside, but you would be arrested and queried if you did the same with hot weapons.
"You guys wanna fight? Fine then, I'll take you all on. Bring it!" Drake frowned and his gaze sharpened.
"Since these ingrates refuse to appreciate my magnanimity, then they can forget it I'm taking them all down." He thought.
As the next two reached Drake, they did not even try to speak. these guys weren't playing around they were going for the kill.
But that didn't really bother Drake, the moment they dared point their weapons at him they earned themselves the death sentence. All who pointed their weapons at him were enemies and no mercy would be shown to enemies. He could not kill them in front of so many witnesses but he could still introduce them to a world of pain.
The one on the left raised the spear in his hands back to strike him as the other held his steel baton back. With a step forward Drake sent a front kick into the spear welder's chest, kicking him back. He went flying across the street, crashing into a building and sliding down the wall losing consciousness.
Drake immediately noticed something from that exchange that shocked him, 'I'm that strong now?'