He hated all that nonsense that came with politics and had absolutely no interests in the factions and their conflicts. Those in the light faction would do nothing but constantly try to claim more and more power for themselves, no matter what it took and no matter how dark the means they had to use to get it. anything could be done to seize more power in a place like Imperial academy, there were no eternal allies or enemies, only eternal benefits and if you were no longer useful or got in the way of their benefits, you would be disposed of.
As for Omega academy, Drake had nothing against the military; it's just that he was not in the mood for those long term commitments. If he went to omega and didn't end up joining the military people would start looking at him like he was some kind ungrateful traitor, so he couldn't go there. From where he stood, Alpha academy was starting to look like the best choice for him. You can train there under some of the best conditions in the empire and graduate while still retaining your freedom? That was right up his alley.
Seeing Drake pondering in silence, Anna decided it was time and said, "I have a proposal for you!"
Drake's curiosity was instantly stoked, and she had his attention. "I'm listening."
"I want to invite you to join Obsidian Palace and enter Alpha academy." She hastily added when she saw noticed a slight change in his expression." Before you say anything, I want you to hear me out first."
He nodded for her to continue. 'Let's see what she's selling.' He thought.
"You will only be joining us as an honorary member. In exchange, you will receive Obsidian Palace's full support getting a salary at the end of every month and a membership discount on every purchase you make in any branch of the palace. As an honorary member you don't have any particular responsibilities or obligations and you don't necessarily have to wear our name on you wherever you go. You can also choose whether or not you want to carry out any mission given by the palace."
"All I hear is benefits, but what's the catch? What do you have to gain from this?"
"Obsidian Palace will not force you to do anything against your will. After you graduate you must do three things for Obsidian Palace as long as it does not go against your conscience and protect the palace from outside threats for five years. Once your five years is up, our contract with you will become null and you can leave if you so wish. If you choose to remain with us though, then we can sign a new contract after going over our terms."
Drake was silent for a few seconds, then he said. "I have three questions. Why me? Why Alpha academy? And are you sure about this agreement?"
"I will answer all your questions. First of all, Why you? The answer is because you have potential. You might not understand, but being able to force two mages with affinity of the Space series to the state you did is not something just anyone can do. With your talent you will definitely be someone powerful in the future so I want you on my side instead of as an opponent.
For your second question about why Alpha academy, there's two reasons. First of, it's because I also graduated from Alpha academy myself and yes though it is somewhat selfish of me, I want someone as talented as you in my own academy.
When you become powerful all your achievements will be the glory of the academy, that would naturally make me proud. The second reason is because, that is where I will be sending my children. They might be smart but they don't have that much experience with cruelties of the outside world. If you are there with them you can help me keep an eye on them and take care of them. Also I can see that you don't look like you want any serious commitments so you will probably end up choosing to go there. Since that's the case, why don't I hire a bodyguard while I'm at it."
When Drake heard the first part he almost blushed at how honest she was being, but then after the second part he realized this was probably her true reason.
'Since you are being honest with me then I wont hold back.'
Drake thought the contract wasn't bad, if anything it was very relaxed. The five year agreement was standard like with most organizations, in fact some even made it ten or even twenty years. Plus unlike him who has a choice on whether the three tasks would be accepted or not, other organizations wouldn't care whether it went against your principles or not. Also joining Obsidian Palace now would save him a lot of trouble in the future, so he agreed.
Anna immediately drew up a contract for him and after going through it he signed in front of the three witnesses. Three copies were made of the contract; one for Drake one would remain in the Palace database and the third was submitted to the Tribunal.
"Welcome to Obsidian Palace. Once you're a part of our family at Obsidian Palace you are a part of my own family, right now you're the same age with the kids so I'll just treat you the same way if you don't mind."
"Thank you, I don't mind."
"Good!" she nodded and smiled then continued. "The entrance exam into the mage academies will be held in a week, so one week from now I will send you and these three to the venue at Sanctuary city."
"Entrance exam?"
"Call it a formality! Whether you pass or not doesn't really matter, but the exam will help the academies know which department they should recommend you to even though you can always reject. Also scouting organizations use the results from the exams to recruit talented students into their folds by offering special scholarships and contracts. You can still do your best on the exam though, I will leave the kids to you from today."
He nodded. "You don't need to worry. From now on I will protect them as though they were my own younger brothers and sisters."
"Alright if there is nothing else you can go have fun now, Sylvia will make sure you get everything you need on your way out. If you need anything you can come right to my office."
Once they left the office Sylvia and the twins gave Drake a tour of the Palace and the twins kept trying to challenge Drake to another bout. Luckily, Sylvia wouldn't have it so Drake was saved. To be honest he held some apprehension towards space affinity mages and he wasn't really confident in being able to defeat them with their teleportation ability.
He had used his energy vision with the violet energy to look at the twins and he saw how ethereal their energy signatures were. He also noticed that they seemed to have something different about their magic power, he just couldn't identify exactly what was different.
After the tour Drake got his new Sky link as well as a package containing some things he was entitled to as an honorary member of the Obsidian Palace. Though he chose to have them kept in the palace until next time, this was because he didn't want to have to explain himself to anybody that tried to antagonize him or asked questions later when he returned to the clan.
The request was allowed, so after he had his things stored he left.
After returning to the clan he reported to the clan that he would be leaving to join an academy. He didn't go too much into detail, and the other higher ups apart from Anthony and the old Butler didn't really care about him. If anything they were glad he would be leaving so he was dismissed without any problems.
With that covered he returned to his room and resumed his training while awaiting the fated day.
...
Time flies quickly and a week passed by, it was the day of his departure.
He had just been doing his regular routine of swimming in the sea of stars in the seal and practicing his control over the energy.
Stars of energy moved freely through the starry sea of energy under his control, it was like he was actually a god of the stars swimming through the true sea of stars. The seven stars swirling around him suddenly shot out in different directions only coming to a stop after a long while.
But when they did stop they were arranged in a special formation. Just as he was about ready to leave however, they aligned themselves in this formation and Drake noticed a slight change in the stars that they didn't have before. It was a kind of change in their aura and charm.
He tried taking a wisp of energy from the star formation and then comparing it to energy from other stars. 'There really is something different about it. but what's the difference?'
He tried infusing the energy from the star formation into his body to see whether it would feel different, but there was nothing. The energy was like normal, no special tempering, nothing.
"Hmm, oh well! I'll check it later. Right now I've got to go. I wouldn't want to be late for the exam." He said, then left the seal space.
Opening his eyes he quickly got ready and left for the Obsidian Palace where he met up with Sylvia and the twins, together they left for Sanctuary city through one of Obsidian Palace's Space portals.