He would never bow

Spatial slice

Spatial rift

Warp bubble

Spatial kinetic combat

Time freeze

As soon as Dex saw time freeze, his eyes stopped moving and he touched his virtual screen eagerly. 

"This one, oh shit, this is definitely it. Do you know how much time freeze can save my life or the head start it can give me to get ahead of a stronger opponent?"

The system did not justify Dex's excited response with an answer but it simply deducted the points. 

"What the hell, forty six points!!!" Dex exclaimed. 

Crunching a way at his points, the system replied, "You did not ask questions before choosing the spell, now for further information, as a low level mage, time freeze can only be used five times a day and it lasts for one minute. Keep leveling up and someday you will be able to freeze time for hours or days." 

"Oh crap, another limitation." he said unhappily. 

There was a knock on the door, it slid open and in came Fora with an official who worked for the city lord. 

He was a mage, Dex could tell by the fluctuations of energy around him which he made so obvious. He was older, somewhere in the middle hundreds judging by the white beard and calm demeanor he exuded. 

Young mages like himself were not this calm, even when they were trying to be calm, it came off as a threatening kind of calmness. 

They were always filled with the urge to show off their power among their peers even if they were doing nothing.

"Hello," Dex greeted. 

What he did not do was bow, as expected. 

"Hmph." The older mage responded. 

Both of them stared at each other curiously, one wondering why the other refused to bow before a stronger mage and Dex wondering what this guy intended to do if he did not bow. 

"You are a mule headed one, aren't you?" The older mage asked. 

"I do not believe in exaggerated venerations of my fellow human." Dex answered. 

In this life, he would never bow before another mage simply because they were on a higher level or more powerful than he was. They would be the ones to bow before him. 

"It is the norm." The older mage answered. 

"Created by humans." Dex answered. 

He picked up the pot of tea and poured some into an empty cup. Then, he pushed that cup in front of the older mage. 

"I will offer you my respect with this instead." Dex told him. 

Just because he was a budding villain did not mean that he should randomly go around collecting enemies. How would he become the all mighty magic emperor if he was always in petty battles.

This issue was simple, respect could be offered in other ways and they did not need to fight about it.

The older mage picked up the cup of tea, blew air into it and suddenly steam rose from the top. 

A fire mage, Dex thought. They really were the most common of mages. 

"Good tea." The older mage said after taking one sip. 

"Eh," Dex replied with an unimpressed scoff. 

The older mage was even more impressed and curious about the young man whose head was veiled. He was not dressed like a rich person but he had two hundred gold coins to purchase a house, he was planning to renovate it completely and he had a flying roc.

According to Fora, he was also a mage, of what type, he did not know. 

The older mage could tell that this was a young mage, his height, size and voice gave him away. 

"You have had better tea than this, from where?" he asked. 

Dex smiled mysteriously and replied, "You would not believe me." 

"Try me." the older mage said. 

"Modera." Dex answered. 

He knew that the older mage was trying to sense his answers and test for lies and truth. His answer was both of those things. 

The older mage put down the cup of tea in his hands and suddenly became serious. 

"Why do you wish to buy the Sorenson house?" he asked Dex. 

Dex shrugged impishly and answered with a smile, "Isn't it obvious? It's a big house." 

"With an unsavory history." The older mage mentioned. 

Dex waved his hand as if that was utter nonsense and nothing to worry about about. 

"That was years ago, many years ago, it's a shame that a once beautiful house like that has been left empty because of a few unfounded whispers of demons and ghosts. 

I want it most of all because it's a bit secluded, has a shop out front and can house a large family. 

I intend to settle down here for a while, my family too. This is our new home." 

Dex explained himself calmly as his hands moved to the veil covering his head. They would be seeing him going in and out of the house obviously and he needed to register it with his true identity. Hiding who he was at this point was sort of useless.

"Hello, I am Dex Atticus, a student at Ragor academy of magic." 

The older mage's eyes went first to Dex's curly red hair and he smiled. 

"Well, you don't see that hair color everyday." he added a chuckle to his smile. 

"I hear that so often." Dex told him. "Please, if you don't mind, share your name with me." 

The older mage addressed Dex with some bit of respect now, just a bit because he was a mage at a prestigious academy of magic. 

Ragor was not just one of the best academies in the city, it was among the top twelve in the kingdom. 

He tried to pry into Dex's magic and failed to estimate what level he was at, which shocked him. Why was his level hidden?

At this point, he regarded Dex as some kind of genius with a hidden background perhaps. 

"I am Nimbus Ching, rank three officer of the housing bureau." he introduced himself. 

Without any further delays, he presented the contract for the Sorenson house and Dex signed it with a magic pen using a drop of his blood. 

After that, he took two hundred gold coins from his space ring and placed them on the table. 

Nimbus Ching was even more impressed when he saw the space ring with an emerald crystal in the middle on Dex's thumb. He could have sworn that it wasn't there before. 

"Thank you for doing business with the city, we wish you a wonderful stay." he told Dex. "Please, feel free to reach out to me or our office if you need any help." 

Dex kept away the documents and nodded at Nimbus. This was all he required for now.

"Mmm." he answered and he handed over five gold coins to the man. 

Cultivating an insider in the magic bureau o the city would take money. These five coins were the first deposit he was making on it. 

Fora escorted the happy Nimbus out, and Dex stayed behind. 

A minute later, Fora returned and stood to the side humbly with his hands folded, almost as if he had already assigned himself the role of Dex's personal servant. 

Dex didn't mind, he was used to having servants, runners, mages and all sorts working for him.

"Tomorrow morning, you should guide my parents to that house so they can look around. The renovations should be done in one day, hire mages if that's what is necessary. 

I have something to take care of at the academy, I will return within a day. If you have done a good job, I will reward you then.

And in case you are tired of life as a runner, there are some employment opportunities in my house.

Oh, keep an eye on my roc and ensure that it's well fed." 

After giving him a few more instructions, Dex handed him five gold coins. 

They left the tea house together but went their separate ways, one to the inn where his family was staying and Dex to a different transportation guild, to make a journey back to Ether.