A whole month had passed.
At that time, Ange finally advanced to the Rank 1 becoming a Novice Magus!
That was a joyous day for the Nacesai Academy; even the lessons stopped to do a celebration party.
Ange’s talent in healing was very important to the academy; her breakthrough was something that the higher-ups were waiting for.
Ange had less than a year until turning sixteen; some people were starting to worry that she would fail and her talent would be wasted.
Fortunately, Ange had a good sense of her own level; she said that she would advance in a month, and she advanced to the Rank 1 in a month.
In that month Yale followed the same routine every day, and slowly improved his stats and Origin Points.
“Name: Yale Roanmad | Age: 10 | Origin Level:2 |Origin Points: 14/14”
“Vitality: 13 | Strength: 15 | Agility: 15 | Intelligence: 16 | Wisdom: 16 | Dexterity: 13”
However, he wasn’t satisfied with his speed; he wanted to improve faster.
Looking at the improvement of his stats, Yale felt that reaching the 3-star mortal realm wouldn’t be a problem, but at that rate, he wasn’t confident in advancing to the Rank 1 before sixteen.
Yale had stopped focusing on training his skills and concentrated on his stats and Origin points, to reach Rank 1 that was what really matters.
In that month Yale had only upgraded Basic Healing and Quick Wind to the fourth level.
Quick Wind only leveled up because Yale used it when moving around the academy and Basic Healing was the only spell he trained consciously because of the importance he attributed to it.
Yale’s sub-quest still required mastering two more skills, so Yale thought that those two were good as it was a matter of time mastering them.
Mastering and learning some skills was a good thing, but if he failed to reach the Rank 1 due to over-focusing on them, he would regret it his whole life. Thus, he decided to reduce his skill training to the minimum.
In that month, Yale also managed to rebuild Aizu’s sword foundation to the point he was satisfied, but that wasn’t enough to let him reach the expert stage.
Even if that were a happy day for the whole academy, Swordmad and Sainac had serious expressions on their faces.
They were at Sainac’s office and in front of them was another person, the Mysterious Expert.
They never expected that the Mysterious Expert would appear again after had come merely a month before.
“Why those faces? You don’t seem happy to see me again.”
Sainac trembled after hearing the Mysterious Expert distorted voice.
“We are delighted to see senior again. We were only shocked because we didn’t expect to have the pleasure to meet again with your excellence so soon.”
“Then, nevermind. I come today because I want you to do something.”
“Please ask, senior. I will use all my power to accomplish it.”
Sainac didn’t dare to disobey the Mysterious Expert, and its requests had never been harmful to him nor to the academy, so he didn’t doubt before accepting even if he still didn’t know what the Mysterious Expert wanted.
“I know you like to organize different types of tournaments among the students. I want you to organize one in two weeks only with those in the beginner classes; all the participants should be 3-star mortals or less. I have a special reward for the first eight.”
Tournaments were a tradition in the Nacesai Academy, but they happened when Sainac decided, and the rules and restrictions were also different every time.
Sainac didn’t have any problem in making a tournament; he was planning to do one the next month, and he still hadn’t decided the rules he would use. Thus, creating a competition like the one Mysterious Expert was asking for wasn’t a problem to him.
Furthermore, the Mysterious Expert was offering rewards for the first eight places. Usually, the academy only rewarded the winner or at most also the finalist.
“Can I ask senior what kind of reward it would be?”
“I can tell you, but it must remain secret until the end of the tournament, understood?”
“Of course, I won’t tell anything.”
After Sainac replied, the Mysterious Expert looked at Swordmad.
“I won’t say anything either.”
“The reward would be a spot in a special realm that have been opened by the Imperial City, those who surpassed the 3-star mortal realm can’t enter. It is difficult to obtain spots to enter, but as you didn’t complain to my requests before and I’m in a good mood today, I’m offering eight spots to your students.”
Swordmad and Sainac were shocked, things related to the Imperial City were something that a backwater city like Nacesai City would never be aware of.
Even Sainac only had some knowledge about the Imperial City due to his long life, but he never went personally.
Swordmad had gone there once in the past while he was young and roamed the world, but he didn’t stay for too long there.
Given their levels, they could live in the Imperial City if they wished, but even if they couldn’t be considered weak in the Imperial City, they also couldn’t be the strongest like in Nacesai City.
As for the reason of the Mysterious Expert’s good mood, they would be fools if they didn’t deduce it.
The Mysterious Expert was the one who told about Ange’s talent to the academy, and she had just advanced to the Rank 1; both of them were sure that the reason for the Mysterious Expert’s mood was Ange’s breakthrough.
“Thank you very much, senior.”
Swordmad and Sainac thanked the Mysterious Expert while bowing; the reward was excellent.
To Sainac that was a chance to give some of the academy students an opportunity to obtain a good fortune in the special realm.
However, to Swordmad the reason was that he knew that Yale was in the range for entering the special realm and knowing how the Mysterious Expert cared about him before, Swordmad was sure that one of those spots would end belonging to Yale.
Swordmad knew that Yale was only at the 2-star mortal realm, and in the other four classes of beginners there were students at the 3-star mortal realm because they trained for more time than Yale’s class.
Furthermore, even if Yale was at the top of his own promotion, all groups had their own incredibly talented students, and they also trained for more time, winning the competition wouldn’t be easy.
However, Swordmad knew that Yale’s prowess was far above his realm, reaching the best eight should be possible for him, and Swordmad believed that the reason for being eight spots and no less was that the Mysterious expert thought in the same way.
“I will create teleportation portal that could take all of them to the Imperial City. When the eight spots had been decided, they only need to enter the portal, and they will reach the city.”
The Imperial City was too far from the Nacesai City.
If the Mysterious Expert didn’t create a teleportation portal, the students who were only in the mortal realm would need years to reach it by walking.
Even with the best carriages the academy had, they would still need some months. That was still too long for kids who were rushing against the time to reach Rank 1.
“However, I don’t want my existence to be revealed to anyone else. Thus, you will go with the students to the Imperial City and guide them there; I know you went to the Imperial City when you were young.”
The Mysterious Expert was referring to Swordmad, who had gone there before.
His talent at that time provoked some powers who took an interest in him, and he became quite famous
If it weren’t because he didn’t like being restrained, a lot of organizations would have battled to recruit him.
Even if Swordmad didn’t have any responsibility in the academy, that was a request from the Mysterious Expert.
Furthermore, after hearing that he would be the one accompanying the students, Swordmad was even more sure that the Mysterious Expert intended to give one of the spots to Yale.
Thus, Swordmad accepted without doubting for even a second.
“I will set up the portal in the area surrounding the tournament arena; it will be concealed until the end of the tournament.”
As the academy used to hold tournaments, they have their own area with an arena for the matches.
Saying that the portal would be near the tournament area was the same as saying that the students should depart right after the tournament. However, neither Sainac nor Swordmad had any problem with that.
The Mysterious Expert had vanished after saying those final words and reappeared in the tournament arena where he casually waved its hand, and a huge teleportation portal appeared beside the field before turning invisible a second later.
Even if it was only a disposable portal that would serve only to go once to the Imperial City and return, creating it so quickly was a rare sight even in the Imperial City.
Furthermore, a portal like that was difficult to hide as it emanated powerful ripples, but the casual cast concealing spell was powerful enough that only those at the level of Swordmad or Sainac would be able to tell that there was a portal.
At that time, the Mysterious Expert Spoke again with a voice that no one would hear.
“He is training the Origin Path. If he always stays in this place, he wouldn’t be able to reach the Rank 1. The special realm aperture is a good chance to improve, but I don’t know if the current Yale will survive to it.”
The Mysterious expert sighed.
“That realm is also a great opportunity to the kids in this academy, but at the same time is an enormous death trap to them. I wonder how many of them would be able to return to this academy alive.”
Then, the Mysterious Expert suddenly smiled.
“However, those who return would have a great future ahead of them.”