The rest of the matches continued with no one in the wooden chair daring to challenge the participants sitting on the golden throne, some were tempted but they decided against it. All the participants sitting in the golden thrones won their random matches as they fought against those in the silver and wooden chairs, oddly enough. Not a single participant sitting golden chair participant fought with each other which greatly upset the spectators as the fights were predictable, to say the least.
Out of all the participants, Luke was the only one that advanced on the golden throne and the rest in the silver and wooden chairs shifted their ranks with loses and wins. Still, they will be sleeping in the same room together nonetheless.
At the end of the day, Lawrence was escorted once again by his butler back to his room. He glanced at Catalinna to find that she was already gone as a sigh escaped from his mouth. He wanted to talk to her about his decision to temporarily split up but she remained uncaring and continually avoids him as if he were a plague.
The spectators have left the coliseum as the representatives were invited to the banquet by the king of the Sekai Kingdom. The elf representative decided to use a teleportation spell to avoid the banquet and appeared in front of the door where Lawrence is staying. The representatives saw what she did but guessing by how elves usually act, they are free like the wind and often disrespectful and do whatever they want. They didn't mind her avoidance of the banquet as no one can really chain down an elf.
Except for their sharp ears and body blessed by mana and spirits, elves just look like a more beautiful version of humans. This resulted in a few elves being targeted for slavery for their ability and beauty but every single elf has a peculiar body that if they want, they can go ethereal and pass through walls and chains with ease. This resulted in elf slaves escaping quite easily under the hands of their captors. This is caused by their close relation to the spiritual realm, a realm accessible only to the elves and elementals. It can be attributed as a gift given by the creator before he left.
The four major races have gifts that only they can use. For humans, it's their ability to have paragons. Special humans that can control both aura and mana resulting in them being stronger than normal. For dwarfs, it's their attunement to metals that results in them being called the race of creation. They can create anything with their talent in metallurgy. For beastkin, it's their legacy. A unique transformation into their animal counterparts such as turning into a lion or panthers. Since the beastkin uses aura to strengthen their body, their legacy would turn them into killing machines, brutal yet efficient killers. Meanwhile, the elves have attunement in the spiritual realm which allows them to use certain types of magic not accessible to the rest of the races such as spirit summoning and time magic. They are basically the best mages all across the continents.
This is why the elf representative was impressed by Lawrence's ability to control gravity. This is because there is three apex magic affinity. Time, space, and gravity. Each one is stronger than the elemental magic affinity but is harder to master and perfect. Also, the elf has the monopoly over these three affinities with the zenith library the only place for an apex magic affinity user to get a spell book.
The elf representative knocked on the door as Lawrence opened the door to find someone he didn't know. It was someone that didn't appear in the novel nor did he knows who she is. The woman passes through Lawrence who immediately turned around as the door was shut close.
"No need to keep your guard up. I'm the elf representative Arryn Yeshana. A 7-star time mage in the flesh. You might wonder why I'm here. Simple, I want you to head to the elf continent and be my apprentice. In five years, I guarantee that you will be a 6-star mage" Arryn smiled beautifully as a chair manifested behind her before sitting into it graciously. Lawrence was shocked by her visit before coughing.
"I can't. I have something that requires my assistance in the next solstice" Lawrence bowed before deciding to leave the room only to be teleported back into his room and face the elf who gazed at him with confusion.
"Do you have a hard time hearing? I'm the great Arryn, the only 7-star time mage on the five continents. Countless people are willing to kill just to be my apprentice. You are young so I know that leaving your main continent can be hard and entering an unknown continent is quite jarring and unnerving, to say the least, but this is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity that no one can have. Think hard before refusing "Arryn replied seriously as Lawrence nodded. Heading to the elf continent can be quite useful as there are also some artifacts that can only be found there. More importantly, the zenith library is there where he can get some of the best gravity-based spells. Still, there are lesser artifacts in the elf continent that were described in the novel compared to the human continent and only the elves are allowed in the zenith library. He also doesn't want to get stuck in an elf continent learning and getting stronger since there are faster ways of gaining power. Unethical but faster.
"Great Arryn, I know this is an opportunity that I will never get but I still have to refuse. This continent is my home and I want to protect it. Please understand that I also have my acquaintances here so I can't leave. This is only my foolishness and has nothing to do with your greatness. " Lawrence responded respectfully as angering a 7-star mage is not something that he wanted. Arryn stayed silent as she seems to be pondering over something before clicking her fingers.
"Such a waste of talent. How about this. I'm giving you three gravity-based spell books that I currently have in my pocket storage. In return, I want you to publish every single gravity-based spell that you invent from now on and put them into the zenith library. Of course, you can just not invent a spell but if you can. I'll exchange a single gravity star crystal for every invented spell. Sounds good?" Arryn smiled before revealing three spell books of different colors. By the looks of it, the deal sounds oddly advantageous to Lawrence. He can have three random gravity spells and for every gravity spell that he invents, he gets a gravity star crystal. A crystal that strengthens one's control over gravity but it is still important to mention that giving a newly invented spell to the zenith library is the same as giving away his right to control over who gets to choose who wields it. Once he gives it to the zenith library, they can use it in any way they can and Lawrence won't have any control over it. It will further allow the elves to monopolize gravity-based spells as they have done over the centuries. Still, Lawrence can only accept Arryn's offer as he is clearly lacking gravity spells and he doubts he can buy one on the black market.
"I would…accept your offer." Lawrence bowed as Arryn gave the three spell books to Lawrence with a satisfied smile plastered on her face.
"Well, i must go. I'm quite busy. Nonetheless, always remember. I can hunt if you don't follow our deal.." Arryn threatened before giving a beautiful smile and a wave of her hands "May the winds and spirit be with you!" she vanished into a puff of green smoke.
Lawrence sat on the side of the bed before grasping the three spell books in his hand. There is a blue spell book, a red spell book, and a green spell book. Each detailing what kind of spell is inside. A blue spell book contains a protection spell, a red spell book contains a damaging spell, and a green spell book contains an enhancement spell. Lawrence first opened the blue spell book as a flash of blue light nearly blinded his eyes. A second later, innumerable knowledge entered his mind as he gritted his teeth from the seething pain.
A minute later, he collapses into the bed while breathing heavily. He gazed at the book to find that it has nothing but empty pages as he broke out into a fit of laughter. He honestly thought that the spell book he was given was actually a book that can be read. He was careless as what he actually opened is a grimoire, a type of rare spell book that inserts all of the knowledge straight into his mind. If he was a 4-star mage or higher, it would be barely manageable but as a 3-star paragon. The pain he experienced was relentless and unbearable to the point where his mind nearly break. If he isn't used to pain, it would've resulted in his brain melting and being brain dead for the rest of his life. Grimoire isn't recommended to use since if the spell inside is highly complicated, it would break the minds of anyone who opens it. He felt a warm sensation dripping from his nose as he touched his nose to find it bleeding before he clicked his tongue. He grabbed the nearby bell before ringing it as he absorbed every single spell book into his space ring.
He is slowly losing consciousness as the room started spinning. It seems that the grimoire did more damage than he initially thought as he can only stay conscious with the sheer power of his will. The door opened as the butler hurriedly rush upon seeing Lawrence's face. He was blanched and pale while blood is dripping from his nose and ears.
"Sir Evan?! What happened?"
"Get me a health potion and a mind restoring potion. Hurry!" Lawrence shouted as the butler hurriedly left the room and did not even close it. Lawrence can only curse his carelessness as sleepiness is slowly taking him. He should've known that the elves aren't reliable since they often forgot to mention important things. He didn't even think that it's suspicious that a 7-star time mage is in possession of three spell books that are gravity-based. She probably only had a grimoire since elves prefer using grimoire over normal spell books since their minds are more developed and the pain from absorbing information in one full swoop won't affect them at all. Besides, why read if they can simply absorb the entirety of a book and memorize it completely without any effort.
The butler returned with a red potion and a blue potion before he immediately hands it to Lawrence. Quickly, Lawrence drank the mind-restoring potion before sipping the health potion in small doses. It is to slowly heal his brain, and nerves while the mind restoring potion is to restore clarity in his mind and remove the dizziness that he is currently feeling.
"Are you alright sir? Do you need me to call the medical department?"
"No, it's fine. You can return now. I'll be resting so if someone wants to talk to me, tell them that I'm sleeping and currently recovering" Lawrence replied before the butler bowed and left the room.
The defensive spell that he got from the grimoire is called gravity aura. It's the same as his gravity barrier as it can stop any attacks from coming in contact with his body. The only difference is that it can absorb nearby objects to act as armor. Lawrence can absorb the nearby rocks to create a rock shield capable of blocking attacks. The gravity aura can absorb anything that is solid meaning even the metal stage can be absorbed and pulled to create a barrier of metal protecting Lawrence. He can also repulse the armor or shield that he absorbs to his enemy that might hit them or create a temporary blind spot. It's a combination of repulse, attract, and gravity barriers but only for solid and movable objects.
The more he uses it, the less mana it takes to absorb and maintain the gravity aura. Still, it isn't that important as he can finally block attacks that contained a space element. An element that cannot be blocked by his gravity barrier. Meaning that he finally has an answer to one of his weaknesses. Lawrence puts his leg up on the bed as he can finally feel his mind running. His eyesight has returned to normal and his nose and ears have stopped bleeding. For now, reading the grimoire isn't something that he can do as it is too dangerous.
The fatigue sets in as he closes his eyes before he fell asleep. Still, he didn't forget to summon his close who acts as a guard if something happens as the clone can only sigh and sits at the nearby chair. Twiddling his fingers in boredom.
Meanwhile, Catalinna is staying in her room. Meditating as two red spiritual arms manifested behind her back. Both arms have a burning flame running through the armor covering the arm yet it didn't burn anything in the room. Catalinna tried manifesting the third arm only to fall short as she gasped for air and the arms appearing behind her back vanished.
She is currently practicing her control over the flame asura manifestation since the faster she can achieve 6-arm manifestation, the stronger her body and attacks become. Time is short but she knows she can't afford to be reckless. Still, the idea of splitting up to cover more area and look for artifacts to collect is something that she doesn't want to do.
"Dammit! Why do I keep thinking about that idiot?! If he wanted to go alone, he can and I don't care…" Catalinna lays on her bed, angered by Lawrence's idea. He said that they are allies and they should trust each other while knowing that being reckless is a stupid idea with how many enemies they have, and still! he wanted to split up. A sigh escaped from her lips as she stared at the ceiling.
"Fuck! Once we fight, I will wipe his smug and teasing face across the floor!" Catalinna cursed as the drowsiness and fatigue from meditating and practicing the flaming asura manifestation caught up to her as she immediately falls asleep once closing her eyes.