Liam closed his eyes as soon as he entered the Peregrinate Portal before slowly opening his eyes when he felt his footstep on solid ground.
His sight was greeted by fifty high-leveled soldiers and mages, facing toward the Peregrinate Portal with their weapons ready for any threat coming through the portal. He followed the knights who recruited him, ignoring the small high elite army keeping their eyes on him and Aniya. Liam can't blame them for being so cautious.
There's a huge chance that demons had conqueror one of the kingdoms and can come through the portal anytime.
Liam got a glimpse of the gemstone in the center of the chest armor that they were wearing. He began to think that the gemstone could be made out of holy minerals and boost the soldiers' physical abilities.
They exited the portal room, and the doors shut right behind them as soon as they all stepped outside. They walked down the hallway towards the ramp with the stairs off to the side. The hallway was huge enough for a carriage to drive through.
Liam and the others went up the stairs and come across another set of doors that is also heavily guarded by soldiers and mages. Liam had no doubts that the other side of the doors would be filled by soldiers as well. He wondered how citizens walk through this path from the Peregrinate Portal and how they felt from the intimidation from the soldiers.
One of the soldiers raises his hands, telling them to stop for inspection. Then, one of the mages approaches them. He pointed them with his staff and began chanting a spell before saying its name.
"Evil Hunter." The name says it all. A high-level detection spell is used to detect demons who are blending in with society.
The mage waited, waited, and waited until the spell began to appear a bright white orb above the mage's staff as Liam and his group started to glow white around them. After a few seconds, the orb and the aura began to turn green.
"You're all good to go," said the mage before backing up to make room for them. The doors revealed the sunlight from the other side as they walked through the set of doors. Divulging the outside of the castle and the layout of the most crucial kingdom in the world.
The Valerie Kingdom.
Its walls expanded across the land from the island where the castle is located in the cove with twelve rows of walls to create an obstacle in defenses. Giving plenty of space for defending the kingdom, and for the people to live their daily lives. Behind the first row of walls is where farms are located as it has a lot of space between the first and the second row. The rest of the rows except the eleventh row are filled with houses, shops, and everything that the residents need.
On the eleventh row is where it is heavily defended more than the defenses around the castle due to one reason.
"Oi, stop admiring the view. You can do that later once you're done talking with the King" Raoul stated. Liam nodded before looking back out of the keep's door and continue following Raoul and the group to the throne room.
They opened the big great doors and enter the throne room. The throne room had a second story with spiral staircases next to the doors. Guards were standing in front of the pillars, facing each other with their weapons placed right in front of them as they kept their eyes on Liam and the group. The thrones were on a raised floor, making the royals look down and reminding them who they are.
They began walking up to the front of the thrones and kneeled.
"We have arrived, your highness" Raoul stated. Liam gazed at the king and the queen. The king of Valerie was slightly overweight, but he had a cream beard with wavy hair and blue eyes. His queen was extremely attractive. She had a curvy body behind her dress with black hair and sapphire eyes.
"So...you're the newborn champion from the Navalon Kingdom."
"Yes, your highness" Liam replied.
The king motioned his hand to the magician, and the magician approached the group.
"Who has witnessed him in action?"
Aniya raised her hand, and the magician walked towards her.
"May I?"
Aniya nodded her head, and the magician put his hand on top of her head before chanting, specifically stating the time when she sees Liam in action as a champion and casting a spell. "Memory Recall Projection."
He pointed his staff up in the air as the spell was cast, showing her memories. Everyone locked their eyes on the projection in the air, watching the newborn champion in action.
The king's eyes were heavily focused on his War-Paint and his powers. He motioned his hand to someone else again as the person brought the book.
Liam recognized that book. "The History of Our World." It's the book that he was reading at the beginning before the demons attacked his home kingdom. The king begins to tell his servant to flip the pages while keeping his eyes on the projection.
Then, the memory projection ended as the king waited for his servant until the servant caught his attention. The king grabbed the book from the servant's hand and began flipping through the pages.
"Maybe we could figure out your champion's name if your War Paint is complete. The closest descriptions of your powers and your War-Paint match the champion's name, Polaris. Famously known as the North Star Champion due to the brightness of the War Paint that can be seen from miles away, just like the North Star. The power of the Polaris Champion is to manipulate energy in various ways depending on the user, but there are only several moves listed in the book that are most common among the Polaris Champion. "
Liam knew his War Paint is incomplete because he was still a newborn champion and has that Guardian Mode. Newborn champions give out little hints that lead to their names before they mastered their powers. As a result, it changes their War-Paint that matches the descriptions in the book and the Champion's name.
In Liam's case, the War-Paint of the North Star Champion has constellation symbol shapes on their body mixed in with the lines in the shape of the nervous system when they mastered their powers. He remembered reading it in the book about the North Star Champion, and the king was right. Cosmic Gash, Blinking Soul Replicate, and...
"What's your social class?"
"Eh...Uhh...m-middle...class."
"A middle class with such talent within the Champion's potential. You must be special before you become a Champion. You, cast that spell again on him. I want to see his magnificent talent."
Liam only cringed, knowing that he was going to disappoint the king and possibly everyone else except Aniya in the room. He can only shut his eyes as the mage began to cast Memory Recall Projection.
The room was silent as Liam started to shrink smaller and smaller. He did not want to see their reactions or hear them. There's no denying that they are looking through his memories of his knight training academy or any other sparing he had done outside of the academy.
"Your talent is...not that impressive. No talent at all in other words..."
Knew it. Those are the words Liam was looking for. He can hear everyone's statement through his hands covering his ears.
"His talent is...okay?"
"Why is he a Champion though?"
"Give your Core to someone else who is worthy!"
"I thought Champions are the chosen ones to be the best of the best in the military?"
Yep. Definitely the words he was looking for. The king stayed silent for a while after his first statement until he spoke.
"Have his Core ready. I don't want him to serve in my military."