Lilia looked at the masked man with interest, she knew her master very well, so she was sure that this man had to be someone special." Master?" Lilia poked Hugh's arms as she waited for him to introduce the mysterious man.
-" Coff, Coff, Everyone! This is Venerable H, a friend of mine." Hugh only now remembered that he hadn't introduced Venerable H yet. " He decided to grace the tournament with his presence." He gave a serious look to all the nobles, warning them not to try anything stupid with the man.
-" Master's friend?" Lilia had her curiosity picked. " I never heard about this friend of yours." Lilia could tell from the man's hands that he wasn't too old.
-" I met him a few months ago, and since then he has been helping me in some matters."
Many of the nobles present had strange faces, they had tried almost everything to build a relationship with Hugh over the years, and nothing had ever worked, but for some reason, Hugh had such a high opinion of the masked man that not only he considered him a friend, but he was also even willing to go against the nobles for him.
Henry was so nervous that he felt his body going stiff, talking with so many important people at once made him quite worried. " I hope that we all have a great time watching the tournament today." Henry tried his best to keep an easygoing atmosphere.
All the nobles were interested in the mysterious Venerable H, but, they all chose to stay still as the man continued to talk with Mister Hugh.
-" Why don't you take a closer look at the Teleportation circles?" Hugh returned his attention to Venerable H and continued his tour around the room.
-" Do we have spare time?" Henry was interested in the teleportation network, but, he knew that there was nothing interesting he could do other than look at it.
-" Of course we have! We are still waiting for the magic academy students to arrive." Hugh took Venerable H closer to the Teleportation circles and waited for the man to finish.
Henry was extremely afraid of messing up the Teleportation circles. " Quite the marvelous engineering.." Henry carefully studied the small parts that made the teleportation circle, they were all written in a strange language, and each part had a small stone embued in it.
Henry was curious to see if the system would have any reactions to the teleportation circle and decided to touch one of the small placks that formed it.
-' Warp Gateway of Distant Fields - High Grade - ???? ???? ???? ???? - A gate that will warp you to distant fields. Another warp gate is necessary for the connection to be established.' Henry paused as he read the name of the treasure.
He quickly touched another plack, only to see the same information. " I see..." Henry had an inquisitive look on his face as he tried to understand the teleportation circle. " I didn't expect the platform to be considered the Teleportation circle itself. " Henry smiled as he found the composition of the treasure interesting.
The teleportation circle was made up of various small placks that formed a platform, in which two stone arches were positioned. At first, Henry thought that the Teleportation circle was some kind of formation, but, only now he noticed that the entire platform was a treasure.
Hugh had a mixture of disbelief and astonishment imprinted on his face, no one had ever discovered the secret of the teleportation circle so fast, especially without the circle even being activated. " Impressive! No one ever recognized this secret so fast." Hugh was starstruck by Venerable H's performance, he had brought many people to this room, but, only a few people had even noticed this.
-"It caught me off guard at first as well." Henry thanked the system in his head, knowing that with his assistance he could make anyone believe that he was really a master. " I only came to this conclusion after realizing that this wasn't just a teleportation formation but a gateway."
-" A gateway?" Lilia raised her eyebrows in doubt, she had studied in the Royal Academy for years and never heard about something like this. " Master? Is this true?" She was in disbelief as the man barely touched the teleportation circle and was acting like he had a deep understanding of it.
-" Sigh... I severely underestimated your prowess.." Hugh's face had shock plastered all over it. " To even know that this is warp gate." Hugh couldn't help but look at Venerable H in a different light, he always thought that the man was someone close to his level, but, Venerable H's performance made Hugh think that he was even stronger than him.
-" I just had the luck to find another warp gate in my voyages." Henry tried to play it cool. " The founder of the Royal Academy must have quite the capable man, to leave such a vast network of warp gates is no ordinary deed."
All the nobles were shocked to learn the truth about the teleportation circles, many of them were students of the Royal Academy, and spent their youths going in and out of them.
-" A warp gate? What is even this?" One of the old noble ladies asked in amazement.
-" Some of the old books that I read spoke about such things." Abel scratched his beard as he gazed at the masked man. " It said that the method of creating such artifacts is long lost."
-" Makes sense, something like this can only be the work of the great cultivators of old." Another noble complemented Abel's words.
-" It's true... Those warps gates were one of the inheritances that Vannaril Thevaris left in the academy." Hugh sighed in sadness, to him one of the biggest stains on the history of the Royal Academy was the broken warp gates. " Venerable H... Do you perhaps know how to fix them?"
Henry grinned, he already expected the man to ask for help, but, at last, for now, there was nothing he could do. " I have no way of helping you, something like this is far beyond my means."
Hugh felt bitter, he knew that the chances of restoring the warp gates were slim, yet, he couldn't help but get his hope up when Venerable H recognized the artifacts.
-" Mister Hugh, the students have arrived." Dennis's voice rang out from outside the room, jolting Hugh from his bad moon.
Hugh quickly adjusted his robes and put on a serious face. " Bring them in! We can continue to chat later, Venerable H." Hugh walked to the center of the room and took a deep breath.
The students all had tense faces as they walked inside the teleportation room, many of them could only dream of entering the Royal Academy, and this would be their only chance.
-" Welcome to you all!" Hugh's voice boomed out, causing the room to tremble. " I Will now introduce the responsible for the qualificatory tournament."
The students only grew even more nervous as they heard Hugh's powerful voice, their gazes quivered as they saw the group of nobles present.
Henry smiled as he saw a red dot on the map of his system, he quickly looked in the direction that the map indicated, but, the crowd was too great for him to see his sister.
With Hugh's signal, the staff of the royal academy walked to him.
-" Dennis Hallfed, an adjunct teacher of the Royal Academy will be the one leading the tournament this time, He will be overseeing the entirety of the tournament." Hugh pointed to Dennis and clapped before continuing to introduce the rest of the staff. " Jonas Malford, one of the teachers of the arcane course will be the one responsible for the security and the event expectation." Hugh gave him the same treatment as Dennis. " I will now let them take the lead." He walked to the back of the group and watched as it was now their time to shine.
-" Good Day! I'm Dennis, the one responsible for you all for the next three days!" Dennis took a deep breath as he tried his best to keep his emotions in check. " As you all know the Tournament this time will be a survival test! But, it won't be an easy one, not only you will all face an inauspicious climate, you will have to face the local monster as well" Dennis paused for a moment and grinned. " For each monster, you have killed in the tournament you will gain 2 points!"
The entire group of students started to panic, many of them believed that this would just be a survival test and nothing more.
-" 2 points? For every monster? What about the level of the monster?"
-" How many points we will have if we complete the three days?"
-" How many points do we need to qualify for the Royal Tournament?"
Dennis's had a smile of mockery as he heard the barrage of questions. " Only the ten people with the most points will qualify for the royal tournament, and no points will be awarded for completing the three days period, but, if you exit the desert before the end of the test, all your points will be nullified."