After that question, Rio told them the story he thought of, from his accepting the mission to going through the forest, to be ambushed and captured by elves, describing the elves to make it more believable, to talking about the settlements humans were kept in (since they might ask him to tell them the location of the elven settlements, Rio had no idea where they were.) and learning bits of languages he learned from the very small interaction be made with the elves, naturally emphasizing on very small, to reduce questions and holes in his story.
After an hour of me going into detail about my so-called 'tragic', Rio rounded up saying he ran to the mountain and was seen by the two officers. By the way, they didn't say anything about me calling them officers, it seems to indeed be their position.
"So where is the settlement of the elves?" the solemn voice came from the left asked and Rio simply replied with "as I said, I was only kept in a settlement where human captives were, so I don't know where the elven settlements are, however, I can show you where I was sent to when captured."
"No need, since you escaped, they probably wiped their traces clean from that place, later I will send someone to get the information from you and see if there is still a way to locate them." the man reasonable voice from the front said again.
"Rio Casmir, it's a shame you went through something like this, however, it is good you ended up making it back alive, you can take this week off from lessons, I will send someone to reapply you to your previous classes next week," he said while gesturing me to leave.
Rio thanked him and turned around to leave. When Rio stepped outside the hall, he went to the library since he had nothing left to do, although I have the memory of Tiamat, he's been dead for who knows how long, so the current history and knowledge would also need to be gathered.
On his way to the library, he saw Daniel with two females beside him talking happily, doesn't seem like the extrovert character changed like the rest of him. He saw him, then looked away annoyingly.
'Sigh is there even a reason to be friends with him, if he doesn't provide benefits.' while thinking Rio analyzed him to see how big of a change, he had over these past five years.
[Ding!]
Name: Daniel Raze
Class: 4th Rank Mage Initiate
Subclass: 1st Class Hacidan
Strength: 33.5
Agility: 37.8
Endurance: 32.2
Mana: 92.7
'Is this a normal growth speed? In five years, he's broken through Mage Initiate, and from the looks of his mana, his just about to break through to the Mage Rank.' Rio thought as he carried on walking
As he was planning on still walk to the library, he suddenly heard a voice from behind him.
"Hey Rio, when are you going to return the friendship token?" he asked hesitantly, "Nah, kinda lost it," Rio said as if he had lost his keys. Rio continued before he could speak, "yeah I lost it, running away from the elves that captured me for five years" Rio said shamelessly.
"What? You were captured by the elves? Are you okay, they probably did some experiments on you, do you have any defects now" Daniel continued to bombard Rio with questions filled with worry until Rio signaled he was okay and continued to say "yeah, I just escaped a couple of days ago and arrived at the academy yesterday, that's why I was so tired to even talk to you".
Rio wasn't really tired, but if you play the part, play all the way, after escaping the kidnapping, he can't just chill with a friend, that would seem odd in the officer's eyes. "I noticed you got stronger over the years," he said trying to change the subject
"Yeah, thanks to my spirit root catching the attention of an elder, in the past year I became a direct disciple of an elder, which gave me countless resources to maximize my potential and growth."
Daniel opened his mouth then closed it as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. "what's wrong, say what you want to say."
"I was going to tell you about the upcoming competition that was happening, everyone is getting ready as the academy is choosing the best disciple to enter the realm that opens every decade. The things in the realm are otherworldly, you could find herbs and plants that you couldn't find in this world and skill books and cultivation techniques that are up to Gold, Earth Level. However, since you probably recovering, and from what I see from your level, you haven't even broken through the Initiate realm yet. So, you don't have time for the competition."
"When is the competition?" Rio asked ignoring the slight remark as he probably didn't say that with ill-intention
"6 months from now, everybody is entering seclusion and the fortune is buying an expensive pill that could enhance cultivation to get as ready as possible. You're not planning on entering the competition, are you?" he said with concern
"Am I not allowed to?" Rio said in annoyance, as he didn't like being pitied, in three months Rio could raise his stats enough to crush this guy, in six months he could probably rank up to the Mage realm if he went all out in farming EXP
"No, no, anyone from 15 to 20 can enter since that's the realm restriction. However, there will be a lot tougher opponent than you think, since I got the backing of an elder, I can cultivate in seclusion while taking cultivation-boosting pills, however since you determined, to take this, this should help a bit." he handed Rio a box that seemed to contain a pill
Rio looked in confusion. "it's a mana seclusive pill it helps you while in seclusion, anyway, I got to go, the teacher will probably be late if I'm late to see him."
'System scan'
[Ding! Received Instructions...]
[Ding! Mana seclusive pill increases the suction force of the mana core a slight bit]
'It is a useful pill when an early age, however, I can refine a better pill, just need herbs for it. That also reminds me that I am dirt-poor and didn't even get to pick the flower. Anyway, since I have a week off, instead of going library, let's use all that time for training for the competition.' Rio thought, motivating myself.
First, EXP. Rio only has forty EXP, so let's go hunt some beast since he can't kill people in this place. Rio went to the dorm to get ready for a week in the forest, he didn't have any money for rations so he thought he would just find something to eat in the forest, he packed everything he needed and headed into the forest.