Living in the same era as someone like Owen was both a blessing and a curse.
The blessing was that they could witness the rise of a peerless prodigy with their own eyes.
The curse, however, was that on this prodigy's path to greatness, they would inevitably be compared to Owen.
In truth, both Lawrence and Claire had broken through to diamond-tier before the age of twenty-five, a remarkable feat in its own right.
But unfortunately, this was the era of Owen.
Seeing Lawrence retreat, Elaine smugly raised her chin and taunted, "A coward is still a coward. You're only capable of bullying me. If you've got the guts, why don't you take on my man? If you don't end up soiling yourself, I'd say you did a clean job!"
At these words, Lawrence stumbled, nearly fainting from rage.
That woman, always relying on Owen's power—if it weren't for him, I'd definitely make her suffer!
Watching Lawrence's battered figure retreat, Owen couldn't help but chuckle.
But before he could say anything, he suddenly felt another sneaky hand slipping into his head student's robe, groping around in front of him.
"That's enough, hand it over."
"Just one more touch, just one! Ah, it feels so good..."
Elaine stared at Owen with a lovestruck expression and coyly said, "Owen, why don't you be my partner? If you agree, I'll drop out and join Crossbridge Academy!"
"There's no rush. We can discuss this later," Owen said as he pushed Elaine away, grabbing her shoulders. "The hour is almost up, and the passage to the second floor will soon open. Now that you're one person down, will you be alright?"
"It's fine. Although we lost a sister, I severely injured a Frostbane Academy student. He won't survive the day, so we can count that as avenging Lily!"
"Remember, the Tower is a team battle, and once you enter the second floor, you'll be divided into different areas. I might not be able to look out for you all the time, so take care of yourself."
"Mm!"
Elaine's heart was overflowing with sweetness at Owen's concern.
She first met Owen three years ago at the Starlight Duel Tournament.
Unluckily, she faced him in the round of sixteen. At that time, Owen was still a platinum-tier, and he defeated her effortlessly.
It was in that moment that she fell deeply in love with this man—handsome, powerful, and yet so gentle.
From then on, she couldn't get him out of her mind!
In the past, whenever Owen responded to her affections, he was usually quite indifferent, and such closeness as today was unprecedented. Elaine couldn't help but feel a sense of triumph.
Thanks to her persistence, she had finally won... the handsome man!
"Take care. If I get the chance, I'll come find you."
"Mm... you stay safe too."
"No worries, there's nothing out there that can threaten me."
Ah! So commanding!
Elaine clutched her wildly beating heart, her gaze towards Owen practically dripping with adoration.
However, before Elaine could do anything more daring, the passage to the second floor of the Tower opened. A phantom-like but very real staircase connected to the entrance of the second floor, and everyone immediately ceased their fighting and rushed toward the entrance.
Owen, however, didn't hurry. He strolled leisurely back to the Crossbridge Academy team.
"Andrew, from here on, you'll be leading the team. This is a trial, and if I intervene, it would defeat the purpose. So unless you encounter something you can't handle, I won't step in. Instead, I'll be looking for opportunities to seize other academies' fortunes."
"No problem. But, Chief Owen, isn't it a bit risky to have made enemies with Frostbane Academy and Fenrir Academy so early?"
"It's fine. Claire is an opportunist who shifts with the wind, and Lawrence has ambition but no strength. Neither of them is a real threat. Besides, even if I hadn't confronted them, they would have tried to tear a piece off us anyway. So, be on guard.
I'll leave a Teleport Mark for Emily to hold onto. If you encounter either of those academies, activate the mark immediately, and I'll return at once."
"Chief Owen, why not let me keep it?"
Andrew frowned, casting a cold glance at Emily.
As expected, he still didn't have much of a liking for her.
Over the past year, the members of the student council had observed everything closely. This ungrateful woman wasn't worth the Chief's efforts at all!
"No reason. Do you have an objection?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Then don't waste time. Move out. Andrew, I've always hoped you would continue to grow, to grasp the bigger picture, and make the right decisions, rather than just follow behind me as an enforcer.
Your potential is greater than that. Don't disappoint me."
Hearing these words, Andrew's eyes flashed with excitement, and he responded with determination, "Chief Owen, rest assured, I won't let you down!"
"Then let's go."
With that, Owen once again used Absolute Stealth, disappearing into thin air before their eyes.
Andrew, already used to this, led the team onto the staircase, heading to the second floor of the Tower.
As they passed through the barrier of light, a gust of sand blew into their faces, causing Emily, who had her mouth open, to get a mouthful of sand.
"Ugh! What... what's going on?"
Just a moment ago, the first floor had a normal environment, but now the second floor had suddenly turned into an endless desert?
"The Tower is like that, with different spaces stacked together. There's nothing to be surprised about. Stay close to each other and maintain cover.
Also, Emily, take good care of the Teleport Mark."
"Understood, Senior Andrew."
"Call me Leader! Alright, let's move out. Stay alert, and if you spot any enemies, report immediately!"
Watching from the shadows, Owen nodded slightly, feeling quite satisfied with how Andrew was handling things.
In truth, Andrew was a very capable person.
In the original story, he came from the renowned Lionheart family, a military family that had produced many great generals.
Andrew, influenced by his family's environment, had become one of its most outstanding members.
During the defense against the spellbeast tides, Andrew had demonstrated exceptional skill in strategy and troop deployment.
However, by always following Owen, he had gradually stopped thinking independently and simply followed Owen's lead.
This was clearly stifling Andrew's potential. Owen didn't want Andrew to be just a high-level enforcer but rather someone who could lead and manage everything in Owen's absence.
As for the trial on the second floor, if Owen remembered correctly, it only involved platinum-tier beasts, which shouldn't pose a problem for Andrew and the others.
Owen had more important things to attend to.
In the original story, John had accidentally stumbled upon the Desert Temple and acquired a master-tier earth-element gauntlet, the [Terradrake's Aegis].
If Owen could find this gauntlet and give it to Andrew, it would greatly enhance Andrew's combat abilities!
With this in mind, Owen took a deep breath, letting his mana surge through him, and then shot into the sky, covering several kilometers in just a few breaths!
"As expected, the upper limit of diamond-tier power is clearly here. If I want to go faster, I'll have to lift the restrictions."
By using Absolute Stealth to limit his power to diamond-tier, Owen couldn't exert his full strength, only about twenty percent of it.
However, if Owen were to restore his sage-tier power, it might cause the Tower's space to collapse, so he had no choice but to dismiss that idea.
"But, how did John accidentally find that Desert Temple in the original story again?"
If Owen remembered correctly, John had gotten into a conflict with the people from Flamecourt Kingdom, which led to them chasing him relentlessly.
He fled eastward, eventually stumbling upon the Desert Temple by chance.
"So, does that mean I need to find Flamecourt Kingdom first?"
If he could avoid it, Owen really didn't want to deal with those lunatics.
As the royal academy of Flamecourt Kingdom, the students were a bunch of fire magic fanatics, obsessed to the point of near insanity.
Almost everyone bore scars from being burned by flames, which they proudly referred to as the divine blessing of the sacred fire.
Fortunately, these lunatics worshipped sacred fire.
If it had been holy water, would they have had to drown themselves and then gauge their piety by how full they were?
The truly devout might stop at feeling a third full, while the more devout might aim for two-thirds, right?
Owen found the whole idea absurd.