A few hundred cadets held a metallic token in their hand as they stood in the terrace.
In front of them were the shining doors.
The colorful inside of the doors shifted and twirled, the colors looked like someone poured all the paints on a blank canvas and stirred them.
Standing in front of two princes and three princesses, Prince Kane glanced at everyone and nodded lightly.
“Follow the rules. Whatever you can come out with is yours.”
Everyone nodded.
“The key you have, it can act as a defense amulet. But once you use it, you’re out of the competition.” He also gave them a brief intro into activating it.
His peers were surprised about his action. Such information was usually left out as it was common knowledge. Why did he talk about it?
Varian gripped the key in his hand and probed it with his space sense.
‘Hiss!’
There was a special pattern on the key filled with very compressed space power.
Upon activation, the space power would be unleashed and solidify the space around the user.
This would act as a life saving token.
“Even though accidental, there are deaths every year. I hope you remember you can have far greater chances as long as you’re alive.” His eyes were turbulent for a moment before he quickly continued in his normal tone.
“Also, one last thing…” His lips curled up into a big smile. Not the good kind. It was the kind of smile a teacher would have power before they announced a surprise test.
Varian had an ominous premonition.
“If anyone can collect the six flags, you can make one reasonable request from any Sovereign.”
Boom!
Those works knocked the air out of the cadets and they couldn’t breathe for a moment.
Must be an illusion!
An illusion I say—
“Yes, you heard it right! You can make any reasonable request to a Sovereign.”
They might be hallucinating once, but when the same words were said again, the cadets sucked in cold breath.
Their bodies literally trembled with excitement.
Sovereign.
For almost every cadet, it was a dream they would chase all their life, but would never reach.
Yet, like moths rushing to fire, they’d spend their youth, their middle-age and even their oldage in the pursuit of that illusory hope.
Because every Sovereign admitted one thing.
‘Every second was worth it.’
Sovereigns were famous than the biggest influencers, revered more than the greatest doctors and aspired by every genius.
Just meeting them was considered an honor.
It was like your personal hero spending a day with you.
Now they could even make a request.
Sovereigns could provide almost any material request. But asking them for a treasure would be wasteful and even insulting.
Every cadet would only ask for one thing if they got the chance.
Experience!
The precious experience and insights by Sovereigns upon countless years of accumulation and their thoughts on the Divine Paths.
Even though everyone’s journey was different, if they could understand what a Sovereign did to reach where they were, it’d be absolutely rewarding.
They would face less bottlenecks, progress faster and avoid stagnation.
So, every cadet had the same opinion about the request.
…except Varian.
‘Um, there’s this Psychic Sovereign called Kreo Bell. I can ask him to unlock my memories…’ Varian thought of the famous Marshal Kreo.
While Albert governed Mercury, Venus and Earth, Kreo Bell governed Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
He was also the grandfather of Xavier Bell, the best genius of Mars.
It wasn’t a bad idea per se, but Varian felt repulsed for some reason.
‘…if I let him do that, I also risk letting him see all my memory. Even if there’s nothing about System, just the fact that someone can see all my memory creeps me out. Heck no!’
He quickly denied the idea.
The black fog in his mind was disintegrating by itself for some reason. And at times of stimulation, a small part of it would be destroyed.
He didn’t know the exact reasons, but he felt that it had something to do with the ‘System powers’ he briefly wielded a while ago.
Regardless of the reason, the removal of the black fog was why he was occasionally able to get glimpses into his past.
But, of those seven years with Sia, he could only remember a few days at most.
‘I’ll unlock them. Bit by bit. And as my telepath level advances, I can do it faster and faster. I don’t want to trust anyone else with this.’
And that was it.
Varian didn’t really have any requests he had to ask the Sovereigns about.
But someone he knew could really use that request…
“Alright. Solar Trial lasts for 3 hours. Make the best use of it.” Prince Kane clapped his hands and signaled them to begin.
Varian saw the teams in a moment.
The level 5s and 6s formed teams amongst themselves and a few signaled their intent to invite him.
He rejected them, as politely as he could.
‘I want to win the six flags. Won’t work if I join a team. Thankfully, Sarah collected the info…’
One by one, level 5s entered the secret realm.
Varian was the last level 5.
Perhaps when he came out, he’d already be a level 6.
Looking at the shining space gate, he took a deep breath and stepped in.
It was like he was tied to the back of a airplane with a rope and was pulled into the air.
That was how Varian felt as the space around him twisted and yanked him towards a distant, yet near place.
“Keh” As he opened his eyes, six different lights shone down on his face.
“Eh?” Varian turned around and realized he was in a huge circular plain in the middle of mountains.
In the distance were level 5s that entered before him. They hurriedly confirmed their goals and rushed out.
It was almost as if they were fleeing.
“…”
Varian shook his head and felt a fluctuation of space.
Level 6.
One. Two. Three. Four…
They hadn’t appeared yet, but he could feel their aura clearly.
‘Welp. Time to go.’
Varian kicked the ground and his figure vanished into the distance.
Shortly after he left, a few low level 6s appeared in the plain.
They observed the six colored light coming from the six regions of Theodra.
Ice Region. Thunder Region.
Forest Region. Twisted Region.
Psychedelic Region. Leaden Region.
“Ice Region?” One of them asked.
“Hm. Ice Crystal Fruits don’t last long. It’s better to pick them first.” The girl in question nodded.
“Let’s go.”
As such, the level 6s that appeared quickly left.
Even though some cadets found their ‘enemies’ and rivals, they didn’t pause to fight.
Fighting here would only profit others.
And finally, the strongest teams also appeared.
It was five teams.
To be precise, it was four teams and one man.
Sarah, William and Philia.
Sarah and William were from the same academy. William and Philia had a…nice relationship.
So they decided to team up for now.
Ashtarh, his friend Tiama and Maissa formed a team.
Being Neptune’s first genius and second geniuses, Maissa found them to be stron enough to work with.
Then there was Xavier Bell, Marcus Caron and Rodey Nial.
Since the three of them fought Charles, they recognized the other’s strength and decided they were a good fit.
And finally, Helia and Caleb.
Caleb wanted another member, but Helia objected.
“Anyone else would only drag us down.”
These four teams were created with the aim of getting the flag, not treasures. Since six flags were one in six regions each, before coming they already decided their initial target.
The four of them would collect a flag each and compete at the last two regions for the two flags.
The teams would remain until one team got hold of six flags. Then the team itself would break down and they would fight among themselves.
Of course, obstructing all this was a single variable.
The one man team.
Charles Xander.
He was the last person to enter. Also the strongest.
Ashtarh’s words during the five minute planning rang in everyone’s minds.
‘No single team can win against Charles. If you want to win, Charles must be out.’
So, instead of going their own ways, all the teams turned towards Charles Xander.
Charles glanced at them and snorted. His prana circulated throughout his body and he transformed into his Demi-wolf form.
“Charles, you’re going down.” Ashtarh slowly said.
The air stilled for a moment and everything seemed to slow down.
The next moment, their aura exploded into the skies.
Boom!
Every cadet in the Theodra Secret Realm stopped in their tracks and turned towards the center.
It was fine if they didn’t, but when they did, their hearts nearly leapt out of their throats.
Like the herald of apocalypse, fire raged into the sky, lightning struck the world, ice dragons roared and mountains moved…
…Theodra shook.
*** **** ***
A/N: Discord link below:
https://discord.gg/kBKaTtsrpb