"You look a little young to walk around on your own kid."
"Luckily for you, we'll protect you for the small price of all your possessions!"
Dressed in ragged clothes, a dozen bulky man surrounded a cloaked figure. Seemingly unbothered by their blatant attempt to rob him, he looked at them with his blue eyes and replied.
"No thank you. Also, aren't you a little old to be 'protecting' people. People your age have retired a long time ago."
This remark left the men dumbfounded. Did this kid not understand their purpose? They glanced at each other before erupting in laughter.
"Bwhaha is this guy not right in the head? Seeing how dumb you are, lemme spell it out for ya kid. You're getting robbed-"
-Bang!
Out of nowhere, the cloaked figure disappeared from their sight. Turning to the loud noise, the men were horrified to see their leader's head nailed to the nearby wall, blood flowing to the ground.
'How could this be! Such speed… Could he b-be one of them?'
Although they now mugged people for a living, these bandits were once renowned mercenaries, they'd seen godlike beings whose strength exceeded human limitations. Even watching those beings from afar brought them a great deal of terror. Such people were akin to a natural disaster!
Suddenly, one of the more inexperienced men unsheathed his sword and charged at the cloaked figure. He was one of the few that joined their group after they retired as mercenaries and had never seen a cultivator before.
'Fool!'
-Spurt!
The man suddenly collapsed to his knees, screaming in pain. Looking down, he was horrified to see both his arms twisted in a bizarre way.
Silence-
No one dared to move after what they'd just witnessed. Only the faint sound of accelerating heartbeats could be vaguely heard in the dark alley. Seeing they had no intention to attack, the cloaked figure pointed his finger to one of them and asked.
"You. What's your name?"
Afraid he might offend him if he delayed too long, the ex-mercenary quickly replied.
"It's-"
"Never mind, I've lost interest."
Dumbfounded, the man shut his mouth and waited in silence once more. Unbeknownst to them, Luriel was also wondering how to proceed. Casually leaning to the wall behind him, he scratched his chin and pondered.
'It's not like I get benefits if I capture them, but then again, I somewhat feel like it's my responsibility to make sure they don't harm others. Man, what a pain. I know I said all that 'I'll finish what I started' bullshit but I really feel like taking a break now. Forget it, I've reached my destination after so long, might as well release some steam.'
After a long pause, he said.
"I've decided on what to do with you."
Before he could finish his sentence, one of the men warned him.
"You- you can't kill us! We're part of the Bloodfang gang! If you dare do anything to us, the gang leader won't let you live!"
'Should I give a shit? Probably not.'
"Is that so… You know, I only felt like capturing and turning you in but-" Taking another pause, his gaze swept past all gang members. "Your warning suddenly made me want to kill you"
-Gulp!
It had the opposite effect?!
'I'm too lazy to deal with these people. I'll just quickly reverse the roles and get going. Hmm, those are some fine shoes. They also seem to be my size. Hehe'
"However, I can let you go! If you empty your pockets for me, that is."
'H-he… He's robbing us!'
Although reluctant, their lives were ultimately worth more than the gold coins they had. After collecting his coins, Luriel did as promised and disappeared from their sight once more, causing them to release a sigh of relief.
Deciding not to waste any more time, Luriel headed straight to the gates of Imperial Academy.
'Strange…why is no one guarding this place. There's not a single person in sight and it's strangely quiet. Wait, could it be!'
His mind drifted back to when he was looking through Hans' knowledge. Back then, he was learning about a type of spell or technique that covers a large area. By precisely shaping the ambient mana in a specific sequence of runes and connecting them in the shape of a circle, it creates a dangerous area of effect. Unless the enemy is many times more powerful than the caster, they were sure to be defeated!
This type of spells are called array formations!
'There are many different types of arrays, but this one seems to fall in the illusion category. I doubt anyone would be bold enough to create it on Imperial Academy's lands. Is this perhaps, a part of my test?'
There were many ways to escape an illusion array. The simplest one is to simply use brute force to break it. A powerful technique would be enough, but he wasn't anywhere near the 7th stage yet. The most optimal way for him at the moment will be.
'To find the array's weak point and strike it there. Problem is, how do I find it?'
He hasn't learn any visual techniques to see mana yet.
'Am I really going to fail the first test? How lame!'
Meanwhile outside the illusion array-
"This one caught on quite quickly. Vice-dean, shall we proceed to the next test?"
The one who spoke was a young woman in her early twenties. Replying to her question, the middle aged man let out a small chuckle.
"Look at him searching around or the array's weak spot. Although he has some knowledge, it's too basic. Otherwise, he'd realize the weak point is contained here, at the array's true source. This test is to see how observant he is, so I guess he passed, proceed to the next candidate."
'Although I'm curious where that boy got the Prizal crest from, I have to focus on all candidates right now.'
Before entering academy grounds, there's a special formation designed to detect those of noble families or the ones they recommend to enter the academy. He was truly baffled to see a representative of the Prizal duchy.
Inside the formation, Luriel heard a distant voice telling him he passed the first test. Not giving him time to react, a strong force pulled him out of the array as he found himself in a giant hall filled with people.
'Huh, I passed? How?'
Composing himself, he heightened his senses to appraise the other candidates' level. What he found out left him dumbfounded.
'How? How are they so weak!'