The four, including Saquin, who had entered had their eyes glued on the three.
Meanwhile.
The three present in the room all had their eyes on a single person, Saquin.
"There is an extra Late Arrival?" The red dreads lady said in shock. "My liege, aren't Late Arrivals have a maximum of three?"
"You are correct, Maggie." The one who answered was not the prince, but the purple themed female.
"I was asking my liege not you, Flair." Maggie snapped.
"Hmph." Flair scoffed.
"Casel of Heinsworth greets his Highness." The conversation snapped Casel back to reality as she dipped into a bow.
'I can't believe it, I am meeting the prince in person... The prince...'
As soon as she had laid her eyes on the prince, she had zoned out.
"Zeta of Platue greets Your Highness."
"Xavier greets Your Highness."
Two voices followed straight after Casel's. Zeta and Xavier were jolted out of their surrealism by Casel's greeting.
Meanwhile.
The prince who was the subject of the greeting was not paying any attention to them. His full focus was on the other person in the room that matched his aura.
Saquin.
As if in cue, Saquin's greeting came.
"Saquin greets the golden prince."
"Huh?" Both Flair and Maggie exclaimed at the same time.
Then as if struck by something, they both got up and did a curtsy.
"Maggie greets Eminence Saquin."
"Flair greets Eminence Saquin."
Greader stared at Saquin for a couple seconds.
Then.
He stood up from his seat, standing to his full height of over one hundred and seventy-five centimeters. He was a bit taller than Saquin.
He walked over to Saquin and stretched out his right hand for a handshake.
"Greader, the golden prince. Nice to meet you... Saquin."
Saquin stretched out his right hand and accepted the handshake from the prince, ignoring the slight egde in his voice.
Casel by the side remained in a bow, but she could imagine the sight.
Now that she thought about it.
Saquin and the prince were like opposites, somehow. Saquin's whole aura was cold, dismissive and distant, the prince's aura was warm, commanding and aloof.
Then there was their looks.
Saquin, black and blue hair, black eyes. Prince Greader, white and gold hair, golden ringed eyes.
'Them shaking would be quite a sight.'
Casel had no idea how right she was.
Maggie and Flair who could view the sight were thinking the same thing.
The two standing in front of them were still Gradeless beings, but the aura radiating from them alone would match a normal Grade One being.
'Is this the power of a Pinnacle genius?'
The both of them could not help but think this. They themselves were Star-Class geniuses but they still paled in comparison to Pinnacle geniuses. Especially ones who definitely owned a Soul-Bound and also possessed a staggering amount of Cores, courtesy of their background.
At the same time though, the could not help but feel a bit surreal.
In over sixty-eight thousand Location Trial, the chances of meeting a Pinnacle grade is about one in a thousand chance.
And yet.
Two were present here.
Two strong ones.
They both exchanged a silent look.
'Something is weird with this Trial.'
Just then.
"I am sure you can tell something is wrong with this Trial right?" Prince Greader suddenly asked Saquin.
Saquin withdrew his hand from the handshake. He did not answer the question straight away, instead he turned to look at the trio stuck in a bow, then at Greader.
Greader understood immediately.
"At ease you three."
Greader said to the trio.
"Yes, your Highness."
The trio said in unison and rose up to their feet.
"It is a weird Trial indeed. But what about it? Don't we just have to beat it." Saquin's reply came soon after. A smirk appeared on his lips towards the end of his statement.
Silence.
There was a moment of silence as the occupants of the room could not believe the amount of cold arrogance present in that statement.
What is a Trial?
At first, the Trial would seem easy as all one have to do is advance into a Grade Zero, make it to the Base Camp and wait our the Trial.
But the fact the fact that of the ten thousand candidates allocated to this Trial Location, only a bit over five thousand remained at the fifteenth day.
It is estimated that the survival rate of a normal Trial is at the thirty percent mark. A special Trial that has the presence of a Pinnacle has the survival rate of ten percent.
A weird Trial like this would probably have way lesser survivors.
Saquin, however, was not aware of this facts. Even if he did, he would not exactly care.
Prince Greader stared at Saquin for a few seconds. He was never scared of not making it out of the Trial, he was more concerned about survival of his entourage and the other candidates. But now that he thought about it...
What if?
A smile suddenly bloomed on the prince face.
"I could not agree more."
A small laugh escaped him.
"Initially, I thought we should have a meeting and discuss how we should go about the Trial and attack the Underbeast Boss. But, hearing what you said now, I was reminded of our status. We really do not need to stress so much for a mere Empowered Trial."
The Prince was beaming at this point.
Saquin stared at the prince.
'Something is off... Really off.'
Then, he simply nodded.
"Now, brother Saquin, I cannot help but wonder. Do you plan on creating a Party?" The prince ignored Saquin's cold reply, and asked in an enthusiastic manner.
"I prefer to join the winning party, rather than create unnecessary conflict." Saquin said simply.
"Ha. That is a correct decision, brother Saquin." The prince smiled at the response.
Saquin could feel goosebumps at the back of his neck. The prince smile was becoming too affectionate.
'It seems he just confirmed something... What is going on here? What is with this Trial?'
These questions appeared in his head, but he ignored them just as fast as they appeared.
"So, brother Saquin, I am assured you have been assigned one of the numbered mansions." The prince spoke up again. "I shall not hold you here. You can head back to enter the Grade Zero rank. I shall also head back to mine. After we are done, we can rally up an attack immediately."
"Sure." Saquin nodded and left immediately.
Watching as Saquin left, prince Greader could not help but feel his hand itch. He knew he should have taken this opportunity before they ranked, but the chances of success was really minimal, even with three versus one.
He was prideful but not so arrogant to believe he could beat a fellow genius, one with considerable background, for sure.
Plus, if what he thought was right, then there were others to watch out for.
After ranking though, they would have Awakened their natural Ability, a certainty for them who were Star-Class genius upwards. The odds would be much more better.
'This Trial... It would be the start of my legend... Ha.'
The prince took a deep breath as he looked up at the murals in the ceilings.
'I shall be the true Divine.'