The speaker returned ten minutes later, ignoring the unconscious competitors on the stage as he explained the rules further. Moments after, the group was dismissed, and Rion was called to speak with one of the proctors. His stunt cemented the fact that he was trouble to mess with and a serious contender.

A wizened elf looked at Kyrion with an inquisitive gaze. Then, brushing a hand through his white beard, he seemed to take in the person who hadn’t matched any descriptions yet hadn’t tripped the sensors meant to catch intruders.

“Why did you destroy that chair?”

“It was just a chair. A rather cheap looking one as well. I also needed to demonstrate my power. Those who now fear me will surender the moment I get my hands on them. This character doesn’t play around.”

“It was still someone else’s property.,.”

“Not done. Like I said, it was a demonstration of might.” Kyrion pulled the chair out of his domain and set it down in the office.

“The smell of burning wood?”

“Woodchips. Fire can obscure among other things. The control isn’t quite where I want it yet.”

“Who are you?”

“Me? Haven’t you heard of the captain of team Drisil? Rion the Vermillion Lord of flame?”

“Ah. So you would be Kyrion then.”

Kyrion slumped his shoulders and conjured a plush chair. He then fell into it as though his strings had been cut.

“Can’t you take a hint? I’m hiding my presence in plain sight. As far as some people need to know. I’m dead.”

“You were said to have a versatile skill set, but fire hadn’t been listed.”

“I’ve been building towards it for a while. Trust me when I say that I can put on a show as soon as I figure out how to make it stop healing things.” Kyrion stood back up.

“So it’s new?”

Kyrion grabbed the old elf on his shoulder and pulled him up as mana flowed into him, strengthening his back and making him appear years younger in mere moments. “Very.”

The elf took a few steps before scowling. “I’ve been deaged. That shouldn’t.”

“No you’ve just been hit with an influx of life energy and restored. It’s better to say the effects of aging have been weakened, as though a flame had been rekindled. Do we have any more problems to discuss?”

“No. Rion. You are dismissed. Don’t forget to look annoyed though. Your team will be the last team to fight on the first day.”

Kyrion smirked before turning it into a sneer as he left the room, quite a few people snooping.

A ball of hot flames appeared in Kyrion’s hand as he looked down with irritation. “Are you bugs going to move? Or do you want a fight?”

“Rion, get over here.” Lin said through her teeth.

Kyrion’s fire died down instantly as he walked through the parted crowd. As he headed towards Lin, Kyrion noticed seven other individuals who hadn’t reacted to his antics. Sinbad, who was too busy napping to care.

A dark-skinned boy wit, was currently devouring a stack of ribs belonging to a giant monster as though he hadn’t eaten in years as a few orcs seemed to dispose of the bones for him. Kyrion noted that he had been eating the whole time.

A green-haired woman who, while looking at him, had only a predatory gaze. One Kyion knew all too well and tended to avoid. He was going to stay far away from that den of snakes. He’d seen her kind end the careers of many older male students. Still wasn’t quite sure what happened to them, but he knew they just stopped caring about graduation afterward.

Chester looked at him with a neutral expression while Atimin, next to him, scratched his head. Unfortunately, the rest of the Norm team was not present.

Finally, there was Damian, who shook his head knowingly before moving on. The stunt not getting past him as he could recognize his friend even if he had been a demon.

Then there was that familiar-looking young man he hadn’t spoken to at Limguard academy. Their name was Milo, and the more he looked at them, the more he saw similarities in their natural appearances. Next to Milo was Edwin, who seemed bored, which confirmed one thing. Everyone on that team was an enemy.

Finally, there was a white-haired man with strong facial features and blue eyes. He seemingly didn’t care about the current state of affairs as he evidently already thought he had won. Seeing the rest of them as stepping stones.

If Kyrion was pretending, then this guy was deluded. A fact that seemed to invigorate a fire under Kyrion. He would be training hard shortly.

“R-I-O-N? What’s taking you so long?”

Kyrion felt more absent-minded than usual as he walked toward his group.

“Ah yes my Princess.” Kyrion bowed.

“Don’t, my Princess, me! This event is done. We’re going.”

“Where?” Cecil asked.

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“Anywhere.”

“Then I know a quiet place to talk.” Kyrion led them out of the building.

Into the clutches of two blue-haired figures, Kyrion hadn’t expected to see together. Lok seemed to have been waiting next to Charles. As though they knew he’d be here, which wasn’t too odd

“May I have the eyepatch back? It seems to have served its purpose.” Charles said, bored.

“Why?”

“You no longer need it. It’s my duty to see that it finds its next master.”

“Can you see through…” Kyrion pointed at his altered face.

“No. But I had some help who foresaw this outcome.”

Kyrion took the eyepatch out of his domain and handed it over with a scowl. “

Charles looked at it before handing it to Lok.

Lok then looked at Lin and handed it over with a rather sorrowful expression. “Keep it safe for me. You’ll know who it belongs to in due time.”

“What?” Lin was confused.

“Seer, you shouldn’t worry about it. Hopefully you don’t lose an eye like I did.” Kyrion pointed at the prosthetic.

“Now then. Rion. Are you going to train?” Lok asked.

“Yes.”

“Seventh layer?” Lok questioned.

“Correct.”

“Brain?” Lok scowled, his hand in a bag.

“...Yes.”

“Take Lin with you and have her use these on you.” Lok handed Kyion a box containing small white pills and a choker.

“What’s going to happen?”

Lok shrugged before turning, sprinting off a branch, and jumping down.

Sinbad left the building confused and soon came face to face with Kyrion.

“Do I know you?” Sinbad asked.

“Doubt it.”

“Right, I must be half asleep.” Sinbad yawned as he headed towards an inn, followed by his assistant, who seemed quite annoyed.

Charles looked at Kyrion for a long minute. “I’m sorry that I can’t tell you everything. When the time comes you’ll understand that the secrets surrounding you are a shield more than anything else. Someone with your potential doesn’t come around often. Once in a trillion years. Beings beyond your comprehension will come after you in hopes of stealing your body. Now go before Nicole decides to look into you. She’ll be here in a few minutes. Apparently she was investigating a red haired boy causing trouble near a restaurant known for large portions. We had to send Atimin to fill her shoes as co captain.”

“Right. Let’s go. Lin, can you push me off the edge? Free falling looks fun.” Kyrion asked with a wry smile.

“No.”

“Do you want a lift?” Kyrion

“No. Who’s Nicole?” Lin asked.

“Feel free to take the long way. See ya soon.” Kyrion fell backward off the edge and felt the wind fulfilling under him. He shifted the wind currents with wind mana and shot fire from his limbs to make it seem like he was propelling himself with flame. Be flew through the layers rapidly, landing near a building on the seventh floor.

“Dragon’s Descent rest stop.” Kyrion read aloud.

Figuring that this was the place, he entered and looked around, noticing an absurd amount of items for sale, from food to magical gear. Approaching the counter, Kyrion looked at the elven shopkeep.

“Nidhogg sent me.” Kyrion whispered.

“10 gold to get in, 100 gold an hour to rent out a room.”

“Do you take cores for trade?”

“Speak to the people past the entrance .”

“I have people coming to see me, do they have to pay?”

“The entrance fee but not the room.”

“At max, there should be 5 people who come by. A blond boy with glasses, a girl with white hair, a man with a mask, a small girl with green hair… I forgot the fifth already.” Kyrion put the gold on the counter and entered. He’d be broke if he didn’t set up shop soon. Maybe he could set up his dungeon here.

“You may go. I’ll return the funds if none of those people show up.”

“Thanks.” Kyion entered the back room and soon found his way into a black market.

Anything from magic items to drugs in bulk was being traded within this area. If it was for sale, people bought it. Two things made sense immediately, this place was hidden from the public so as not to tarnish the elven image of happy order. As well as the fact that people were not being sold. Just items and places to rent out. He didn’t see an obvious house of Ill repute nor any bars. A hall further down the path led to what he assumed were the training rooms.

Deciding to pawn off some common spirit cores and rare herbs he’d grown, Kyion managed to pocket eight hundred gold, which he then used to purchase a room for eight hours. They had a time dilation of 4. For every hour in the outside world, four passed in there. He’d have time to train, so he used it for such.

Kyion stood in a blank space in a strange place between worlds. Testing the waters, Kyrion used every affinity, aside from order, to test their functionality. Space did not work well here, which was a good thing to learn.

Instead of starting small, Kyrion summoned the largest fireball he could at once before compressing it slightly before it popped. Sending the practitioner flying away into a white wall he hadn’t known was there. He could see the door he entered through nearby and decided to use that as a marker for direction.

Kyrion focused and tried summoning a few small balls of flame at once. When he summoned one, it would appear, two and the first would flicker, three, and they all exploded. It was as though he was trying to split his consciousness between the orbs.

“Hmmm…” Kyrion summoned a vortex of wind around himself and filled them with hot flames creating a storm of fire around himself. Only that was a bad idea as his breeches caught fire and his skin began to itch, although that happened well after his pants had been turned to ashes.

“Uggg…” Kyrion sighed as he looked down and created a skirt made from earth, as he approached a stall on the outside and purchased a pair of supposedly fireproof pants for two hundred gold before retreating back into his training cave and spending the next few hours creating finishing moves that were flashy, effective and went with his style.

Summoning targets made from stone, Kyrion began his practice.

“Blooming Phoenix!” Kyrion surrounded himself with a large flame that resembled a rose. In this state, it acted as a shield capable of taking lots of powerful hits so long as they weren’t water-based.

If anyone got close, the petals would spread out rapidly and in the form of a Peony. Then, from the bloom, Kyrion blasted upwards with wings of fire and let loose powerful fire attacks from the sky onto the waiting targets below.

When the smoke cleared, only one of the dummies had been destroyed as the rest of his ranged attacks either missed or fell short due to miscalculating the level of power. Aesthetically it was beautiful. A technique like that in combat or during a war can destroy enemy morale and end many lives if they hit.

“Missed again.” Despite the showiness, he was using minimal mana for maximum repetitions.

It took four hours before he could hit more than four targets out of the nine he made. That was when Lin arrived. She clearly had an irritated look on her face as Cecil followed curiously.

“Why is it so hot in here?” Lin asked.

“A lot of fire, mana.” Kyrion sat down and refilled his mana pool, his horns popping out to speed up the process.

“I see. That’s some nice progress in one hour.” Cecil commented.

“Four. This place has 4 times the time dilation.”

“Reasonable progress then. Although I may get one of these rooms myself. How much are they?”

“One hundred gold an hour.”

“That’s… Expensive. Given the effect, it is also reasonable.” A greedy look entered the blond boy’s eyes.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Kyrion asked.

“Bring Cecil’s Harem here, along with all our products, and use that money to buy time.”

“Exactly. We have two months, and a few thousand gold between us. If we work together I bet we can squeeze out four months of training and development.”

“Kyrion, this is why you’re my friend with benefits.” Cecil wiped away a fake tear.

“You’re messing with me on purpose now. Your harem is actually an organization isn’t it.” Lin crossed her arms.

“Yeah. Kyrion seems to think it means a group of like minded individuals who share a goal. Back then we had a vote and the other founding members found it hilarious. I’ve also been misleading him on what certain phrases mean.” Cecil admitted.

“What?” Kyrion scowled.

“You’re the one who said they wanted the girls to leave you alone.”

“Didn’t it backfire?” Lin asked.

“Oh big time. But I am no longer the thirteen year old who dreams of having a harem. It’s actually more exhausting than it looks, trying to be a dense harem protagonist. I don’t have that natural stupidity.”

“Don’t give up Cecil. I know you can do it.” Kyrion tried to give his friend a pep talk.

“Got it. He’s just an idiot.” Lin nodded.

“Not quite, while the kindness and innocence are real, the idiocy is only half of an act.”

“Why do I feel like I’m the one being insulted?” Kyrion squinted in mock outrage.

“You’ll be fine.” Lin stated.

“Good. I have a few other tricks to master and was going to perform them. Sadly it seems they will have to wait.” Kyrion signed.

“Right. What exactly are you doing?”

“Sit down then. You’re in for a ride.” Kyrion sighed.