Yi Qiang and his companion, the Second Prince, arrived in short order at the banquet. It was still filling up, but with a single cursory look at those in attending, Yi Qiang grimaced. The Second Prince had already warned him about foppish, arrogant nobles. The marksman already knew from personal experience how insufferable those with political power were, and it took a single glance for the archer to realize how well that applied to Ascend as well.

Disdainful facial expressions, brightly-colored clothes like those of a peacock, and feigned politeness all combined to significantly lower Yi Qiang's evaluation of almost everyone in the room.

Almost.

After all, this was a gathering of young talents first and foremost, not useless nobles. As such, there were quite a few young people who caught Yi Qiang's attention.

He focused on the first person, a blue-clothed young man with a slender sword sheath at his waist who radiated an airy and noble aura, and Analyzed them.

Taren Sivorus

Level: ???

Suddenly, the casual, refined air around the man sharpened, and a cold light seemed to shoot out of his eyes as he stared directly at Yi Qiang.

He can sense it when I Analyze him? I've never seen that happen before... Yi Qiang internally perked an eyebrow up in surprise, but he kept a straight face and stared back at Taren, not intimidated.

He may very well be stronger than me. If all the contestants are like this, then this will be harder than I expected. Though there were no signs of superior strength to his other than the level he was unable to discern and the high sensory capabilities, Yi Qiang had become warier after being beaten by Maria, who he had mentally dismissed before being defeated.

Taren calmed down after a second, and the hint of warning in his eyes faded as he turned away, returning to face the person he was talking to before Yi Qiang's unintended interruption.

The archer made a mental note to avoid Analyzing any of the other competitors before the Second Prince spoke.

"How do you manage this? You just caught the attention of one of the Four!" The Second Prince whispered to him, upset. Then, in response to Yi Qiang's inquiring gaze, he continued. "The Four- they're the most well-known talents and widely regarded as the only four who will take a high ranking in the competition. Taren - whose attention you just managed to catch, and that's not a good thing, believe me - is one of them, while the other three are Elias, Restra, and Ilien. Taren specializes in the sword and is famed for his agility in combat. Elias fights barehanded and has a physical body that far surpasses that of anyone else, including," the Second Prince eyed Yi Qiang, "probably you. Restra fights with hidden weapons, poisons, and daggers. Ilien focuses on magic and is well-known to be the successor of Great Mage Asturas. Who... you don't know either. No matter; what you have to take away from that is that please don't provoke them! Our plan is to have you beat them, but there's no benefit to having them on guard against you. It's galling to be the underdog, true, but it'll only serve us well in the future!"

Yi Qiang nodded. Of course, he understood the importance of not attracting too much attention. The Four, for example, would be the ones with targets on their backs this competition - almost everyone was aiming to take them down. That meant they were preparing by studying each of the Four's every move and thinking hard about the best way to take them down. Those who could tolerate not being in the spotlight, however, had the element of surprise - the position of a dark horse was not only coveted among the underestimated but also had concrete benefits.

  In the interest of remaining covert, he asked the Second Prince a question.

  "Could you point out the other three to me so I can do what it takes to avoid their attention?"

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  The Second Prince nodded emphatically. 

 "Of course, of course!" He took a moment, scanning across the room with uncharacteristically sharp eyes, before turning his attention back onto Yi Qiang. "There's a woman at your right, around 80 degrees, wearing a black combat attire. That's Restra. Then, there's a man at around 300 degrees with a sleeveless white vest. That's Elias. Finally, the tall, skinny man a little to the right of Elias is Ilien, the one carrying a staff and wearing red robes. Got it? Good. It's not a big deal if they take the initiative to provoke you, but please don't make unnecessary moves."

  Yi Qiang nodded his assent.

  "Alright, you can go and scope out the competition. I'll be doing... political stuff. It's tedious, so you don't have to accompany me, and I figure you'll probably be better off preparing in any way you can. Remember the rules we discussed."

  "Of course."

 Nodding at each other, Yi Qiang and the Second Prince took their separate ways, the prince heading to some obviously-affluent, finely-dressed man, while Yi Qiang prepared himself to mingle.

  He adjusted his body language and slumped down slightly, assuming the ideal position to walk around the crowds without attracting attention - he had long since learned how to drift around gatherings like a ghost. He was anything but invisible, but it was more like his body language encouraged the mind to skip over him.

  The archer knew his first target; there were a few people he wanted to observe, and chief among them was Ilien. That elf was intimidating, in that magic was something with which Yi Qiang had no experience.

  As such, he completely lost some of his significant advantages when facing a mage. After all, the main reason he was so prolific in combat was that Yi Qiang was intimately familiar with every way the enemy might try to kill him. The archer had long since learned to counter almost all of the weapons known to man, whether they be the melee weapons he had trained to exhaustion against countless times or the ranged tools that were all but an extension of his body. Magic, on the other hand, was something with which he had no such assurances.

  Thus, Yi Qiang was most wary of the talent most famed for his abilities with mana: Ilien. 

    He slipped through the masses of nobles and warriors like a specter, avoiding physical contact with anyone and keeping his head down. Doing this, Yi Qiang was almost as if wreathed in shadows as he approached the spot Ilien stood.

  He grabbed a sandwich on the way there, devouring it almost instantly, not out of excessive hunger but a reluctance to find himself in any amount of trouble with food in his hand. Quick meals had transcended the realm of habit for Yi Qiang long ago; he had always learned to eat as quickly as possible, and it was so ingrained into his behavior that he couldn't fathom intentionally eating slower.

  Within thirty seconds, he found himself within sight of Ilien, and, approaching slightly closer to be within hearing range as well, Yi Qiang pulled out a few of the skills he had kept dormant.

  Firstly, he had to assume that Ilien's senses equally honed as that Taren's. That meant run-of-the-mill analysis would be counterproductive - just as Yi Qiang could feel it if someone's eyes were focused intently upon him, it was likely that the mage would be able to as well.

  Thankfully, there were a few ways to focus on someone without attracting their attention - it was difficult, and required practice to master, but training was not something Yi Qiang lacked.

  Keeping this in mind, Yi Qiang dulled his senses as much as possible - this was one of the most efficient ways to stare at someone without attracting their attention. It involved 'dulling' the sight, or, in more specific terms, keeping the vision broad and unfocused. Then, one had to step back from themselves, in a way, looking at the picture presented to them by their eyes without actively taking control.

  It was a difficult concept to grasp fully, but even more difficult to fully realize; however, Yi Qiang had always excelled at self-transcendence, which was a significant part of this method. As such, it was what he was most familiar with if he wanted to study someone while appearing unassuming.

  Regardless, Yi Qiang took in Ilien - his body language, posture, expression, frame, and other factors all went into his analysis of the talented mage.

  As expected, he hasn't trained his body at all; it's marginally better than that of the nobles, just because of his experience in general combat, but that gulf between the nobles and the other contestants isn't present here. However, his eyes are sharp, exceptionally so. He's smart - there's no mistaking it. And that staff he's holding... it's unusual. Potent, no doubt, but there's something else there, something I can't recognize. Ilien seems very familiar with it, however. That's strange. Something to make a note of, I suppose.

  He looks... comfortable. With the air, and with everything around him. Like he's familiar with it. Is that what excellence in magic requires? I don't know, I've never seen a mage before - it could just be him.

  The noble Ilien was conversing with seemed to hang on every word of the mage's. It was a strange sight; Yi Qiang was almost disgusted by how subservient the slightly overweight man was to a boy a quarter of his age.

  He loitered there for a few more minutes before moving on; Yi Qiang had much to do.