Chapter 230: Team
Leo walked back to his room and got onto his bed. It had been a very long time since he had used it, so it was a little bit dusty. After blowing it away, he lay on it for a while. He thought about what he was supposed to be doing for the next month when he was in the capital.
His number one priority was going to be getting stronger. While that might mean putting back his meeting with Daphne, it was better that way. It would only be safe to meet her if he was strong enough. Otherwise, he might get into trouble with her family and he had no idea how they would treat him.
That meant he needed to get better at using his Aura Techniques. It would be his priority until the Phoenix Trials were over. As he was thinking that, a knock on the door brought him back to reality.
He got up from his bed and looked outside his window. It was still dark which meant it could only be one person. He walked to the door, sensing the aura of the people outside. It was more than one person and their energies gave away who they were. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
As the door creaked open, it revealed Leo to Marcus, Lyra, and Madison. They saw the person who had been missing for a long time and didn"t know what to feel.
"h.e.l.lo. It"s been a while, right?" Leo broke the short silence.
Marcus walked forward and draped him in a bear hug. free web
"Yes, it has been." He let go and said enthusiastically. "Thank G.o.d you are alive! We thought you died to some Magical Beast out there."
"That isn"t some joking matter. What were doing?" Madison asked.
"I had some work that needed to be done," Leo replied. "Come in, please. I am guessing you came for Roland"s potions?"
"Yes. Wait, did you talk to Professor Maria?" Lyra asked him.
He nodded. "Yes, right before coming here. She said I was still allowed to be on the team, but Asher said that I need to be on my best behavior while I am there."
"Well, you do. If you run off and don"t come back, they will be very p.i.s.sed at you," Marcus said.
Roland seemed to hear the loud noise they were all making and came out. He had a box full of potions that were for Marcus.
"Here you go, Marcus. Are you sure you don"t want to borrow my dimensional ring?" He asked.
Marcus shook his head. "I am saving up for mine. Maybe in a year, I can get one," he said.
"Actually, you can just take one of mine. I have a bunch," Leo said and took out a dimensional ring. He handed it to Marcus who looked at him with an expression of doubt.
"Trust me, I have a lot. I don"t need this one, but you can give it back after we are done. Since we will be there together, you won"t feel like you are taking it away from me," he said to Marcus.
Marcus grudgingly took the ring as Leo turned to Lyra.
"Do you know when we have to leave?"
"We were planning on leaving immediately," she said.
"That"s good then. Asher said I cannot be late in any way."
"Good Luck to all of you then," Madison said softly. Roland repeated her words. .
"Thanks," Lyra and Marcus said. Leo just smiled and nodded with acknowledgment.
The group of three walked out of the room and toward the front gate. As they were walking, Marcus asked him about his aura.
"So, Leo. Why can"t I see your aura level? It looks like you barely have any aura," he asked.
Lyra answered the question for him. "It"s called hiding your aura. It"s a fairly simple thing to do, but generally, people don"t because it is hiding your strength. People with power like showing off their power. In a compet.i.tion like this, however, it can come in very handy."
"So how strong are you, then?" Marcus asked.
Leo just smiled. "What makes you think I grew stronger in just two months?"
"It feels like you did," he replied.
"You will see if I did, eventually."
They got to the front gate, being the first ones there. It was around 6 AM, which made them extremely early. They sat down and waited for others to come.
After thirty minutes, the first set of students started to come. It was three uppercla.s.smen - a group of two boys and a girl. They were hiding their aura level, but Leo"s perception seemed to have pierced through it. It seemed that it wasn"t as effective against mages.
The three were 3rd Circle Aura Knights, with one of the boys being in the Middle Stage. He guessed they were the strongest people who would show up.
Fifteen minutes later, everyone else showed up. First, it was two boys that he didn"t recognize. They looked around Marcus" age and were both Middle-Stage 2nd Circle Aura Knights so they had to be freshmen.
And finally, along with the professors, two girls in the 3rd Circle came. These were the same two girls that he had encountered while he was in his disguise. As he was thinking that, the professors rounded up the students.
There were three professors there - Asher, Maria, and Selena. Asher stepped forward and started talking to them when he saw that all of them were there.
"Let me explain how this works again so everyone here won"t be clueless when we get there," Asher said, his eyes focused on Leo.
He looked around and saw everyone"s disinterested faces and immediately realized that everyone there already knew how it worked. Asher was repeating it for him since he had been gone for two months and wasn"t updated with all the information he should have known.
"We have 10 members here. 5 more will join us at the Capital. Out of the 10 here, 5 are reserve team members. These are the freshmen. You will need to partic.i.p.ate in a tournament that has over 1000 people. If you are among the top 100 of them, then you will move forward to the actual Phoenix Trials.
Apart from that, you must keep in mind that everyone there will be incredibly powerful and important people. Do not pick fights with anyone.
We will start immediately to the Capital and arrive in five days. Then we will prepare you to fight against each other so that you have practice. We will also train you how to hide your aura so that you will not be read like a book by your opponents. Is that clear?" He asked everyone.
After a few nods, he turned back, allowing the students to discuss among themselves.
"Why are we even letting freshmen take those spots? We know that they will never be able to get past the first round of the reserve tournament," one of the 3rd Circle Aura Knights there said. He was looking at the five freshmen with disappointment.
Leo met his stare and chuckled. He then looked away, ignoring his comment completely.