The week pa.s.sed quickly.

Noah went outside the academy ground donned in his usual black gym suit.

He had left eight hundred Credits to Ivor and used again the Sulfur domain to make sure that he had increased his power as much as possible.

He had only one thousand and six hundred Credits and twenty merit points left, he was in need of the rewards of the mission.

However, his headache had vastly diminished in intensity which left him pleasantly surprised.

'I should really pay more attention to the faculties of the academy.'

Right outside of the entrance, in Arolyac forest, Thaddeus was waiting with three more students.

"Why am I not surprised that you are here?"

One of the students was June and she spoke as soon as she saw Noah arriving.

"We are the best in our cla.s.s as well as the poorest. It is quite obvious for us to join this mission."

Noah answered.

During the previous months, June had clearly shown her superiority to Justin, gaining the undisputed t.i.tle of the second strongest in the Grayshade cla.s.s.

The first spot belonged, of course, to Noah who remained undefeated.

'She is from a small-size n.o.ble family, she needs Credits to buy new training methods. I traded the Surging river spell which was valued fifty thousand Credits, I believe that she still hasn't upgraded all her techniques.'

"Let me introduce you before I review the details of the mission. We have to walk a bit so let's move in the meantime. Oh, take these."

Thaddeus spoke and one hundred or so s.h.i.+ning bottles appeared on the ground.

"The potions for the mission, divide them equally."

The students gathered the goods in their storage devices and followed Thaddeus over the mountain where the academy was.

"Vance and June joined us nine months ago, they are the best in the real battle cla.s.s so don't treat them poorly simply because they are your juniors."

He pointed at a tall youth with black hair of about eighteen years old.

"He is Errol. He joined us one year and three months ago and he is the one in his cla.s.s that has improved the most since he entered the academy. He will be joining the Royal army once he reaches the proper age."

Then he pointed at the last student.

He was a short brown-haired man of about nineteen years old.

"He is Nigel, he joined us almost two years ago. He has talent in understanding inscriptions and his battle prowess in not low. He will be the captain for this mission and his insights will be useful to surpa.s.s the trials of the inheritance ground."

They pa.s.sed the small mountain and ventured deeper inside Arolyac forest.

"The location of the inheritance ground is inside the Nerere continent. It's a wasteland, almost uninhabited, that's why it took so much for my family to find it."

"The problem is that it borders with two other countries. Unless we want to start a war, we need to retrieve the inheritance unnoticed."

"As for the trials, we cleared the first two layers but then we met the restrictions toward my family. Apparently, they were really mad at us to set something like that."

The four students rolled their eyes.

How could they not hate the family that dethroned them?

Thaddeus made an awkward laugh and continued his explanation.

"Anyhow, we learnt something in those two layers. There is a reward every time a layer is cleared and the tests inside have all been battle-related. The difficulty was still low, we only met some low stage rank 3 beasts but we believe that it will rise exponentially as you explore deeper. Don't worry, if you ever meet something that surpa.s.ses your ability, retreat. You can always attempt again once you become stronger."

'So, this will be a long-lasting mission. It makes sense, how could a group of rank 1 cultivators retrieve something that valuable?'

Noah thought.

"The maximum number of people that can enter at the same time is four, that's why there are only this many of you. If you manage to clear more than two layers, we will consider the mission a success."

Nigel spoke once Thaddeus finished his explanation.

"Is the total number of layers known?"

Thaddeus shook his head.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to discover it. And having experienced only two layers, we aren't sure of how much the difficulty will increase as you go deeper."

Noah asked a question.

"Deeper? Do you mean that the trials will be underground?"

"Not exactly. You will understand once you see the inheritance ground."

There were no more questions along the way.

They traveled for one entire day before reaching the borders of the forest.

A carriage was waiting for them with a hooded coachman on the rider position.

Thaddeus spoke.

"We will separate here. This carriage will take you to the Nerere continent and across the desert. It's a two weeks trip, sadly the air-s.h.i.+p is too eye-catching so we can't use it. We can't create an oath either since that will prevent you from entering the inheritance. We reached an agreement with all of you so try not to steal anything, we will gladly give you more Credits if you really find something exceptionally valuable."

He stared at each one of the students in the eyes to make sure that they understood his words.

He smiled after he finished with the warnings.

"You can all go now. I wish you good luck. Be careful."

The students bowed and went inside the carriage.

They took a side each, the carriage was big enough to fit four small couches inside it.

After a few minutes, the carriage began to move, their mission had finally begun!

Nigel spoke with a friendly smile on his face.

"Since we have to spend two weeks together, I say that we get to know each other. I would also like to know your specializations since I have to prepare a battle formation. I use the rapier and I am of the water element."

"Mace, fire element."

"Spear, thunder element."

June had stared at Noah since the presentations begun, a slight smile was on her face.

"I use two sabers."

Nigel waited for him to continue but no more words came from him.

"I'm sorry but I advise you to reveal your element. We are working for the Royal family now, if I lack some essential information about our actual power and fail the mission because of that, all of us will be blamed."

Noah thought for a while before sighing and speaking with a soft voice.

"Darkness."